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With God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26 NIV)Angie Lewis (13,797)     Angie Lewis   Heaven Ministries Why Do Some People Make Foolish Choices? (Part 4 of 4)Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (3 days 16 hours ago.) Viewed 24 times. So how do we stop making foolish choices? When we realize being a slave to sin is not what we really want for our life. When we finally figure out that fleeting sinful pleasures and chasing after money is not where happiness lies. To make wise choices means you must rely on Gods presence in your daily life. In other words you must allow the word of God to develop in you and put His guidance into action. This is how a Christian allows Gods wisdom to decide the moral and ethical decisions for them. God doesn't want you to only listen to the word while sitting down in Church. He wants you to be The Word! He wants you to apply The Word into your life. An example of this is in when you become tempted into a situation you know is not right for you. God tells you to run away from temptation. What are you going to do? Will you let the word of God enhance and shape your life, or are you going to turn away from God's wisdom and do what you want? Another example would be having faith enough to give your issues and problems over to prayer and letting the Holy Spirit within you to help shape your decisions. Are you making wise choices for your life? Ask yourself these questions next time you are up against tough choices and decisions that affect your life. Are Your Choices Wise? * Does this choice help me witness for Christ? * Am I motivated by this choice for myself or to help others * Does it help me to do my best? * Is it against a specific command in scripture? * Is it the best and most beneficial choice of action? * Am I acting lovingly or selfishly? * Does this choice glorify God or me? * Will this choice cause someone else to sin? Relationship with the Lord Having a personal relationship with the Lord will be the most important element of your Christian walk. You absolutely must have a relationship with the Christ if you confess to be a Christian. Are you one of the many people who are afraid to get close to God or have a meaningful relationship with Him? When and if you commit habitual sin in you life do you feel guilty about it later? God has equipped you with a conscience for this very reason. A guilty conscience is a warning signal that goes off in your mind letting you know that you have done wrong. The problem is many people try to eradicate those guilty feelings without eradicating the cause of it. But this is like taking painkillers instead of treating the disease. God wants us to go to the root of why we sin so we can eliminate it from our lives for good. We ought to be thankful to God that most of us can discern foolishness and folly and be aware of right and wrong, so we can finally ask for God's forgiveness and correct the wrong doing in our life. But what happens when we do not have a relationship with God? I believe that without a relationship with God, we'll become even more foolish and do even more stupid things. By not having a connection with the living God perhaps we think we can hide from HIM when we fail Him. But since God is omnipotent it doesn't quite work like that. We can never hide ourselves from God. Some of us are afraid to show ourselves to God because we think we are not worthy of His love. But we are-you are! Know that you were made special and are a very special and unique person in the eyes of God. You know why? He created you and knew you even before you were a twinkle in your mothers eye. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart, says the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:5) God's Son, Jesus Christ opens the way for you to have a special relationship with Him. But perhaps your natural responses to getting to know Jesus are fear because you feel that you cannot live up to God's standards of living. But this is what's so magnificent about God's unconditional love for you; He "really" does love you regardless of what you have done. You can show God how much you "really" love Him by getting to know Him better. You decide what kind of relationship you will have. You relationship will be as powerful as your willingness to give up whatever is holding you back now. It doesn't matter what is keeping you apart from God now, but know that as long as you repent and give that life up, you will be safe under the wings of God your Father forever. You Our Gods Workmanship Remember that you are a work in progress and God is shaping and molding you for His purpose. As a Christian you are forever changing and growing with Him, and hopefully that change is developing your character and helping you to persevere and be more faithful in serving Him and serving others. Yes, you can stop making foolish lifestyle choices-because you can choose to accept God's truth, knowledge and wisdom for your life today! "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do". (Ephesians 2:10) Angie and Frank Lewis http://www.heavenministries.com 
