Truth

Each day I can make a choice to walk with Jesus or I can make it about how I feel. Being a follower of the One True God is a choice. Yes, I can chose to go to church on Sunday, but does that make me a Christian a Christ follower? When I made a choice to allow Jesus to be the Lord of my life, I have to put away the childish things, like my way, my wants and I have to allow Him to be real to me. When I do not walk in the Spirit, I walk in the flesh, the flesh will bring fear, doubt and so much more. The flesh is what Jesus came to set me free from. The Bible contains so many scriptures about what living in the flesh will do.

In my flesh, I will do the things that grieve God, because in and of myself I am just a man, but with Jesus, that man is dead, the way of the world can't be what I love, I have to love to honor God 1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.", I have to yearn to honor God. It is a choice that I must make.

When I go around life, living by feelings, when there are good days, I will feel like drawing closer to God, but on the bad days, well, I will want to do what I want to do and not live for Jesus Christ. The Bible talks about these very things, the Bible talks about coming alive in Jesus Christ, how He must be greater than myself. If I want wisdom, I must seek it and I will find it. I must put Jesus first, I must make a choice to grow closer to God every single moment of the day. If I allow myself to rule, I will not allow Jesus to rule in me. God talks about how I must pray without ceasing, for this is the will in Christ Jesus. It isn't just when time allows, it is a choice to bring Jesus into my main focus. When I focus on Jesus, my words, my actions are to honor Him more than self.

I believe that today it is easy to feel my way through life. If I feel like it, I will do it, if I don't feel like it, well I wont do it. If I do things based on feelings, well I probably wouldn't do much of anything and on the days I feel like I am being mistreated, well I will long to honor self more than I will want to honor God. Honoring God, putting Him first, dying to self, is a choice that I must make, not just once, but moment by moment. The beast of self wants to take control and have my live for self, but Jesus says in order to live for Him, I must die. Being baptized is symbolization of that very thing, my death and rebirth in Jesus Christ, but if I am not willing to continue to die to myself, that is just an empty symbol of what He is trying to represent in me.

Jesus has given us the freedom of choice, we have self will, but in order to come alive in Him, we must be willing to say, just as Jesus said, not my will but Yours.

Jesus has given us Peace, He has said John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." He has given me peace, so therefor I have peace, I have to walk by faith and not by sight. I have to believe that He has given it to me, just the same way I must believe that more of Him and less of me will bring Him alive in my life. I believe it is easy to walk through life waiting for Him to give me the things He has already given me and asking Him to give it to me, I have to make a choice to walk in those things. Self will say I can't or I don't feel like it, but Jesus said we have it and I must believe it and that settles it for me.

The Holy Spirit brings us so much more, but I have to make the choice to walk in Him and He in me. I have to die to what I want in order to live for what He wants. The Holy Spirit has given us, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, gentleness and self control. Apart from Him, yes, I can feel my way through life and do those things when I want to, but when I allow Him to live in me and to convict me, to direct me, it is no longer about self, but death of self and life of Christ.

Has these truths made there way from head knowledge to heart knowledge? Do you truly believe that Jesus Christ came to set us free from ourselves, because life of self is the world, but life of Christ is death of self. The Holy Spirit wants to lead me and guide me through the pearls and storms, when I make it more of Jesus, more of the Holy Spirit, I make it less about what I want and more of Him. Dying to self is painful and hard, but once I my will is dead, I can come fully alive in Jesus Christ, but I have to do this moment by moment day by day. More of Him and less of me.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, because no longer is it about am I honoring self, am I honoring other people, but my honor to God is more important than all of those things, because I am dying to all of that. What God thinks of my choice, my words, my actions should be the most important thing to me, not about me, but Him who lives in me. I am nothing and He is my everything. All comes down to my choices, not easy to die, but I can't believe going to the cross for my sins was easy for Jesus and if I am dishonoring Him by my actions, that should make me sick.