PRACTICE

 
September 21, 2022                                           PRACTICE
1 Peter 1:10-11 “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”
Philippians 4:9 “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
1 Timothy 4:15 “Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to all.”
Obeying the words and commands that we find in God’s word brings many blessings. It is important to understand that our motive in obeying His commands is not that He might love us; He already loves us, and it is because He loves us and we love Him that we want to keep His word. If not alert, we can get to a place where we are comfortable spiritually and lose the active desire to obey His word. We are to always be growing in the faith. One of the promises for those who put into practice the instructions of scripture is found in the verse above in 1 Peter when it says that “as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.” That is amazing! (‘These things’ are all the things Peter had previously written, and certainly it applies to all of the teachings of the New Testament.) Think about it-as long as we are practicing and applying the truths of God’s word, we will never stumble! Another amazing truth is that doing and obeying the scriptures IS the doorway to living in His kingdom! We enter and enjoy life in His kingdom abundantly here on earth AS we follow His teachings. Another fruit that comes as we obey the words of God, is that we become certain about His calling and His choosing us; obeying Him leads has a way of revealing to us our true identity as His sons and daughters. If we stop there, what we have learned is a life-changer; but there is more. If we practice the words of God, God will be with us! Following the teachings of scripture is not something to be taken lightly; Paul instructs Timothy to “take pains with these things, be absorbed in them.” Obeying and following the truths of the scriptures does not happen automatically; we must make conscience decisions to read His word in order to know His commands and then practice and apply what we read. All of this is doable because God has given us the Holy Spirit who enables us and empowers to follow all of the ways of the Lord. As we daily practice what we learn in the scriptures, our progress will be evident to all. We do not have to be aimless in life, unsure, unfulfilled, or fearful; we can  find what we long for as we make it our priority in life to learn what God teaches in His word and by putting into practice what we learn-all with the help of the Holy Spirit.
James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
John 14:23 “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love Him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.’”
Blessings, Buddy
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