Your Decisions Determine What You Become
"I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him
who sent Me" (Jn. 6:38).
Jesus
tells us here in His own words what He came on earth to do. And in this one sentence we have a
description of how Jesus lived every single day of His entire life on earth.
The
thirty years of Jesus' life in Nazareth are referred to as hidden years. But here Jesus reveals what He did during
every day of those 30 years: He denied
His own will and did His Father's will.
When
Jesus was with the Father in heaven from eternity past, He never had to deny
His own will, for His own will was the same as His Father's. But when He came to earth in our flesh, that
flesh had a self-will that was diametrically opposed to the Father's will at
every single point. The only way in
which Jesus could do the Father's will then was by denying His own self-will
all the time. This was the cross that
Jesus bore throughout His earthly life - the crucifixion of His self-will - and
which He now asks us to bear every day, if we are to follow Him.
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It was
the consistent denial of His own will that made Jesus a spiritual Man. And it is the denial of our self-will that
will make us spiritual too.
Every day
we make decisions concerning various matters. We make decisions in
relation to how we are going to spend our money or our spare time, or how to
speak to, or about someone, or how to write a particular letter, or how to
react to another's behaviour, or how much time to spend in studying the Word or
in prayer or in serving the church etc.
We react to the actions and words and behaviour of people around us from
morning till night. We may not be realising
it, but we make at least a hundred decisions every day - and in each of these
decisions we decide either to please ourselves or to please God.
Many of
our actions are not the result of conscious decisions. But even then, we do
them in one of these two ways - either seeking to please ourselves or to
glorify God. Our unconscious actions are
determined by the way we make our conscious decisions. Finally, it is the sum total of these
decisions that determine whether we become spiritual or carnal.
Think of
the millions of decisions that we have made ever since we were first
converted. Those who have consciously
and consistently chosen to deny their self-will many times each day and do the
will of God, have become spiritual. On
the other hand, those who have rejoiced merely in the forgiveness of their
sins, and who therefore chose to please themselves most of the time have
remained carnal. Each person's decisions
have determined what he has finally become.
You are
today as humble and as holy and as loving as you yourself have chosen to be,
through the thousands of decisions that you have made in the various situations
of life in past years.
Spirituality
is not something that comes through one encounter with God. It is the result of choosing the way of
self-denial and doing God's will consistently day after day, week after week
and year after year.
Consider
the spiritual state of two brothers (both converted to Christ on the same day),
ten years after their conversion. One is
now a mature brother with spiritual discernment, to whom God can commit much
responsibility in the church. The other
is still a child, without discernment, and needing to be fed and encouraged by
others constantly.
What is
it that has made such a difference between the two?
The
answer is: The little decisions that they took during each day of the ten
years of their Christian life.
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If they
continue on the same way, in another ten years, the difference between them
will be even more pronounced. And in
eternity, their differing degrees of glory will be as different as the light
emitted by a 2000 watt bulb and a 5 watt bulb!
"One star
differs from another in glory" (1 Cor. 15:41).
Consider
a situation where you are visiting a home and you are tempted to say something
negative about a certain brother (whom you don't like) who is not present. What do you do? Will you yield to that temptation and
backbite, or will you deny yourself and keep your mouth shut? Nobody ever gets struck down by God with
leprosy or cancer just because they spoke evil about someone. No.
And therefore many imagine that such a sin will not destroy their lives. Alas, it is only in eternity that many
brothers and sisters will realise how every time they pleased themselves, they
destroyed themselves a little. Then they
will regret the way they wasted their lives on earth.
Jesus too
was tempted in similar situations for thirty years in Nazareth. It is written about those hidden years that
"He never pleased Himself" at any time (Rom. 15:3). He always denied Himself. Thus He pleased the Father at all times.
Pleasing
oneself can be done in many areas of one's life - for example, in the area of
eating. Consider a situation where, even
when you are not hungry, you decide to spend some money to buy some tasty
snacks to eat. There is nothing sinful
or wrong in that. But it speaks of a
certain way of life. Because you have
money, you buy what you like, whether you need it or not. You do what pleases yourself. If you feel like buying something, you buy
it. If you feel like going somewhere,
you go. If you feel like sleeping late,
you sleep late. What is the end result
of living like that, even if you go regularly to the meetings and read your Bible
every day? You may not lose your
salvation, but you will certainly waste the one life that God gave you to live
for Him.
Another
brother however acts differently. He
decides to discipline his body. When he
is not hungry, he decides not to eat anything unnecessarily. He decides never to buy any unnecessary
things for himself. He decides to get up
15 minutes earlier each day to spend time with God. When someone speaks to him angrily, he
decides to reply gently. He decides to
remain in love and goodness always. He decides
not to read certain news items in the newspapers that will stimulate his
lusts. In every situation, he decides to
humble himself and not to justify himself.
He decides to give up certain friendships that are influencing him
towards the world. Through constantly
deciding to deny his own will (what pleased him), he becomes strong in his will
to please God alone.
