Jan 21 - Choose This Day

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

(Deuteronomy 30:11-20)


God, you have truly given us a choice to choose life and to pursue it. As one person prayed this morning, we can see those who are in sexual sin having opportunity to give themselves to sin and instead choosing God; we can see a whole nation of people faced with decisions between life and death and choosing life in God; We can see the addict faced with the continued destruction of their life and their relationships and choosing God. Make it so Lord.

Let our hearts be like Joshua who declared "Choose this day whome you will serve," and the psalmist who implored us "Today, would you hearken to his voice!" Today, we want to choose life instead of death. Today we want to hold fast to him. We want the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts in a new way today. He's done wonderful things in us in the past. The Bible is packed full of promises that He is going to fulfill. But we want to be expectant that he is working in our lives today. God I want you to do your work in my life today.

We also prayed that God would use our church to minister to a wider range of the least, the lost, and the lonely. We have been blessed to be able to minister to the homeless and partner with Teen Challenge. But let's not stop there. Can God use our little church to reach both those who have been abused, raped, beaten and those who have attacked, molested, and destroyed? Can we be a church were the abused and the abuser are both forgiven at the foot of the Cross? Can we be open to it and watch God do his work through us?

Choose this day to let God use each one of us to spread his love to our community.