OUR CHOICES

Our lives are made up from the sum total of our choices and there is nothing in our lives that did not happen beyond our ability to choose correctly in God. This is an understanding we must embrace if we are going to “grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ” because this is the understanding we must have to enable our dedication and commitment for God to be able to endure the consequences of our actions (dirty little words for most Christians today) and the many chastening, dealings, and judgments of the Lord. In these is where the Christ-like character conforming processes of God happens in our lives. It is not the cool waters and green pastures we relish and covet, but the inward retrospection and quiet times before God when He can open our heart and minds and show us our real character before Him. God is so concerned about our character. It is on the back side of the desert (in the wilderness) God’s people are tried and tested not in the well watered plains. I always thought it a bit strange that the good Shepard (Jesus) left the 99 sheep in the wilderness when He went after the one lost sheep. Luke tells us, “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” (Luke 15:4) Now I cannot believe the good Shepard (Jesus) did not know where the lost sheep was. Does Jesus not know everything? I believe the good Shepard tarried and sought the one lost sheep a while so that the 99 could spend some time in the wilderness. The wilderness will work some things out of us if we allow God to do the work in us. There was a work in the 99 that could only be done in the wilderness and the good Shepard had to allure them there. So too in our lives the wilderness is the only place where God can get our attention so that He can do a work in our lives. In Hosea we find this happening, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.” (Hosea 2:14) And why? Because the wilderness is the only place God can speak comfort to us; there all of the other voices are distant, no one to depend on, and we are all alone with God. God’s goal in leading us to the wilderness (our choice if we want to go) is so that we can learn to lean on Him, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” (Song of Solomon 8:5) The longer we walk with the Lord the more we will discover the wilderness is a wonderful (if not the major) making place in our Christian lives. Any one that ever amounted to anything in God was sent to the wilderness to be tried in the furnace of God’s purifying fire, molded and shaped in the hands (as clay) of the Master until they were ready for service. But make no mistake my friend we will end up in the wilderness (God’s making places for our lives) based not on God’s will for our lives (it is always God’s intention for us), but based on the choices we have made. We see the impact of making right and wrong choices from the very beginning of man in Genesis and how his choices have impacted on all humanity. In Genesis we discover a divine spiritual truth that runs as a scarlet thread all throughout the Bible, the word “every.” Now when the Bible says “every” it means “every” it does not mean some or only a few, but it means “every” and here in Genesis 1:29, 2:9, and 2:16 it says “every.” God told Adam “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” (Genesis 1:29) God meant “every.”And in Chapter two, “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:8-9) Now please notice God used the word “every” again (and meant it) and even mentioned “the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” I have always wondered why Adam did not go after “the tree of life also in the midst of the garden.” God did not say Adam could not eat of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” But in verses 16 and 17 God reiterated Adam’s options of eating of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” but now gave Adam an opportunity to make a life or death choice. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) Most if not all of the choices God gives us are life or death, but we most often cannot see the future outcome of our choices when we make them, oh thank God for His longsuffering. God was telling Adam you can eat of this tree and this tree and this tree and even this tree, but if you eat of this tree (and you are free to eat of it) “thou shalt surely die.” I wonder why God changed His mind between verses Genesis 2: 9 and 16. Did you know God changes His mind sometimes? In Genesis later we read, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”(Genesis 6:5-6) Wow this sounds like today.

