Faithful Means Living in the Spirit

What a shame that so many Church people are working hard to please God but do not feel as though they are succeeding. They might go to every revival meeting held at the church but the next day at work their relationships seem to be the same. Some people read the Bible through in a year but they can’t remember what they read when they need it. There are people who give 10% of their money and then have trouble paying their bills. Others will sit through good sermons but then go home and fight with family members. Part of the answer can be found in the description of the Christian life as Paul outlined it; For merely listening to (God) the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying (God) the law that makes us right in his sight. Romans 2:13 (NLT) We all know some truth but learning how to succeed is what we need. The answers to all our spiritual problems are contained in the understanding available in the Holy Spirit. He lives in us but is only responsive to our obedience. Living in the Spirit will change our life.

Only the Spirit can make our faithfulness into the new holy life that will please God. We read here; Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. Romans 7:6 (NLT) This verse tells us plainly that we are to embark on a whole new way of living. When we look at many so-called Christians we are puzzled that they are living in the same way that the world lives. According to the Bible no one is righteous until they make a dramatic change in their living. Paul said; We have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.” Romans 3:9-10 We have been born into the human family and sin and death are part of our life. Every person on earth should be seeking the power that is needed for their change of life. Some Christians think that they can do good things and please God. Not so; For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. (Includes all good things) The law simply shows us how sinful we are. Romans 3:20

To truly fulfill the commands of God a person must be faithful to the guiding of the Spirit. Of course, it all starts and finishes with our faith; We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 3:22 (NLT) It is obvious that God is serious about righteousness because He sent His Son to suffer and die so that we could become holy. The Scripture says; God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Romans 3:26 People seem to know they need faith but seem to ignore the fact that to believe properly they must conform to their faith.  Paul tells us; Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. Romans 3:31 A faithful person who has the Spirit living in them has found the only power that can help us keep the commands of God. True Salvation; is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people. Romans 2:29b

It is a wonderful feeling to be living our life with a changed heart. We can tell the difference all day every day. Being released from both sin and the law is like getting out of prison with a full pardon.  The Bible says; Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. Romans 6:14 (NLT) It is odd to say this but our freedom involves being a slave to God. This is what it says; Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. Romans 6:17-18 We are free to become a righteous slave in our new life or as we like to say “a servant of Jesus”.  Being set free from sin and the law does not mean that we may do anything we want to do. This is a mistake that religious people have made for years. We must want to follow the Spirit; Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. Romans 6:19 The purpose of becoming a slave to right living is to enable us to live with God which requires us to become holy.

Every Christian wants to live with God forever. The way to achieve a wonderful life with God is available to every human. The correct way to do this of course is to follow the commands of the Almighty. We are informed that; God’s wonderful grace rules instead (of sin), giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:21b (NLT) Righteous living is necessary and available in Jesus but we must be willing to give up our sin. Another verse says; But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. Romans 6:22 Righteous living will lead to a holy life if we continue in it every day. The Holy Spirit is the one with power to accomplish this new life in us. If we make Him our leader we can find victory. We all have our ups and downs but we must strive to please the Lord for the rest of our lives. To have spiritual victory in this life is what leads us into the eternal life with God that Christians seek. Don’t ever give up being faithful to God; it will be worth it all someday.

Be Ye Perfect

When confronted with the question of perfection Christians continue to explain that humans cannot be perfect. Is that the final answer or is there more to this subject that we don’t want to talk about? Jesus was perfect in the eyes of God when He said; But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matt 5:48 (NLT) Every Christian wants to be at peace with Jesus Christ who loves us and is our Savior so we should be concerned about his command to be perfect. When we look up the word “perfect” that Jesus used, it means mature or completed. We usually look around at other church people and say “well, other people are not completely mature”. This assumes that we are more mature than others are but we will let that one slide right now. The verse does not say we are to insist that other people be mature but it says “we” are to be perfect or complete. Jesus knew humans are not perfect yet He was advocating that we become perfect. There must be meaning to the words given by the Son of God. The Scriptures always explain themselves if we have an open mind to the Spirit’s teaching.

God had a plan before the earth was created therefore our perfection must have originally been part of His plan. One time Paul said; Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom… the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God —his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 1 Cor 2:6-7 (NLT) We see here that our perfection begins with understanding the mysterious plan of God. This plan was made for our “ultimate glory”. Glory refers to the purpose of our maturity. It is obvious that we are to walk in this plan until we reach perfection or Glory. Spiritual learning must be primary in a Christian life. The Bible says; This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Eph 4:13 (NLT) Mature is the same word “perfect” that Jesus used in His command. We also see that Jesus is the standard for us.

Our faith is what leads us throughout God’s plan for life. When believers pray for one another they should ask the Lord to make all God’s family perfect. Scripture says; He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God. Col 4:12 (NLT) The will of God is His plan. Our perfection lies in our following the will/plan of our Master. Our perfection is not our ideas about good or bad, our completion is found in our desire to fulfill the plan/will of our God. Everything that has ever happened to us will be used by God to fulfill his plan which is our perfection. Maturity is about each of us moving forward as seen here; So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding… And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. Heb 6:1-3 (NLT) There are many reasons why people don’t want to move forward in the Lord. Unfortunately, the result is the same, they have refused to become perfect.

It is clear in the Scriptures that understanding is attained by our actions. Serving God is the place to find knowledge and perfection. Paul said; We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. Col 1:9-10 (NLT) Believing and serving God includes some effort on our part. We must train our will to desire God more than anything else. For example, think about the possibility of today being our best spiritual day ever or believe that we will not sin today. Decide to surrender to anything the Spirit asks us to do, anything at all. Continually talk to God during the day while remembering to quietly listen for the answer. Refuse to do something that our flesh wants to do immediately in order to force ourselves to seek God’s will. Have faith that loving God and others will become our life continually. Finally, don’t ever give up because it may take some time before our prayers are answered in some unusual way by the Lord. There is a different life waiting for us.

Many Christians have developed habits of laziness. If we are to be perfect or mature, as Jesus asked of us, we need to ask for help to overcome. The Spirit living in side of us has all the power we will ever need. Paul knew this when he made this statement; I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Phil 3:12-14 (NLT) Paul could not have said this if he did not believe sincerely in the power of the Spirit to make it happen in his life. We should all be pressing forward to become everything that is possible in our godly life. We need to do what we already know to do. This is a good place to begin our growth in the perfect life. Believe--- that we can live a higher standard and the Lord can make it happen. Our best day in the Lord HAS NOT HAPPENED YET.