Pray for the Leaders
Based on my Facebook feed, I find that in the year of an election (America is 7 months away from a new president) many people are focused what a good and bad leader. They know what the current President has done wrong and predict what the next President will do right. I wonder how many of us who are upset with the current leadership and are hopeful for the next one or love the current leadership and love or are fearful of the next leader, do you pray for any of them? It is one thing to "pray" someone isn't an idiot, but that is not prayer. Submit and humble yourself to God and unite with other Christ followers and lift up our leaders to the will of God. Sure we cannot make people make certain decisions, but if you have faith in God then you know that prayer can change things. Paul tells us 1 Timothy 2:1-2 that we are to pray for our leaders. So, before you complain about the current or possible future leadership of America or where ever you dwell, did you pray for them?
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Dead to Sin, Alive to God
I know that my sins are forgiven, but there are time where since I know that I "take advantage" of that and take for granted the forgiveness. That has to be put in check through the Holy Spirit. I have to do what is honoring to God because why would I want to do Him wrong? I love God, so to continue sinning and living a lifestyle of sin would be doing god's forgiveness an injustice. You don't cheat on your wife because she loves you and "let's you." If you love someone you treat them with respect and do things that honor them and your relationship with them. That is how we need to look at our relationship with God (Romans 6:1-4).
When Jesus died for our sins, our sinful ways were supposed to go with him, not give us the open door to keep sinning since we are forgiven anyway. But that is how we tend to think. We are humans and not always as loving to God as He would like. No one always gets it right, but when we focus on doing what God would want then that helps us stay connected to His will.I was reading Proverbs 1 with a friend earlier and stopped at Proverbs 1:10 and found myself giving a testimony as to how that verse led me further away from my former life and the friends I had when i was 18 years old/19 years old. We have to die to our old ways of sin even if the world says it is okay. Just because it is legal doesn't mean that God wants you to do it (Romans 6:5-14).
We must become slaves to righteousness. God's will should take the number one spot in your life. If that spot was held before by reality TV, social media and other things that we feel we cannot do with out, let what God wants be the new way of thinking. Just like the picture above, let the old you die and let the new you live in Christ (Romans 6:15-23).
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When You Get Angry
When was the last time you were angry? I don't mean angry that your favorite show got cancelled or your favorite team lost, but angry to the point where you could not sleep. Do you have your answer? Now, I ask you what did you do with that anger? Did you just ignore it like it didn't exist or did you let it explode? Please don't tell me that you went to social media to complain about things that you just need to deal with. But there are much more productive things to do with anger and knowing how to handle it than just ignoring it or letting it consume you. Do you agree?
As we read through Proverbs (which is a great start if you have never read through the Bible), I come across Proverbs 29:11 which let us know that giving full vent to your anger is foolish. It also informs us that self control is what the wise people do. That means when you are angry, don't go punch someone. That means do not go yelling at them. There are time we are angry about how we perceive someone's words rather than what they really mean. I have been guilty of that before and had arguments with people about what they said and how I perceived what they said without actually having a conversation about it. What we need to do is focus on what would actually anger God and seek to be surrounded by the Holy Spirit and walking with the Holy Spirit (more on that later).
We also need to deal with the anger in that moment. I know from personal experience that if I do not deal with that anger, it will stew. That is when the devil take a hold of my thoughts and pulls them away from the Holy Spirit. Then I will keep replaying what was said or done and start trying to connect things and maybe even add an attitude of righteousness on the other person. That is letting bitterness grow. How many times do we get mad at someone and then completely ignore them based on what happened? Deal with the problem. Ephesians 4:26-27 tells us that we can be angry, but in that anger do not sin. We cannot let the sun go down on our anger. I mean truly, how often do you get mad at someone and talk about it the next day and settle it? I would be willing to assume that not many people confront and deal with issues in the moment. They walk away mad...and got to the passive aggressive Facebook post. Let's stop Facebooking and start facing the problems with the use of the Book (Bible)!!
And when we do respond, do we respond with gentleness, or do we respond with yelling, sarcasm or undercutting people with insults? It is interesting that when we get angry, we throw the ways of Christ (like being loving at all times) out of the window. Then we run those ways over with our car. C'mon people!! Let's start responding in love for others and know that whether we know someone well or not at all, our words reflect our heart and have an impact on other. Respond in love and not in wrath (Proverbs 15:1).
