When my "I need to becomes I want to!

The sins of omission and commission can really get us in a fix if we ignore the heart behind both. James spoke to the sin of omission in James 4:13. Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise, you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. The context in which this scripture is presented helps us understand more of what God's Word is saying to each of us. We are reminded to be so connected to God's will that we consult God about everything, and upon His lighting our path, we walk in the way of righteousness and not in the way of the world.

Now we see why it is important to start our day with Jesus and in His Word. The Christian life is meant to be lived in a very fluid way, and the Holy Spirit is the fluid. When we ask the Holy Spirit to lead us and empower us to live this life of faith, He will do it. Paul said it this way in Ephesians 5:18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, coupled with God's Word, will give us direction in our daily life, and over time, He will deepen our walk with God, and we will be able to see things totally differently. We will segue from "I need to do this" to "I want to do this," which changes us at our core level, which is our will. We are learning to bow our will to the will of the Father and that is the road to the abundant life as never before.

James says that we are pretentious if we are trying to follow our will, and that is evil. God is perfectly willing to show us what to do in our lives, and those steps are led by the Holy Spirit. In our world today, we see a lot of stupid stuff being done, and it seems to be beyond reason, and it is. Spiritual reason, at least. The writer of Proverbs shows some great wisdom in Proverbs 4:18 The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,

which shines ever brighter until the full light of day. 19 But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over. The southern phrase "bless their heart" really applies here as evil people do evil things that are beyond reason and don't even see that what they are doing is bad. They are living in the darkness, and they need Jesus.

God really wants our "want tos" to change, and that change is best seen in the way the Holy Spirit works on our hearts and minds. It should come naturally for us to flee immorality and seek Jesus first in everything, and that change involves every area of our life. We shouldn't have to go through bad examples of sinning to get to living a holy life with the Lord's help. Peter said a very strong word in 1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades.25     But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

Judging others, immorality in marriages, life without a vision, spiritual laziness, and many other walls between us and this life of freedom will be done away with, and the Holy Spirit will bring all of us into His "truth." This life of truth will replace the lie of living a Godly life with no Spirit. Our humanistic way of looking at living will be replaced with a Spirit-led life of freedom in Christ, and a ground swell of born-again believers will replace the lifeless example of the Christian life we now see so prevalent in institutionalized Christianity. Walking into a building will not grow you in your faith like coming before the throne of God, seeking, asking, and knocking. Then our I need tos will be I want to and it will come from the heart and not the religious organization. Please God and not man in ALL things. Paul dealt with this in the church at Ephesus because they worshipped idols and could not break that religious chain that was holding them back and he wrote the following words to them.

Ephesians 5:10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

“Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Today's Message,

David Warren