Importance of decisions

About 3-5 times a week we have a conversation around the breakfast table that normally focuses around some sort of Biblical instruction. These are special times for me as they generally open up the doorway to "the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation" in the answering of them. Always good to hear the "we small voice" and marvel at how Scriptural applications come alive. We think that this is a "normal" expectation from Scripture and the receiving of one of the precious promises of God. We Truly believe in "Emmanuel" God "WITH" us and in us by faith.
As stated in earlier posts, at the present time, we have been seeing many of the prayers from our early years of conversion coming to pass in a landslide effect. Prayers that were asked with passion 30-38 yrs ago are now "manifesting" their answers, with all such answers being "yes and amen." We are sure that the answers were yes when they were prayed, (in God there is no time), but manifest "in our time" as we have very specific times living in this creation, and so even though no answer came at their origin, answers were right on time (our time) in their answering, God's will being done. Because of this we would "instruct, encourage and command" the praying of all prayers with gravity and passion knowing that placing them in the "timeless" God's hands will secure a redeeming, willful answer in His (more so our) time. The Holy Spirit being faithful (as we have found) to remind us of the very memory of when they were prayed and the fervent passion behind them.
With that being said we shall commence with the body of this post: Decisions!
Jesus said in Matthew 19:8
"He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so!" This post is not about divorce but decisions, divorce is a topic I will dispel at another time.
Jesus set the example of going back to "the beginning" to find Scriptural answers for difficult questions. Thus it is the same for "all Biblical Truths" when Scripture needs verification as to application.
Biblical decisions, for all applications, need to be made rooted and grounded in Love, recognizing that God is Love and His Word is Truth, so thereby all our decisions "must" be made with Scripture as it's base and guide. This is not subject to "our own opinions" lest we miss the leading of the Holy Spirit and then they become only "doctrines of man." At best: weak, misleading, and sinful. Deceiving many and rendering the Body of Christ powerless. Much the case today, like with the Pharisee's and priests, along with other "religious" leaders of their time, in the time leading up to and including the life of Christ. Hundreds of years of downhill backsliding until their applications turned from the service of Love to the craving of lust. No longer the help meets for God's chosen people but task masters over them. As I have said "the same happening since Christ and leading up to our time."
Lets make clear this point which is relevant to all mankind since creation till now: "Do not be deceived God will not be mocked", the devil is a liar and has been trying to usurp authority over man in place of God, since man came out of the earth and God breathed breath into him. The devil tried this first in heaven when he led the rebellion against God and was cast down. Now he is here and we are his intended targets to show God we cannot abide in His Love and that our hearts are turned against Him in rebellion. Oh the depths of Unconditional Love that binds God by His decision to love us, both His chosen people by law, and His bought people by Christ the law of Love as long as this creation shall exist.
The only Being that has always existed is God, the Trinity or God Head. God the father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, one God, three presentations so that we can have a basis to comprehend (by His Spirit) who He is. This 3 in 1 presentation has always existed because God is without time and He always knew (Omniscience) that He would put His plan into creation (reality) so that we, (His created), would be able to recognize, (with His Spirits help) the who, what, when, where, how and why of the Divine Revelation of Emmanuel "God with us." This also has the application that, just by looking at creation itself (our proof that "God is") we might "seek after Him and find Him when we seek with all our hearts." Finding Him is the passion and directive of our lives as long as we are in His creation. Knowing Him, not by sight but by faith, not by study (for who carnal can understand the mind of God but the Holy Spirit), but by "revelation", not by imagination but by "experience", thereby God holding on to His deity to bless those who seek with all their hearts with the wonderful "revelation" of Himself, in all wisdom and understanding by His Spirit.
