CHRIST'S HANDS ACROSS THE INTERNET Where christians come to share, pray and study. CHOICES: IT'S YOUR MOVE. By Michael Hawkinson "Choose this day whom you will follow!!" Jeremiah 29: 11-14 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." What a wonderful year it has been and what a wonderful year it will be! Yet again, I have been reminded of whom I have chosen to follow. I will not bow to any idol. I saw person after person filled with the Spirit of God and saw heart after heart changed the last few days. The glory and praise go to God and Him alone. I heard the word of testimony, cries of repentance and shouts of praise. I am never more than a moment from tears nor but a moment from joy. What a paradox. We stand at the bloody cross and see Him buried in a tomb and we weep as we are convicted. He died for us while we were sinners and it is our sin which killed God though He went willingly. Yet how can we not rejoice and indeed shout when we find the empty tomb and behold Jesus who was resurrected and defeated death and the grave!? God gave me new hope through a scripture I have read many times. The Word of the Lord to the people of Israel who had been exiled and scattered. The Spirit of God came upon me and overcame me. This is what the Lord God, the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac said and what He now says to The Church and to all who would hear Him and come. "I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." (Jeremiah 29: 11-14) The Lord spoke prophetically through a dear brother and He named this year. "Born anew in 2002." It is a challenge I make to you who read these words and there is a much greater challenge which I will share in a moment. Gods plans are clearly outlined in His Word. He will restore Israel to Him and bring all who have become Israel with her. People from every tribe, nation, people and tongue will bow before Him and worship Him. Although there are trials which we must endure joyfully, there is a future we must remember. Call upon God! Pray to God and He will listen! A time has been coming and is now that you will seek Him and find Him if you seek Him with all of your heart. He will be found by you and He will gather us all from our captivity! Oh I weep for those who do not see their captivity for they like the chains that bind them and the master that they serve. I cry to God to deliver those in bondage to sin, to comfort, to political correctness, to religion and to their own will. For these are they who will not endure the time that is coming. They will be overcome with fear and deny the the Lord God and His son Jesus. It is time to shout "No more idols!" No more enduring the taunts of the world that God has forsaken us. That which He has promised He is doing and will do and in fact He has been doing it since the foundation of this world which He created. Listen and hear the Word of God. "Deuteronomy 30:18-20 "I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." God is calling us to be the nation we are. The Holy people He desires. The royal preisthood He demands. He does not speak to you and leave you to do these things on your own. Indeed, He knows you would fail. For this reason He has sent His Holy Spirit to live in you. To teach you, lead you and empower you to accomplish that which He desires. Do not test the Lord your God. What He has promised He will do and will not fail. You will enter into his Kingdom or you will die in captivity. We are in many nations but God tells us this day that we, The Church, are One Nation. Fall on your faces until you are filled with the Spirit of God. Call on God to deliver you and to deliver his people from captivity. Pray for an increase in faith and courage for you need these things. What you do is a choice. Whom will you choose and whom will you follow? You may not choose what others do to you, or what circumstances befall you but you choose how you will respond to them. Stop being a captive! Stop being a slave to darkness! Stop fearing and cowering! You are delivered and He is our deliverer! To those who judge, the religious and the self righteous, I tell you that The Judge is coming and will judge you and find you wanting. You will be burned with the chaff and cast aside unless you repent. You do have time to repent. Yet to the humble and the the one who weeps and cries out for help God will give comfort and lift up! God has more to speak to you and I have asked the Lord many times how to speak it. I was so blessed to hear a dear European brother share a personal testimony which God quickened in my heart. This brother shared that he and his fiancee were going through a hard time about love. Not whether they loved but she felt she was not worth loving. His reply to her was that he did not love her because she was worth loving but because he was attracted to her, drawn to her and in love with her. He talked about the Song of Solomon and how it is a picture of the love of God for us. This is what I say to you who despair. God did not love you nor does He love you now because you deserve His love. It is because He is ravished by you. He is drawn to you and seeks for you. He longs for you to seek Him, to listen to Him, to love Him. His presence never leaves you. He values you more than you can imagine and you cannot imagine how much He loves you. Stop trying to deserve His love and get up. Get up and serve Him with joy! Do all that you do as for Him! Housework or business, sharing and listening, online and offline! If you do not know Him be confident that He knows you and wants you to know Him! Call up on Him and choose this day to worship Him and Him alone. Join with the people of God and say to them as has been said by Ruth and many since then. "Your people will be my people and your God will be my God!" God has promised to deliver us from more than our sin! We are in foreign lands and under foreign nations but He will restore us and is restoring us. Call upon Him! Do not be destroyed! Do not be sniff necked! Listen to His voice and live. Let Him help you throw off the captivity that ensnares you and binds you. Every day ask Him to be with you. Ask to be filled with His Holy Spirit and do not relent. I am thankful for CHAIN which helps me to see, to pray for and to minister to the people of God and to be prayed for and ministered to by them. I am thankful for the internet which brings us together and lets us know that God is with us though we are scattered. We are His ambassadors and not of low estate... God has sent His own children to be ambassadors. Princes and princesses, loved deeply by the Father. heirs with Jesus and adopted into Israel. We are former gentiles and reborn Jews, sent with the message that there is only One God and He is a jealous God. He desires that all would worship Him and come to Him. He has opened His arms wide and been patient, however the time is coming when the enemy will move to destroy Israel and all those who are Israel by adoption. He will oppose God and God will utterly destroy Him and those who follow Him. Who do you follow? Believer and non believer. Gentile and Jew. Male and female. Free and enslaved... "Choose you this day whom you will follow." Will you join with thousands of others and say "as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Will you choose Life and blessing or will you choose death and curses? It's your move. ALL MATERIAL IS PROPERTY OF CHAIN UNLESS OTHERWISE CREDITED AND NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT PERMISSION