WHAT IS THE WILL OF GOD FOR MY LIFE? "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you."
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 NASB
In short, the will of God is for us to walk rightly before Him in relationship. But what about..... The "what abouts" are secondary.
In Matthew six Jesus talks about needing clothes and food and the needs of our daily lives. In taking about our needs and our desires, He said this.
Matthew 6:33-34 AMPC "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble." When we seek God for Himself, He will make sure we have what we need. When we get focused on need it takes our eyes off of Him and puts it on things. When our eyes are on things, that's when we get off track.
Look unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.
#devotionalthought #holiness #sanctification #kingdom #needs #desires #faith #life #wholeness
JOHN WESLEY- MATTHEW 5:17-20 "2From all this we may learn, that there is no contrariety at all between the law and the gospel; that there is no need for the law to pass away, in order to the establishing of the gospel. Indeed neither of them supersedes the other, but they agree perfectly well together. Yea, the very same words, considered in different respects, are parts both of the law and of the gospel. If they are considered as commandments, they are parts of the law: if as promises, of the gospel. Thus, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," when considered as a commandment, is a branch of the law; when regarded as a promise, is an essential part of the gospel; -- the gospel being no other than the commands of the law proposed by way of promises. Accordingly poverty of spirit, purity of heart, and whatever else is enjoined in the holy law of God, are no other, when viewed in a gospel light, than so many great and precious promises.
3. There is, therefore, the closest connexion that can be conceived between the law and the gospel. On the one hand, the law continually makes way for, and points us to the gospel; on the other, the gospel continually leads us to a more exact fulfilling of the law. The law, for instance, requires us to love God, to love our neighbour, to be meek, humble, or holy. We feel that we are not sufficient for these things; yea, that "with man this is impossible:" But we see a promise of God, to give us that love, and to make us humble, meek, and holy: We lay hold of this gospel, of these glad tidings; it is done unto us according to our faith; and "the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us," through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
We may yet farther observe, that every command in holy writ is only a covered promise. For by that solemn declaration, "This is the covenant I will make after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws in your minds, and write them in your hearts," God hath engaged to give whatsoever he commands. Does he command us then to "pray without ceasing" To "rejoice evermore" "To be holy as He is holy" It is enough. He will work in us this very thing. It shall be unto us according to his word."
There is a lot of talk about a great end time revival, but what is it?
Is it miracles, signs and wonders? Is it churches being packed?
The more I read Scripture the more I am convinced that the great revival we will see is two fold; Jews recieving Yeshua as their Messiah and the Church embracing the Jewish roots.
There may be what we consider miracles, signs and wonders happen in the midst of the other, but these will be secondary.
Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:5 in the Passion Translation, "For many will appear on the scene claiming my authority or saying about themselves, ‘I am God’s Anointed,’ and they will lead many astray." They won't necessarily claim to be the savior, just claim to have an anointing. This leads to the great falling away.
As much as we in the Church like revival we must keep our eyes on Jesus and walk in discernment. We can't get so focused on revival and healing that we could be lead astray by a minister who walks in "the anointing" but isn't following Jesus or preaching His gospel.
Matthew 7:15-23 (MSG) “Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned. “Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience— doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’" I know these may be heavy words for a Sunday morning but they are words we need to hear.
#sundaymorning #thought #endtimes #revival #returning #jewishroots #awakening #fallingaway #thereismore
SEEING & UNDERSTANDING "Christian formation also includes critical periods, or what Robert Havighurst calls "teachable moments". These are moments when a person is ready to learn and understand a concept. There are times when, because of general patterns of growth and individual circumstances, people are not ready to deal with certain issues. This is the case for faith as well."" - On The Way: A Practical Theology of Christian Formation, Les L. Steele
These words are so true in my life right now. There are times when God tries to show us things but because of unwillingness or immaturity, or a combination of both we refuse to see what He's trying to show us or hear what He is saying. But God is gracious and He'll wait a while and then bring it back around again to see if we're ready to deal with it.
If you find yourself in a place where the Lord brings something to your attention every few months, don't ignore it. Some things may be hard to deal with and even harder to let go of but if the Holy Spirit is bringing it back around it's for our benefit. In the end you'll be better off and happy you did the hard thing.
#thoughts #spiritualgrowth #maturity #holyspirit #christianlife #discipleship
Much has gone on in the Church the last several weeks and things continue to be exposed and people are changing in God's grace.
This will be a difficult season but a fruitful one for those willing to hear the Holy Spirit and change. For those of us who will let go of whatever He tells us to and align with the truth of His Word and walk in holiness, we will never be the same.
We need to allow ourselves and our understanding to be challenged by the Holy Spirit. Some of our beliefs are mixed with error or they are exaggerated and we need to let the Holy Spirit upend those things in our lives.
We need to allow the Holy Spirit to challenge the things we have thought and assumed about Scripture.
On the Hebrew calendar we are in the month of Elul which is a time of examination, repentance and return to God. It's not a coincidence all these things began happening before the month of Elul on the Hebrew calendar. I do believe this time of examination could go past this month for many.
Don't ignore the exposure, the changes and the falling away in the Church right now. Examine yourself, put your life, your beliefs and your expectations on the altar of God. Do not be flippant towards His holiness. His mercy is not His winking at sin.
God is love and He extends mercy but there is a time when mercy turns to judgment and we are seeing judgment take place with leaders. Some are receiving mercy and changing, while others dig in their heels.
Take this time God is giving us to search your own heart, beliefs and practices. Line up with His Word, walk in holiness- love what He loves and hate what He hates.
#examine #heart #introspection #holiness #sanctification #repentance #elul #grace #mercy #truth #holyspirit