So we can see, and be encouraged, that by that one decision made by God in eternity He has set the course for our creation to be blessed. Of all His creation man is the only one that He lavished with His love by giving us a soul, (already knowing the wickedness that would exist in our hearts), and already having Jesus (the Word, His Son) always present with Him to accomplish the redemption sacrifice He fore knew that we would need. I pray that the Holy Spirit would give you His Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you can comprehend the depth, width, length, and height of this eternally existing plan set in the for knowledge that He knew our rebellion from beginning (of creation), till the end of days. Set the thought that He set all this in motion knowing the many billions of men, women and children would reject His deity, Love, commands, and blessings to have their own way during their lifetimes, even rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, the "free" offering of complete forgiveness and the promise of eternal reunion with Him for all eternity. That's what makes His Love "Unconditional!" In all of Biblical recorded history no sacrifice so great has ever made mankind so valuable as to be redeemed. "Such Love, such wondrous Love!"
The big picture would be made clearer by the fact that from the time "in the beginning" was first penned by Moses the theme of "blood redemption" was set in place. From then on all of Biblical records assert the unchangeable need for a "blood redemption" to reunite mankind back with our Heavenly Father both Old Testament  and New.  The New Testament ushered in the "final" sacrifice of Jesus Christ to accomplish the True Remission of sin that would last forever, wherein we enter into His sacrifice by faith holding onto our "free reward" of eternal life. More amazingly this remarkable "redemption" is offered (needed by all) to the most vile offender or to the most pure of heart.
A good start for a look at "the importance of making Biblical decisions", the first one being expressed by God toward us. Notice the fact that it was shown in eternity, a never ending promise, as "ours should be!"
So where do we come in this "decision making" with this starting example?
First thought: Scripture absolutely "must" be our basis for making decisions. God's Word is His instruction book for our lives during our span in His creation. We need to know it like the back of our hand. We are commanded (just like salvation) to receive by faith all that the Bible says, (commands may be a better, more accurate, word than says.) Scripture was written by holy men led by the Holy Spirit and all it's Words are True. COMMANDS, NOT SUGGESTIONS! They "demand" obedience not just a place for consideration. Like it or not, personal affront or not, your opinion doesn't matter. "Let God be True and all men liars." Jesus even set the "intensity of severity" about how important this is by showing that obedience proves our love for Him whether or not it is "felio" or whether or not it is "agape." "If you Love me you will obey my (His, Jesus) commands, and my commands are not grievous." What does "not grievous" mean? It means the benefactor who receives the promises/blessings of obeying the commands did not partake in the action that it took to establish said command, in this case the brutal carnage that Jesus paid on the cross to take upon Himself the "sins of the world" from the beginning to the end. And to top it off we only have to believe by "faith" to enter in to the blessed promise of eternal life, and then to receive all the other blessings and promises God has ordained/promised us to inherit. Everything God has for us in Christ Jesus is "free by faith" if we ask, seek and knock with all our hearts. God awaits our obedience so He can freely bless, empower, and direct our paths to glorify Him, Jesus, and the Truth of His "deliverance" manifested through His Word. This is why we must have "His Word en-grafted into our hearts." If we Love Jesus we will Love His Word as Jesus is the "Word that became flesh and dwelt among us." The Holy Spirit will come alongside and "guide us into all Truth" as His mission is to "remind us of all things Jesus said and done." Love of God and Christ opens the door of our hearts to better know Scripture with the power of the Holy Spirit to "bring to recall" the very "Words of Christ."
So what are some of the other "Biblical decisions" we are commanded to observe?
Lets take the first Scriptures that "lump" many of the (commands) together and spoken by Jesus Christ before His Resurrection:
Mark 16:14-20
14 "Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen.
15 And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name "shall they" cast out devils; "they shall" speak with new tongues;
18 "They shall" take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; "they shall" lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen.
Some call this "the Great Commission", sure, but thus far how has this "Great Commission" motivated you to perform it??? Are you "having at it" yet? With vigor? With passion? So we have been "robed" with this "Commission" do you know what it really demands? Do you know what it really "COMMANDS"?
What I find most fascinating about Scripture is that so many read it like they were reading just another book, not recognizing that this is the Pure True Word of the Lord God almighty to us, you, me, everyone, with "eternal life saving" information which "must" be attended to. Must, Must, Must!
