Where do We Want to Go with God and What do We Want to Give Up—R Fritz
We should have agreed when we chose Jesus, we were going to follow him. At least I will say that I was looking to get help to change my situation. Life was not what I had envisioned. It was the “rut” that I got into and could not live with any more. That was over twenty years ago. God knew what I needed but I did not know. I knew something had to change and was not going to live in the rut I was in. I was ready for change but I did not want to change. That is where many people are wanting change but unwilling to personally change ourself. Jesus was the opportunity I saw to get out of the rut and change. I did not know the change I wanted was going to be all on me. The change I was doing changed other people and my situation. That is how it works for everybody. Change cannot happen without us changing nor our situation change without us changing first.
We need to give up our freedom to get it back when we give up sin and the Holy Spirit in us gives us liberty and our freedom back without sin. Nobody looks at it that way. That is some deep understanding that came from the Holy Spirit. We thought we were free but we had the yoke of sin (bondage) around our neck weighting us down, a false liberty. Freedom is what everybody wants, it is what you do with that freedom and if it aligns with God’s will that matters. We accept our thoughts as righteous when we fall short unless we listen to the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 64:6 says “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” We have believed in ourself and our wisdom instead of letting the Holy Spirit direct our path.
We are looking at what we see compared to having faith which is Hebrews 11:1,3,6,18 and says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Hope that is seen is not hope because why would we hope for something if we see it already. That is the problem with people who do not know God, their hope is what they see, eventually their hope goes away. Then comes no hope no reason to live or go on with life. That is why we need to convince people that Jesus is our hope. Our hope is we have eternal life through Jesus, without Jesus we do not have eternal life and no hope. Our faith is the substance we have hope for but not seen, belief is the action we do because our heart has moved us with our faith. Faith and belief are for those that know God’s word that moves us, nothing you can see or touch. People are looking at if we feel God’s presence or his power in our life and judging on how we feel.
If we are not willing to give up our old life or have kept some of it, we have to think about where we want to go with God because without change our sin nature will keep us from God. It is a matter of us getting rid of what will keep us from the relationship we desire with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit points out things we need to deal with, it is time to give it up. When we keep an issue that God wants gone, we apparently love that issue more than God because that is what we are showing God. By not getting rid of that issue shows our belief level.
It really gets down to what do we want out of our life from God. If we are only looking at what God does for us we have a problem. Every day we should be praying and hearing what God wants us to do. I know people are busy but if we put God first the issues, we are trying to take care of will happen as God sees fit or sometimes even better than we expect. When we think about God, he will use us and life will even get excited. Every day will be a pleasure when we get up because God is letting us know the things going on before we get to work or in our day. That is what happened to me when I was working and was doing God’s work at work with the Holy Spirit setting up what he wanted me to do. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Every day we get to choose if we want to do God’s work or ours. If we do God’s work, life becomes fun. The next choice is what are we going to give up that God wants us to do. It is always about choices, let’s make the right choice. God Bless.
