The Choice (Day SIX-30 Day Challenge)

I’m diving right in today. No time to waste. I want you to picture yourself as a child again for just a moment.

Picture yourself playing baseball with a group of kids at recess. You are up to bat. The ball comes towards you. You close your eyes and swing the bat with all the might that you have. To your surprise, you hear the crack of a successful hit. You smile as you open your eyes just in time to see the ball sailing towards…a window in your classroom. The ball crashes through the glass! Sudden panic hits you. What is your instinct? Throw the bat and mingle with the other children. Blend in. Whatever you do…do. not. look. guilty.


Funny thing about guilt. It is almost impossible to hide. If you have gotten good at hiding it…you are on dangerous grounds…and I suggest you flee from your ways. Learn to fight with truth. We were born into this sinful nature that instinctively makes us want to hide when we are wrong. We must fight against. This same sinful nature calls us to stretch the truth. We must fight against. It calls us to blame everyone but who is really responsible. We MUST fight against.

We are loosing battles that God wanted to claim victory over because we aren’t fighting. It is easier not to fight at first. I know. I’ve so been there and done that!  It feels good to go with your natural response. But that good feeling fades so quickly. Immediately sometimes. And you are left feeling ashamed at what you have chosen.


You see the teacher walking towards you. Your eyes are shifting back and forth. You are looking for an escape. You are searching for a hole to dive into. You can’t just stand there! Before you know it the teacher is standing right in front of you. She asks what happened, and the crowd is silent. You are staring into the ground, and she sees. She says your name. Panic. What do you do?


Every day of your life is full of choices. Do you wake up early or do you hit snooze? Do you eat five donuts or do you eat fruit and granola? God gave us free will so that we would CHOOSE HIM! Not just on Sunday. Not just when it is convenient. Not just when we are in crisis. ALWAYS! He created us to worship Him…and we have every day, all day to choose whether we will do it or not.


You are still looking at the ground. You are trying to form an answer. You can choose truth or dare you lie. You can choose life or death with that tongue of yours. All of a sudden a genius idea pops into your head. Blame. It’s not your fault. You didn’t ‘throw’ the ball. It was clearly self-defense. The ball was going to hit you…so you swung. Dare you say it? Will it work? If you can just point your finger with enough conviction…maybe you won’t have to hear yourself breathing anymore out of pure anxiety.

Then just for a moment. You catch the eyes of the one you are about to accuse.   You wonder what would he get in your place? Could you really do it? It is scary that it even crossed your mind. You have not yet sinned…and so you choose.

“I did it. It was an accident.”

Your shame immediately turns to a sigh of relief. Fear is still there, but the weight, the heavy burden of choice has been lifted. You have chosen to put your accusing finger back in its holster. The kids are dismissed and you walk inside with the teacher. 

What does she do? She has a choice too. She takes you to the classroom and hands you a dustpan. She starts to clean the glass and asks you to help. She has not chosen to yell. She has not chosen to get angry. She even thanks you for telling the truth. Your choice of truth has set you free. Even though you are guilty, you do not feel guilty. You had a choice and you fought against the lie of the enemy. God was proud of you that day!


“My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness.” Proverbs 8:7     Sin lover…or sin loather…you choose.

I imagine you have stories of when you have chosen truth and stories of when you have chosen lies. Which one left you feeling satisfied? Which one provided a way out but quickly offered only shame and remorse? It’s not too late. You always have truth. You always have choice. You can still choose truth. Your character is forever being fine tuned. God is refining you so that you are more and more like Him. He sees you drowning in your choice…and He offers a way out. He has not turned against you. He is not ignoring you. That conviction you feel. That is because He refuses to accept less than what He has for you. But this 'free will' always leaves you with a choice. Good or evil.

What lies have you been believing? What half-truths have you been telling? Today I challenge you to choose truth. Whether you got away with your wrong choice or not…you do not have to live in guilt and shame. You still have the truth. You know it. God knows it. You might be nervous or dreading an uncomfortable conversation. But be honest with yourself, you live in discomfort knowing anyway.

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21 You can say you love truth. You can even convince me and those around you that you live truth. But God sees the fruit you are eating. He knows which ones nourish and enrich your life…and which decay and sour the effectiveness of your ministry. It is not too late. It is never too late! Restoration is close. Freedom is right on the tip of your tongue. Have the courage to speak to the mountains you’ve built by choice. It is your choice that got you in that valley…and it is only choice that will remove you from it. Your ministry is waiting for you to live and love what you know. “…if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 Those are the words of Jesus, Himself. They can be trusted! NO thing will be impossible for you. Rise up!

