Consequences of Decisions

In the book of Numbers Chapters 13 & 14 it tells the story of the children of Israel at the edge of the promised land. God has already said He was going to give it to them as an inheritance & it was theirs for the taking. He told Moses to send 12 leaders one from each tribe & go spy the land out & bring back proof of the fruit of the land. They went & low & behold it was just exactly as God had said, but 10 of the 12 came back with fear & doubt. There are giants in the land. We can't take them they are bigger than us. The Bible says they spread a bad report to the children of Israel. Consequently, they disobeyed God & had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because of their lack of faith & their disobedience. Their children had to wander in the desert for 40 years because of the decisions of their parents. Every decision we make effects other people. Parents don't let your decisions cause your children to wander in the desert for 40 years.
We need to remove all fear & doubt. God wants us to trust Him no matter how big the giant is in front of us. God is bigger than all of our giants! Do you believe that? Do you trust God when your giant is bigger than you are?
Sometimes when things get tough we want to bail. Bailing is not the answer. God is in the middle of the tension. He's in the middle of the conflict. He either brought about the conflict or allowed the conflict to bring up issues in your life that He wants you to deal with or He wants to deal with. You have the choice. You can turn & run & God will wait on you. But He will just keep bringing it up no matter where you run to. If you choose to bail out, you are taking the issues with you. They aren't going away. It is much better to deal with it when God brings it up. He wants you to take up your cross & follow Jesus. Picking up your cross & dealing with whatever God wants you to deal with is painful. But you can never have victory until you go to the cross. Victory is on the other side of the cross! Namely, resurrection. Do you want to live the resurrected life? Then you must go to the cross!
God loves you & wants the very best for you! He was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice so you could have life. To find your life, you must lose it. To walk in the power of His resurrection you must choose the cross in your own life!
Consumed by the call,
Pastor Marty