I think that sometimes we forget the price that people pay to help others. It is easier to walk on by than to stop and help others but as Jesus taught us to help then so we ought.
Without discipline and self control you will never be the person you want to be. It takes self control to be able to do that. Sometimes you want to do something really bad and are on the verge before you hear God say no. Your flesh has a tantrum but you obey God. The most important thing in all our lives is that we learn to be promptly, totally obedient to God. Some of our problems in life stem strictly from disobedience and that opens the door for the devil to come in. We need to resist the devil and he will flee.
James 4:7 - "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you". Jesus never had much trouble with the devil as he was obedient. He walked in love and stayed in peace.
How many things do you still have in your possession that God has told you to give away? You might have almost got radical and obeyed God but you hung onto it at the last minute in case you or someone else needed it someday. Give whatever God tells us to give. Whatever we have if it doesn't have God's anointing on it for us then it isn't going to bless us. So once God tells us in our heart to give away things that we are attached to we need to learn to give away. It's not easy at first, in fact it can be a huge challenge but trust in the Lord. We are stewards of God. We are not possessors of anything. Sometimes he may ask us to give away something we really like to someone we really don't like. This can be yet another arduous task if we allow it to be. Everything God asks us to do is going to be ultimately for our good. We are only cheating ourselves if we don't listen and obey. We may make excuse after excuse but ultimately we need to submit and obey to God. Even the little things are important such as gifting someone with one of your small possessions.
God's plan for our life is destiny to be moulded into the image of Jesus Christ in all our ways.
God needs us to bless people as a means of conveying his love. He uses both people and monetary things to show love to people.
Once God tells you to give something away it is no longer anointed for you and if you keep it you will never enjoy it after that. If we are asked to give something financial away and we don't, the chances are that the devil will take it away from us anyway, so either way the money (or whatever) is gone so is it not best to give it away of our own volition under God's guidance?
Disobedience opens the door for the devil. Don't be so foolish as to not open your heart up to God and those areas where you are being disobedient. You feel guilty and condemned when disobedient. Stop being disobedient as God has so much more for you, more peace, joy, power, authority, blessings, anointing. What happens in our life is directly connected with our obedience. Our salvation is purchased with the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 4:27 - "Don't give the devil a foothold in your life". Do yourself a favour and forgive - if you don't forgive you put YOURSELF in prison whilst the person who has done wrong is free.
There are levels of loving God. You can be as close or distant as you want to be. Our personal issues keep us distant. Obedience to God will draw us closer. Whatever you ask God to do he will do it through you if you allow him.
Wisdom tells us not to do/buy something but we do it anyway. We are rebuking the devil as we are now under so much financial pressure because we did not listen to God.
How many things have you committed to that are causing you stress in your life that you never consulted with God as to whether we should do them? And we end up so stressed and ill because of it. We should have spoken to God about it. We get involved in things if we are nosey or through pressure of people wanting us to. Jesus didn't die for us so we could be frustrated. He died so that we might have peace and abundance of life. Sometimes we are stuck at a point in our life where God has asked us to do something but we can't make that decision so we remain stuck partway along the road. Until we make the decision nothing with change, we will not move down the road.
Submission is an attitude of the heart, not an act you put on. Learn to be submissive to the authority that God has placed in your life. Take responsibility for the hurt caused to you and don't spend all your life healing from the past. Forgive and let it go and go prosper!!!
Our flesh will do anything to squirm out of doing the hard thing, it prefers to take the easy route in any given situation. Taking responsibility is sometimes very hard, not just for you but for everyone around you. Admitting that you are unhappy because you have a bad attitude is a brave thing to do. It's hard to accept the negative traits that we have, but it's a far braver thing to confront them and work them through.
Maybe you are frustrated because things are not going as you wish in your life. Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself is ungodly. It's tempting. You can be pitiful or powerful but you can't be both. God's got more in store for you than unhappiness and unrest. God calls us to do amazing things. He offers us opportunities but we must be prepared to seize them. It is our responsibility to prepare ourselves for the change God puts in our lives.
Deuteronomy 6:17 " Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you" - Basically God is telling us in this verse to do as he tells us to do so that we can experience the good plan that he has for our lives.
But for this to happen you need to be obedient with your attitude. You can't just go to church on a Sunday then sit disobedient the rest of the week, obedience is a full time attitude. "I go to church every Sunday I don't know why my life is such a mess" .. go figure!
Discipline and self control should be your friend, a tool for you to use, not a legalistic rule that you are forced to live by. But then we find ourselves getting judgemental about those who do not follow the same rules as we do. We need to focus and be led by the spirit. We do not need to follow laws as Jesus took the laws to the cross with him. Discipline is your ability to say no to yourself and say yes to God. If you will help me God I will say no to myself no matter how hard it feels and say yes to you as I know it will lead to fruitfulness. Wise people feel and think more about the future, foolish people only think about now.
Romans 7:6 " But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. " - We have nothing to do with the law anymore, living under the law brings death. We live under the obedience of the spirit that has brought us newness of life.
Be principled, live by your principles and your obedience right down to the small things in your life..
Applying this to your life and it will be life changing. Making a commitment to live this way will lead to a deeper intimacy with God as you invite him into every area of your life.
The power of the holy ghost worketh in me.
Don't think that what you do doesn't matter so long as no one sees you for God sees everything!
Everything that God tells us to do is for our own benefit.
Do you want the best for your life? Then listen to God.
Lord, I invite you into every aspect of my life, do you invite him in?
Pitiful or powerful, which do you decide???
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