Making Choices

My Utmost For His Highest

 

“Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.” CHAMBERS

 

Yesterday on our way to Port au Prince, we stopped at a little restaurant run by a Christian ministry. As I waited for our order to be put together, I noticed Proverbs 3:5-6 written on their chalkboard menu.  I told the woman serving me that it was one of my favorite verses.  It was a pleasant reminder that God is my source for everything … He is the provider … driving around Haiti there are constant written reminders of God’s presence.  On trucks, buses, and even business names (Merci Jezi [thank you Jesus] Auto Parts).  But at the same time that you see so much written – public acknowledgement of Jesus and the Father, there is clearly a lack of living in obedience to the Word of God.  It is the same way in the U.S. We have built expensive monuments to God – churches – we have put acknowledgement to God even on our money …. but when you look at the culture and what it says is right and what it does … we see a clear lack of obedience.

 

Proverbs 3:5-6 is about trusting choosing God’s way or choosing man’s way.  You face that choice every day, many times during the day. It is a decision of your will.  It starts with laying down the rights to your life .. every day. To trust God means to choose Him over yourself … to reject your feelings and desires and to choose God instead.  It seems to be a difficult life to many because they do not want to give their life up.

 

Jesus said “ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)

 

I SURRENDER ALL  “All to Jesus I surrender.  All to Him I freely give.  I will ever love and trust Him.  In His presence daily live.  I surrender all. All to Thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all”

 

That song is usually sung at the end of a service to encourage  the unsaved to place their faith in Jesus.  Perhaps it should be sung at the beginning of the service instead .. for everyone.

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)