Jesus had to make choices. Isaiah 7:14-15 says, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” Jesus was not some spiritual robot who automatically obeyed God, but rather He was tempted and had to make choices (Hebrews 4:15). Isaiah 50:6-9 is prophesying about Jesus being persecuted in the crucifixion, and we hear Jesus making some choices. It says, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.” In a pressured situation, Jesus made some choices. When you are in a pressured situation you’re going to have to make choices. We see Jesus again acting in this manner just prior to going to the cross when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is experiencing a great deal of pressure. In Matthew’s account Jesus said,“My soul is exceeding sorrowful.” (Matthew 26:38).” Luke’s account tells us that Jesus was under such great pressure that he was sweating blood. Luke 22:44 says, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” The word, agony in that verse means severe mental and emotional pressure. Jesus is in a dark place. He is facing trying times. However, in the middle of this tremendous pressure Jesus makes a decision to pray more earnestly. When pressure came on Jesus, he made a decision and put pressure right back on the enemy! Jesus made a choice! He made a choice to not be overcome by the pressure! In Psalm 23, David was in a pressured situation. He was running for his life from King Saul and he found himself alone in a desert place called Hareth. In verse 4 he said, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” We see David in a pressured situation making a choice. Certainly, David had the opportunity to fear, but he refused to choose fear by making a choice. In Psalm 118, the psalmist is in a pressured place (see verse 5) and in the midst of pressure he made some choices. He said, “5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. 6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me. 7 The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore I will see my desire upon them that hate me. 10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 12 They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. 19 ¶ Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: 21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. 24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. As believers, we have fallen short in this regard. We are not opening our mouths and exercising our will as much as we should be. We are not verbalizing our decisions like we should be. When sickness attacks your body you need to verbalize your decision, “I will not be sick. I choose healing.” When lack attacks your finances you need to say out loud, “I will not be in financial lack. I choose prosperity.” Making decisions in this manner is one of the first things that we should be doing in a pressured situation. When you make a decision like this your heart gets established. Psalm 112:8 says, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.” If your heart is not established, you will waver and be easily moved off of the Word of God. However, when you make a decision in faith and establish your heart, you won’t be moved by pressure. In many instances believers are not experiencing victory because they are trying to do so without making a decision and establishing their heart. Let me give you a picture of what this would look like in the natural. Let’s say a man gets laid off from his job. Right now, he needs to find out what the Word says, let that Word be final authority, and then make a decision. God leads him to Philippians 4:19 that says, “My God shall supply all of your need according to His riches in glory.” He then allows that Word to be final authority and verbalizes his decision, “I will not be in lack, I resist lack, I refuse it, I choose prosperity.” His heart is established. The next day, he gets an unexpected bill in the mail. If he hadn’t made that decision he could be moved into worry or depression by this bill, but with an established heart he says, “I’ve made my choice. I will not live in lack. I have chosen prosperity and therefore I am rich!” Two days later his truck breaks down. With a heart that was established on day one he says, “I’ve made my choice. I will not live in lack. I have chosen prosperity and therefore I am rich! End of discussion!” A few days later they shut the lights off at his house because he wasn’t able to pay his bill. With his established heart he says, “I’ve made my choice. I will not live in lack. I have chosen prosperity and therefore I am rich! End of discussion!” The decision he made on day one is carrying him through all of these negative situations. His established heart, that was the result of the decision he made, is enabling him to not be moved when this pressure shows up. Verbalize your decision and establish your heart the moment pressure shows up. Do it on day one!
One of the most powerful things that you can do in your life is exercise your will and make a decision. There was enough power in the decision you made to keep you from going to hell when you accepted Jesus as your Savior. Decisions can bring a manifestation of God’s goodness or spark destruction. A decision can cause a revolution or bring desolation. A decision can bring restoration or cause devastation. There is power in making decisions. Decisions determine direction and set you on a path or a course, and ultimately the path you travel or the course you take determines the destiny you reach. Decisions affect destinies. Decisions determine allegiance and establish agreement. They reveal to Heaven and Hell who you are siding with. Decisions authorize angels to go to work on your behalf, and they authorize God to manifest His grace and favor in your life. Nothing beings until somebody makes a decision. Your turnaround, your breakthrough, and your deliverance from the dark place, begins with a decision. A decision made in line with the will of God will tap the supernatural power of God. In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were about to be thrown into a fiery furnace because they wouldn’t bow down and worship the king’s idols. It was not the will of God that they worship other gods. So the king was going to give them one more chance to bow down, but they stopped him and made a decision. They said our God will deliver us, and we will not bow. That made the king mad and he had them thrown into the fire, but the supernatural power of God showed up and the fire had no effect on them. They made a decision in line with the will of God and tapped the supernatural power of God. David also made some decisions in 1 Samuel 17 when he was getting ready to fight Goliath. Goliath just got through insulting David and telling David that he was going to kill him. This is a pressured situation, but David made a decision. It says, “45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” David made decisions in line with the will of God and tapped the supernatural power of God that caused him to obtain victory in a pressured situation. The same thing will happen in the life of a believer who makes a decision in line with the will of God. A decision made in line with the will of God will cause a spiritual explosion of God’s supernatural power in the life of a believer that will bring victories in their lives that is beyond anything they could ever ask, think, or imagine!
As a believer, you’re going to have opportunities to be sick, broke, worried, afraid, and so on, but you don’t have to take any of them. Jesus, David, and the three Hebrews could have made other choices. They could have chosen to fear, to not obey God, and to not walk by faith. Certainly they had opportunities to be worried and discouraged and defeated, but they refused to choose those things. You and I must do the same because we will have opportunities to get in fear, be worried, be sick, be discouraged and live in lack. However, we can do the same thing Jesus did, David did, and the three Hebrews did and say, “No, in the Name of Jesus! I will not be defeated!” Satan has no authority to make you be or do anything. He cannot take your right to choose and he hates that. If you’ll resist him and refuse to choose the junk he’s peddling, he can’t make you afraid, depressed, worried, sick, broke, or defeated. James 4:7 says, “Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee.” If you choose to resist him, he has no choice but to flee from your life.