Ephesians 1:12

God has given us the power of choice, but once we have made the choice, it has power over us.

The Bible is filled with illustrations of decisions with which people were faced and the result of the choices they made. Joseph chose to forgive those who had cruelly mistreated him rather than harbor bitterness. Samson chose to follow lustful desires rather than God's plan for his life. Abraham chose to trust God and demonstrate that trust by being willing to offer his son as a sacrifice. Judas chose to betray Christ for financial gain. Of the two thieves crucified on either side of Jesus, one chose to mock Him while the other chose to trust Him.

The choices of Joseph, Abraham, and the thief who trusted Christ brought unbelievably wonderful results. God honored Joseph's faithfulness and forgiveness by raising him from the prison to the palace and reuniting him with his father and brothers. God honored Abraham's faith by providing a substitute sacrifice and blessing his ensuing generations with strength and multiplication. God honored the thief's choice by promising him a home in Heaven (just as He promises to anyone who will trust Him for salvation).

On the other hand, the choices of Samson, Judas, and the mocking thief brought consequences that they did not foresee when they made their decisions. Both Samson and Judas ended their lives by suicide. Samson lost the delivering power of God and ended his life a slave-his eyes gouged out and doing the job of an animal while being mocked by God's enemies. The unbearable guilt Judas felt after betraying Christ brought him to the end of a noose where he hanged himself. The mocking thief will forever be regretting his decision to reject Christ as he spends eternity in Hell.

God has given each of us the power of choice, but once we have made our choice, we have no power to choose the consequences. Consider Eve's choice in the Garden of Eden. Even after God gave Adam and Eve every good thing in the Garden of Eden, when Satan tempted Eve to take of the one tree God had forbidden, she yielded.

Satan suggested to Eve that she could be her own god, making her own decisions based on her own reasoning: "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:4-5). This temptation to be ones own god appeals to many Christians today. They want to be the one in control.

God does give us a free will-power to choose who we will obey-just as He gave to Adam and Eve. But notice that once Adam and Eve made their choice, they had no control of the consequences. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12).

When you are faced with temptation, remember the power of choice. You can choose to yield to temptation, but once you have made that choice, you cannot choose the consequences. On the other hand, as a Christian, you can choose to yield to the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:13). Once you have made that choice, you will find the consequences are the unabated blessings of God (Romans 6:22). Choose today, through the power of grace, to yield to the Holy Spirit.

FP material

wonderful piece op. you just made my Sunday

Whenever I hear some folks screaming 'It is only be the grace of God', I shake my head.

Grace of God will not make the choice for you.

Did JUdas IScariot have a choice? If he didnt sell JEsus would JEsus have died. I just believe there are somethings that are destined to happen. No matter what you do or the choices you decide to make, it must definitely happen.

https://www.nairaland.com/3757594/residents-summon-ekpo-masquerades-chase

jmoore:
Whenever I hear some folks screaming 'It is only be the grace of God', I shake my head.

Grace of God will not make the choice for you.

Grace of God perfects ones choice

Awesome piece.

COdeGenesis:
Did JUdas IScariot have a choice? If he didnt sell JEsus would JEsus have died. I just believe there are somethings that are destined to happen. No matter what you do or the choices you decide to make, it must definitely happen.

https://www.nairaland.com/3757594/residents-summon-ekpo-masquerades-chase

True words.

Whatever happened happened and couldn't have happened any other way.

mamatayour:
Grace of God perfects ones choice

Some of the so called 'men of God' that committed adultery, wasn't grace sufficient enough to help them?

jmoore:

Some of the so called 'men of God' that committed adultery, wasn't grace sufficient enough to help them?

Chai, dis your question get as e be

So you think the decision Judas took to betray Jesus was as a result of choice rather than a predetermined event bound to happen in order to fulfil the prophecy?
When the bible says he knows your end from the very beginning, do you really think whatever happens to you is under your control?

ObasanjoQuotes:
h

awon omo onile 60/120

The power to choice does not hold under Christian believe given the nature of God. Though I understand why most Christian still believes that we have the power to choose and on the other hand believes that God fashioned the world to serve His purpose and His alone, because believing otherwise undermine the very thing the nature of God is built on.

For instance God being all powerful and all knowing with the ability to influence or alter one's path, Him not altering one's choice is His altering one's choice. By not choosing for you, He is choosing for you since He has the ability to do both. Whatever "choice" He makes is a choice that affects yours.

