Tag: choices

Belief, Not Feelings

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

www.bible.com/reading-plans/540/day/3

We live in an era in which the mantra seems to be, “Do whatever feels good to you.” Feels good? Really? It might feel good for me to slap the person who is annoying me by being rude to the clerk in the store, but that doesn’t mean I have the license to do it. It might feel good for me to rob a bank and have lots of money to spend on a lavish vacation, but I don’t follow through on that thought…consequences, right? Unfortunately, in society today, people have decided to do things based on feelings and there are no consequences, at least none that are readily apparent. The Hamas-supporting protesters keep the Jewish students from attending class. What is their consequence? But they “feel” that they are justified in their wanton destruction and hatred, so it must be okay. After all, no one is stopping them. But I digress…this post is not about the poor choices of students. It’s about choosing faith over feelings.

I may be afraid to step out and witness to someone that the Spirit clearly tells me to speak to. If I go by my feelings, I will walk away (and honestly, I confess that sometimes I have done that). But if I go by faith that God will give me the words to say and the courage to say them, then I speak.

In this devotional, David is used as an example of faith. I have just read in another devotional about Absalom and his betrayal, David’s journey away from from Jerusalem and his cries to God. He was not blaming God for his troubles; rather, he was calling out to Him in faith to restore him to his throne and to keep him safe from the traitor. Would that we would have that kind of faith that continues to call out to God in the midst of betrayal and a real wilderness experience! Instead, we have a tendency to say “I’m just not feelin’ it today.” What if you were praying to God and His reply was, “Yes, I hear you, but I’m just not feeling it today.” God doesn’t go by feelings because He knows they change constantly, with outside influences and inner thoughts at war inside us. He expects us to choose to live by faith, no matter what the outside circumstances are and no matter how we feel about them. The Bible teaches us that it is impossible to please God without faith. Time to get off the feel good train and hop on the faith train that takes us to the throne of God. One is a bullet train that speeds us on an out-of-control path to wrong choices. The other is slow and steady, taking us in the right way to the right place, in God’s time.

Why Am I Talking? (WAIT)

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App1 Comment

www.bible.com/reading-plans/45490/day/7

This devotional is all about being a peacemaker, in spite of circumstances of the effect this might have on you and your life. I don’t want to say that social media is evil, but it can be insidious, stirring up strife in all of the wrong places, including families. During the pandemic, my family was divided on the vaccinations just as many other families were. I had a legitimate medical reason not to get vaccinated repeatedly, and my children accepted it. We were invited to see the grandchildren and cautioned about having to wear masks in public. That was that.

Politics is a whole different ball game. I am a right wing Christian conservative. I will stand up for God’s word in spite of the whole political controversy that happens daily around this time. But I am not willing to lose my family relationships over it. I have two very liberal sons, but instead of arguing politics with them, I talk with them about the things we have in common: their children, books, movies, even games they enjoy. I have “unfollowed” them on social media so that I do not see all of their political sniping and get upset by it. I was just ignoring it and not responding, but that sent my BP soaring, so now if I want to see what they are posting, I go to their pages. If I want them to see my post, I tag them (and it’s never a political post). As the election draws closer, I am sure that my views will be more under scrutiny about how could I possibly vote for such a man and how does he represent my godly values. My answer is that I vote for the person who most represents my Biblical worldview regardless of their personal life. God used a lot of evil men to bring about His plan and will continue to do so because He is God and we are not. That being said, while my husband goes out of his way to debate online, I circle away from that interaction, preferring to keep my opinions to myself unless I am specifically asked a question. I think it is harder to be a peacemaker in this day of social media and vitriolic political attacks, but I am trying to maintain relationships which will last. Yes, I am definitely concerned about the direction our nation is taking and the future that will be there for our grandchildren. But breaking off relationships because they don’t like my candidate and I don’t like theirs does not make sense. I’m a Christian first, a wife second and a mom third. Somewhere way down the line of my priorities, I am a conservative who votes for the most conservative candidates running. But to maintain peace, I don’t feel that I have to let the entire world of social media know my thoughts.

Maybe I am being cowardly? I don’t know for sure. But I do know in my heart that God is sovereign and regardless of this election or any future one, God is in control. So, I will step back, let God be God and do my best to maintain relationships in which I can influence my children and grandchildren to make godly choices and decisions.

Creating a Well of Thank-FULL-Ness

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion AppLeave a comment

www.bible.com/reading-plans/23192/day/13

We can be like most people today and take God and His favor for granted, or we can choose to be like Daniel and establish the habit of being thankful. Then when tests and trials come, our natural inclination will be to continue to be thankful in spite of them, not because of them. I want a deep well of thank-full-ness that flows from within me to the Lord, knowing that no matter what is going on around me, He is still God and He deserves my thanks.

