It’s Your Choice

(I WANT TO ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO READ THE ENTIRE CHAPTER 30 AND SEE WHAT IT TALKS ABOUT REGARDING THE BLESSINGS AND THE CURSES)

Deuteronomy 30:19–20 NKJV

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

. Notice firstly it says that you and your descendants may live, this is so very important. The things decisions and the choice that you make can and will directly effect your descendants there is no maybe about it. which is why the decision between life and death is such an important one its so much bigger than just us.

. This is something that i very strongly believe, God has given us the choice between life and death, every single day each of of make choices to accept either life and good things or death and bad things.

. Free will is a gift that God gave us from the very beginning to make our own choices, you have the power to determine the direction of your life.

. Something else that i have been learning especially over the last year, is that we need to learn to live with the future in mind, because the choice that you make today either life or death will directly effect your tomorrow.

. and a lot of this is determined by the words that we speak each day, whether or focus in positive or negative.

. what you speak over yourself today and even what you speak over other people today will shape your tomorrow and will also shape their tomorrow.

. if you choose to speak life over yourself today, then tomorrow you are more likely to look positively about yourself. The same goes for other people the life that you speak over them today will give them hope for tomorrow ( and even if that person is not around you, you will have a more positive picture of that person tomorrow.

. have you every noticed how your thoughts about yourself drastically snowball depending on what you allow yourself to say about yourself. and eventually it just gets out of control

(give a detailed example)

. Jesus gives us another example of the power of our words in

Matthew 12:36–37 NKJV

But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

. For every word that we speak we will have to give an account ( this can be a really scary thought!) which is saying that the words that you choose to speak are incredibly important and have great power.

.according to verse 37 by the words that you choose to speak you will either be justified or you will be condemned. now check out the meaning of those two words Justified and Condemned!

Justified: to declare innocent or guiltless, absolve, acquit. which all speak of freedom and life.

Condemned: To be sentenced to a particular punishment, especially death, to be pronounced guilty, sentenced to punishment. which all speak about death and punishment.

. Its a common thought that its really only what we do that matters, or that it will be our actions more than anything else that will lead to life over death.

. But i honestly believe that the words that we speak have much more power than our actions, as Jesus said it is by your WORDS that you will either be justified or condemned.

. I want to backtrack slightly today and look again at a part of the first verse that we read

Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

. No matter who you are, and regardless of what you have said about yourself and believed about yourself until now, you have people around you i your life that look up to you. every single person in this place is a leader in the eyes of somebody! (Children are the most obvious ones, but you would be surprised by how many others take note of what you say!) example of Bridget in Melbourne

. and as a leader each and everyday the decisions that you make and the words that you speak are choosing wither life or death for you and for those who are following you.

. Even the words that you choose to speak over yourself and the choice you make for you between life and death. will impact the choice of life and death for the people that you influence.

. You might think lowly of yourself, but in the eyes of your children (or others that you influence) you are the most amazing person in the world. and to hear you choose death/ condemnation for yourself, will lead them to believe the same about themselves.

.In their eyes if the most amazing person is the world thinks there so bad, what chance do i have?

. You might be listening to this today and be thinking what a load of trash, im not choosing life or death for myself or others just by the words i speak.

.But im telling you that my experience has taught me that this is 100% true, and i think this is one of the most simple things to work towards that we CAN change, its not easy but it can be simple.

Proverbs 18:21 NKJV

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

. This is not something that i want to touch on once ( and we have talked about this in passing this year) but i believe God wants me to teach this, until it takes hold, teach this until it starts to change, teach this until LIFE is being chosen in this place.

. Even the words you speak about your God, dictates the effectiveness of your faith and how much life you will experience. but maybe that for another week.

.