Moving away from Christian theology to social science the decision you make today is a function of the sum total of all your life experiences to that point - by implication your choice to choose is been driven by circumstances.

siie:
awon omo onile 60/120

God please help us, we are humans. make choices for us.

patrickmuf:
So you think the decision Judas took to betray Jesus was as a result of choice rather than a predetermined event bound to happen in order to fulfil the prophecy?
When the bible says he knows your end from the very beginning, do you really think whatever happens to you is under your control?

confirm...sometimes..some things are beyond our control

COdeGenesis:
Did JUdas IScariot have a choice? If he didnt sell JEsus would JEsus have died. I just believe there are somethings that are destined to happen. No matter what you do or the choices you decide to make, it must definitely happen.

https://www.nairaland.com/3757594/residents-summon-ekpo-masquerades-chase

you have a point

COdeGenesis:
Did JUdas IScariot have a choice? If he didnt sell JEsus would JEsus have died. I just believe there are somethings that are destined to happen. No matter what you do or the choices you decide to make, it must definitely happen.

https://www.nairaland.com/3757594/residents-summon-ekpo-masquerades-chase

I didn't even see this before responding to the topic, OP, let's see how you spin this one

The management and board of Nigeria”s foremost bank, First Bank, have a lot of explanation to do to the Nigerian and global audience particularly their customers over alleged underground financial recklessness going on in the bank in which top management and board members have been fingered as masterminds.

The full details of the dealings contained in a petition by a human rights group obtained by thegazellenews.com revealed that about N50 billion was involved in the spurious loan deals which revolves around the top management and board members of the bank.
The petition, by the Social and Economic Rights Derivatives Centre, thegazellenews.com can revealed, has been forwarded to various agencies, institutions and top government officials in the banking sector for action and investigation.

The petition signed by the Executive Director of the group, Comrade John Eyinayya and dated April 12, 2017, has been forwarded to the following:
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
The President of the Senate,.Senator Bukola Saraki
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibraheem
The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay.

A copy of the petition currently in possession of thegazellenews.com, the Social and Economic Rights Derivatives Centre is asking the aforementioned bodies to investigate the Chairman of the FBN Holdings Plc, Mr Ayoola Oba Otudeko; former Group Managing Director of the bank, Dr Bisi Onasanya; and former Chairman of First Bank, Prince Ajibola Afonja over alleged “financial recklesness and dangerous insider deals”.
In the petition, the human rights group wants the Group Chairman of the FBN Holdings Plc, Mr Ayoola Oba Otudeko investigated alongside with the management of First Bank for allegedly collecting N29 billion from the bank through FBN Trustees and having the said loan curiously and dubiously written off without the knowledge and consent of the bank’s shareholders.
Thegazellenews.com also gathered through the petition that Otudeko also took a N9 billion Sun Trust credit line from First Bank without following due process.

It was also alleged that an unspecified huge billions of naira was allegedly siphoned from the bank through a company named Sinod Petroleum while the sums of N4.82 billion and N4.7 billion were suspiciously and dubiously released to Broadwaters Resources Limited and Nujutek Nigeria Limited respectively without due process. In her internal audit report, the Client Audit Executive of the bank, Uduak N. Udoh, submitted thus:
“The term loan of N4.7 billion approved in August 2015 but disbursed to Nujutek Nigeria Limited in October 2105 purportedly to commence Terminal Shipping Operations and Logistics was packaged and approved without proper credit analysis and due process.
“The facility was purposefully arranged to pay down the facility of N4.82 billion, packaged in the name of Broadwaters Resources Limited in February 2015.

The approval process and grid for this earlier loan was also intentionally circumvented by top management staff of the bank”.
Apart from Otudeko, other top former and current staff fingered in the huge loan scam are:
Bisi Onasanya, former GMD/CEO with staff number 013946
Abiodun Odubola, former Executive Director of the bank with staff number 023687
Cecilia Majekodunmi, ex-General Manager with staff number 007240
Omolade O Olawore, former Deputy General Manager and ex-Head, Credit Risk Management Department with staff number 019379
Olayemi O Agboola, Deputy Manager, Credit Analysis and Processing Department with staff number 019368
Nwanguma Olufunmilayo, Assistant General Manager and former Group Head, CBMG, Lagos Island with staff number 026562
Nduka U Dike, Manager who is the Business Manager of CBMG, Marina Lagos with staff number 025515 and
Idode Stephen Ikhazuagbe, Relationship Manager, CBMG, Marina Lagos with staff number 026536.

The petitioners viewed the underground financial dealings going on in First Bank as a big threat to the development and growth of the nation’s economy hence the need d it to be properly investigated with perpetrators made to face the wrath of the law.


https://breaking.com.ng/nigeria/exclusive-n48b-loan-fraud-rocks-first-bank-how-otudekos-n29b-loan-was-written-off-without-due-process-other-details/

patrickmuf:
I didn't even see this before responding to the topic, OP, let's see how you spin this one

Jesus actually said someone will betray him. He already knew it was JUdas. Even PEter that denied Jesus three times, he had a choice
,he didnt want to deny Jesus because he loved his master,but when the D-day came my guy deny Jesus three times, he had to deny Jesus or else he would have died

Baba God abeg help me to always make d right choice o. Na beg I de. Business and Family decisions .

