Choose Life

"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: that thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)



Life

Cause me to choose life Lord
to cleave to You though others fall
Cause me to choose life 
to make You alone my all in all

Cause me to choose life Lord
at every turn, in every place
Cause me to revere and honor You
to behold the beauty of Your face

Cause me to choose life Lord
in my thoughts, actions, and speech
Cause me to rise above all the death;
the things which pull me underneath

Cause me to choose life Lord
for You are the air I breathe
Cause me to rest in Your arms
to know You are everything I need...

The term 'life' used above is the Hebrew word 'chay' (khah-ee), and it means alive, raw(fresh), strong, renewed, vigorous.  So, when we read, "therefore choose life" we can substitute the Hebrew meaning and say, "therefore choose to be alive! choose to be raw/authentic! choose strength! choose renewal! choose to be vigorous!" Then the verses above tell us to "cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days:"  He is our very life--He makes us alive, he is our authenticity, our strength, our renewal, and our vigor!  

But we have to choose life: in every moment, in every hour, in every day, in every place, and with every word we say.  If we are not choosing life, then we are choosing death.  In Proverbs 18:21 we read, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."  We can speak life, or we can speak death.  The choice is ours to make.
  
So, what are you choosing?  With your words? With your actions? With your relationships? With your heart?  With your mind? Are you choosing He who is your life?  

Or are you choosing to live your own life, and in so doing choosing death?
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"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6 NKJV) As we choose Him we choose life, and His life flows through us and overflows out of us.  

Father, let us choose life, choose You, in all we say and do.  Let our thoughts be thoughts of life and not death.  Cause us to cleave to You and to trust You to bring life from every place of death we have previously known. Renew us today with Your life I pray and believe in the mighty, matchless name of Jesus...


Written by Anne Marie Hawke
January 2022

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