OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL - MONDAY- 25/11/2013 - WHAT CHOICES BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

WHAT CHOICES?

MEMORY VERSE

In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

Psalm 15:4

READ

Joshua 24:14-20

Joshua 24:14 Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.

Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods;

Joshua 24:17 For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed:

Joshua 24:18 And the Lord  drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God.

Joshua 24:19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.

Joshua 24:20 If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.

MESSAGE

During the course of life, a time comes when you must decide who to serve. It is a time of choice. At such times you have to decide for yourself who would be your God. Have you faced such scenario? What was your choice? In Joshua 24:15, the children of Israel stood face to face with that decision. The midwives of Exodus 1:15-21 equally faced such challenge to obey God or the king, and they chose the former. No wonder it is on record that they feared God. Your decisions in life indicate how much fear of God you have. Every divine midwife must be able to take the right decision even when it hurts. In Psalm 15:1-5, among the qualities listed that are required to enter God's holy hill, is the ability to swear to one's hurt without looking back. Can you take a decision to serve God and stand by it without looking back? The midwives refused to obey their king for fear of the highest King.

When it comes to the most crucial areas of your life, may you never make the wrong choice. Many times, we allow the choices of others to influence ours to a great extent: we want to do something only when our spouse or friends agrees to do the same. To be born-again is a very personal and crucial decision. Certain sacrificial decisions are equally personal. Take for instance, when God instructed Abraham to go and sacrifice Isaac, if he had told Sarah, would she have allowed him? He simply kept it from her because he wanted to obey. Today, some believers receive 'hard' instructions from the Lord, and because they do not want to obey, they share it with their spouse whom they know would disagree; and finally they tell God that the reason they disobeyed was because they could not agree with their spouse. Remember God knows every secret thought of the heart. Why do you keep looking for excuses not to do what should be done? A divine midwife will always look up to God and obey God's instructions in spite of contrary circumstances. What are your choices in life? Have you chosen to serve God, to follow the way of holiness and adopt a life of prayer as well as of the study of His word?

KEY POINT

While the Hebrew midwives manufactured excuses for obeying God, those who claim to love and serve God today are giving reasons for disobeying God.