Everybody wants to live but not everybody chooses life. It's one thing to believe in Christ. We all know that Christ is the life. But it's another thing to follow Him.
Choosing life is a path, and it's the path Jesus was laying out when He begin to tell people how to live, the most important criteria in terms of finding life. Life is not about what you acquire, it's not about the things, even though the Lord because of His goodness, His generosity, and because He created all things for us, because of those things, but the real quality of life is found in Christ. But believing in Him doesn't automatically give you access to Him, you must walk the road. There's so many people, they want life but they haven't chosen it, which means they haven't chosen to forgive, and so they're walking around with the bitterness and the issues that the bitterness caused in their heart begins to follow them in their life. The right that they feel they have their bitterness becomes the issue that they got to deal with in their life, the fear that they have because they don't know the love of God or because through unforgiveness- some people not walking in forgiveness. It doesn't mean that you're not forgiven, it doesn't mean that He doesn't love you, but what's happening is, it's affecting your life. Don't think you cannot do what the Lord says, and think you're gonna obtain the quality of life that He intends for you to have, you've got to be willing to walk that path- the quality of life in terms of the freedom that is available in Christ in terms of the love, the peace, the boldness, the confidence. When was the last time you're like, "I'm in Christ." and discovered the richness of what that phrase means, instead of always needing something in your life to be repaired. The fact that Christ is with you is not as significant as your need for this thing or for that. But what happens is this, when you begin to choose life, all of the things that are upsetting you or turning you over and flipping you upside down, you get to a point wherein, that don't even matter no more. There are certain things that you got to let go. But there are some people who have things that have been holding them for years, and its been holding you hostage, and it's been keeping you in a form a bondage, it's been putting limitations on what God desires to do to your life. Because people don't really know how the kingdom works and when God tells you to do something He means it. Oftentimes people seem to think that "I don't really have to listen to what the Lord tells me to do, He loves me and I can just do what I want and because He is God almighty, then I can put no limitations on God." But the Bible clearly says is that even the children of Israel, they limited the God of heaven by their unbelief, He couldn't do what He wanted to do because of them.
Sometimes we think that the enemy is in our way, and it's us, it's us in our way because we've been refusing to; you've been holding on to things thinking that it's giving you an edge but it's only been giving you a hindrance- holding this grudge, bitterness, unforgiveness, choosing not to do what the Lord said. Do you know how often the Lord spoke of unforgiveness? And He spoke of it because these become the most significant things that impair your ability to receive or touch what's in His heart for you. He said if you are walking around with this and you won't see it but it doesn't mean that God won't do anything for you, so yes God will come through on your last minute rent, He'll send somebody to bring you food so that you don't go all the way under but you're not in the place where you are above only. So it's a difference between being sustained and eating at the table.
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
Which means this- you get to choose, because I'm going to put them both before you, but you get to choose.
Remember, they are already children of God, they were already the seed of Abraham, the seed of Isaac, the seed of Jacob, they were already the chosen. But in God's omnipotence, He didn't do what He could have done for them, not because He was unable, but because they didn't listen. They were already under covenant is what I'm saying. You can be under covenant, but not under the blessing because when Jesus made it very clear that if you don't forgive, neither will My Father forgive you. See, you can be under covenant but not receiving the benefits of covenant, because of the issues in your heart. God's not restraining you, what's in your heart is. What you got going on your heart is important, because there is a freedom in Christ. There is a freedom in Christ that the Lord wants you to touch, that want you to have so intensely. Why? Because it becomes the greatest testimony of who Christ is. Remember when the Lord says this, when He opened up the Bible and the Torah in the synagogue and He turned to the book of Isaiah and He read that chapter "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me" One of the primary things that you read in that portion of the scripture is how He has been sent to set the captives free, to bind up the brokenhearted. One of the things about the Lord is He can't take from you what you don't give to Him. Meaning not that He won't come and just deliver you, some people have supernatural deliverances and all those things, but for the most part, the Lord will come and ask you, "What do you want Me to do for you? Have you had enough of those things that have been limiting you? Have you had enough already? You seen the dead end that these issues of your heart have continued to bring you into, have you had enough are you ready to give it to Me? Because you will do more for Me free that you will ever do bound." We've all come across these bound pastors and preachers, and even myself, when I was battling some things, I wasn't at my best. Even though the Lord will give me a word, guess what will start coming out, my issues, my frustration with the wilderness, my frustration, even though I would be speaking, even though the word would originate from the Holy Spirit in terms of what the Lord was telling me to do, eventually what will start coming out is my issues, my frustration with the wilderness, my frustration with the things I was going through. It didn't change the fact that I was anointed, that I wasn't called, it didn't change none of that. I was all that but the issues have placed a parameter that the Lord would not allow me to see the potential of my ministry until I was willing to lay down the issues.