Or was God setting something different into motion in the earth to help us walk in the truth of His words? And that thing God set into motion was choice, our choice whether to sever Him or not sever Him, be obedient or not be obedient to Him, be committed or not be committed to Him. Without choice in our lives we are no better than the birds of the air, the fish of the seas, or even the Angels. Choice in our lives gives us the opportunity to walk away from God (what a chance God takes on us) or to draw nearer to Him. The more we understand this option of choice in our lives the more God’s love will grip our hearts and we will see what a loving God we serve and the less selfish and self-seeking we will become. I do not know about you my friend, but at times I can be very selfish and want my way. Why do we think God is going to do all of the work for us or do what we want Him to do? Why do we think God is going make choices for us like save this person we want saved or curse this person we want cursed? One thing for sure “every” thing we get from God will not be because God made it happen oh no my friend “every” thing we get from God will be based on the choices we have made in our lives. Now some Christians would disagree with me here, but I will go even further and include even those things God has allowed in our lives that are not according to His best for our lives. Did you know God will offer us His second best? As I was getting out of the U.S. Navy (USN) in Stuttgart I received a phone call from my detailer (someone who arranges duty assignments for Officers in the USN) and he asked me if I would consider a four year follow-on assignment at U.S. Marine Forces Europe (a three star, U.S. Marine Corps Headquarter in the Stuttgart area) doing the very same job I was doing at U.S. European Command. I even had other Officers campaigning for me to take the job unbeknownst to me. We would not have to move, I could still pastor the church, everything would be as it was, except for God’s will for our lives. My friend God will check us out to see if we really want His best for our lives and He will do this by offering us something that makes perfect common sense to our natural man and satisfies our fleshly desires. Take heed here my friend when God presents you with such a choice. Now I am sure everything would have worked out fine: God would have continued to bless Family Stahl, God would have continued to bless the church, people would have still come to Christ and lives would have been changed, but the down side to this choice would be we (me, my family, and our church) would miss out on God’s best for our lives and we would have known it. Remember; sin is to know right and not do it, to miss the mark, and the mark here for our lives was for me to get out of the USN. We could have chosen to do good things for God and I feel sure good things would have happened, but the best things God wanted for me and my family would not have been done and out from that we would have experienced loss in God and suffered in relationships and God’s favor. Did you know our obedience or disobedience in God can be measured? There is a point along God’s spiritual continuum time-line for our lives where we find (reality) ourselves in relationship to God’s will for our lives and then there is a point along God’s time-line where He expects us to be. The difference between the two points is the delta of either obedience (moving further to the right of God’s expectation) or disobedience (moving further to the left of God’s expectation) in our lives, now experiencing loss is very sad, but after an undisclosed prescribed time of God while walking in loss things gets worse. God told the Children of Israel, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:” (Deuteronomy 30:19) Strange how our bad choices effect others in our lives. The deeds of what was to be the “record” that God was keeping apparently came to an end and God said, “I have set before you life and death (a choice), blessings and cursing:,” but please notice what God desires we choose “therefore (because all that has just said) choose life.” God’s choice for our lives is always life, blessings, and victory, but again it is not up to God (this is His intention for us), but it is up to us will we do and say the things needed to walk in the things God has purposed for our lives?

No where do we find this truth so vital and critical than in Ezekiel. We read, “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 11-11) This is God’s intention for us. But it is in verses 13 and 15 we read the real fall-out of our choices, “When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.” (Ezekiel 11-13) What a sobering truth. Please notice, “if he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity” then all of his righteousness shall not be remembered and he shall die for it. Our willful choice to “commit iniquity” (lawlessness or to move outside the laws of God) in spite of all we have said and done for God will cost us loss; first the work that God has been able to do in our lives) and then ultimately we shall die for it. But, “If the wicked restore the pledge (confess and repent), give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.” (Ezekiel 11-15-16) Life and death is in the power of our choices; it always has been since Genesis and will always be. God has purposed and plans things this way and is watching and listening to our choices. Written by David Stahl

OUR HURTS AND LOSSES

One of the toughest things we must allow God to do for us is to get us over hurts and losses in our lives. Now no one is immune from hurts and losses and I promise you the more we walk with the Lord the more we will have to confront them and allow God to strengthen us with might (an inward ability to deal with issues of the heart) in the inward man. God is good at making our way constructive in life to make our living worth the while of learning how to function correctly with Him. Many Christians fail to allow God to deal and judge in their lives and they carry these hurts and losses all along their way and even carry them to heaven where God will have to deal with them at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Please do not think we will be able to sneak into heaven with some unresolved issues in our lives. Sadly the message of grace has cheapened the requirement for spiritual growth and development in the church today. The message we hear today in most churches is: God loves you and He will forgive you which is true, but it is not God’s intention for us to continually use His grace (as a crutch) to ask forgiveness again and again. God’s intention for us is to confess with our own words and then repent (about face or turn away from) of our sin so that we grow in the grace and the knowledge (both) of our Lord Jesus Christ. John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:9-10) God never intended for a bunch of babies with no spiritual ability, power, and revelation to lead His church. Remember at the heart of every issue is always an issue of our heart. And it is our heart (as God deals and judges in it) where our spiritual ability and character is developed. And guess what that brings us back to our hurts and losses.

