"The Decision"

 "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." (John 12:31 KJV)

  "Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior? Who demand that a tyrant let his captives go? But the LORD says, "The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children. I will feed your enemies with their own flesh. They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood. All the world will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel."" (Isaiah 49:24-26 NLT)

 Just when you think it couldn't get any better, God reminds us just how sure He is that everything is all right, because His plan was established long ago; the decision was made in the beginning, and what God decides to do, actually happens! That is pretty much what that word, "judgment," represents; it is not the time for judging what needs to happen or how it will be done; that decision was made a long time ago; now is the time to finish it! 

 That is how our God works! There is nothing that is left undone; there is nothing that is left to chance! If He says this or that, then this or that will be, no questions asked! I feel as though there are quite a few skeptics out there, those who might think that God has lost control of all that is going on here, on earth. Some of which, think that this little blue dot is spinning out of control. 

 I had a conversation about this last week, having to remind myself and the person I was speaking to, that Jesus said everything would be as it was in the time of Noah. I can't imagine what it was like at that time, but for God to kill everything that breathed through its nostrils, it had to be pretty bad! 

 We can take comfort in knowing that God is in control! He has always been in control, and there is absolutely no possible way that anyone or anything can stop Him from doing everything that He has planned to do. You would think by now the 'prince of this world' would have figured that out; but, as I said before, he knows perfectly well what is going to happen to him; he just wants to take as many of us with him as he possibly can. 

 With that, we have some decisions to make too! Although, our decisions are not as concrete as God's, because we don't get to decide what gets done. We must decide how hard we are going to try to get all the people we care about out of the hands of the prince of this world, and into the hands of God...

"When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:22-27 NLT)