Whether it is anger or sadness or lust and knowing how to deal with these feeling and thoughts when they arise, we must rely on the Holy Spirit. That is God's will for our lives has to be our will. If it is not, then one cannot expect the Holy Spirit to guide them if they have not sought that guidance in the first place. Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6). He is the only way to the Father, not one of the ways, THE WAY. He tells us in John 14:26 that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things. If you are not with the Holy Spirit and you keep having the same problems, then the answer is pretty clear on what needs to happen in your life in order for you to deal with the problems as they arise. Follow Christ and the Holy Spirit will guide you.
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Make Time for God
We all have 24 hours a day and 168 hours a week. What we do with that time is up to us. That is our decision.We cannot blame our boss for "making" our day crazy and keeping us from God's word. We can't blame the kids or spouses for things being hectic at home and keeping us from a quiet time. Our quiet time is our decision. I know people who wake up extra early (over an hour than usual) just to have a quiet time with God before they go to work. It is that important to them. That leaves no excuses for later in the day.
As cliche as it may seem, the first few of the 10 Commandments are focused on God and keeping the Sabbath holy (Exodus 20:8) and having no others gods before him and not taking His name in vain. Ask yourself, am I keeping a Sabbath? It doesn't have to be Sunday, but is there a day where you stop working and rest and give respect to God?
What other gods are there (Exodus 20:3) I don't think it just means other religions, but the other things we do that take precedence in our lives over what is most important. I know I talk a lot about social media, but we waste so much time on our devices seeing what everyone else is doing rather than spending time in the Bible and seeing what God wants from us. What was the last thing you did last night? What was the first thing you did this morning? Did it have anything to do with being thankful to God? Did it have to do with the other things that are not important?
God doesn't want our left over, but our first fruits (Genesis 4:4-5). If you are struggling with making time for God, maybe put a sign on the first thing you are going to see every morning to remind you to make time for God. The sign could be a verse or a simple reminder to pray or be thankful. Whatever it is, make time for God and keep Him first.
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True Vine and Branches
We understand it is not our good deeds that bring us salvation, but salvation does require a action steps of faith like the bleeding woman (Matthew 9:20-22) following Christ unlike the rich man (Matthew 19:16-30) and most importantly over all else is grace from God (Ephesians 2:8). You must believe that Jesus is the son of God and was God in the flesh. And once that has been done, we do as Christ said with being born again of water and spirit (John 3:5).
But then what? After I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior and follow him, can I sit on the couch and watch TV all day? Can I just hang out on social media and keep up with the Kardashians? I don't think that is the best way to serve God, by inactivity. When you love you serve. Serving is a way to show that Jesus is working through us.
When he said "I am the true vine" Jesus was telling you that when you are connected to him (the true vine) which is cared for by God (the vinedresser) you will be pruned when producing fruit in order to produce more fruit. But if the branch (us) is not producing fruit, God takes it away.
The fruit is the proof that you follow Christ. How do you serve or do you serve at all? Do you love people? That is the fruit. The actions that you do out of love for people by following Christ. We have seen numerous examples of his heart and humility, purpose and service. Follow him and his example.
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Apart from the Holy Spirit
We know that Judas was very much self serving. His following of Christ seems to be completely selfish and focused on what he could gain. Mary used oil to anoited Jesus before his death and Judas was focused on the oil being sold for money and then giving that miney to the poor. The truth is that Judas was in charge of the money and whatever was sold, he was now in charge of that money and would "dip his hand in the cookie jar" and steal what did not belong to him.
The chief priests were also self serving. They liked their power and their control over people's ways by judging and condemning them for little things. They lorded over people rather than exposing people to the Lord. After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and the people came to see them both, the chief priests wanted to kill Lazarus. If they did this than that literally kills a huge miracle and evidence of Jesus being God in the flesh. This was waaaaaay before Twitter and Facebook so the only evidence was word of mouth. No photos. No videos. Just person to person proof. They wanted to do this because with Lazarus dead the people would stop leaving the chief priest's leadership and going to Jesus (John 12:9-11). They would stay doing what they were doing which was being mislead by underhanded people who were religious leaders.
When we seek Jesus and find him and let him in the old way is gone and the can be in us. It's like if your car is on its last legs and you get a new engine and transmission, those old problems are gone. Or if a tornado hits your house and your roof is torn apart. Once you get a new roof that problem is gone. This is what Jesus does, but he does it for our lives. He comes in (if we seek him and let him) and he gives us a new life. We must have faith in him and in that we will have a new life in eternity and not just life on earth (John 12:25). Heaven isn't for "good people," it is for people who believe Jesus is God in the flesh and have accepted him. It's more than just knowing.
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