October 27, 2015 KEEPING IT FRESH
Galatians 5:16: “But I say to you, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
Titus 2:11-12: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age.”
Philippians 4:9: “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace shall be with you.”
In my last blog; “What Shall We Say?’, we looked at just how great is the salvation that we have in Christ and how secure we are in the love of God, and how God is at work in us transforming us to the image of Christ. We might wonder, we may even struggle with knowing how do we keep the things of God on “the front burner” of our lives. After all, most have to work 40+ hours a week, we have to maintain what we own, we have to take care of the kids, we have to mow the lawn and etc., and with the demands put on us, or the demands we put on ourselves, it seems we have to find time to work God into our schedule. There is a remedy to this dilemma; and this remedy is not difficult or burdensome, but is actually liberating. The remedy has to do with our view, our understanding of life being rooted in the gospel that Jesus introduced and demonstrated. (One word of caution: there is a lot of preaching and teaching today in “Christian circles” that is not in line with the gospel of Jesus Christ-so beware.) From the Galatian verse above, we see that we either walk by the Spirit, or we walk by the flesh. To walk by the flesh does not necessarily mean we are committing some horrible overt sin, but it does mean we are not living according to the Spirit of God within us. If our focus is trying our best not to “walk in the flesh”, we will be defeated. The good news is that if we walk according to the Spirit-the ways of God-we will not live according to the flesh. So, the question is; just how do we walk in the Spirit? How do we keep God fresh in our awareness-on the front burner? I’m sure I don’t have the final answer; but I’m sure of a couple of the basics that must be a part of our lives if we are to walk according to the Spirit. It starts with our hearts; we must search our hearts and determine if it is our hearts desire above everything else, to know God. Should we discover that that is not the case, we should confess that to God and then ask Him to change our heart, and then begin to focus our heart on Him-seek Him. A second essential factor is that we spend time reading God’s word with the mindset of getting to know God and also discovering what it means “to be in Christ”. Our true identity in Christ includes knowing that our sins are forgiven, that we have been made new, that God is our real Father, that we are being transformed into His image, and that He is coming back to make our redemption complete. The third factor in keeping the things of God fresh is to obey, to apply, what we read in scripture and what the Holy Spirit puts in our heart. By not walking in what He reveals to us, we are choosing to walk according to our flesh and we grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 4:30). Let us be reminded that only by “practicing these things”, will we experience the peace of God. We do make the choice of whether we walk by the Spirit, or we walk by the flesh.
John 14:23: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make our abode with him.”
John 14:10-11: “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Fathers commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
Jeremiah 17:7,10: “Blessed is the man who trust in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”
Blessings,
Buddy
Galatians 5:16: “But I say to you, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
Titus 2:11-12: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age.”
Philippians 4:9: “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace shall be with you.”
In my last blog; “What Shall We Say?’, we looked at just how great is the salvation that we have in Christ and how secure we are in the love of God, and how God is at work in us transforming us to the image of Christ. We might wonder, we may even struggle with knowing how do we keep the things of God on “the front burner” of our lives. After all, most have to work 40+ hours a week, we have to maintain what we own, we have to take care of the kids, we have to mow the lawn and etc., and with the demands put on us, or the demands we put on ourselves, it seems we have to find time to work God into our schedule. There is a remedy to this dilemma; and this remedy is not difficult or burdensome, but is actually liberating. The remedy has to do with our view, our understanding of life being rooted in the gospel that Jesus introduced and demonstrated. (One word of caution: there is a lot of preaching and teaching today in “Christian circles” that is not in line with the gospel of Jesus Christ-so beware.) From the Galatian verse above, we see that we either walk by the Spirit, or we walk by the flesh. To walk by the flesh does not necessarily mean we are committing some horrible overt sin, but it does mean we are not living according to the Spirit of God within us. If our focus is trying our best not to “walk in the flesh”, we will be defeated. The good news is that if we walk according to the Spirit-the ways of God-we will not live according to the flesh. So, the question is; just how do we walk in the Spirit? How do we keep God fresh in our awareness-on the front burner? I’m sure I don’t have the final answer; but I’m sure of a couple of the basics that must be a part of our lives if we are to walk according to the Spirit. It starts with our hearts; we must search our hearts and determine if it is our hearts desire above everything else, to know God. Should we discover that that is not the case, we should confess that to God and then ask Him to change our heart, and then begin to focus our heart on Him-seek Him. A second essential factor is that we spend time reading God’s word with the mindset of getting to know God and also discovering what it means “to be in Christ”. Our true identity in Christ includes knowing that our sins are forgiven, that we have been made new, that God is our real Father, that we are being transformed into His image, and that He is coming back to make our redemption complete. The third factor in keeping the things of God fresh is to obey, to apply, what we read in scripture and what the Holy Spirit puts in our heart. By not walking in what He reveals to us, we are choosing to walk according to our flesh and we grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 4:30). Let us be reminded that only by “practicing these things”, will we experience the peace of God. We do make the choice of whether we walk by the Spirit, or we walk by the flesh.
John 14:23: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make our abode with him.”
John 14:10-11: “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Fathers commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
Jeremiah 17:7,10: “Blessed is the man who trust in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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