Words of Wisdom

with Pastor Jean Stiemke

I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU LIFE AND DEATH, CHOOSE LIFE

“See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil. [If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which] I command you today, to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you  in the land into which you go to possess. But if your [mind and] heart turn away and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish, and you shall not live long in the land which you pass over the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.” ~ Deuteronomy 30:15-19 (AMP)

From the beginning of time, life has been all about choices.  God gave us choice.  Man has always had the power of choice. Adam and Eve had choices.  They chose death.  God gave man ONE commandment.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  ~ Genesis 2:16,17                      

No, they didn’t die in the flesh, but because of their disobedience, they were afraid to face God.  They hid from Him.  They gave up all the blessings God provided for them in a perfect, beautiful garden!  They gave up walking in the cool of the evening with the Lord Himself.  They gave up communion with GOD.  They gave up perfection!  They chose death over life.  They listened to another “god”, the “god” of this world—Satan!  Adam was “fallen man” of which no man save Jesus Christ Himself could redeem!
The same choice is repeated every day for all mankind.  Choose life and God’s plans for you shall succeed.  Choose death and Satan’s plans for you shall succeed!  WHOSE WORD DO YOU BELIEVE?