Make no mistake my friend hurts and loss in our lives can be very painful. The sting of death hurts, even the death of a beloved dog. Recently our Boxer dog Grimme died, he was better than some people I know and even in this the sting of death was bitter to us. Now we understand he was a dog and not a person, but when our affections and feelings get involved in our decisions we hurt from our loss. We have always liked dogs. Karen has even taught our daughter Connie and others never to marry a man who would beat an animal, if he will beat an animal he will beat you, sound advice even for today. Do you know animals know love when they see it and when they do not see it? When we lived in Germany I pastored a church with people from all around the world who came to church with all kinds of different cultures and customs. One American custom I always liked (and still do today) is to invite people over for dinner. You learn a lot about people when you sit around a dinner table; do they fill their plate first or pass the food. Do they get the last piece of chicken or prefer it for their friends or host. But one thing I would notice was who our Boxer dog Annie (a very loving and humble dog) would go to for some affection. I noticed who Annie would let pet her, but more important I noticed who Annie would not allow to pet her, and time bore out those who Annie would not allow to pet her were real snakes in the grass.

One of the biggest areas we get hurt in is from our friends and our family. Karen and I can personally speak of this. Since returning from Germany in 2003 we have been excluded from our family because we have stood for the truth of the word of God. We have spoken out against the drunkenness and homosexuality in our family for this we have been vilified and marginalized. But that is okay I must answer to God not to my family. He will not thank me for compromising the truth of the word of God for the sake of family peace and togetherness, but I will have to answer Him for how I handled the truth of the word of God in my life, we all will. Now I will be honest I do not understand Christians some times. We understand sinners they cannot help themselves, but lately I have found sinners to be more truthful and with more integrity than most Christians, ah I forgot we have grace to fall back on. I can take you to five churches in Jacksonville (a Baptist, a Pentecostal, and three non-denominational) that Karen and I have been asked to leave or been given the cold shoulder because the pastor found out about Beholding His Glory (BHG). Two of the pastors (the Pentecostal and one of the non-denominational) invited us out to a restaurant to get to know us, but when the check came both pastors waited for me to grab the bill. One pastor (another non-denominational) and his wife we invited over to our home for supper and all they did was eat and grab three of my books not even asking me for cost to cover the books. And another pastor (the Baptist) never went out to supper with us nor even came over to our home even though we asked many times. Yet when all five pastors learned about BHG their attitudes and reactions did a 180 degree change towards us. All Karen and I wanted to do was attend their service, just come and go, give them some money, and not get involved, but once the people started talking to us and we opened up a little the pastors got defensive with us and started guarding their members as if we were going to steal members from them so we could start a church. We assured them this was not our intention, but the pastors poisoned the heart of the people against us and we got the cold shoulder so we moved on. Friend this ought not to be in the Body of Christ, but jealousy, anger, immaturity, greed, and plain old contention in the hearts of pastors and leaders will only yield division, jealousy, anger, immaturity, greed, and plain old contention in them and in the people. Never forget the closer someone is the greater the hurt they can cause in our lives. Just ask a divorce lawyer. We must guard our heart with great diligence, with the word of God, and even some good old common sense from such people who would want to manipulate and take advantage of us for their personal gain. The last time I went to Kenya we had a very busy and ambitious schedule. We spent three or four days in Mombasa (man was it hot and my air conditioner did not work in my room) and then we drove six hours up to Nairobi. Well on the trip our host pastor was getting tired (he is always a real trooper giving of himself and family) so my friend (I still will call him friend) suggested I drive since I had an expired international driving license. Now another name for an expired international driver license is no driver license, but my friend insisted I drive. Driving was not the problem, in the past I have driven from Mombasa to Nairobi, but then I had a license. I suggested we stop for an hour or two and let our host pastor get a power nap and then continue, but not my friend of 30 years he insisted I drive, well I said no, so he berated me soundly and took the wheel. He blasted off gunning the engine and I am not really sure what he did, but the entire time he drove the engine was not working properly and the brakes seemed to fail at times. This continued for some miles so we decided to stop in Sultan Hamud where our host pastor knew some folks who could take a look at our car. After about two hours and after our host pastor and the car (they could find nothing a wrong) rested our host pastor took off driving again for Nairobi. Now here is the best part of this story. When the conference started the next day one of the Kenyan pastors who served as my interrupter shared a story about how he was stopped, arrested, and taken to jail for driving without a driver license. In your country of residence it is important to follow the laws and rules of the land, but when you are a foreigner it is more important you follow the rules and laws. Just because we are doing the Lord’s work we think He is going to cover all of our little omissions of obedience to the laws of then land or following the rules in the name of the Lord, well this my friend will land you in jail just as fast as anyone else. We as Christians are held to an even higher standard of doing what is right and following the laws. I guess my friend of 30 years was not so concerned about following the laws or for my well being as he was about getting to Nairobi or resting our host pastor. But this is the same friend of 30 years who says he is eating up my sin against him (not a Biblical principle) for telling him the truth to a question he asked about his character and got greatly offended. Again take heed my friend it is your closest friends that will cause you the greatest hurts. Did you know God is more concerned about our character than He is about our ability to minister the word of God? Our revelation of God to minister the word of God must match our character if not we know not God because His words (the truth about ourselves) have not gotten down into our precepts and concepts that form our daily living, thus the manifestation of our character will always be fleshly and carnal, even though we can recite the Bible backwards and forwards or masterfully weave Scriptures to support what we are saying. Our character is God’s biggest area of concern in our lives. At the heart of all of these issues (even maybe some in me) believe it or not is pride. At the heart of our hurts and losses believe it or not is pride. Solomon tells us, “Only by pride cometh contention (confusion, anger, strife, bitterness, envy): but with the well advised is wisdom.” (Proverbs 13:10) Now many Christians do not believe this verse. They blame everyone else, even the devil for the contention at work, in their home, or in their lives, but the Bible says it is pride. And it says “only by pride,” there is nothing else that causes contention in our lives. When our pride get hurts we strike back with everything within us to seek our revenge and get our pound of flesh. Our carnal nature wants its way and will do and say anything it can to get even. Think not our flesh is not alive, oh no my friend our flesh is alive and well, subtle and sure waiting for every opportunity to get hurt and play the martyr.

