(Nehemiah 3:13)

The Valley Gate

We spoke previously of the valley gate. The valley is the "valley of decision."

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. (Joel 3:14)

"The valley of decision." "The day of the Lord is near."

The coming of Christ, whether to an individual or to the whole world, always brings us to a point of decision. The decision is whether we will obey and serve Christ or whether we will not obey and serve Christ.

The more Christ enters our life the closer we come to making that final, ultimate decision to cast ourselves wholly on the Lord.

Of all the treasures available throughout the creation, there is no doubt whatever that the most valuable treasure of all is the determination, the power, to cast one's self on the Lord. It is not as easy as it sounds. It requires the grace of God in order for a person to finally and completely abandon himself or herself to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Decisions! Each day we must choose to go God's way. Each moment we must decide to live in Christ and to allow His Person, His Glory, His will, to be expressed fully in our personality.

Adam and Eve had a choice to make. They made the wrong decision. The horror of the consequences of that wrong decision is incomprehensible. Ever since that wretched moment their descendants have been required to choose of their own will to renounce the sinful and rebellious decision of Adam and Eve, meanwhile suffering the consequences of the rebellion, lusts, and death Adam and Eve passed on to us.

Each day of our Christian discipleship we are to renounce, to repudiate thoroughly, to destroy wherever and whenever possible, all sin, all rebellion against Christ, all self-will and self-seeking. We are to be powerfully decisive, our wills of the toughest steel and sharper than any razor. The saint must learn to choose to serve the Lord on every occasion.

The wisdom and power to be able to walk single-mindedly with Christ are valuable beyond all other values. Such wisdom and power are not purchased cheaply. If a man were to sell all he possessed and buy the power to decide to serve Christ wholly he would be getting the greatest bargain in the universe.

How many people would give themselves wholly to Christ if they could? And we can if we will call on God sincerely, asking Him to give us the desire to serve the Lord. All wisdom, all power are His. If we ask God He will create in us both the desire and the ability to perform His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

Double-mindedness is a curse. When we are double-minded, not being able to decide to follow Christ, not being able to choose to go one way or the other, we are of all people most miserable. God will not answer our prayers while we are in indecision.

The drawing near of the Kingdom of God forces every individual on the earth to make a decision. There are untold multitudes in the valley of decision today. There will be increasing multitudes in that valley as time passes and the hands of the clock approach the midnight hour—the moment of Christ's return to earth.

To be continued.