I believe this fast paced world has conditioned us to expect for everything we want to come quickly. People get aggravated when they go to the drive through at McDonalds and are asked to pull forward for a minute or two until their order is completed. Christians have taken this “gotta have it now” attitude into their faith. They begin to waiver if God doesn’t answer their prayer in a timely season, like the same day. If God responded to our prayers as we snap our fingers, we would never develop the God kind of faith. I believe God was anxious to send His Son Jesus, but He had to wait for the “fullness of time”. Certain things had to be put in place before Jesus could effectively accomplish His ministry as the Messiah. The Word and will of God had to be imparted to the earth through the prophets.
Galatians 6:9 So let‘s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don‘t give up. It‘s spring time in Montana and some folks will be planting seed and expecting to harvest good things to eat. Radishes and green onions will come up in about three weeks, corn and potatoes will be ready in about four months. Certain crops require more patience than others, perhaps some of God‘s promises require more patience than others. God is not a dispensary for spoiled children, He is a provider for those who call Him Lord. Our Lord is not our servant, we didn‘t die for Him, He died for us. God is committed to bless us but we must hold fast to our profession, then God will know we have faith. Without faith it is impossible to please Him and our due season will come if we maintain our faith. Every successful believer has accepted the fact that God makes the rules. Hebrews 10:36 You have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. When a man receives Jesus as his Savior he is entered into a race, but not against other folks. We race with time. Can we hold fast our declaration of faith to the end or will we allow the devil to impede our progress? Every man has his own race, we race to win an incorruptible crown that our Lord gives to those who love Him to the end. Faith cannot be measured by time, God is in charge of rewarding faith, not time or circumstance. Paul wrote to the Hebrews and he told them that faith is now, it testifies of the past, reaches for the future but is active now. Through trials and experience some have come to believe God despite having to wait for manifestations. Due season becomes more important than the time spent waiting. Hebrews 11:6 ...for he that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Who told you that you could only believe for one thing at a time? We put limits on ourselves, not God. Every believer should have a laundry list of things he is believing for. Then you will have many due seasons, not just one. God loves those who believe He will do what He said He would do. Due season is the day of promise and you can have as many as you can believe for. You may have put your petitions in order but that does not mean God will answer them in the same order. Put all your petitions before God and every day will be due season.
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When Jesus returned to the Father who art in Heaven, He sent to whosoever another Comforter. The Holy Spirit was sent to take Jesus’ place. He is here to guide us into all truth and keep us in the Father’s will.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God. If we seek to be led by the Holy Spirit, God will treat us as His sons, His own children. We must be willing to hear and follow what the Holy Ghost tells us. In order to hear and follow Him we must develop a sensitivity to the Spirit. It’s like a man and his wife who have been married for a long time, they usually know what the other is thinking. We must do two things, spend time with the Holy Spirit and be willing to do what ever He says even before He says it. This is called the fellowship of the Spirit, He wants to partner with us. He never leaves us and He never forsakes us. No matter how unfair life is, it can be our best friend if the Holy Spirit is with us. The presence of the Spirit is never determined by “feelings”, it is confirmed by the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10 It is to us that God reveals His mysteries. For His Spirit searches out every thing and shows us God‘s deep secrets. Who is God revealing His secret to? To any one of His children who want to know more about their Heavenly Father. People who have no desire for God‘s wisdom won‘t be bothered with it, but they tend to disagree with those who are led of the Spirit. We can become so convinced of the Holy Spirit‘s voice that we stake our lives on what we hear Him reveal to us. The more time you spend with Him, the more confidence you will have in Him. Religion has taught people to seek out God only in dire emergencies and not bother Him with petty things. Religion is for people who don‘t know very much about God so they write their own bible. They cannot hear God‘s voice because they don‘t know Him. The devil speaks to them by way of temptation and they are led to believe it‘s God, an angel or someone who died long ago called an ascended master. 