Pick a Side


                When you’re playing a team game, like basketball, baseball, football, or soccer, you have to pick a side. Let’s say there is a red team and a blue team. You wouldn’t say that you’re on the purple team. So let’s look into what it means to spiritually pick a side.

Today, we are going to go back in the Old Testament. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s the first 39 books of the Bible. One of these 39 books in the Old Testament is the book of Joshua. We are going to be in the very last chapter, which is chapter 24 and verses 14-15, 20:

14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

20If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

JOSHUA 24:14-15, 20 (NIV)

                Let’s start by understanding that Joshua was the Israelite’s leader when they entered the Promised Land, which is simply the land that God had promised His people, the Israelites. In this passage, Joshua is talking to the Israelites. He starts by telling them that they have to be all in. They can’t be half and half. They can’t say that they trust that God loves them but that they also believe that another god created them. They have to be TOTALLY on God’s side. That is still true today. I have talked to people who say they believe parts of the Bible but not others. It breaks my heart every time I hear someone say things like that. The truth is, the Bible is God’s word. If you believe in God, you believe in EVERYTHING He said. If you don’t believe in EVERYTHING God said, than you’re not on God’s side. And if you’re not on God’s side, then, unfortunately, there is only one other side you could be on…the devils. If you aren’t with God 100%, then you are with the devil. And that is what Joshua was telling the Israelites in verse 15. Decide TODAY who you will serve. In verse 20 he explains what will happen if you don’t. You will be destroyed. That might not mean that you’ll be wiped off the face of the earth, but it does mean that when you die, there are two places to go. If you have decided to follow God, accepted Jesus in your heart, and changed your life for the better, then you will go to live with Him in heaven. Paradise. No pain, no sadness, no evil. But if you haven’t, you’re on the devil’s side. That means that if you die, you’ll go to hell. Trust me, you DO NOT want to go there. You’ll die. What I mean is this, once you have died on this earth, you will stand face to face with God. He will judge you and decide to bring you to Paradise, or put you in hell. And yes, hell is a real place. When you go to Heaven, you live in eternity with God. But in hell, you will die. No eternity with God, no paradise. But eternal death. We are God’s kids! He DOESN’T WANT THIS FOR US! He DOESN’T WANT us to go to hell! When Jesus died a PAINFUL death, he sacrificed His life for YOU! When He rose again, that meant that we will RISE AGAIN in HEAVEN!

“By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.”
1 Corinthians 6:14

So now, how do you follow God? How do you accept the FREE GIFT of ETERNAL LIFE God has given you? You say a prayer and repent. To repent means to turn from your evil ways. If you’ve decided to accept Christ as your SAVIOR, say the prayer below:

                Dear God, I have come to realize that I am not on your side. I am with the devil. But I want to live with you in Heaven one day! So I ask you now, please send your Holy Spirit to live inside of me. I pray, you will change me to live for you. In Jesus’s Holy name, AMEN.

                Did you say it? If you did, then you will now live with your Heavenly Father one day! Congrats!

                I encourage you to read your Bible daily. The devil is still out there, and we, as Christians need to arm ourselves with the truth. Even though you are a Christian you aren’t perfect. You will still make mistakes. But now you have the Holy Spirit within you and He will help you to make the right choice. But it is still up to you. Whose side are you on?

I hope this encouraged and inspired you as well as many others.

Love, Grace

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