God has great things in store for those who earnestly seek Him. He rejoices when you choose, on purpose, to fight against the scheme of the enemy. He longs to see you defeat. He loves to watch you dodge those fiery darts of the enemy. They fizzle out. They become extinguished because of your choice. Their power to harm you is gone. Who knew that the easiest way to send the enemy retreating in defeat was to choose truth? Righteousness. Trust me…it looks good on everyone! =)

Are you as Sick of Greed as I am?

I have been doing the same chapter in my devotional for much longer than I care to admit. =/ The subject matter is greed…and I guess I am learning a thing or two about my heart. I honestly would’ve never said it was something that I had to ‘work on’. God is in the business of renewing our minds. He wants people to know Him when they meet us. So, we must be cleaned. We must put off our old nature…our old ways…and focus on His likeness and His ways.

The other day I was to the point in the devotional chapter where I look up all the listed verses on the subject matter. I was not super excited to do it. I was thinking when I sat down that I would rather be writing. Oh how wrong I was! I was feeling guilty about not adding any scripture to my last post on greed anyway. I planned too…really I did. Then I got all ‘Jo-Jo the Happy Clown-like’…and hit publish before adding any to my final draft. So today…we will see what the Father says about greed. Let’s dive in…

First off we are going to Proverbs. We all know how much I love a kick in the stomach …I mean Proverbs. Ha-ha…really I do LOVE it!! Promise. I have to love it because I must, as it says in Prov 12:1 “…love discipline”. And I also must love it because of the end of that verse…"he who hates correction is stupid.” This is not the verse I am writing about though. I got off my focus there for just a bit. ;) It is a habit of mine when I recall a story or life event. My friends laugh at it…okay they tolerate it. My husband…not so much. Lol! That is why I must have friends who are women! ;)

Okay really now. Proverbs 15. Apparently, by looking at my Bible, I want to remember most of this chapter. I have almost every verse underlined or starred. Beside some of them I wrote what God spoke to me when I first read them. Verse 27 is the one we are looking at for today. “A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live.” Hmmm…trouble? Or life? Which would you willingly choose. Which one ARE you choosing? Intentions mean little if the reality of your heart leads to death.

Don’t be a sin lover…be a sin LOATHER! Found that written in my Bible today beside Prov. 17:19…and I love it! Sin IS a big deal. We need to become aware of how the enemy has been getting to us. When God reveals him to us…it then becomes our position, as heir to the Throne of Grace, to overcome. Revelations from God are for a purpose. To teach. To train. To free. To shed light into the dark.

Only a fool would see the Light, know the Light, trust the Light, and still sprint into the unknown darkness. You can’t trust that darkness. You have no idea what is trying to snatch you. Or trip you. Or kill you. When you stay in the Light though…you can see clearly, the scheme of the enemy. You can laugh at his pitiful attempt. You can crush him beneath you. Because you are not weak when you are in the Light of your Father!

Next we are onto another Proverb. This one found in chapter 28, verse 25, “A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper.” Dissension huh? Let’s define that so that we know if we are a stirrer of it or not. Webster says dissension is defined as, “to disagree; think differently in opinion; strife; quarreling”
We would not allow our children to stir up strife. To quarrel. Sometimes the rules are different for us. It goes back to the word justified. “I am justified in my actions because of how they treated me.” To our children…it is simple. You are saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Ouch. Sorry if that truth stings a bit. I’m with ya. I want to live as I want them to learn!

On we go to 1 Corinthians. In chapter 6 verses 9-11…are some harsh realities. Realities that we dare not tempt with! Let’s read them to be sure they are not masked to you! “9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters not adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, your were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ of our God.” (NIV)

That is quite the list huh? I can go through it and KNOW that I am in the clear on most of those. I imagine you can do the same. But what about that word ‘greedy’. If I am finding myself be struggling with masked greed…where does that leave me? I KNOW that I am learning. I KNOW that I am repentful. And I KNOW that I am washed. Sanctified. Without blemish before my King. So I will beat this. You, beloved one, YOU can do the same. If you are feeling convicted…run toward God, not away. He has all that you need!


Mighty Warrior. Do you feel as though you are a warrior who cowers from battle? Or are you are warrior who conquers them?! Ephesians 6:12 reminds us who our battle is against. “…against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  That leaves you in a place of power over your battles. You have access to resources much more powerful than what the enemy can throw at you. Choose your battle. Choose your weapon. Death or life is in the tongue. The Word of God...always sheds light.