1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Most church people are natural folks and consequently the things of God are foolishness. The Bible opposes their doctrine so they must “interpret“ it to accommodate their doctrine. Firstly, Jesus is our Savior and then we make Him Lord and then He becomes our best friend through the works of the Spirit. God initiated His relationship with us, so He determines the rules not us. He offered us His Son to die in our place. What can we give Him? What do we have that He might possibly want? He wants our love and there is only one way to prove to God that we love Him, we must choose to obey Him. John 15:14 You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. God’s commandments are not grievous, they are not difficult to keep if you are committed to Him. Any endeavor you choose to undergo can be hard if you half heartedly attempt it. When you rely on the assistance of your best friend to do something you have never done, it’s like being on cruise control. You must always remember, God is on your side, He wants you to succeed. God empowers us to prosper but His power doesn’t manifest until we step out and begin the program. God’s friendship is another dimension of His love. So when you win, be sure to thank Him and give Him the glory due Him. When a man invites Jesus into his life, Jesus comes and expects to remain in that life forever. Some Christians treat God like an experiment, they will “try” Him for a season and then move on! It’s like inviting your best friend into your home and then you don’t talk to him. God thinks in terms of eternity, man thinks from morning until night time. God is always trying to get us to plan for eternity, He is the only one who can convince us. The devil doesn’t talk about eternity because his place in eternity is nothing but torment. Some fool has come up with a demonic phrase: I would rather reign in hell than serve in Heaven. God gives every man the choice, we can have all of God we want for as long as we want. We are eternal beings, so consequently our life in the flesh is by far the shortest time of our life.
Mark 4:16-17 The sower sows the Word. Some seed falls on rocky soil, they hear the good news and receive it with joy. But they don‘t have deep roots, so they don‘t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing the Word. Jesus came to deliver us from the devil but the devil never gives up on a soul, he is committed to separate us from God. The devil‘s number one target is our flesh, he is constantly drawing our attention to our physical needs. We are always worrying about what we will eat, what we should wear, what people think of us and what our status in life is. The devil will do whatever he can to get our minds off of our Lord and Savior. If the devil succeeds we all make ourselves more important than God. Mark 13:13 Stay with it, that‘s what is required. Stay with it until the end. You won‘t be sorry; you‘ll be saved. All my life I have had a conviction, I purpose to always finish what I start. Just like everyone else, I have faced opposition but I have learned to always focus on the finish line and not the route. If I can do it, anybody can do it. All you need is faith in God‘s promise to help you. I am determined to finish with my Lord, by His grace I will finish my course. I am not seeking the accolades of man, I am just grateful to Jesus for dying for my sins and saving me from what I deserved. The greatest motive anyone can have is a grateful heart, they ask for little and rejoice over everything. Luke 9:62 Why do you keep looking back to your past and have second thoughts about following Me? If you turn back you are not fit for God‘s Kingdom. Why is God so matter of fact about our relationship with Him? He loves us with an everlasting love and is very jealous for our attention, nothing, not anyone could have done what He did for us. If God never does even one more thing for us, it won’t matter because He has demonstrated His love to us once and for all. God’s greatest gift to man was His Son, what more out of this world could we possibly want. Hebrews 9:28 Unto them that look (expect, want) for Him shall He appear the second time. Are you looking for Jesus or have the things of this present evil world garnered your affection? If you live to be a hundred, what is that compared to eternity? Now here is the most amazing part, if you commit to staying connected to the Lord, He will help you with your dedication. When a person does something repeatedly over a period of time it is called a habit. Some habits are bad, some are good and some only make sense to the one doing them. What are some bad habits? Chewing your fingernails, smoking tobacco or perhaps gossiping about people. What are some habits that only make sense to the one doing them? Putting ketchup on a steak, kissing your pet dogs on the mouth or perhaps putting ten teaspoons of sugar in your coffee. There are a lot of good habits but I want to key in on just one and that is walking with your Lord every day. Keeping in touch with your Savior is always the best habit of all. Every Christian makes a big mistake when they start taking God for granted, they know where He is if they should ever need Him.
