Christian, the Choice Is Yours: Living in Victory or Defeat

© 2013 by Ron McNeel. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/13/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-1685-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-1686-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013903127

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Contents

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1 Are You More Like Mary Or Martha?

Chapter 2 Breaking The Sin Cycle: It’s More Than A Dream

Chapter 3 Where Do You Really Place Your Faith?

Chapter 4 Who’s Your Master? It’s A Submission Issue

Chapter 5 Victory Or Defeat: It’s A Daily Choice

Chapter 6 Growing A Spirit-Filled Life

Chapter 7 How Will You Respond When Things Go Wrong?

Chapter 8 Sharing His Light In A Dark World

Chapter 9 The Choice Is Yours

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my late father, Artice B McNeel.

Dad was a model of how a believer should live. He loved the Lord deeply and sought to make his life count for the cause of Christ.

Never underestimate the positive influence Godly parents have

on their children.

PREFACE

Life is all about choices. You choose where to live, your occupation, spouse, and the names of your children—just to highlight a few. Some choices are easy to make, while others are difficult and require a lot of thought and consideration. Some choices lead to good outcomes while others do not.

The best choice an individual could ever make is to receive Christ as personal Savior. That decision guarantees the believer a home in Heaven with God for eternity.

Although the eternal issue is settled, there are many choices that face the believer during his/her journey through life. These choices will not alter the believer’s eternal destiny, but can have a major impact on the quality and effectiveness of the Christian life. Wrong choices made by the believer can result in a life that is marred by defeat and unhappiness.

This book is about personal choices for the believer. Although the principles presented in this book are for all Christians, the words are directed to you for self-examination. Victory in your Christian life will be determined by the choices you make. God has a plan for your life and a way to achieve it, but Satan also has a plan. Whose plan you follow depends on your choices. This battle over control of your life will continue until you are finally at home in Heaven. The goal of this book is to equip you with guiding principles from God’s Word* to explain how you can have God’s promised victory and live a meaningful and fruitful Christian life. You can follow God’s plan and experience this victory or choose Satan’s plan and live defeated. The choice is yours.

As you read through each chapter, examine your life, privately and prayerfully, to determine whose plan you are following as a believer. Compare the words of each chapter against God’s Word and make a personal application to your life. If changes are needed, turn to God to provide the strength to implement them. God also has a specific plan designed just for you. Whether you follow His design or not is up to you because—the choice is yours.

* Scripture taken from the New Kings James Version ®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER 1

Are You More Like Mary or Martha?

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.

(Philippians 3:10)

The Bible tells the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. It is an important passage that illustrates two distinctively different approaches to serving the Lord. In this passage, Jesus entered a certain village and was a dinner guest in Martha’s house. Her sister, Mary, was present also. Others were most likely present but we are not told. Mary was content to sit at the feet of Jesus, listening to His every word. Martha, on the other hand, was busy preparing dinner for everyone present, fretting over every little detail and did not have time to listen closely to His words.

During her dinner preparations, Martha became very agitated, feeling the whole burden of the work and its success rested on her shoulders. No doubt feeling stressed from her labors, she interrupted Jesus as He was speaking and questioned His concern about Mary sitting idle while so much work remained in preparation of the meal. She requested Jesus tell Mary to come and help her. Jesus calmly answered Martha expressing His concern that she was stressed and worried over so many details. He informed Martha that only one thing was really needed and Mary had chosen that good part which would never be taken away from her.

In this short, but important passage, the Bible offers two approaches to Christian service. From Martha’s perspective, Mary was lazy and not concerned nor willing to help with the work. Martha believed she was doing the right thing by meticulously preparing for the Master but had no time to listen closely to His words. But what did Jesus think?

Jesus expressed His concern that Martha was anxious and weighted down by many unimportant things. But wasn’t Martha working feverishly for her Master? Yes, but look at how she offered her service to Him. Rather than serving the Lord with a heart of joy and excitement, she was burdened and troubled with all the details of the work. Her labors were more a mechanical process to an end than a joyous offering of love to the Savior. Martha is an example of many Christ followers today. Instead of service given joyfully as an offering of love, it is a source of burden and worry, often neglecting valuable time with the One we are serving.

Don’t misunderstand. The spiritual harvest is great and more laborers are needed (Matthew 9:37). Thank God for Christians willing to step up and help with the work of the Lord. There’s a lot that needs to be done and more of God’s people need to stand in the gap and involve themselves in the work. May their number grow! But how and why Christians serve is also important. Like Martha, you can make yourself so busy in the Lord’s work that you lose sight of what is really important. How could this happen?

There is a simple answer. Something is missing in your relationship with the Lord. There’s a failure to spend enough time sitting at the feet of Jesus and, as a result, you have lost sight of His heart and mission. The cares and routines of this life have choked out your one-on-one time with the Lord.