Giving Thanks Is a Decision

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion AppLeave a comment

www.bible.com/reading-plans/23192/day/3

We make a lot of choices everyday, some of which are automatic and others require thinking about it for a while. The choice to be thankful should be automatic, but I must confess that some days, I struggle to show my thanks to God. Maybe things aren’t going the way I think they should or my world is a little topsy-turvy. Whatever is happening in the circumstances of my life is not a good reason to ignore all God has done and is still doing in my life and to take time to be grateful to Him for everything. This devotional is thought-provoking in that it says we can hinder God in acting on our behalf by our failure to be thankful. I will have to ponder that for a while. God will still continue with His plan, but I may not be as active a participant as I should be because I failed to be thankful. I want to be all in for God and His plans for me regardless of outward circumstances. The circumstances will change (it just happens as part of life) but only I can make the choice to thank God in the midst of them and be grateful that I have a life to be thankful for.

Consecration: Turning Away and Turning Toward

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App3 Comments

www.bible.com/reading-plans/13696/day/18

This devotional presents one of the simplest and easily understood explanation of consecration that I think I have ever read. We have to turn away from the things of the world and turn towards God. The wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, started out right, wholeheartedly devoted to God. He built the temple and dedicated it to the Lord in a long prayer asking for God to dwell there and bless His people. But as he aged, Solomon’s heart was turned towards the wives that he had married from other nations, the very thing that God had warned him not to do. In turning away from God, Solomon turned to the world, worshipping the false gods of Moab among others. As a result, God took the kingdom away from Solomon and Israel was divided between Jeroboam and Rehoboam. What great blessings could have continued for generations if only Solomon had kept his first love for God and not for his foreign wives! We will never know the outcome of that scenario because it didn’t happen that way. Solomon had consecrated his life to serving the Lord, asking only for wisdom to rule well. Then he turned AWAY from God and toward the world and his own ego destroyed his kingdom. How many times have we felt the pull of the world, the entertainment that others seem to get so much pleasure from, the language that others use freely and seem to be accepted because of their irreverence, the riches and success that the world clamors for? We feel the pull, but if we are turned away from the world and toward God, these things cannot capture our hearts and souls. They may capture our attention, hopefully only briefly, but not enough to entice us away from our commitment to God. Each time we feel a tug to turn towards the world, we must remember that leads to destruction, not to life. Only God offers life eternally. Thus, our consecration to Him must be wholehearted, sincere and with a complete knowledge that the choices we make today may affect our eternal destiny and the witness we show others affects the way they turn, either towards God or away. Solomon’s choices led to the destruction on a united nation; choices matter. God desires us to turn towards Him but He will not force us to do so. It is our free will choice, and therein lies the problem. We are a sinful people saved by grace, a fact that we must remember every day, especially when we are faced with the choice to turn towards the world instead of towards God.

The Sin of the World

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

What is the world’s sin? My first thought was selfishness or greed or pride. But God has a different view and His is absolutely correct!

Without belief in God and His Son who offers the free gift of salvation, mankind continues to live in sin, separated from God. The sad thing is that most people, at least here in the U.S., know about God but they don’t choose to have a relationship with Him. They choose to refuse to believe in Him. Have you ever heard the saying, “I’ll believe it when I see it”? That’s how some people are about God. They want Him to prove His power and show them nothing but grace and mercy instead of what we all deserve, which is judgment. The fact is that God already proved His power over death, sin and the grave when Jesus rose from the dead. He proved His love when He sent His only Son to die for us. And yet, some refuse to believe for various reasons, none of which make sense. Jesus is the answer to all of life’s problems, mankind is in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean of sin and they refuse to believe in the Lord because they just don’t want to change the way that they’re living. They are too attached to their lifestyle of sin to try to change it. Sad commentary on stubbornness, isn’t it? Satan said, “I will” and proceeded to challenge God’s authority and power. Jesus said “Not my will, but Yours be done.” I choose to believe in the unselfish and truth-telling Lord of Heaven and earth instead of the prince of the air who will one day be condemned into the Lake of Fire. Those who refuse to believe are choosing their own destiny, and the consequences that they will suffer are eternal. As Christians, we need to do all we can, whenever we can, to persuade those deniers to turn and believe and repent. But we also need to accept that the final choice is theirs, no matter how much it hurts to acknowledge that we cannot save people. Only God can do that. One thing we need to be aware of is that we need to pray before we go on the battlefield, gird up with our spiritual armor and get ready for battle. Satan wants their souls to spend eternity with him. God wants them to believe so that they can spend eternity with Him. The ultimate choice is theirs; our responsibility is to share the truth of the choices that they are making.

Our Own Road

On By vickleaIn ScriptureLeave a comment

In my morning devotional, I have been reading the book of Jeremiah and pondering how much alike Israel was compared to the U.S. today.

God continually warns us to make right choices. If we study His Word, we will know the Godly way that we are supposed to take. Unfortunately, many people in the U.S. don’t know God’s Word and don’t want to read and find out what it says. As a result, instead of finding the rest and peace that their soul needs, they are continuing on the “road to perdition.” Satan generally makes his way look attractive, the “easy way” or the “way to riches, fame and glory.” We (and when I say we, I am referring to the people in the U.S.) typically choose any way but God’s way these days. Thus we are lost on a road of our own choosing.

