The Power of Choice

"And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD. "  I Chronicles 28:20

We read that King David called his son Solomon (son of Bathsheba) aside to give him orders to build the House of God. David assured his son that God was behind this project and that God would be with him as he did God's work. When David handed over the plans for building the House of God to his son Solomon, he gave him specific instructions (I Chronicles 29). Solomon would have everything he needed to be successful in such an undertaking.  When I read the story of Solomon and how he was chosen by God to build Him a house, I marvel at the calling of this man. What a privilege to build a dwelling place for the presence of God!  So much work, so much effort went into fulfilling this dream. We see that Solomon was zealous, just like his father, to see the work of the Lord completed.  He built the House and the Bible tells about its splendor and sacredness.  Throughout his journey, Solomon also built a beautiful personal relationship with God. We see how God gives him much wisdom and favor.  God also appeared to him two times, filling his life with powerful promises. Solomon was one who honored God and worshipped Him alone which God blessed him for.  Yet, at the end of his life, we read that Solomon had a weakness.  This weakness would eventually lead to his destruction.  I Kings tells us,

"King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded. Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.  I Kings 11:1-12
 
We see that everything Solomon had worked so hard for was now jeopardized because of his love of women.  Such a great man and great calling being reduced to such a low state because of his choices.  The Bible never says that he repented, which leads me to believe that he died in his own sin. We live in a different time and different place, but his story is not so different from our very own.
What a wonderful privilege is it for us to be called to do the work of the Lord and to serve an almighty God like Jesus Christ. We too have been given a task. We are to build up the Kingdom of God as well as our own spiritual house.  God has given each Christian a personal calling which is unique and which no other can fulfill. God provides all the tools and instructions for accomplishing the task at hand.  Our only responsibility is to be obedient to the calling and allow God to lead us. We have good intentions, we want to please God, but yet sometimes we get distracted by other things such as the cares of this world, sin, or like I always say, the"stuff" of life.  We often think that its God's responsibility to keep us from detours and mistakes, but this is not the case. Just like Solomon had a free will, we too have free will. God can tell us what to do and guide us, but we still decide whether to be obedient or not. Obedience is not always easy. It usually means that we have to put aside our desires and wants for something better, although it doesn't feel like the best thing from our perspective at the time. God gives us the power of choice. He allows us to decide what to do with what He has given us. He won't do it himself. God put Adam and Eve in the garden to live in relationship with him, but he still put a tree with the forbidden fruit in the midst of the garden to test their choices. He offers us salvation, but we still must accept it and act on it. Also, He gives us promises throughout his Word that are dependent on our choices.  Solomon had a choice when he took all those foreign, pagan women to be his wives and concubines.  His poor decision cost him his relationship with God so that everything he worked so hard for was overshadowed by his poor decision. He had such a high calling, but in the end, he traded in his relationship with God for the cares of his life. 
We make choices everyday. Some choices are easier to make than others. Remember, God won't always close the door on the distractions or "stuff" of life. He leaves that for us to do.  Will we be obedient and allow God to do amazing things in our life or will be trade in our calling and settle for less through our poor choices? I pray for that you and I will always have courage to seek God's widsom, but utimately the grace to be obedient, even when its not always easy. I'll leave you with this quote that I absolutely love, "God never said it would be easy, He just said it would be worth it."  God bless friends.

Blessings,
April

Living with Uriah's Purpose

"And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they desroyed the children of Ammon, and beseiged Rabbah.  But David tarried still at Jerusalem."  II Sammuel 11:1

One evening, David was walking on his roof when he caught sight of a beautiful woman bathing.  David summons the woman called Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, to the palace.  He then sleeps with her and a couple of weeks later, finds out she is pregant with his child. David then formulates a plan to have her husband Uriah called back from the battlefield in hopes that Uriah will sleep with his wife and the baby can appear to be his, and not David's. Upon Uriah's arrival, David directs him to go home to his wife. Unfortunately, Uriah does not follow David's directions and sleeps at the door of David's palace. When David asks him why he did not return home, Uriah explains to David,

"The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine own house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as they soul liveth, I will not do this thing" (verse 11).

