Stop trying to ‘do your own thing’. In His Word 7-24-2023
When I was growing up,
before I was saved, I tried to be ‘the good one’ in most circumstances.
Mostly it was because I did not like getting in trouble, but I also really
wanted happy parents. Happy parents meant happy kids. I didn’t think I was
better than anyone else, or deserve to be loved more, I just wanted to do the
right thing because my parents instilled that in me. As far as I knew there was a right and a
wrong, not maybe, or grey areas. It was what I knew to do.
When the idea of Heaven and hell came up I decided that being
good was what TV and Movies said you had to do to get to heaven. So, I tried
even harder to do the right thing. Then one day I realized that I needed to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. To get to heaven I needed to believe!
There is a very much longer story here, and it will take a book to fill it all
in but basically I read through my ‘little bible’ and decided section by section if I believed
what I read. I started with the New Testament, then Psalms and Proverbs. In the
back of the Gideons Bible it told me what to do. I decided to write my name in
the book! As I studied more I realized
God wrote it in His Book too!
Looking back, I realized that I wasted a ton of time trying
to earn my way into heaven by doing good. I also wasted a lot of time worrying
about what I did or did not do.
But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by
faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in
Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised.
What is important is faith expressing itself in love. You were running the race
so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t
God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. This false teaching is like a
little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! I am trusting the
Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person,
whoever he is, who has been confusing you. Galatians 5:5-10
Even after I ‘got saved’
I did what I thought was right and read my bible 1 hour a day and 2
hours on Sundays because I thought that was what a “Christian” should do. The
more I studied the more the Holy Spirit spoke to me through the Words,
eventually He lead me to a church that I felt at home in and I stayed there until
I got married and moved away.
There I learned to live by faith. Faith that my car would not run out of gas, that groceries would end up in my fridge, that I would get to my job; and even that I would find my husband. Throughout the years we had kids, we trusted God more and more for different things but then I seemed change. It was as if I was only trusting God for what I thought I should pray about and forgot to just naturally trust Him to help me with the simple things too!
Finding time to write, getting to the grocery store, even
being able to heal from different injuries would cause me stress. One day my husband
said the words that made me stop and think about it.
“If you are worrying so much about things are you really
trusting God to takes care of me?”
It hurt but it was the truth! We do not always realize that
when we doubt we will get a raise, or that the project we are working on will
turn out okay we are putting aside the trust we have that Jesus will work
things together for good to those of us who He called. We are not trusting Him to take care of us.
We have not been called to stress out about or over our daily lives but called
to freedom. That means we do not sin by worrying, murmuring or complaining, we
do not doubt but instead we do the things we need, and can do according to His
will and our walk and place in life and trust God to take us to the place He
wants us to be.
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers,
and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead,
use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed
up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you are always
biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.
So ,I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you
won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. Ephesians 5:13-16
If we are trusting God, then we are walking in the Spirit,
if we are walking in the Spirit then our fruit will be as the following verses
say. We will be at peace, because these things will flow out of us and we will
not stress over deadlines but instead accept that things will happen as they
should as long as we walk according to His will, in freedom of Spirit and In
His Love!
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our
lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to
Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his
cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us
follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become
conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another. Ephesians
5:22-26
Lets not be jealous about someone else getting things that
we want, but instead lets just keep our mind on Jesus and know that He will
make our path straight when we trust in Him. ( Proverbs 3:5-8)