Hope For Today "Obedience"

What does it take to be in right relationship with God? Some say, "Faith." Others say, "Good Work." What does God say? That's what really matters, isn't it?

So, how are we meant to put on the breastplate of righteousness? We ask God to show us truth, as we spoke last time.  In addition to this, we ask God to empower us to resist walking after our own desires and instead in all our decisions and actions choose to follow God’s ways.

When we face difficulties and attacks we are meant to turn to God, who has proven that He has power over all evil and that He cares for us. God provides equipment and manpower to help us just as one country helps out another in their time of conflict and war.

What does it look like to follow Jesus in different seasons of life? Activities and jobs change; people walk with us for a while and then move along into other spheres; babies are born and the next thing you know they are grown up and having babies of their own. God gives us a helpful framework to shape our thinking and activities.

When I read this question in a devotional I consult, it set me thinking. The question was, “Am I treating the gospel as a life hack or am I genuinely pursuing the kingdom of God? What was the author trying to communicate?

The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. Isaiah 50:4 How do these words inform my choices and behaviours today?

In our spiritual lives God invites us to name those things that are harming our relationship with Him and with others, and to make them available so they can be removed. This is what we speak about in Step 6 of The Twelve Steps. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

We are not just insignificant no-bodies running around without purpose from the day we are born until the day we die. God has gifted each of us to do good and He wants to live in us today with power and love to accomplish those good things.

Living with God in our complicated world often presents difficult challenges such as: waiting for something we feel desperately in need of right now; not retaliating with anger when someone harms us; living with less when we could scam our way into having more; facing the consequences of revealing a difficult truth. In spite of the immediate pain we may feel, God promises that we will be blessed when we make the right choice and do the right thing.

On our own, without God, we are sick and in need of healing.  We are weak, sinful, and often crazy.  We need to be forgiven, cleansed, and enlightened by the truth of God’s word. If we are to live from a pure heart, we need to let the Bible be our handbook and do what it says without compromise.

Jesus teaches that the most basic hunger in life is the need to know and live as God intends. Whether we admit it or not, the guilt and shame that comes from living life out of sync with God's purposes leaves us feeling edgy and dissatisfied.  We know something is wrong but we're not sure what. God can help us make things right.

It’s important to ask ourselves in what ways we put our own ways of doing things ahead of seeking God for His plan in each of our days and circumstances.