Permalink Comments (1) Why Do Some People Make Foolish Choices? (Part 3 of 4)Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (3 days 16 hours ago.) Viewed 4 times. Does life without God mean freedom? To some people it does. But think about this. Are those people who are enslaved to their sexual lusts free? Are those people who are stuck in the foolish lifestyles free individuals? Are those people who pursue riches free from the control of money and power? They are only free to make choices, but once they make that choice they will have to bear the consequences of their foolish actions. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. Amen. (Romans 1:24-25) Once a Fool Always a Fool? Is it true, once a fool always a fool? Absolutely not! Some of you may have grown up in homes that did not walk in the ways of the Lord, and because of that you are not sure of whom you are, or what your purpose in life is. But let me tell you this. God created you and he is your source for virtually everything under the sun. You can turn away from foolishness and accept Jesus Christ into your life. Repent of your past life and become renewed in knowledge in the image of God. (Colossians 3:10) When you have truly given up your foolish ways, your personal relationship with the Lord will slowly transform your heart and mind and the way you think and view the world around you. You may slowly change the kind of music you listen to, or change the manner of how you dress, or change the kind of programs you watch on television, or give up an addiction that has been controlling you. When you allow yourself to receive God's wisdom and knowledge your character begins to grow and ripen in that knowledge. It doesn't matter how old you are, or what your past looks like. The great news is you can choose to make God the most important part of your life today! You can choose to trust in the Lord with all of your heart, mind, and soul and be the child of God that he has planned for you. Let God mold you for his purpose and then you will understand what walking in wisdom and truth really mean. God loves you and he will always know what is best for you at all times and in all things. But understand this. If you doubt God or if you doubt his choices for your life, it means you have already decided against him, and have made your choice. Don't continue living the foolish life because you are a "doubting Thomas". Instead clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12) Part four of this article will help you to start making wiser choices for your life. As you grow and mature in the Lord you will discover how scripture affects your lifestyle, and you will learn to make lifestyle choices that work with your new growth in Christ. You will yield to God's desire for your life and you will begin to build character within yourself you didn't think you had within you. But that is the neat part about walking away from foolishness and walking into knowledge and truth. You realize your existence with God and your purpose in the world. Angie and Frank Lewis http://www.heavenministries.com
Permalink Comments (1) Why Do Some People Make Foolish Choices? (Part 2 of 4)Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (3 days 16 hours ago.) Viewed 4 times. Are you on the road with God? If you are having a difficult time overcoming foolish lifestyle choices, such as addiction, adultery, or crime, it is because its effects are controlling you. Ask God to help you seek His truth, knowledge and wisdom. Character Building Steps To God * Do you seek truth, knowledge and wisdom? * Do you pray every day and even during the day when you think about it? * Do you shares God's wisdom with others? * Are you cautious with reason (discerning) or are you foolish without reason? * Are values and principles more important to you than money? * Do you respond to God's correction appropriately? * Do you trust in God's wisdom? * Are you able to control your negative emotions? * Do you feel blessed and rewarded with more knowledge all the time? * Do you try and keep the peace around you? * Are you non violent? * Do you strive to stay on the road that leads to God? * Do you strive to avoid foolish and folly (temptations of the world)? * Do you give good advice to others? * Do you pray for others? Do you see that at the top of the list the first step is seeking truth, knowledge and wisdom? Those things come from God. If you have repented and still continue in a sinful pattern of living it is the lack of a personal relationship with the Lord. Did you know that God seeks to have a personal relationship with all of his children? God wants to share His wisdom with you, but you have to accept that wisdom. God lets us make our own choices in life. We can choose to follow Him and His wisdom-filled ways or we can choose to follow our own understanding of what we think is wisdom. Some of us will delightfully discover that our own understanding is not conducive to a faithful, righteous Christian lifestyle. This new discovery will help us to walk with Him and continue to grow and mature in the Word. This is what staying on the road that leads to God is all about-it is a never-ending spiritual journey. Some of us have chosen to reject God's established pattern for living. He is certainly not going to stand over us with a paddle and tell us what we can or cannot do. There is no reason to! The bible already instructs us of our roles, positions, and responsibilities in this life as Christians. We can respond to that correction or we can rebel against it and do whatever we want. Yes, God allows us to do whatever our heart desires, and some of us will make foolish rebellious choices. When we inspect the condition of the world today we see much depravity, and this is why God has given us the opportunity to "come out of her" rebellious ways and to follow in His ways. (Rev 18:4). Don't miss out on part three of this article. It will discuss how you can make God the most important part of your life today!
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