by David Brenneman
"Repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."
ACTS 3:19.
If God has put His finger on something in your life convicting
you of some sin, relationship, or ungodly attitude-He will not
leave you alone until you deal with it. There's no way you can make
the Lord forget it by trying to convince Him that something else is more important. His main concern is that you repent
So examine your life: what about you is there that displeases God? You know what it is because His Holy Spirit brings it to mind. You may feel tempted to explain it away, but don't. In order to continue having a living, vibrant, intimate relationship with Jesus, you will have to address it. You cannot substitute anything for obedience. You may think that more Bible study or service at church will make the Lord forget about this rebellious area of your life, but He doesn't work that way.
So don't make any more excuses. Confess your sin and repent. Once you obey Him, you can stop worrying, fretting, and being
anxious. Yes, it may be painful at first, but God will help you through it. He will cleanse you, and refreshing will surely follow.
Jesus, I confess my sin, Teach me how to repent so I can be
pleasing to You, Amen.
-Trusting God with Today, Dr. Charles Stanley.
The wise response when
disappointments come is always
to ask God what He is trying to
teach us. - desktop devotional reminders In Touch Ministries.
The Holy Spirit has never
produced a wimp or a failure.
Just the opposite is true,
Hundreds of believers attribute
their success to the changes
that took place in their lives
once they surrendered to the
promptings of the Spirit. - desktop devotional reminders In Touch Ministries.
We all have things that are bothering us. Some are real, others are either the machinations of our minds or the minds of others. Still others, and as followers of Jesus Christ we absolutely need to take this seriously, are the work of the devil and his minions. Their work but permitted by the Spirit of God to mold us and teach us in our sanctification in Christ.
We can be drawn into things we perceive as good and wholesome. Yet what it will require is sacrifices of things that God is doing in your life today and the lives of those you impact, both directly and indirectly.
We can go down a path that's not good that starts with a negative emotion and the next thing we know is there's whole made-up scenarios running through our minds like a bad daytime soap opera.
Add to this are those things that we're getting the elbow from God that He says needs dealt with. You know very well what I'm talking about. Those things that we don't see any problems with but when we're honest with what the Word of God says we know we shouldn't.
We even try to convince ourselves that since it's nothing big in our eyes that we'll just keep on doing, thinking or speaking without remorse.
But as followers of Jesus Christ, what would Jesus tell you if you were among the 12 who were following Him about these things?
Would you honestly tell Him that it's no big deal, that it's ok? I think not.
We're not always going to admit when we know that the Spirit is prompting change in our lives.
We know but we're hoping He gives up n goes on to some other subject.
But, my Dear Reader, the Spirit wouldn't be the Spirit if He left you in this condition. Jesus said that after He goes that another like Himself, would come. The Greek He's called the Paraclete, another of the same kind as Jesus. He would be our Helper, who would teach us all things.
We're needing to pay attention in class. We're to study what He says to be studying. Completing assignments as He gives them. Living a life that shows Jesus to the world.
We can't give ourselves fully to this until we let go of, remove, destroy even, whatever the Spirit says is in our way towards our sanctification.
Confessing is one thing, repentance is something else. You confess to speeding to the Officer. You repent by staying mindful of your speed from there on out.
The worst thing we do to ourselves is argue with the Spirit about what He's doing in our lives. I believe this is what the Scriptures mean by grieving the Spirit. The Spirit is working out God's will for us n we aren't taking that seriously enough.
Do we really want what God wants for us? If we do then we need to fully embrace that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them. Which is going to entail letting go of our way of thinking and doing life.
The early Church was so immensely successful because they met daily to go over the Scriptures and fellowship with each other. They didn't leave much time for the devil to gain a foothold. The Scriptures teach us to not give the devil a foothold, a chance, to disrupt our lives in Christ.
Today's world has so infected much of the professing Church to the point that most don't value what the Spirit says or means by intentional fellowship and accountability. They see nothing that needs confession or repentance. Church discipline is practically non-existent. I know of churches where it appears that the Pastor is more afraid of the backlash than what the Lord says needs to happen. I know of people who put new names on selfish desires and call it something spiritual so they don't feel bad about it. These things are nothing new. Read your New Testament. Paul, Peter, James, John etc. wrote about such things long ago. Solomon wrote long before that that there's nothing new under the sun.
Listen to the Spirit and begin down the right narrow path towards the sanctification that is yours in Christ.
Confess and repent. Admit what the Spirit is saying to you is true, don't cover it up. Repent and break away, turn from, whatever He says.
Be intentional in the training in righteousness that He's doing in your life.
What goes on in your spiritual life is all that's going to matter when you stand before Jesus to give an account of your life. All these worldly things and desires will burn up on that day they're tested by fire.
Today begin by getting right before Him and start following Him as we say we are doing.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
(C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.
A corporation not for profit.
La Habra, CA All rights reserved
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