Luke 4:16 Then came Jesus to Nazareth, and as was His habit, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Jesus spent a lot of time in churches, He called them His Father‘s houses. All Christians begin their spiritual life in church but very few remain in the house of God. If they miss a few Sundays it doesn‘t take much to get out of the habit. In the book of revelations, Jesus calls these folks lukewarm. These are people who got all they needed from God at the time and now they are back to fending for themselves. They are still saved and in reality, that‘s all they ever wanted. They didn‘t want to give all their life to Jesus. Before God‘s grace saves us, our life has no value. We would live, die and spend eternity with our father the devil. Our name would be blotted out from creation and never remembered by anyone, no one would hear our pain. Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: because I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. God loves us but He cannot demonstrate His love if we don‘t acknowledge Him. Telling God you love Him means nothing, the only way to convince God you love Him is to obey Him. The only thing God has ever done for those who don‘t love Him is to send His Son to die in their place! They may never know how much God loves them because they are in the habit of appeasing their flesh. Habits can be so strong that it takes the power of God to break them, but we must first invite Him to help. What is our motive? What compulsively causes us to change our life style? When we were yet sinners and had no use for God He sent Jesus to bear all our sins and give us a hope no one else was capable of. I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever because He died for me and had made a place for me in Heaven, this is all the motivation I need. Ephesians 4:24 Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. The new man is your reborn spirit, it was the child of wrath but now it is a child of God. This new man has the power and grace to establish new habits for the old man. His greatest obstacle is the habits of the old man, the old man likes what he was. There is a war on the inside of this new man, which ever one gets fed the most will have the advantage. The new man can rely on God for help, the old man tries to cling to old habits. If we hold fast to the ways of our Lord, our flesh, the old man will like the new ways of living without guilt. If a man wants to be known as a Christian, he must be willing to walk with Christ all the days of his life. The devil has resigned himself to do everything he can to regain all his servants. In this world we only have two choices, God or the devil, there is no middle ground. People think they can live without Jesus but one day they will realize the mistake they made. I just hope it’s in this life! Just for the record, if a man does not meet Jesus in this life, he will never meet him.
John 6:66 From that time many of His disciples went back (to a time in their life), and walked no more with Him. Some of Christ‘s disciples took offense at His doctrine and they turned their backs, they no longer lived by the Word and they were ashamed to be around Him. According to this Scripture, they never reunited with Him, they walked no more with Him. They went back to the time where they never knew Him, they thought they knew better than what He did. Knowing Jesus through His Word, He would have welcomed them back if they would just repented. What happens to people who terminate their relationship with Jesus? Mathew 11:6 And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me. The men who went back and abandoned Jesus were offended at Him and from that day on they never knew the blessing of God. I know the manifold blessings of my Lord and I don‘t want to live apart from Him or His blessings. God knows the devil is constantly trying to separate us from Him so His mercy endures forever, but it‘s not always automatic. John 8:12 I am the light of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in the darkness (ignorance) but shall have the light of life. The light of God is His Word, the more light you have the closer you come to Him. We are responsible for the light we have, a man that is hungry for the truth commits himself to what is revealed to him. If a man turns away from what he knows is the truth, his judgement will be greater than the man who has some truth. God will not be mocked, no man will be able to con his way out of his transgression. The only way to avoid judgement is to repent but this can only happen in an honest and sincere heart. Revelation 3:16 Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. What is a lukewarm Christian? It is a person who came to God needing help and after God helps them they no longer dance with Him. A lukewarm Christian has come to the conclusion that they don’t need God and that they can get along just fine without Him. What does Jesus have to say about these folks? Revelation 3:21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me on My throne. What does it mean to share the throne with Jesus? It means you share with His authority and the Name the Father gave Him. Lukewarm Christians do not have this power, they no longer walk with Jesus. God wants them back in His presence but the ball is in their court, they must make the first move. God will forgive anyone who will ask and then go back to dancing with them. |
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