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Monday, January 4, 2016

Daily Devotional January 3 - We Don't Set Out To Go Against God

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit."  Romans 8:5

Every Word of truth that we receive becomes part of who we are - but just the same every word of truth that we reject or rebel against also becomes part of who we are.  God speaks to us to create in us a likeness of Himself and when we yield to God's spoken Word - we become more like God.  We start to and continue to operate with wisdom and prudence and truth.

When we do not yield to God's spoken/written Word - when we listen to God's Word with indifference - then what we receive is incomplete and unable to solve our problems, cure our diseases, help us through troubles.

When we do not yield to God's spoken/written Word, we are compelled to speak to the issues of life under our own power, by our own strength, with our own words, without the aid and support of God.

Isn't that how most things get messed up in the first place.
No one of sets out to go against God.
All the ugliness of life is learned behavior.
No one starts out thinking - hey someday I'm gonna be a drug addict - or hey let's go get drunk, maybe we can crash our car or hit some innocent bystander.
No one takes their first drink or their first puff on a cigarette or marijuana and says, "My that has a delightful taste." No, our body, mind and spirit all cringe at the smell and the taste of harmful or intoxicating substances.  You have got to be taught to like it.

Without someone standing over us and egging us on, we would all turn down drugs and alcohol and cigarettes as if it were poison.  We wouldn't take the chance on anything that might cause us harm if it hadn't been for someone patting us on the back and telling us, "it'll be alright.'

No one starts out thinking that they will someday spend more on lottery tickets than they do milk and bread for their kids.
No one starts out thinking that a little flirting around will end up in divorce with a restraining order to keep them away from their own children.
No one sets out to misrepresent a product or service. Over time they are desensitized to believe that the customer deserves to buy a fraudulent product.
Kids aren't born with a propensity to bring guns to school and shoot their teachers or other students. You've got to exposed to a whole lot of evil before considering such a grotesque act of evil.
Teens don't start out on a Friday night thinking they will get pregnant or be given a drug to seduce them by someone that says they love them more than their own mother.

When we do not yield to God's spoken/written Word - little by little we stray from God's plan for our life.
Little by little we develop a philosophy of self reliance.
Little by little we become less like God's image and likeness - because we cannot be like Christ without Christ.

We cannot imitate holiness - it is received from God unto us. We cannot create it or make it or become it or contrive it.  Everything to do with being spiritual except the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit is a fake.  All the Christian look-alikes - (the tares as the scriptures calls them) are filled with double standards, empty promises, unsupported statements of belief, vain thoughts and idle words.  They are impotent of the ability to ascertain the will of God and powerless to perform it.

When we do not yield to God's spoken/written Word - We are slowly convinced that we do not need God. Eventually, if we were to live long enough, we could eradicate the idea of God altogether, but that's not how we started out.  No, we learned from others how to turn away from God - how to sneak around - how to hide from our responsibilities - how to be two people.

Those who have learned their way away from God had better stop what they are doing and turn around.  You need to tell them:
They are in eminent danger.
They don't have a lifetime to work things out.
God is gathering His people under His wings to take them out of this perverted and subverted culture.
You need to tell them to stop looking and start seeing. Jesus Christ - God among man - lowered Himself to walk among us - to go before us and make things right for us.

We can, by faith live out the rest of our life under the guidance and leadership of Almighty God.
We can, by the power of God, say no to things that use to rule us like the gestapo ruled over Auschwitz.

See, God designed us so that when we do not believe God's written/spoken Word - when we do not yield to what God has said - we become incapable of reflecting the likeness of Christ - we become unable to do the will of God - we become paralyzed and powerless, because we were not designed to be without the indwelling Holy Spirit.

I hope you are getting this. We were not designed to be without the indwelling Holy Spirit.

God speaks to us in His written Word and by His spoken Word to create in us a likeness of Himself and when we yield to God's spoken Word - we become more like God.
It is during this time of yielding that we receive power from God.
It is during this time of yielding that we receive the filling of the Holy Spirit.
It is during these times of yielding that God is in agreement with us and His will is accomplished.

The Spirit of God is above and beyond us. The Spirit of God knows all things. God, the Holy Spirit knows all about us, what we want, what we need, what we should pray for. The Holy Spirit knows what is good for us and what is not.  The Holy Spirit indwells us for a purpose. That purpose is so that we will yield to Him and be filled to overflowing, with peace and comfort, fulfillment and joy.
When we yield our body
When we yield our mind
When we yield our heart
When we yield our spirit
And ultimately when we yield our soul
God's will for our life is accomplished in our lives.

If we do not yield to the Holy spirit, the Holy Spirit cannot fulfill God's will in us. If we do yield to the Holy Spirit, then God's will is accomplished, (not by us, but in us,) by the Holy Spirit.

Yielding is when we trust God so much that we let go of the reigns.
Yielding is when we come before God without any agenda.
Yielding is when we don't have to have all the answers.
Yielding is when we submit ourselves to God - without any deals. If you do this for me I'll do that for you.
Yielding is when we are quiet before God, surrendering to His will.
Yielding is allowing God to teach us, fill us, work in us and through us without any barriers.
Yielding is where we receive from God His will, His plan, His power, Himself; God abiding in us in such a way that His will is performed, not only in our lives, but in the lives of those around us.  That is the relationship we can have with God.

We cannot yield to the Holy Spirit at all until we have been born again. Until we have been born again our relationship with God is strained and uncertain. We do not have the confidence that God is on our side and we do not understand the workings of God.

Until we are born again we cannot yield to the Holy Spirit.
We are totally at the mercy of natural law.
Once we have been born again the Holy Spirit comes to make His home in us and abide in us.
I believe that all of us want to thoroughly understand how to be in God's will and how to stay there.
Simply yield to the Holy Spirit.  See what God will do with you right now when you make God such an offer as to yield your will to His.

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