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Led By the Spirit of God

Led By the Spirit of God

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Last week, I discussed the Path of Salvation and how it’s not only knowing and believing in God, but becoming a part of God. God is life. When we are a part of Him, we have eternal life. Becoming a part of God involves seeking, hearing, and obeying for to be a part of Him is to become as He is. 1 John 3:2 This journey is working out our salvation with fear and trembling. Phil 2:12-13

Working out our salvation is walking the narrow way of truth. Matthew 7:13-14 It’s learning from God, then obeying as we are taught. When our thoughts, will, and desires are one with God, we are His sons and daughters because we are a part of Him. We reflect His nature, as a true son or daughter would. We mirror the result of His ways; His holiness, love, truth, mercy, compassion, and righteousness. If we are truly fellowshipping with God, we will see these characteristics expanding in our lives, as light expands to fill the darkness.

To be led by God means we are no longer led by our self will. It means learning God’s ways, then acting according to His ways and no longer our own. It means setting aside our judgments and letting Him judge. It means letting Him rule our lives. It means abiding in rest as God moves through us. It means seeking and listening; for how else will we know His will to live it?

This turning from our ways to follow His ways is repentance. Repentance occurs when we learn that God’s ways are better, thus they become our desire and passion. For example, God tells us to honor all people. 1 Peter 2:17 To each one of us, He will specifically direct us to what that looks like. He will teach us through our circumstances and in accordance with the Bible. As we listen and obey to His specific counsel to us, we experience the positive effects of walking in God’s truth. We each learn first hand His ways are far superior and in response our souls start to long for His precepts as we see the perfection and righteous love they possess. Psalm 63:1

John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Obedience, the core of repentance, is born out of love. His words are righteous love, thus as we know His words, we desire to walk in them. In repentance, our core passion changes from following self to following God, thus we have a love for the truth of God and our lives reflect that love.

It’s essential to understand the power of God as THE Teacher in our lives and the necessity for us to TRUST Him to be. Matthew 23:8 As we fellowship with God each day, He transforms us so that we are crafted in His truth. 2 Corin 5:17 This doesn’t happen when we listen to others talk about Him. In learning from God, we aren’t simply gaining knowledge of His ways; He transforms us by the power of His spirit moving in us as we commune with Him. This power is how we are able to walk as He leads. The power is available to us through His abundant grace. 2 Corin 9:8 Without His power working in us we couldn’t walk as He commands. Therefore, His commands aren’t burdensome. We desire them and live them by His power.

1 John 5:.3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

As God teaches us, He transforms us, which enables us to walk as He leads. Ephesians 1:19

Through this process of seeking, listening and obeying, our lives start to manifest the qualities of God (His holiness, righteous love, peace, rest, power) because we are becoming a part of Him. As the kingdom of heaven matures within us, we experience abundant life. John 10:10 If we aren’t experiencing increasing abundant life, we are following the wrong shepherd.

1 Peter 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

Each of us has to walk our own narrow path. No one can do it for us. We each have to be taught, led and shepherded by God for those are the ones who become a part of Christ, the Word. John 6:45 Those are the ones who lay down their self will and ways and are transformed by the Truth. This is the path of salvation, thus eternal life, because it leads to a point of desiring to be completely consumed by God, who is life.

This narrow way of seeking, listening and obeying to a point of holy rest where God governs all is why many are called but few are chosen. Matthew 22:14 Most are governed by mankind’s doctrines, thoughts, opinions and ways and not God’s. Only God’s ways lead to eternal life. His words in accordance with His power purify us to a point of becoming one with Him. What Christ did was beyond powerful. He gave us the ability to possess the spirit of God that we might live in truth because His perfection can abide within us.

1 John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.


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Interruptions or Opportunities? God Directing Our Paths

Interruptions or Opportunities?

God Directing Our Paths

The other week my mom came to visit. It was just her and I as my husband was out of town. We were looking forward to a week of relaxation, bonding and quality time together. On Thursday, I walked into the garage to find the water heater leaking. Our plans were put on hold as I spent the next several hours dumping buckets and waiting on the plumbers. Then as I tried to play Mrs. Mechanic – our kitchen sink faucet started to leak – don’t ask. Later I found out that our second water heater had a problem with the pilot. It was crazy. Our week of bliss just got derailed as I was consumed with resolving these issues.

It was a blessing all these plumbing issues happened at once saving me time and money – but what a pain. As frustration was about to set in I asked, why God? I believe there is a reason for everything.

I learned a great lesson. When interruptions (anything disrupting “our plan” or anything not part of “our plan”) come into our lives, it forces us to redirect for the day or however long the interruptions last. Whether they are distractions of our enemy trying to rattle us or God redirecting our paths – if we look for the opportunities in what is happening – we can be blessed by those interruptions and our whole experience changes from one of frustration to discovery.

Our lives are no longer ours, but God’s. God is in control. He directs our steps, not us. So why do we get frustrated with situations outside our control? God directs our lives, interruptions and all, so who knows exactly what He is doing at any one time including with the interruptions. When situations happen outside of our illusionary control we can be at peace that all is working out as it should. Romans 8:28

How we respond to those interruptions is up to us and makes all the difference. We can be resistant and frustrated and miss out on the blessing that was wrapped up in that interruption. Or we can embrace it for what it is, our path being slightly or significantly redirected to fulfill His purposes and look for the new opportunities it presents (a need God was providing, a new acquaintance, a better path). If we do the latter, whether it is an attack or God, we are in a place mentally for God to use it for good in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

I know things happened for a reason; however this time I went to the next step and instead of just dealing with it or putting my life on hold until it passed, I looked for the gifts in what was happening and embraced the redirection – even in something as small as a leaky water heater.

Despite the constant interruptions, I still managed to get in a pretty good quite time, where I learned this great lesson. My mom had a wonderful time relaxing in the San Diego sun, gardening in my yard, and reading. She fully appreciated her downtime. It was a great respite for her. Then there is the plumber, our paths crossing perhaps only for this time; is that a coincidence? What about the prayers I spoke for him? One way to get people to interface with our lives is with these seemingly inconveniences. Who knows what God is up to? People we meet, even briefly, can impact us or we them – you just never know. And if we accept the interruptions for what they are we are more in the mindset to be used as God is looking to use us.

This situation got me thinking about a more serious interruption that has happened lately. The interruption came to a friend’s life, but it greatly affected mine. My friend and I were writing partners. We would get together and critique each others work twice a month. The writing was basically the extent of our interaction. Then her Mom started to have health issues that took up much of her days. We stopped the critiquing because she was so busy with her mom she didn’t have time to write. Instead we went for walks and just started hanging out. Our conversations expanded beyond just our writing into our lives. Our hearts started to draw near and a beautiful friendship blossom from our time together. Her Mom is stable now and my friend is getting back to her writing. And we now have a wonderful friendship that I absolutely cherish. Our friendship wasn’t the only reason for her interruption – but it was a HUGE blessing that came out of it.

We often see only one or a few aspects of a situation. God showed me there is much more that is going on. My frustration from seemingly unnecessary distracting interruptions is simply a lack of awareness of the bigger picture. And thinking I know what that big picture is. We have no idea all that God is doing in our lives and doing through us in other people’s lives. So the next time whether a small interruption like a leaky water heater or a bigger one like health issues with a family member – ask God to show you the bigger picture and to trust that He has all under control and everything is working out as it should be. And just don’t tolerate it – look for the opportunities that are coming out of the interruption and be in a mindset to be used by Him in the situation.

What are the interruptions in your life? What are the gifts in them?

Psalm 138:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands