Tag: repent

The Helpful Holy Spirit

The Helpful Holy Spirit

The Bible describes the Holy Spirit as ‘the Helper’ as well as a teacher in John 14:26 (NKJV).  He truly is our helper, and we should praise God for this truth. 

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  (Joh 14:26 NKJV)

The Holy Spirit will teach us all things and remind us of what we have learned from Him.  For example, when we get riled by some inconsiderate driver in traffic, and call that person an unflattering name, the Holy Spirit will convict us to repent and to pray for that driver.

. . . because I know that your prayers and the help that comes from the Spirit of Christ Jesus will keep me safe.  (Phil 1:19 CEV)

The help that comes from the Holy Spirit keeps us safe.  Hallelujah! 

Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.  (Act 9:31 NIV)

The Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom to have a respectful reverence for the Lord.  He helps us to learn about the wonderful characteristics of the love of God, and to appreciate them.

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  (Rom 8:9 NKJV)

Because the Holy Spirit dwells within us (1 Cor 3:16), we know that we are led by the Lord, especially in spiritual matters.

The Holy Spirit helps us to know how to pray, and will even give us the words to pray, if we will be sensitive to His guidance.

The unity of the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit forms the Godhead.  The Godhead is united in purpose and implementation of God’s plan for mankind. 

God’s plan for mankind is good and gives us a future and a hope.  (Jer 29:11)

The Holy Spirit gives us life and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  His work is to exalt Christ in our hearts.  The Holy Spirit strengthens us and by grace, enables us to persevere in faith.  Glory to God!

The Lord Knows our Thoughts

The Lord Knows our Thoughts

Only someone who is very foolish thinks that they can hide something from God!  We can’t even hide our thoughts from God.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.  2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.  (Ps 139:1-2 NKJV)  This verse from Scripture says that God knows all of our actions as well as our thoughts.

I know where you live, how you go out and come in, and how you rage against me.  (2 Kgs 19:27 CEB)  The Lord is even aware of when we’re angry with Him.

. . . the Lord—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.  (Ps 94:11 ESV) 

 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  (Heb 4:13 NIV)  EVERYTHING that concern each and every one of us is revealed to God.

If we had forgotten the name of our God     or lifted our hands to a foreign god, wouldn’t God find out since he knows the secrets of the heart?  (Ps 44:20-21 ISV)  God knows the very secrets of our hearts.

So what can we do about this truth from the Bible?  How can we repent before God for our sinful thoughts, and go forward in a righteous way?

Ask God to forgive you for any thoughts that you can remember that He would recognize as sin—or that you know are sinful. 

Next, ask Him to give you the grace to remember that He knows your every thought.  Also, try to remember that God never leaves you nor forsakes you. 

The Lord, the Holy Spirit, is constantly with each and every one of us.  He doesn’t leave when we enter a tavern, a drug party or a movie theater showing an immoral movie.  He is right there with us; and if we remember that, it will help us to live in a way that will bring God glory.

If we remember that God knows our EVERY thought, and that He is with us AT ALL TIMES, we will have the grace that we need to face these temptations and to resist them to the glory of God.  In this way, and many more, the Lord becomes our strength.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  (Phil 4:13) Praise God!

Keep Away from Evil

Keep Away from Evil

As servants of the Living God and followers of Jesus Christ, we should have a sincere desire to stay away from evil in every form:  evil thoughts; evil words; evil people; and even occasions to be tempted to commit evil.  If we obey the Lord, and obey the Scriptural command to be holy (1 Pet 1:16), this will make sense to us.

By mercy and truth atonement is made for wrongdoing, and by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil.  (Pro 16:6 NASB)  If we have a respectful reverence for the Lord, it will keep us away from doing evil.  If we have done evil in some way, and if there is an avenue open to us to make amends for it, God’s gifts of mercy and truth will guide us to the right path. For any sin that we may commit, we need to repent to the Lord and ask Him to forgive us and to cleanse us from unrighteousness. The GOOD news is that He always hears and answers these prayers for forgiveness and cleansing. Praise God!

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.  (Joh 17:15 ESV)  I believe Jesus was praying for all who would accept Him as their Lord and Savior and follow Him all of their days.  The Lord prayed for His followers (US) to be kept away from the evil one who is satan.  The evil one and his works are described in John 8:44.

But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”  (1 Cor 5:13)  This is language similar to Deuteronomy 24:7 regarding excluding people, those who are indulging in evil, from the fellowship of believers. 

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.  (Eph 4:31)  The Scriptures exhort us to avoid indulging in any of these activities, because they do not honor the Lord nor do they flow from the heart of God.

Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.  (1 Pet 3:11)  We must always choose to reject evil actions, and turn to the Lord.  When we follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace, we will seek and pursue peace with all of our hearts. 

Let us highly value peace in our hearts, in our relationships, and in our lives.  The peace of God which passes all understanding (Phil 4:7) encompasses within it wholeness, maturity, and completeness as well as freedom from turmoil and worry. Focus upon serving Jesus and doing good, and you will be blessed.  Hallelujah!