     Do you get a sense of Uriah's conviction and purpose?  Uriah had a calling in his life and nothing was going to stop him from fulfilling his purpose. His reverence for God and loyalty to his brethren, including his captain, Joab, is inspiring and godly. It amazes me how he put aside his own desires and wants in order to fulfill his duty as a soldier in God's army.  He could have chosen to fulfill his own purpose, but he chose the better part, God's purpose. When I read this portion of the text, I sense his reverence for God and the inspiring way in which he lived his life.   Uriah stepped up where David did not.
  The story unfolds that David then gets Uriah drunk in hopes of sending him home to be with his wife, but instead, Uriah stays at the king's palace. David sends Uriah back to the battlefield with orders to Joab to have Uriah placed at the forefront. Uriah is killed in battle, David takes Bathsheba as his wife, and Bathsheba gives birth to a child that dies shortly after. David repents of his sin and is forgiven by God, but his life is altered forever. 
      Some may wonder what David was doing at home when his brethren were out fighting in a war.  Afterall, at the beginning of this chapter, the Bible describes this time as one in which kings "go forth to battle" so why was David any different? David, who should have been out on the battlefield, fighting alongside his brethren, was at home enjoying the comforts of palace life.  My thinking goes that he lost sense of his purpose and ignored his duties as king.  Due to this, he ends up falling into sin with Bathsheba, for if he would have been out doing what he was called to do, he would not have had time to allow his eyes to wander.
         Do you know your purpose? If so, are you fulfilling it?  The danger is that when we are not fulfilling God's heavenly purpose, we set ourselves up to be distracted by the cares of this world which can lead to our demise. We were made to fulfill a purpose.  We naturally look for a purpose in life.  If we don't fulfill God's purpose, our flesh will try to find a substitute. Has God called you to be a preacher, a teacher, a pastor, a singer, a prophet, a prophetess, an evangelist, a community worker, a volunteer, a Christ-filled politician, a foster-parent?  The list goes on.  Then my encouragement to you is to set everything else aside and press towards your heavenly purpose.  As Paul says, we must press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus(Philippians 3:14) The Bible describes fulfilling our purpose as one who runs a  race:

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain."  I Corinthians 9:24


"...Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross...." Hebrews 12:1-2

Our prize is Jesus Christ's Kingdom.  Our purpose is to be used by God to minister to others in order to expand His kingdom.  We must press past the sin and the distractions.  Just like a runner, we must focus only on the finish line.  We don't have time to look to the left or to the right, even for a second.  That split second could mean forfeiting the prize. Like David, a moment of stepping out of his purpose cost him being able to build the house of the Lord.  Are you willing to pay that high of a price? Or will you be like Uriah who fulfilled his purpose until his very last breath?  I encourage, keep your eyes on Jesus Christ and learn from his example. His purpose was Calvary and he stopped at nothing until he made it to the cross.  Stop at nothing to fulfill your calling. Keep your eyes on the prize and see God use your life in a mighty way.

God's Delay is Not His Denial

Driving home from work today, I was reminded of a thought God gave me a couple of months back. I'd like to share it with you.

Do you need God to do a miracle in your life?  Do you need God to give you a breakthrough? Do you need a healing? A deliverance?  The good news is that God will meet everyone of those needs if we believe Him in faith.  You may wonder why God has not yet answered you.  Just because he has not responded does not mean that he doesn't have something up his sleeve.  I recall a story in the book of John where one of Jesus' close friends, Lazarus was ill, at the point of death.  Lazarus's two sisters Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus to come quickly to Bethany, for they believed that Jesus would heal their brother. The Bible says that when Jesus heard the news, he said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (John 11:4).  So in Jesus's mind, he already had purposed to heal Lazarus. Yet, instead of leaving for Bethany right away to meet the need, he stayed put in his current city two more days knowing very well that his friends were anxious, worried, and fearful, "When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was" (John 11:6).  Was Jesus heartless? Absolutely not. In his infinite mind, the miracle was already done so he had no need to worry about the situation.  Sound familiar?  Sometimes when we don't see God answering immediately, we seem to get worried, as if God might just forget about us or pass us by.  God already sees the ending from the beginning. We must do the same.  Keep in mind, God's delay is not his denial.  You may not have your answer today, but rest assured, your answer is on it's way.  Believe and you will see the glory of God in your life!

God's Delight

"He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me." Psalm 18:19

To delight means to experience a high degree of pleasure, enjoyment, joy, rapture, or excitement in something in someone.   We delight in many things of this life. We delight in success, romance, adventures, money, fame, and many other things.  Many Christians would claim that they delight themselves in God only to claim the promise of Psalm 37, "and he will give you the desires of your heart." Yet, the question begs to be asked, is the Lord truly delighting in you and I? It’s easy for us to say that we delight ourselves in God, but it's another story to say with assurance that He delights in us. Feeling his presence sporadically or attending church once in a while does not denote his delight in us.  In the above scriptures, the Psalmist David was bold and confident when he said that the Lord delighted in him.  How does one get to this point of pleasing God so much that He enjoys, takes pleasure, and excites himself in our person, and even our presence? For certainty, God does not need us. Yet, he chooses to delight in us.  In Psalm 18, after making the statement that God delighted in him, David gives us two main reasons for making such a claim:

 "For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me" (Psalm 18:21)

“The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me... I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity... Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according being pleasing to God:to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight” (Psalm 18:20, 23-24).