As you begin to say Lord, I'm no longer willing to hold on to that unforgiveness, that bitterness, I'm no longer willing to hold on Lord but I give it to you and I choose freedom, I choose life, I'm ready to live. I thought the grudges was keeping me, was allowing me to have an advantage over somebody else, but the grudges were really keeping me bound, keeping me from soaring. The grudges were clipping my wings so I couldn't fly and I couldn't discover what it means to be free in Christ, I couldn't touch what it meant to be free in Christ. So the Lord doesn't want it to be a hypothesis, He wants it to be in actuality. He doesn't want it to be something that you are surmising and that you are just reading from the text with no experience in. We really learn and grow from who Christ is and the truth. And we grow out of that and we give God all the glory because He reveals the truth which when we come into agreement with and submit to it takes us out of the area of stink but the stink itself will never cause you to grow. Those things in itself cannot benefit you unless you overcome them and those issues, those nasty things in our heart they don't cause us to grow unless we overcome them and we overcome them by the truth. Them things in itself are, they're bad things, they're hindrances and by themselves they don't cause us to grow unless the Lord delivers us out of it then we can say wow Lord look at how you did that and we see how the growth comes from learning how we got there understanding what held us back learning about those things and that gives us growth because now I've become too great for those things to constrain me anymore. But it's the truth that does that, it's the word of God that does that, it's the Spirit of the Lord.
Those who believe, isn't it amazing how you can still have a relationship with the Lord but still not be touching the fullness of the Lord. You can still know He loves you while you holding bitterness. You can still know that the Lord is with you, you still believe in Christ, the Lord will still help you out all while you're not experiencing the greater that He has for you, the above and beyond. And that becomes the thing and we think that we can just pray our way out of it but in actuality all you need to do is choose life, but choosing life is a path in itself. Choosing life is a road that we have to walk. I must forgive because You told me to forgive, that's high on the kingdom agenda. It's high. You want to enter into the kingdom? You're not going in with unforgiveness and the kingdom of God is where you experience the greater level of life that is in Christ.
You got to know that being in the kingdom is different than being outside the kingdom. There's different benefits. There's a different expression of life being inside the kingdom versus being outside the kingdom. And those issues are what keep you outside the kingdom and the best of God is reserved for the kingdom folks.
The Bible talks about in Ephesians 3 the different levels of Christ, where Paul is saying that Christ will dwell in our hearts by faith and that as we get exposed to the breadth and the width and the height.
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Which means this, there's a greater capacity for us to be able to receive that there's a road that we got to walk rooted and grounded in love. That's a tough one especially for us because we are alive in the age where iniquity is abounding the love of many is waxing cold.
The Lord puts before us life and death and we get to choose. But choosing life is more than just our profession, that's one part but the other thing is what we allow the Lord to remove out of our hearts when we pray with the Holy Spirit to let go of that unforgiveness, that bitterness, those things that are actually causing these issues that are setting barriers in our life for out of the heart becomes the issues of life. These things have set barriers when you look up the word issue it speaks of a barrier so they become restraints.
And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:
How did He rejoice over Abraham, over Isaac, over Jacob? When we were born again, the Lord rejoiced over us. The Bible talks about how there was singing in the presence of the angels for everyone who was born again, for everyone who repents and turns back to the Lord, there is rejoicing which means that it is the Lord rejoicing. And what the Lord talks about here is that there is a rejoicing over you again as we so easily beset us let go of the issues that we have held in our hearts that have been setting the limitations that has not allowed us to experience the much more that is available in God, the much more that is available in Christ. It has created barriers because everybody wants to live but not everybody chooses life. When you begin to choose life the Lord brings you into a greater place in Him.
Even the issues create open doors for the enemy to come into our life. When Jesus gave the parable of the man who refused to forgive, who had the king had forgiven him for roughly 500 hundred thousand dollars worth of debt, but then he found a man who owed him about 500 hundred dollars and he had him locked up, well the king's servants saw that and reported it back to the king. The king said you wicked servant tossed him into torment which means his unforgiveness opened the door for the spirit to abuse him. Choosing life is so important.
Even as you begin to lay down those burdens, those issues, the Lord says, "I'm returning My rejoicing over you, I'm gonna rejoice over you like I rejoiced over Abraham, like I did over your fathers." And what the Lord wants to do is exceedingly and above, beyond what you can ask or think. But as you begin to submit to God and begin to release those roots of bitterness, begin to release those issues of the heart, that those erroneous mindsets and those things that have kept you out of the much more of Christ that is available, because you haven't been rooted and grounded in love, as you begin to let go of those things that once shaped your personality, that once shaped your character, as you begin to let go of those things the Lord says, "I'm opening the door to freedom in Me. Freedom in Me that will bear a witness that is worthy of Me." Don't we all want to give a witness of God that is worthy of Him? Haven't we all known those bitter Christians those hate-filled judgmental overly critical Christians haven't we all known them and were discouraged by them? They didn't reflect the highest glory of God. For me to reflect the highest glory of God is for me to be free in Him. Why? Because His ministry was about setting the captives free. So everybody talks about, "I want to glorify God." But then you want to get that freedom because the freedom is what glorifies Him, because His ministry was centered around setting the captives free, breaking the chains. Your platform don't glorify God if your issues have you bound. That's what really glorifies Christ is my freedom in Him. The freedom that I discover in Him. That's what He wants so they can see the One who sets the captives free. He doesn't want you bound. And not only does He not want you bound because He wants you free, but He doesn't want you bound because He doesn't want those issues creating barriers or limitations in your life for what He wants to do through you, to you, and the places He wants to take you. And so the Lord is saying to you today, "I'm rejoicing over you again as you lay down that unforgiveness, that bitterness, as you begin to lay down all those issues of your heart and of your life as you begin to lay those down I'm gonna pick them up."
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