What did
he lose by not buying that unnecessary thing, or getting out of bed 15 minutes
earlier, or by giving up his human sense of dignity and asking for
forgiveness? Nothing. But think of what
he has gained!
A man
like that, who is consistently faithful in the little things will in a few
years' time become a trustworthy man of God - not because of the
Bible-knowledge that he possesses, but because of his faithfulness in the
little decisions he takes in life not to please himself but to please God.
Don't be
weak-willed then. Exercise your will to
please God at all times. Mature
Christians are those who "because of practice (in exercising their will in
the right direction through many years) have their senses trained to discern
good and evil" (Heb. 5:14).
Consider a illustration: Two fat
men go to a doctor to remove their flabbiness.
The doctor gives them a course of exercises for the next twelve
months. One man goes through the
discipline of those exercises consistently every day, and slims down and
becomes strong. The other man does the
exercises for the first few days and then slackens off and finally gives up
altogether. His pot-belly gets fatter
and fatter with his indisciplined ways, until he finally dies prematurely. This is an illustration
of how we can make our wills strong to do God's will, or leave them flabby and
weak for the devil to exploit.
I
remember reading once of a young servant of the Lord who felt that he had been
watching too much television (even though he had been watching only clean
programs), and who decided one day not only to sell his TV set, but also to use
the time he had spent watching TV, in prayer every day. As a direct result of that little decision
that he took - and maintained - God gave him a ministry that blessed thousands.
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Those who
see nothing wrong in watching clean programmes over TV, find that God does not
entrust them with much - for He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him
and there is no partiality with Him.
Yes, you
are what you are today because of the many, many little decisions they you have
taken in relation to either denying yourself or pleasing yourself in the areas
of food, money, sleep, reading, etc.
Time is
running out fast. Those who are over
forty years of age, and who have spent their lives pleasing themselves cannot
expect to do much for God now, for they have wasted the best years of their
lives. Those past years of your life are
gone - gone forever. Even Almighty God
cannot restore them to you. But if you
repent even now, you may yet be able to do something useful for God with the
second half of your life.
But I
want to speak primarily to those who are still in their teenage years and in
their twenties. Let me tell you that God
wants to bless you in such a way that you become a blessing to others. He wants to entrust an important ministry in
His church to you by the time you are thirty or thirty five years old. But will He find you faithful in the next ten
years or so of your life, so that He can accomplish His will in your life?
If you
determine to be faithful from now on, you will have no regrets in eternity, no
matter how much you may have failed in your past life up until now. Take life seriously then. Think of how Jesus lived in the days of His
flesh in Nazareth, and follow His example.
Say to yourself, "I have been born on this earth, to DENY my
own will, and to do the will of my Heavenly Father."
Do you
think the devil will allow you to take seriously what I am telling you
now? No. He will tell you that there is
plenty of time. He will tell you that
such a life of self denial will be a strain.
He will tell you that God doesn't mind you enjoying yourself, or
indulging yourself a little bit here and there.
He will tell you to take it easy, etc., etc. Why?
Because he wants you to drift aimlessly for the next twenty years, and
to wake up when it is too late. Young
people, don't be fooled by Satan. God
has given you only one life, and time is running out fast. Don't waste it.
You will
find more than enough believers around you (even among those who have
understood the new and living way) who have no interest in living such a
disciplined, wholehearted life. Don't
judge them. Don't be a Pharisee and
despise them. Mind your own business and
don't be a busybody in their affairs.
Believe the best about them and leave them alone. But a the same time don't follow their example. Be different.
Let Jesus alone be your Example.
You have a calling over your life and you cannot afford to lose that, no
matter what else you may lose on this earth.
Think often of the day when you will have to give an account of your
life at the judgment seat of Christ.
So forget
the blunders that you have made in life.
Repent radically of your sins and be wholehearted in the days to
come. God forgives you and blots out
your past. Don't mope over your failures
now, or you will be a drifter in the future too. The memory of your failures will help you to
recognise that you are what you are today only by the grace of God. It will also enable you to keep your face in
the dust at all times before God.
Determine that you will
become a true man / woman of God. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear.
Zac Poonen
Prayer Points
1. Father lord ,empower me to make the right decision in the name of
Jesus.
2. Father lord ,Give me divine wisdom to move my life forward in
the name of Jesus.
3. Lord, help me carry out my decision-making accurately and
profitably in the name of Jesus.
4. I shall not make destructive decisions by the power of the holy
ghost.
5. I dissociate myself my evil counsellors in the name of Jesus.
Declare these Confessions to
yourself:
6. My miracle, this month is not negotiable; it shall manifest in
the name of Jesus
7. This month; God shall execute his divine promise for my life in
the name of Jesus.
8. The enemy shall find it difficult to understand the manner of
God’s blessings in my lord.
9. Throughout the year, I shall be a mysterious wonder, by the
power in the blood of Jesus.
10.
I shall not be used as Sacrifice;
my family shall not be used as sacrificed by the power in the power of Jesus.
Seven Fold Amen
with Faith!!!
Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!