Galatians 5:16-25 - Keeping in step with the Spirit (Read it).
Romans 12:1 - And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind He will find acceptable. Another translation says, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Step 3: "We made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God." or "We finally decided to pull our heads out of our butt and let someone who knows what they are doing run the show."
In Galatians, if you will read it, you will see that living in the flesh (v. 19) can easily be poured into the daily life of someone like me who was not living out Romans 12:1. Sounds like some old friends of mine. It says that these things will be evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like those. Then in the next line it says "I warn you that those of you who live like that will not inherit the kingdom of God". I can say this about my life - I am guilty of living that way and having those qualities. Sounds to me like that describes every meth-addict I know pretty much to the T. At least, that was true in my life.
In Romans 12 it talks about sacrifice and I think that these are the things that we are to let go of, quit doing, or turn from in our lives so that we can present ourselves as being acceptable to God. How many times I've begged for God's help but haven't given Him a "sacrifice" to clean the sin and ugliness from my body, the place I really wanted Him to dwell. Today I see that my prayers were probably falling on deaf ears and that's why my life seemed so terrible.
Later in Galatians, starting about verse 22, we see that if someone is living a life that pleases God they have these qualities: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Basically love. So when we turn our will over to God, the lying, cheating, stealing, perverse, selfish, and thoughts of anger and abandonment should change to qualities that we find in love which are the fruit of the spirit.
Somewhere in my Bible it says that "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak", that if you "turn from sin you won't feed the flesh", and if you try to align yourself with the qualities that are pleasing and acceptable to God then He will begin to show His face in your life and that He will bring change to your seemingly terrible circumstance.
Prayer: Father God, please help us to understand what it means to "turn our will in our lives over to you" and do that 100% this time, not halfheartedly, in order that we may begin to display the fruits of the spirit in our lives instead of the works of the flesh. Amen
Random Thought: I realize that life is difficult and sometimes people make mistakes. I screw up all the time. People that I care about also screw up and that will always be so. I'm just learning what it means to be a child of God, a Christian, a follower of Jesus! I have so far yet to go. Everyday in these posts I'm sure I make mistakes and may step on toes. I'm sorry if that is so. Daily I write about what is going on in my life right now, my emotions and feelings are usually the motivator behind what I write, changing daily, hourly, and by the second. My primary motivation in these posts was to involve my 5 kids and my girlfriend in my daily quiet time. These posts are my quiet time. I hope to kill 2 or 3 birds here with one stone and daily involve my family in my life when the odds are stacked against me.
I realize that my time in here is going to end soon and I will be distracted, like my family, with the daily pressures of life. The life you all are living and I am not. So on occasion, if I seem a little holier than thou or like I've become perfect over night, let me set the record straight. I'm not, but for the first time in my life I am eager to lead and not follow, to guide my loved ones and my life in a direction that seems like a "tall cool drink on a hot summer day". To be quite honest with you, I am experiencing relief now, a breath of fresh air. As I continue everyday to pray and push forward, please don't any of yo forget that my intent is to drag you with me, not push you away. So forgive me if I'm not exactly accurate all the time with my feelings or reality. Understand that I live in a cage and have nothing to do all day but read, pray, fight with the thoughts Satan puts in my head, and watch my loved ones who are living on the outside struggle. I'm not there to help or defend any of you and that is where I really want to be, right there with you loving you like always. 1 Corinthians 13:7 - Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. And I love you all.
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