Let Your Light Shine “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16, NIV) I used to read this verse and tremble. I trembled because I was nobody’s example of godly living. I trembled because talking to others about…
Since you have believed on the Lord Jesus, you have a new heart.It came from God when you were recreated.Your new heart is good, Loving, and trustworthy. When deciding what to do, you can trust that the Spirit is leading you.You can trust that the true desires of your new heart are coming from Him….
It can seem like wickedness, evil, and deceit have no end. That this visible and tangible environment is the ultimate and only reality. It can appear as if societal structures and political positions are the most important issues of life.
What if God actually wants you to enjoy yourself?
A good friend recently asked, “Can we completely subvert the working of the Spirit in our lives totally?” I think this is an insightful question and one that many believers find themselves asking at one time or another.
It was the Law of God. But its purpose was not to produce righteous people. It was to make it clear that no amount of effort could possibly make them righteous and acceptable to God.
I think all fleshliness grieves and quenches Holy spirit.
To speak of grieving Him is to speak of the effect fleshliness has on the Spirit of God in us. He wants better for us, and it breaks His heart, so to speak, when we live as though we were still in the flesh.
That unsettled feeling is definitely Holy Spirit. I bet you’ve noticed Him speaking to you in a way not unlike intuition. That strangely unsettled feeling over a poor choice, or joyful peace over a good one. I sure have.
We know the difference by testing things against Father’s character. We are helped by the descriptions of His character we find in the Scriptures.
In tiny ways as we go about our daily lives, we naturally spread the Love of God. People see more than we realize and seeds that have the potential to change the landscape of people’s lives are planted.
People may sometimes shout at their dogs or otherwise treat their dogs poorly. Dogs keep no record of the wrongs they have suffered. People may occasionally forget to feed their dogs or neglect them in other ways. Dogs endure it all and continue believing the best about their people.
When we are in extreme pain and emotional turmoil, we feel and know that we are at the end of ourselves. In those moments all we can do is place everything we’re facing into the hands of the One who is Love and depend on His faithfulness to bring us through the valley.
My hammer is very well suited for each of those things, but when my project requires cutting a board, I do it with another tool. I am the one who decides what I will do with my hammer. My hammer participates, it’s involved, but I determine its specific role in the context of my larger project.
Gentle restoration is Father’s way.
The questions Jesus asked helped Peter see his weakness.
After Peter’s failure, Jesus was crucified. After the resurrection, Jesus had another interaction with Peter.
I’ve learned that resting in the finished work of Christ is not so much doing nothing as it is simply living my everyday living with my wife, driving around, eating, shopping life and simply not wasting time wondering if I’m doing what God wants me to do.
It would be very easy for me to spend my energy refuting errant teaching. I could argue from scripture, call out poor interpretive practices, and criticize exegesis. I could point out scriptures missing from the “proofs” put forward for the doctrine being presented.
When Christ resides in a person, that person has eternal Life. In John 4:13–14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (NIV)