Take this Scripture in Mark 16:14-20. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" that is about as far as the sermon goes. Then it's off and running about just that one statement. But then Scripture sets forth "how and what will follow."
The following is just a reprint of the above:
Believe, be baptized, AND these signs SHALL FOLLOW them that believe, "they shall" cast out devils, (not maybe, not possibly), simply "they shall", "they shall" (like it or not) speak with new tongues, "they shall" (it happened to Paul) take up serpents, AND drinking of any deadly thing shall not harm them, (this could describe the type of death True Believers might suffer for the faith), "they shall" lay hands on the sick and they "shall" recover!
These are "COMMANDS" within (part of) the "Great Commission." You cannot believe the one part "Go" without the other verses "they shall". Believe it or not, like it or not, "so is it written." We are not talking about some novel, this is the "All Powerful, Eternal, Never Changing, Word of God spoken by His Son Jesus Christ as the last thing that He said before ascending up to sit on the right hand of God. It couldn't be more emphatic than that! The last Words He gave to His disciples, His closing statement to be written then obeyed by all coming believers till the end of time. Well thought out and to the point Powerful.
I am sure that these latter verses have sent many a congregation a run'n to a safe or cry room as we call them today. When we say we are "believers" in the Lord Jesus we are saying we are believers in God's Word that became flesh "Jesus." No small confession. Lives have been at stake for believing that and are still today.
This posting so far reveals to us just how important "decisions" are that we make. Every decision has consequences throughout our "journey", here, now, with effects following in our progeny and those around us.
Our decisions to "believe" the entire Word of God by faith, without the need to understand everything immediately is just part of the Great Commission. Notice that the "signs following", those "they shall" commands are God's part to do, not ours, but they follow our "obedience" in striving to satisfy by grace the Great Commission. As always in Scripture: God commands, we obey, He performs, His promises and His Word cannot be broken. The performance of His Word by us through faith, then His power is "ONE" Word. There is no pick and choose, it's all or nothing. That's why some believers have little or nothing of the manifestation of God in presence or power. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen." The lack of obedience leaves our Christian lives fruitless and after many years of disobedience to His Word and lack of faith we feel "uninspired", tired, asking "is this what it's supposed to be like?" Well no it isn't. The Book of Acts was placed where it was between the Gospels and the Epistles to recount what normal Christianity was portrayed as. If it wasn't True God wouldn't of put it there. Lets face it God has put up (by Unconditional Love) with this application by His people (both OT and NT) of lack of faith simply because we refuse to believe His whole Word. Do you not recall Scripture says that not one dot of the i or one cross of the t can be missed of His Word? If anything can be argued that is has stopped being valid in Scripture for today then God has changed and salvation is on the chopping post as to whether is is still relevant today.
I can assure you that God's Word is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and salvation through Jesus Christ is still the only True and Living way into God's presence and heaven its self.
Other Biblical decisions to be addressed with agreement by faith:
Prophesy, tongues, revelation by the Holy Spirit, Word of Wisdom, Word of Faith, Word of Knowledge, dreams, visions, multiplication of food, changing water to wine, raising the dead, the healing of the sick, anointing with oil, in fact Jesus said that "these things I do ye shall do also and greater because I go to my Father in Heaven." And it was said of Him by John 21:25 "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."
These verses represent the depth of the promises that God promised to us through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
You will not receive any of them unless you, by faith, believe the whole Word of God. Believing does not mean that you know every detail of the written Word of God, but it means that you "know the Word of God, Jesus" and believe on Him (all of Him) and His promises to be received.
Fully believing in Jesus at my Salvation experience opened the door to Unconditional Love, and many manifestations that I was not even familiar with in Scripture yet. When I prayed for Salvation I immediately set my heart fully on Jesus and from that second on heard and knew God's Holy Spirits we small voice and received all of His benefit for myself and others. God teaching me daily what I needed to know and setting in me the decision to by faith participate in His Great Commission for my life.
Where will your decisions lead you from here on out?
Lets find out. Read Scripture (not books about Scripture) and believe that the Words written in there where written just for you...........
Love
Jerry and Elise