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Your Challenge.. In His Word 11-16-2020
Walk in
the Spirit, live by the Spirit, and walk in peace.
To walk
in the spirit means to live a life according to the Word of God, but to live
accordingly we must know the Word, our Bibles. To know the Word of God we must
read the Word and pray.
Therefore,
laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as
newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow [a]thereby,
if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:1-3
We pray
first because God wants to communicate His word with us, and He wants us to
understand the Word of God, obvious to some may not be obvious to others. If we pray first, then we can be putting
aside the things that hinder us.
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. Ephesians 5:7-8
We all have the Holy Spirit within us to enlighten or heighten our knowledge of
what we read, but unless we pick it up and open the book then pay attention and
focus on what we are reading its not going to get in our head. If it does not
get in our head, it will not influence our heart, our soul and our lives.
Romans
Chapter 8:9-11 says, But, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed
the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he is not His. And if Christ is in you,
the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells
in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Study it
out! Study to show yourself how to live approved by God and stop trying to live
your life approved by man. What is more
important? Approval of God, or man?
God, --
peace, hope, love unconditionally, eternal life, direction, good things happen
when we follow His directions, for all things work together for the good of the
called… we are the called according to His purpose. (
Man’s
approval—temporary, no peace, just stressed out trying to keep up with
everything that they are doing, or what you think they are looking for in a
friend, or in a situation, it’s a totally long process trying to please man,
take it from me, a people pleaser!
I have tried
to keep the peace in my family, I tried to keep the peace in my life around me,
and often times it made me so overwhelmingly
upset because all the work I try to did to appease people, and do what they want
me to do. Inevitably, I get tattered and torn, like an old sweatshirt that you
have warn because it feels comfy, but it does not keep you warm anymore. It’s
so thin that holes are showing up, you try to patch it but its just not the
same and you really cannot use it. Sometimes you want to but are afraid to toss
it because its your feel-good sweatshirt. You have memories of it being good. I
am telling you that influence must go!
That
sweatshirt may have kept you warm in the past , just as that influence you have
to be perfect, or rowdy like your friends or dark because they are dark, it has
to go!
You need
to find the focus in the Word that God has for you! You need to keep your mind
on things above and not on the earthly things that draw you away from your
commitment to follow after Him.
The enemy
will do what he can to threaten your resolve, he wants you to fail, but if you keep in focus to walking in the Spirit,
He will remind you of the scriptures
when you need encouragement. In a sense, like a new sweatshirt, God will keep
you warm! He will give you a new garment
of praise! A new sweatshirt is all soft and comfy! The perfect fit!
When we
get a new sweatshirt, we do not settle for one that is too big or too small,
but one that is just the right fit!
God is
the right fit!
Therefore,
putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we
are members of one another.
“Be
angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place
to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor,
working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who
has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for
necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by
whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath,
anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be
kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in
Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:25-32
All of this
is walking in the Spirit.
Getting
rid of the things that hold you back, stepping into the things that give you
joy, peace, hope, and a good direction to follow.
All of
this comes from piling in the words from the Word of God. The Bible is the same
book people have been reading for generations, it is the best seller of all
times, and it’s God breathed! God inspired.
To walk
in the spirit, is to walk accountable to God, doing what is right in His eyes
and not our own.
For I am
not my own I was bought with a price, I was purchased by the precious blood of
Jesus Christ… the song rings true!
Remind
them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words
to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself
approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to
more ungodliness. Colossians 2:14-16
God’s
approval comes when we walk in His Spirit.
His approval is the reward for a challenge
well met! You can do this!
Get in the Word today, study to show Him you
can do it. Then as you read pray asking God to show you the lesson you need to receive
from it, or to reveal the personal connection or answer He has given you in
this. Then walk in it.
Heavenly
Father, give us the words to live by from Your Word, the Bible. Help us to live
it as we walk in Your Spirit… in Jesus’ name Amen.
Read some
more?
Romans 8:
1-39, Ephesians 4: 1-32, and 1 Peter 2:1-25