If you feel mechanical in Christian service, answer this question. How much time do you spend alone with God? If little time is allowed to share the deepest thoughts and concerns with the Father and hear His words, you will drift away from His purpose into a mechanical service with little meaning. How are you going to serve with the right actions and purpose unless there are frequent and meaningful conversations with God? Lack of a dedicated time with God results in missed opportunities for God to speak to your heart. These one-on-one times include prayer, meditation, worship, and searching the Word of God. When these times are limited, your service to God can become empty, misdirected and mechanical. Even if there is a strong desire to serve God, you will miss His personal plan and direction without sufficient one-on-one time to learn His heart. Through personal time alone with God, you will get to know and understand the Savior more.

Imagine a wife who says she loves her husband, but never has one-on-one time to learn about him, nor he about her. She washes the family clothes, cooks the meals, takes care of the kids, and keeps the house in order. What about a husband who constantly works overtime to provide sufficient finances and spends his non-working time taking care of the yard and other upkeep duties? While this may sound great with many marital responsibilities accomplished, there is something important missing in this marriage relationship. The couple lacks time together to learn about each other. They need an opportunity to understand each other’s heart and grow a deep and lasting bond of love. A marital relationship based on deep bonds of love will survive the storms of life. The activities performed by each marriage partner were not wrong, but they should be done out of a deep love and desire to please the other and not just to satisfy perceived obligations of the marriage relationship.

Believers who serve without knowing the heart of the Savior fall into this same error. If your service is not grounded in a deep love relationship with God, there is a tendency to lose sight of why you are serving. Efforts to serve become a burden, filled with seemingly insurmountable problems. The weight of this self-imposed burden is the main source of Christian burnout. There is a difference between giving your life in service and burnout. God’s plan never requires more than you can accomplish for Him. He provides a work but also provides the strength to accomplish what He has designed for your life. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:30).

When the burden seems heavy, step aside and ask two questions. Am I involved in areas of service chosen by me and not the Lord? Am I trying to accomplish His work in my own strength and not the power of the Holy Spirit? If the answer to one or both questions is yes, you are in danger of burnout as worry and problems in the work continue to accumulate. To prevent this, set aside time alone with God on a regular basis and realign your heart and ministry with His heart. Your service should be directed by God and not some perceived notion of duty. Once you know His will, you must allow the work to be done through the power of the Holy Spirit and not self-efforts.

Could it be that you are just trying to show the Lord (or others) you are busy in the work? Just being busy demonstrates a shallow concept of Christian service for the Lord. Martha loved Jesus but had a shallow understanding of His purpose and direction for her life. She was too busy doing things to sit at His feet and learn His heart and will for her life. You may have a desire to serve and feel an urge to become involved in many activities, but have never sought what He truly desires. You need to know God’s heart first then become involved in areas of service as He leads. That’s why we are called followers or disciples. When and where He leads, you should follow. Spending time in prayer and meditation will reveal God’s plan. How can you serve Jesus effectively if little time is spent sitting at His feet to understand His heart? It is like saying to Jesus, I don’t have time to listen to you because I have things to do for you. It’s doing without listening; acting without knowing.

Some Christians are jumpers. They are well-meaning with a desire to serve the Lord, but have not spent time sitting at His feet to know what He desires. So the first need that comes along or a call for volunteers becomes jumping spots. They agree to jump in and take on the task without knowing whether the Lord called them to that ministry or not. Many times this results in failure in the task or burnout and brings feelings of shame and unworthiness to the well-intended worker. After this type of failure, they are less likely to step forward when other opportunities are presented. Church leaders can only ask if you believe the Lord is leading in a particular ministry opportunity. They do not, and should not, question His leading in your life. Spending time at the feet of Jesus will reveal His will and place of service.

The story of Ahimaaz in 2 Samuel 18 can teach us about just being active compared to a called service with purpose. During the battle of Mount Ephraim, King David’s son, Absalom, was slain. Even though Absalom was an enemy, he was still David’s son. The responsibility of telling David about Absalom fell on Joab. Ahimaaz volunteered quickly to take a message, any message, to King David. Joab informed him that he would not be of service today in bearing the important message, but to wait for another day to serve as needed. Joab gave the responsibility for the delivery of this message to Cushi. Ahimaaz wanted to be of service and couldn’t wait for another opportunity so he begged Joab to let him be involved. Ahimaaz was allowed to run along with Cushi. Ahimaaz ran very well and eventually overtook and outran Cushi arriving first to King David. Ahimaaz told the king what he knew but David wanted a specific message about Absalom. Ahimaaz confessed he was not assigned that responsibility leaving David very disappointed. Cushi soon arrived with the real message David had awaited. Absalom was dead.

You cannot fault Ahimaaz for his zeal in wanting to be of service. However, delivering the news of Absalom’s death was not his called ministry of service—that fell to Cushi. In the end, there was no purpose for all of his efforts. He was not who Joab chose to do this particular work.

God has a specific work for each of us. You are equipped specifically for the task He has planned. When zeal for service runs ahead of God’s calling, the results may be empty or even disastrous. Wait, like Cushi, to be given the task that God desires. Sitting at the feet of Jesus and knowing His heart will lead you in a better understanding of His divine calling specifically for you.

Christians constantly express a desire to know God’s will. That’s probably the most frequently asked question from new believers. Many are sincere, but refuse to sit at the feet of Jesus and know Him first. Once you know His heart, you will know His will. Once you see His heart, you will get a vision of where you fit in His