Our Lives Reflects our Hearts

Our Lives Reflects our Hearts

All of our actions—whether good and kind or hurtful and evil—flow out of our hearts. 

As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.  (Pro 27:19 NIV, emphasis added)

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.  (Jam 1:22-25, underscoring added)

. . . he who fashions the hearts of them all, and observes all their deeds.  (Ps 33:15 RSV)

For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”  (Mk 7:21-23 NIV)

As the Bible tells us, we need to be obedient, active Christians who LIVE THE WORD every single day of our lives.  Our lives will surely expose whatever is in our hearts.

This doesn’t imply that we’re perfect and never make mistakes.  Absolutely not.  It means that we start with a fresh slate every day, and continue loving and serving the Lord Jesus persistently and consistently. 

When we do sin, we stop and repent before God.  After we have received forgiveness and cleansing, we begin again in perfect fellowship and harmony with the Lord, our merciful Redeemer.  Because Jesus lived on earth as a human, He understands the nature of temptation.  (Heb 2:18; 4:15; Mt 4:1)

Because we know our own flaws and weaknesses, we’re able to extend mercy and encouragement to others.  We know that as we surrender to God’s will and resist the enemy, he must flee from us.  (Jam 4:7)

We serve our loving God and the body of Christ by praying for our fellow man, whether believers or unbelievers.  We also pray for our civic and government leaders that God will lead them and send them wise counselors, and give us peace on the earth.

As we hide God’s Word and His precious promises in our hearts, our hearts will overflow with the joy, mercy, and love of God.  Our faith will be nourished and strengthened.  Our daily lives will reveal and replicate the condition of our hearts.  Glory to God!

Sin Equals Ruin

Sin Equals Ruin

Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.  (Ezek 18:30b)

I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! 14 I was on the verge of total ruin, in the midst of the assembly and congregation.  (Pro 5:13-14)

The righteous God wisely considers the house of the wicked, overthrowing the wicked for their wickedness.  (Pro 21:12)

A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin.  (Pro 26:28)

These verses from the Bible demonstrate to mankind that sin (iniquity, transgression, wickedness) brings about the devastation and destruction of a person’s life.  Continuous unrelenting sin can wreck homes, relationships, health (mental, physical, spiritual) as well as financial stability.

Whereas the blessings for righteous living can be found throughout the Scriptures.  Here are a handful of those blessings:

  • Stability and ever increasing strength (Job 17:9)
  • God defends the righteous and surrounds them with His favor (Ps 5:11-12)
  • Long life; God hears the prayer of the righteous; grants deliverance from trouble; and the Lord guards their very bones. (Ps 34:12-20)
  • Deliverance from death, and the upright will never be allowed to famish.  (Pro 10:2-3)  Famish means:  to suffer for lack of something necessary (essential for life).

Those who have made Jesus Christ their Savior and Lord are made righteous in Christ  (Ro 1:17; 4:5; 10:4; 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21) and are entitled to all of the blessings of the righteous.  We are also privileged to obey and to live according to the moral teachings of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

What Did You Want to See?

What Did You Want to See?

But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.  (Mt 11:8)

When the messengers of John had departed, He began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?  (Lk 7:24)

Jesus talked about a “reed shaken by the wind” because in Bible days, reeds grew similar to sugar cane. The reeds bowed nearly to the ground during the hot daytime. At night, thanks to the cool breeze of the Mediterranean, the reeds would stand up again. This singularity was a crowd-gathering event. Groups of people came out to see the reeds rise in the cool breezes of the night. Then they would return home, unchanged by what they had witnessed. 

Jesus was telling the people that they did not follow John’s teachings, but that all they wanted was to see a spectacle (similar to the reeds).  They were not willing to repent and to be baptized.

They were also coming out to listen to Jesus in the same way—without a willingness or interest in changing their lives. Jesus was showing them how empty and frivolous they were.  They simply moved through the events of their lives without ever connecting with God or His power.

We must determine that in the course of our everyday lives, we must “see Jesus” and His power come alive in our own lives and in our own experiences.  How do we do that?  We study the Word of God and we allow it—INVITE IT—to cleanse us, transform us, and empower us to act. 

We are Christ’s disciples and we are meant to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  We are called to support the spread of the Good News of Jesus Christ, and to work in our own neighborhoods to be an influence for good and a witness of Jesus Christ.  God bless you.

Are You Enslaved? Set Yourself Free

Are You Enslaved? Set Yourself Free

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?  (Rom 6:16)

Understand that you are the SLAVE of any wickedness, unrighteousness or sin that you practice!  And you have, wittingly or unwittingly, offered yourself up as a slave to that sin. 

Set yourself free today!  Repent and receive the grace of God to live a holy life.  Break the chains that bind you to evil (sin) and offer yourself, by obedience to the Word, as a slave to righteousness! 

And the Son of righteousness (Jesus) will heal you, and restore you to perfect health (spiritual, mental, and physical) today.

But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.  (Mal 4:2)