Living According To The Will of God #1

 

Firsts

Everyone who has done any living begins to pay attention to the various "firsts" in their lives. Rather than list some of these,  I would like you to reflect on your own. As for me, 56 years ago one of my mentors, Brother Gene Dean, challenged me to preach my 1st Sermon.  I was scared to death as I prepared and preached, this message. At the time I shared this I missed out on the primary message. This Scripture found in Romans 13:11-14 is about living according to God's Will. As we approach this new year,  I feel led to inspire you with how to choose to live according to God's will. As you make these choices, your will find that you actually can have life that is described by  Jesus as "Abundant."


This Is God's Will For You, Me, and We:

WAKE UP  WHEN YOU GET UP:

Each new day, the moment that we wake up, God want's us to really wake up spiritually to the fact that our salvation is nearer than the first moment that we believed in our Lord. This is not the attitude many  seem to have as their standard. Folks live like each has forever to live; therefore, such people get up, hit the ground running and have no thoughts just how close eternity really is. God is shouting His will to us. He says, "Hey! It's 'high time for you to wake up to the fact: Your salvation is nearer than you think.  You may be walking on Heaven's door faster than you know it. Jesus is at the thresh hold of returning! Don't miss out! Don't mess up! Don't sleep walk through your spiritual journey! The marriage supper of the lamb is a breath away! Practice daily getting prepared to be alive today and for all eternity! You are NOT guaranteed anything more than one day. So, choose to be fully alive today! Today, receive your daily bread! The night is far spent! Heaven's day break is here!'" Getting up is not enough. Getting up, and waking up to the most important part of life is here as a gift for you! WAKE UP WHEN YOU GET UP!

Give up:

How do you give up? One translation says, take off the clothes of darkness, cloth yourself in Christ.  Determine you are going to behave decently today.  This means, because God gives you all you need to live a godly life, you can choose to live Godly. 2 Peter 1:3. You can choose, by God's grace to not live the life of the world, the flesh and the Devil, as described by Galatians 5:19-21;further, you can choose to bear the fruit of the Spirit. See Galatians 5:22-23. God does give you the power, now that Christ reigns over you, to actually keep His 10 Commandments. (See Hebrews 10:15-17.) For me, this is one of my very first thoughts of each day. And it is a primary decision and spiritual practice that I carry out. I get up. I give up. I dress up. That is I cloth myself in Christ. I decide to call on my Lord to give me grace to do His will by practicing what I am saying here.

How Do I Get Dressed In Christ To Behave Decently?

The answer to this question will be what we discuss next time, God willing. Reflect on Romans 11:13-14. See if you can figure out the answer to this question which describes the will of God for you, for me, for we.

SoJourner






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