When my "I need to becomes I want to! Part 1

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.

Today's Message,

David Warren