Cool

Great piece op

Tazdroid:


True words.

Whatever happened happened and couldn't have happened any other way.

He was told "one of you would betray me today..." That, in itself, is sufficient to turn the heart of a would-be betrayer. It is written, but Judas made the choice. Think about it. Just as it is written today that some will go to hell, you have a choice to make that declaration pass you by.
However, I believe God knows how each of us would end up.

Hardeysolution:
Ephesians 1:12

God has given us the power of choice, but once we have made the choice, it has power over us.

The Bible is filled with illustrations of decisions with which people were faced and the result of the choices they made. Joseph chose to forgive those who had cruelly mistreated him rather than harbor bitterness. Samson chose to follow lustful desires rather than God's plan for his life. Abraham chose to trust God and demonstrate that trust by being willing to offer his son as a sacrifice. Judas chose to betray Christ for financial gain. Of the two thieves crucified on either side of Jesus, one chose to mock Him while the other chose to trust Him.

The choices of Joseph, Abraham, and the thief who trusted Christ brought unbelievably wonderful results. God honored Joseph's faithfulness and forgiveness by raising him from the prison to the palace and reuniting him with his father and brothers. God honored Abraham's faith by providing a substitute sacrifice and blessing his ensuing generations with strength and multiplication. God honored the thief's choice bypromising him a home in Heaven (just as He promises to anyone who will trust Him for salvation)

On the other hand, the choices of Samson, Judas, and the mocking thief brought consequences that they did not foresee when they made their decisions. Both Samson and Judas ended their lives by suicide. Samson lost the delivering power of God and ended his life a slave-his eyes gouged out and doing the job of an animal while being mocked by God's enemies. The unbearable guilt Judas felt after betraying Christ brought him to the end of a noose where he hanged himself. The mocking thief will forever be regretting his decision to reject Christ as he spends eternity in Hell.

God has given each of us the power of choice, but once we have made our choice, we have no power to choose the consequences. Consider Eve's choice in the Garden of Eden. Even after God gave Adam and Eve every good thing in the Garden of Eden, when Satan tempted Eve to take of the one tree God had forbidden, she yielded.

Satan suggested to Eve that she could be her own god, making her own decisions based on her own reasoning: "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:4-5). This temptation to be ones own god appeals to many Christians today. They want to be the one in control.

God does give us a free will-power to choose who we will obey-just as He gave to Adam and Eve. But notice that once Adam and Eve made their choice, they had no control of the consequences. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12).

When you are faced with temptation, remember the power of choice. You can choose to yield to temptation, but once you have made that choice, you cannot choose the consequences. On the other hand, as a Christian, you can choose to yield to the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:13). Once you have made that choice, you will find the consequences are the unabated blessings of God (Romans 6:22). Choose today, through the power of grace, to yield to the Holy Spirit.

If your God gave you the ability to choose from the available choices He created, why would HE still punish you for your chosen choice?

jmoore:
Whenever I hear some folks screaming 'It is only be the grace of God', I shake my head.

Grace of God will not make the choice for you.

The grace of God can take decisions for you,it's God that manipulates the heart of man,so his grace is a pathway to progress.

I Love this BT I believe destiny can't be changed it can only be delayed

Ginaz:
God please help us, we are humans. make choices for us.

How are you dear, did you go to church.

seggzz:

If your God gave you the ability to choose from the available choices He created, why would HE still punish you for your chosen choice?

He also gives you the ability to know what is good and bad.

THIS ARTICLE MIGHT BE THE POSTER'S OPINION BUT WE ARE ONLY LIVING BY THE SPECIAL GRACE OF GOD AND HIS GOODNESS AND NOT BY OUR OWN CHOICES OR RIGHTEOUSNESS , THINGS DOES NOT TURN OUT BY THE CHOICE WE MADE MOST TIMES .

woodcook:
The power to choice does not hold under Christian believe given the nature of God. Though I understand why most Christian still believes that we have the power to choose and on the other hand believes that God fashioned the world to serve His purpose and His alone, because believing otherwise undermine the very thing the nature of God is built on.

For instance God being all powerful and all knowing with the ability to influence or alter one's path, Him not altering one's choice is His altering one's choice. By not choosing for you, He is choosing for you since He has the ability to do both. Whatever "choice" He makes is a choice that affects yours.

Moving away from Christian theology to social science the decision you make today is a function of the sum total of all your life experiences to that point - by implication your choice to choose is been driven by circumstances.

Hmmm..... You made sense psychologically