CHOICE!
GP 238
5/73
1. IT MAY SURPRISE YOU TO KNOW THAT GOD LIKES YOU, HIS CHILDREN, TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICES within His Will! I know you delight yourself in the Lord most of all & want to do HIS WILL. But when we do, it is HIS delight to also give US the desires of OUR OWN hearts, because He's the One Who puts them there when we're pleasing Him! If we love the Lord with all our hearts, these personal desires are usually the right ones, because we only want to please Him. So your PERSONAL DESIRE in the matter has a great deal to do with GOD'S WILL. He gives us what we WANT & have FAITH for!
2. BUT "WHEN IN DOUBT, DON'T!" For "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." However, if you're truly convinced in your own heart that a thing IS God's Will, you should do it no matter what anybody says! But if you're convinced in your own heart that it is NOT God's Will, you should NOT do it, no matter WHAT anybody says! But if you're NOT SURE & DO NOT KNOW for SURE & have NOT yet made CERTAIN that a thing is God's Will, then the best thing to do, of course, in the case of uncertainty, is to WAIT on the Lord until He reveals it to you one way or the other.
3. IN THE MEANTIME, DON'T LET ANYBODY ELSE TELL YOU THAT IT IS OF THE LORD & OKAY TO GO AHEAD or that it is His Will that you do so, if He has NOT said so. Just say you're waiting on the Lord to know His Will. ANYTHING is possible, for with God NOTHING is impossible, for ALL things are possible to him that believeth. However, you must be PERSONALLY SURE & not be merely swayed by OTHERS. It must be your OWN personal desire from the Lord, in which case it WOULD be of God.
4. TIME IS THE GREAT TESTER, so I'd certainly advise you to wait until you're sure of your own mind & heart & God's Will. As Paul says in that 14th Chapter of Romans: "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." And I know He will show you. I do not believe in doing such things merely out of duty ALONE, particularly in the affairs of the heart, where there must be a great deal of genuine LOVE, PERSONAL love, as well as love for God's work & not JUST a sense of DUTY. If it's GOD'S Will, He GIVES us this kind of love, REAL love. But WITHOUT such love it could only bring heartache & many people could get hurt, including yourself! But if it is REAL love, GOD'S Love, it will survive ANYTHING. Meanwhile, I would WAIT on the Lord until you're SURE.
5. IT MUST BE UP TO YOU PERSONALLY TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICE. YOU PERSONALLY must make the CHOICE & the DECISION is up to YOU & YOU alone. No one can make it for you, not even God!
6. THIS IS ONE OF THE MYSTERIES OF HIS WILL & HIS PLAN: That He hath bestowed upon each of us the immortal majesty of PERSONAL CHOICE to do either good or evil!--And strange as it may seem to some, it even pleases the Lord to give us our personal choice between SEVERAL ALTERNATIVE GOODS, all within His Will, if it is our personal desire, even as we would our own children in letting them pick out their own personal choice of a toy, as long as it is safe & good for them. This is one thing people don't seem to understand about God: He really likes to give us OUR choice, as long as it is not something bad for us or bad for others.
7. GOD WILL GIVE YOU WHATEVER YOU WANT THAT'S GOOD FOR YOU, BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU & "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly". If it is GOOD for you & those involved, He will be more than glad to give it to you.--Although sometimes He gives us the desires of our HEART but sends leanness to our SOULS just to teach us a lesson & to show us that we made a foolish choice.
8. SO CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION, GOD DOES NOT USUALLY CHOOSE FOR US!--WE have to CHOOSE for ourselves, find His Will for ourselves, seek Him diligently to know His Will & to know what is best for us & others through our knowledge of His Word & personal experience. This is why He put us here, this is what we're here to learn & the major part of our training: How to make the right decisions through our personal contact with Him, our knowledge of His Word & His Will & our love for Him & others. We must do what we KNOW is RIGHT & be willing to LIVE & to DIE for what we KNOW is the TRUTH!
9. BE SURE YOU'RE RIGHT & KNOW YOU'RE RIGHT.--THEN GO AHEAD & DO what you know is right & not because anyone has said it, but because YOU yourself are PERSONALLY convinced it's God's Will, have established it in the mouth of many WITNESSES & confirmed it through many LEADINGS, SIGNS & other FRUITS & EVIDENCES, as indicated in the lesson "How to Find the Will of God". Study it. Follow it. It is His guiding Word to you to help you know what's best. He likes YOU to seek it out & find it, so YOU yourself will KNOW it's right when you do it without a doubt!
10. THINK OF YOUR OWN CHILDREN OR FAMILY. Think how you love them & how you like to make them happy, as well as keep them safe & healthy, as long as they love you & delight themselves in obedience to your word, even giving them the choice of many things that are good for them.--And remember that GOD IS LIKE THAT WITH YOU! That's what He wants YOU to do & to have, to give you the desires of YOUR heart, as long as YOU delight yourself in HIM! But they must be the desires of YOUR heart & not merely someone ELSE'S--YOUR choice & not only ANOTHER'S.
11. MAY GOD BLESS YOU & KEEP YOU & GIVE YOU EVERY DESIRE OF YOUR HEART AS YOU DELIGHT YOURSELF IN HIM & His Love & serving His children! We love you dearly & are praying earnestly for you, that you will KNOW your choice is His Will.
12. THE DOOR IS NOW OPEN!--Walk in where you will, by your own free & loving choice!--It is HIS delight to GIVE it to you! Fear not, little one, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom! You are more than welcome in the King's household in whatever capacity you choose! YOUR will be done IN HIM: That's what He & I want to know:--That you're making your own personal choice in the matter!
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