Pastor took us to a portion of scripture in 2nd Timothy 1: 6-7. We are reminded in verse 6 that we are to stir up the gift that is within us. We all have a God-given gift that we have to use.
Verse 7 has a very strong instruction pertaining to the spirit of fear. We are told that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind. Have you ever had someone make you feel like they thought you were stupid? That is a trick that old Satan tries on all of us at some time. So we can tell him the word says, I have a sound mind, so get thee behind me Satan, you are a liar and the truth is not in you. It is hard to fight the evil of the day that we live in unless we learn the word that will put the old devil in his place.
The 17th and 18th verses of the third chapter of 1st John, speaks of love again. Telling us that we might have much wealth in this world but if we see our brother in need and we just turn away, the God of love does not dwell in us. Then he went on to say, Little children let us not love in word only, but in deed and truth. So this tells me that if I tell my brother or sister that I will pray for their need to be met, but I do not try to help fulfill the need, we are on dangerous ground.
Love is mentioned many times, in the Bible, as the most important feeling that we share with our fellow Christians and those lost who need love. We too often try to cut corners when reading the word.
Brother Bob told a story of a time when he was working for a farmer. He was told to drive a tractor pulling a disc. However, the farmer failed to tell him that he must swing wide when turning or the disc would not trail properly. So right off the bat, Pastor came to the end of a row and needed to turn and, since he was cutting corners too short, the disc was climbing up on the tractor tire. The point being that we cannot cut corners and do a proper job. This applies to our spiritual walk, because if God says to do something and we are trying to get by with a shorter version of what God has told us, then we often get into trouble.
To live a life pleasing to our heavenly Father, we are instructed to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. The only way you can find the will of God is to study the word. In this, we will find knowledge of the plan God has for our lives. Sometimes we feel we just can't do the work that is before us, but in Matthew 11:-28-30, we are told that we can come to the Lord and he will give us rest from the labor. We are to take his yoke upon us and learn of him; for he is meek and lowly of heart and he will give us rest for our soul, because his yoke is easy, and his burden is light. God will never put more on you than you can bear. He sees your weakness and will lift you when times get hard. You are not alone, he said he would never leave us nor forsake us. What an awesome promise!
One mistake we all make is trying to fix things instead of letting God take care of the situation. Things are not always the way that we want them but God makes no mistakes. Go to the story of Moses when he told the Lord that he wanted to know more about him and his will for his life. You can see what Pastor is trying to get across to us. We have the potential to do great things for the Lord. We just have to be willing and seek to increase our knowledge of God's ways. There is no other book, except the Bible, that can give us the path that will lead us to a life of victory and eternal life. We are to lay aside the sins that so easily beset us. So this means to search yourself and have a clean and willing heart to do the Father's business. We can't give up.
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Opinions expressed are those of the author.