Through these scriptures, we note the following about being the delight of God:

1) God delights in us when we delight in His Word and keep His commandments.

First of all, for God to find pleasure in us, we must delight ourselves and love his Word.  In the verses above, we see that David credited the fact that God delighted in him with him keeping God's commandments. This is also emphasized in the first chapter of Psalms when David says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night."  Do we take pleasure in God's Word?  Do we feast on it daily? Do we think on it all the day long? David was one of the greatest examples in the Old Testament of a person who truly loved the Law of the Lord. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119 (penned by David of course) and it shows David's reverence and love for the Word of God as well.  He says, "My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments (commandments) at all times."  David longed to follow God's word.  Even though he was imperfect, he knew that the laws of God would bring correction and healing to his life, "How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to they word" (Psalm 119:9).

2) God delights in us when we keep ourselves pure and blameless in His sight. 

Next, David notes his righteousness and blamelessness before God.   David was a man after God's own heart. He set his heart on pleasing God in every way and being holy or blameless before God.  He wasn't perfect.  After all, he did commit adultery and have a man murdered.  One would think David would be the last person God would delight in.  Yet, David always humbled himself before God and got himself back on track through repentance. For that reason, God delighted in him.  The same goes for us.  I'm not perfect, you're not perfect.  For God to delight in us does not mean that we have to be perfect, but we do have to acknowledge our failures before God and ask his forgiveness each day.  We fall over and over again, but it is our humility and ability to cry out to God that will bring us back into relationship with God and cause us to be his delight. When we have a heart to please God, He will see us through our failures because he delights in us, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand" ( Psalm 37:23).   This does not give us the license to sin, but it does mean that when we do sin, we have an advocate on our side who is Jesus Christ.

Another scripture comes to mind when I think about pleasing God:

 "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). 

3) God delights in us when we spend time in His presence.

Using a different scriptural context, we can also see from Psalm 27, that God wants our time. In the world we live in today, there are so many distractions that beg for our attention. Yet in the midst of all that, God must be our priority. Seeking his presence daily is a must, a non-negotiable. David understood the necessity to be close to his Maker. His love for God demanded it. When it comes to our prayer life, I believe the best time to spend with God is early in the morning before the events of the day.  Someone once said, we should tithe our first hours to God, a sacrifice that reaps great spiritual blessings. I like that idea.  I understand that everyone's schedule is so uniquely different, but if at all possible, this is the ideal standard. I have had my quiet time and devotion with God after work, but by then, I have given all my energy to my students so there is little left for God but a tired, worn-out school teacher at times. lol.   I want him to have the first of my heart.   He deserves no less. I don't speak this as one that has attained  or as one that has this perfect walk with God, I speak as one that is hungry for a more spirit-filled life. I'm pressing forward just like everyone else.

The last scripture I would like to use deals with holding on to God even when others are against us:

"He [Jesus] trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him"(Psalm 22:8).

4) God delights in us when we endure persecution.

Using a third scriptural context, we see that God delights in us when we stand tall in the face of persecution. In the Psalm 22, David prophesied the humiliation and persecution of the messiah, Jesus Christ. He described the mockery and scorning Jesus would face and how they would taunt him saying that if he was truly God’s delight, why didn't God save him. Jesus was God’s delight because he refused to let the cup of persecution pass from him. He was the delight of God because he endured even to the death at the cross for which reason, God exalted him and gave him a name that was above every name (Philippians 2:8).  When we endure persecution and rejection for Christ's sake, we become the delight of God.  Persecution does not feel good when it is happening, but like Jesus, we can look to the joy that is set before us and endure just as he did. Maybe your friends make fun of you because you live differently and stand up for what is right.  Maybe your spouse left you because you decided to follow God. Maybe your family has disowned you because of your new lifestyle. Maybe you are tempted each day by those who want to see you fall. Know that God is delighting in you in your circumstances because it shows that you love him more than this world. His reward is with him when he comes back if you will just hold on.

In conclusion, I pray that you will find yourself the object of God's delight.  If you are reading this, then I know you must have a desire deep within you to please God.  If so, you are on the right path. Let's press forward together to be what God wants us to be in Jesus Name.