The Process of The Faith - The Daily Grind

It is one thing to be born again and a totally other thing to live that life in the midst of life itself. I find myself disappointing myself again and again. I start the day with time with God in His Word and then I forget almost all of it when life hits me in the gut. Or do I? James wrote these words in James 1:22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

We can see it is one thing to "be" born-again and still another to "live" born-again. How can we translate God's promises to a daily life that grows in the grace given to us by our loving Lord? One key is our study of the Bible. The scripture above says to "look carefully" into the perfect law that sets you free. To me, looking carefully means to study deeply the Word of God and since, it is living and fresh, it will give me a fresh word that deals with the pains of life that are about to hit us. Scripture memorization is a good way to take the Word with us on our life journey and God will bring up scriptures at just the right time when we need them.

The Apostle Paul dealt with daily life at an even more intense level than us and here is what He wrote to the church in Rome in Romans 7:21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Paul says the war is in our mind and that it is a power that makes a person a slave to the mind. Our best chance at living this life is to ask the Holy Spirit to help us by short circuiting the things in the mind when they are contrary to what we have read and know. There are definite actions we can take to make our mind handle the pressures of life. One thing we can do is control what goes in our eyes. The one-eyed monster in the room is the TV. Our minds absorb information and before long that information and images can overcome the very truth we learned from God's Word, and we end up like Paul, doing what we shouldn't do and not doing what we should. If you are watching something on TV or in a movie that you know will influence you toward evil, you should not watch it. We tend to hone in on pornography, and it is an easy mark. But what about Hallmark shows that put forth a message that when a couple has a bad spell in their marriage along comes someone who has all the right things going on and an affair is the result. Remember, satan uses the obvious, but also hits us from our blind side and before long sin has come to rule.

The domination of the world in our thinking is a major problem right now and we see the use of our government to mold us to the point of totally trusting them and be used by them. Are you drinking the polluted kool aid we are being fed? It might be a good time to put the worldly ways of thinking vs. the Word of God, and then you will see the right way to live.

Paul is a good example of not following a religious path. Paul lived and breathed the Law of Moses, but when He was born-again his attitude changed about the Law and it changed drastically! Paul wrote also in Romans 7 about this desire to do right but doing wrong. Romans 7:14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. As He says, the law is perfect, but it is our sin that is the problem. When we were born-again the sin problem was erased, but the living in a sinful world is always going to have to be dealt with. Jesus spoke to this problem in His prayer to Father for you and me in John 17: 13 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. 14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do. 17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.

We live in the world, but we are not of the world because of our new life in Jesus. So our thinking, our reasoning doesn't line up with this sinful world. When we study the Word, that pure truth connects with us and the Holy Spirit takes that truth and makes a lifestyle and therein lies our life of victory. Victory on a daily basis. If we miss this plan of action then our own impressions about how to live this life of victory will ruin the whole pie. Sorry, not sorry.

If you are having trouble with this blog telling you to read God's Word and study the deeper meaning of things then you are probably needing to reevaluate how you look at your faith. Just sayin...

On Monday, I will write a blog on how to study God's Word and apply your personal walk with God. Pray for me as I seek the best way to write this.

Vesselogical Out,

David Warren