Keep Away

1 John 5:21 
Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts. (NLT)

Remember telling your child not to touch the stove because they would get burned? Maybe you even remember getting burned when you touched it. Most do not listen to those warning words. It seems like something inside makes us do what we know we shouldn't.

Have you ever gone into a store and come out with more than you paid for? By that I mean that the good deal was because there was more in your shopping bag then what was rung up by the cashier. Did you think of it as a hidden blessing or go back in and pay for that extra item?

Then you were a teenager and all your friends were involved in things you knew from your upbringing were not right. The quandary was should you remove yourself from them or ignore that inner voice reminding you of what was right and wrong.

God wants all of us. He wants to be first in our life. Our relationship with Him is not a Sunday morning thing or even worse a Christmas and Easter date. Anything that takes our focus off of Him is sin. He wants us to be happy and to enjoy things while we are here on Earth. However, He does not want those things to replace our relationship with Him.

So let's not keep away from God. Let's seek Him out in all we do talking to Him throughout the day while we do what He has provided for us to have.

Open The Book

Matthew 7:7
Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. (NLT)

It is not what you dig out of scripture through research and debate. It is what Holy Spirit digs out of it just for you; what jumps off the page to fit your circumstances today! He knows what you need and all you need to do is Open The Book!

Having the intellect we possess because of how God made us is a good thing. However, He did not give that to us to circumvent relationship with Him.

Before I was Spirit filled, I would read the Bible and see the history and moral lessons it contained. And that was all good. Psalms and Proverbs were good sources of godly information. The Gospels showed me about the life of Jesus as He walked the earth in His ministry. And the rest of the stories in the New Testament gave me examples of others walking out their faith as they shared the Good News and then discipled those that came to Christ.

After the infilling of Holy Spirit my reading changed. I read the same passages but truth I had never seen before would jump out at me. It was not that the stories changed. No, they took on new meaning that spoke to me about my life circumstances. Holy Spirit was guiding me and teaching me truth through the same book I had been reading for many years.

I am saved, you say, but when will Holy Spirit begin to make these things available to me? I can only tell you what happened with me. When I took the time to ask, He presented Himself to me in new ways. Of course I also had to make an effort to stop what life was luring me do and listen to Him.

Take the time to ask for the infilling of the Holy Spirit and get ready to have the words jump off the pages as you Open The Book.

The Reruns

1 John 2:27
But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true-it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. (NLT)

Okay,  we enroll in a course at college or wherever. That gets us permission to attend. We have no opportunity to learn by just enrolling. Then again, showing up for class does not mean we learn anything either. Sure, the teacher has a lot to say that could be beneficial, but  we  have to pay attention and participate.

And to really gain something out of the course we have to put our own time into reviewing the notes we took, doing the homework, and reading the material in the textbook required by the instructor.

If we do not take the time to do our part, we will gain nothing from the class. Our commitment and participation is necessary to our success, to our goal of learning the material we signed up to learn.

Sure, we gave our life to Jesus and He had the Father send Holy Spirit to live within. He can teach us everything we need to know.  But. we must participate. We need to have a true relationship with Jesus and take time to read and reread His Word daily.

The first time through the Bible  is great, but the  re-runs are even better. Holy Spirit teaches us as He reveals new truth to us right in His Word.

Good Works

James 3:13 
If you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. (NLT)

We all know many that appear to live an honorable life and that do good works. This does not mean they understand God's ways or even acknowledge Him at all. Good works are noticed by others especially when they are bragged about by those that do them. We see this in all walks of life as they tend to attached their names to the works they did.

Often when someone dies you hear about how good they were as an explanation of where they were spending eternity. The world has this formula that says you get to heaven based on how many good things you did in life. The Bible tells us a different story,

First one has to be saved and to do that they must acknowledge not only God, but accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. They must invite Jesus into their life; into their heart. When that truly happens, the Father sends Holy Spirit to reside in them. They are born again and on the path to an eternity with God; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Does God expect good works from us? Yes, He requires it. But as we become more Christ like over time our life of good works becomes second nature. We do because of who we have become. The works we do are not a calculated list of what we feel God would have us do. They are a result of listening to Holy Spirit as He instructs us and guides through our salvation experience; our walk with Him through this earthly life.