As Christians, we are not lost but we are seeing more lost people every day. At least, I know that I am. I see them in the stores, on the roads and on the little snippets of media that I watch. They are all going their own way. What can we do? Put God’s Word out there for them to read. They may pay no attention to it, but at least they have been warned. Speak God’s Word into their hearts. Again, they may pay no mind to it, but at least they have heard. We cannot change people’s hearts; only God can do that. So, as we sow the seeds of His Word, we need to make sure that we have prayed and asked God to open hearts and minds to Him and to his Godly ways.

As I continue to read Jeremiah, I tend to get discouraged over the state of our nation and how comparable it is to Israel. False gods, a pretense at religion and a lot of pride. But I trust that God knows what He is doing and will make all things right in the end. After all, God has a plan and He is working to fulfill that plan. Jesus already died. Now we are awaiting His return and praying for as many people as possible to take the right path to God. We have to do our part; God has already done His.

Our Thinking

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song2 Comments

Over many years I have come to realize that I control what I think about. True, sometimes my mind wanders and seems to take me places that I don’t want to go, but it is up to me to rein it in and think about what I should be thinking. And what is that? God has the answer in His Word.

Heaven is a reality, not a pipe dream. Heaven may not be as I picture it or even as movies and books portray it, but it is real, just as Jesus was a real man who walked the earth and died for my sins. Christ is already in Heaven and the Bible tells me He is preparing a place for me there. The best thing that I can do while I wait is to think about the things of Heaven. How do I do that? I keep my focus on God’s Word, on His truths that He has spoken and is speaking into my heart. It’s easy to be distracted by all that is going on in the world around me, but I have found if I just take a deep breath and say to myself, “But God…” then I focus on how great God is in the circumstances and know that He will work all things out in the end.

Praising God with song is a great way for me to stay focused on Him, particularly if the song is based on Scripture and has helped me to memorize verses. Many years ago, one of the churches we went to had a pastor who was also a songwriter and guitarist and he set many favorite verses to music and played them during our worship time for us to join in with him. I remember many of those songs and have found others since then. A group called “Integrity Music” distributed a lot of cassettes with such scriptural songs and we had them playing in our car and home frequently. These days, the cassette has ceased to function, but I have discovered the music on You Tube and encourage you to listen and enter into His presence. Step away from the world and into the throne room of God. There we find our peace and our stability in a world that is rocking around us.

You Alone-Integritry Music

The Lord Reigns-Bob Moen-Integrity Music

Some May Trust In Chariots-Hosanna! Music

Afraid of the Dark

On By vickleaIn Scripture6 Comments

Since I was a small child, I have feared the darkness. I always had a night light as I grew up, although my mother wouldn’t allow one plugged into my bedroom socket. Instead, there was a street light just outside my window that shone brightly all night long. When I went to college, I left the bathroom light on when I didn’t have a night light. When I moved into my first apartment, I had a night light in the kitchen and in the bedroom. These days, I have one in the living room and in the bathroom. I just hate it when the electricity fails and I am in total darkness until Dominion Power restores it. I don’t fear the darkness so much these days because I know that God made it just as He created the light. But I much prefer the light and being able to see things instead of stumbling around in the darkness. After all, God called the light “good.”

I feel very bad for those who live in darkness day in and day out. They don’t know about the light that can shine into their world and lead them on the path of eternal life. How difficult it must be for them when they are facing death, eternal darkness! We don’t have to walk in darkness, but some people choose to do so because they prefer not to be seen. They don’t want people to know them as they really are. I’m not sure that they realize that God sees them wherever they are and whatever they are doing. Our sins are always known to the Father who made us and yet He provided a way to save us from the darkness of our sins even before we are aware of His great love for us and His gift of salvation.

The darkness that is in the earth today is because sin is rampant and it doesn’t seem that it’s going to get better. People seem to prefer the darkness of sin and living for the evil one rather than choosing light and living for God. As I stated at the beginning, I don’t like the dark. I am not afraid of what it can do to me these days. Rather, I fear what it is doing in the hearts of mankind, with their permission. They allow darkness in and push the light away, much to the detriment of their souls. I like light. God made it and said that it was good. God separated the darkness and the light for a reason, and He wants us to choose to live in the light. However, mankind wants to confuse the two so that their sin is justified in their own minds. Again, I am afraid of the dark…not for what it will do to me because I am a child of the light, but for what it is doing to sinful man who continues to make the wrong choices and is even leading small children in their sinful ways. God will have the last word just as He had the first ones. He will speak and judgment will fall…darkness on those who chose darkness, for all eternity. I pray that many will repent before that Day of the Lord comes!

May you be blessed with the light of life shining in your hearts and may it reach out to others in the darkness.