What’s Ingredients are in the Soup?
In the Christian life there are ingredients as well and we should look for these ingredients in our life. In 2 Peter 1:10 (The Message Bible) Peter says So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, When our main ingredient is the Holy Spirit, the whole taste of our life changes. Our confirmation of our faith in Christ is best seen by what is seen in our lives. The inside affects the outside. Too many times we try to confirm our Christianity by what we do, and not by who we are and that can be very dangerous. We might try to put action into faith, instead of faith into action. That might seem a little confusing so let me explain. When our internal life is changed, it directly affects our external life. But if the external life is the way we show we have faith, our faith might be compromised if we quit doing the external things. Works alone will fade when trying to match up to the standard of God. But, faith causing works will always be an ever increasing thing because God is the one who is the driver through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in our life is the main ingredient to a growing faith in Jesus Christ. James wrote in chapter 2 verses 14-17 14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by it. Jesus spoke to this flavor issue in Matthew 5:13 where He said, 13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. What is the flavor of your life? Here are some indications that Christ is in your life. We might also call them ingredients.
Top Ten
You live freely because you have realized that the penalty of sin is gone and the enemy cannot stop you now by bringing up your sin to you. Galatians 5:1
]It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
You pursue an intimate relationship with God because you want to know all you can about your God and what He wants to see in your life. Romans 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
You believe the Bible is the pure Word of God and that it has no error, which causes you to trust it and believe it has answers to all of your questions. 1 Peter 2:Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
You desire to spend time with God all the time in prayer, knowing that God is listening and responding to your prayers in love and direction. Ephesians 6:18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
You begin to see lifestyle changes and the influence of God on your life is seen in your morality and your direction in life. 1 Peter 1: 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
You seek out other believers that you can bounce things off of knowing that interaction with them will help you grow in your knowledge of God. Acts 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
You want to share your faith with people God puts in your pathway and prepare yourself to be able to offer them hope in their life. Luke 14:23And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
You begin to see people like Jesus sees them and your heart is moved by their need for the Savior. Luke 7:13 When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.”
You begin to believe God can do all things and the impossible becomes the possible. Luke 18:27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
You quit trusting in yourself and begin to totally trust God for all the direction in your life. Isaiah 40:31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles,They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
Don’t just assume when looking for the Lord in your life. Use scripture to confirm it and you will be satisfied when you see the results. Here is the whole thing in a nutshell 1 Peter 1: 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s all in The Book. Read it and rejoice that we have been given the faith we have and the guidance by the Holy Spirt to live it. God is really good and if you have trusted Jesus, you know Him very well. Trust Him and Live for Him. What ingredients are in your soup? Make for sure you have what is needed to taste good.
The Pilgrimage continues….
David Warren