Did you know for us to allow God to get us over being hurt in our lives there must be a constant putting off of things so that we can put on other things? This is a spiritual principle we must operate in to get over hurt and even offense in our lives. In Romans Paul encourages us, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” (Romans 13:12-13) Now the spiritual order is, “cast off the works of darkness” and then we can “put on the armour of light.” No casting off, no putting on. No allowing God to work in our lives so that we can cast off hurts no putting on the new things that God has for us to replace the hurts. How can we receive the beauty God has for us unless we first get up from the ash pile? In our lives old things must pass away before God can bring new things into our lives. As we move from our present home to a new home and even our dog dying we must embrace these old things and allow God to work them out of us so we can walk in the new things He has for us. And again casting off hurts is painful, but please know when we get hurt it is most often our fault; we have opened up ourselves to people or things maybe we should not have. I was amazed to hear and watch the lies of Harold Camping when he said Jesus was coming back first in September 1994 and then recently in May 2011. It was not the lies of Camping that amazed me, but how the people who followed him were deceived. Millions from around the world believed him they sold or gave away their homes, cars, clothing, everything. I got emails and phone calls from Christians around the world asking my opinion if Jesus was coming back in May 2011. They all were hurt, but they all hurt themselves. No one held a gun to their head and said you must believe Camping’s lies. This is where knowing the truth will really save your life.

Now please let me turn to loss in our lives. We do not want to lose because when we lose we feel bad and cry, but this is nothing more than our selfishness coming through. When Grimme died we cried, we cried not because he died his death was a blessing due to his sickness, but we cried because we were going to miss him, it was out of our selfish nature that we experience loss and we do not like that. We all at the center of our will and nature are selfish and prideful, we do not want to lose anything and when we do our selfishness comes alive and causes us to hurt and our lives are now filled with pain and sorrow. But believe it or not God has a purpose for loss in our lives. Lose in our lives creates more of a place for God’s glory in us if we allow it. The more we lose the more God can come (if we allow Him too) and fill that empty place in our heart. If we never experience loss in our lives we will never be able to experience the spiritual gain God has for us. Did you know God measures our gain in Him not by what we can add, but by how much we can lose? The more we can lose of this world and our self the more we gain of God. This too is why God allows suffering in our lives to help keep our heart out of this world. But at the end of the day, no matter what hurt or loss we have experienced in our lives: death of a family member, an animal, our health, bankruptcy, whatever we must be able to trust them to God’s able and faithful hands, if not we will never be able to get over them in our lives. In our hurts and losses we must be able to say, “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” while keeping our eyes on the Lord. Written by David Stahl