God in Action

 

1John 5:18-21 We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. 19We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

20And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

21Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

1John is a treasure trove of quotes and my last post really opened up my eyes to its potential. It explains every important aspect of why and how to be a Christian. It's just amazing! The above passage is the conclusion to the letter, the last few verses as he's finishing up. The very last line is perfect. You see, we have explored all through my posts, that our journey is in faith in the Son of God and by that we are forgiven, cleansed, redeemed, and made righteous through His sacrifice and through the Spirit that dwells in us. As our faith in Him to live in us increases, our ability to sin goes away as the first verse above says. Jesus, through our faith in Him, keeps us from sinning and all it takes is our faith.

The last line, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts, is key to how we continue in Him.

This world is full of flash and fun. It's why so many people are lost. When you have an entertainment device in your hand throughout the day your need for a heavenly Father dwindles. That need may not even exist. If we look back at the history of the human race, we can trace our march away from God to the existence of machinery. When the industrial revolution came to pass, men placed their confidence in themselves and not in Jesus Christ or God. It's been a downward spiral ever since, as we gain more self awareness and our feelings become our god, we march headlong into a world full of darkness which is void of love. 

The last line is a warning to us in this world that we live in. Do we need 99% of the stuff we have and use on a daily basis. Probably not but does it make life convenient? Of course it does and that is why we fall away from the desire and need of God because we think we have everything we need. It was the rich man that couldn't follow Jesus. Because we find refuge in games, hobbies and entertainment, we find ourselves failing at our one job, faith in Them. If we wake up in a comfortable bed, have hot water to shower in, have convenience food for breakfast, drive a car to a job that we work at, have a paycheck to give us the power to buy whatever we want, do we really have that desire to need God. For most, if your living comfortably, need for a God is not priority. 

Opposite that, if your poor and you have very little, you may believe in God and have faith but your poverty finds you begging God for riches instead of trusting in Him. Poverty also has a way of obscuring peoples minds towards God. It's our situations and our environment that often dictate how we believe or if we even do. 

God in us, exists to bring us through this world untouched by the world, unscathed, unmoved. He lives in us so we can walk through, yet not be influenced by it. He is there to keep our eyes focused on what matters and that is His life. If we let the distractions of this world rob us of our focus on Him, then we've made a big mistake. The world breeds selfishness and seeks its own. It can never bring forth life which is Love. 

It's like the world is a scum filled pond, full of creatures big and small. It looks inviting with all the plants and animals living in and around it. Yet, if we drink of its water, it can make us deadly sick. In a clean flowing spring or mountain river however, the water has very little animal life in it but it brings us life. The world looks active and vital and full of life yet drink of its poisonous attitude and character and you'll find death. However, real life is found in the well spring called Jesus. Did He not say drink of Me and you'll have everlasting water springing forth from within.

God in action. I often times write these blogs over several days or some in the morning and some at night. For instance, I wrote the beginning of this one two mornings ago and two mornings later am finishing it up. I try to write what comes to mind with no predetermined path, I just try and let the Spirit do the writing for me. When thoughts stop, I stop, then I revisit it later. I've had half written posts before that I've gone back to finish and I've deleted it. They have to have some sense of me pointing to Them and not pointing to me. So, if the tone is all me, bye bye. 

What I wanted to say about God in action was this. I work on my own vehicles on the side to save money and frankly I love the learning experience. Am I a master mechanic, no, but I have done my fair share of vehicle repairs. That said, my usual demeanor starts out with a good attitude until I run into an issue. As soon as an issues arises, my attitude changes and like most mechanics, I would curse a lot more than I care to admit. This time however, I have a time deadline to get this current project fixed. Our mini-van is leaking oil and I've been putting it off because of cold or rainy weather. Yesterday was beautiful so I thought I'd tackle it. However, I also booked an overnight stay in a town 2 hours away to do some biking. The van is our only vehicle that can transport our bikes. So, the delay in fixing the van should have me in a meltdown right now but with God as my source of everything, I am walking in calmness and peace. 
The whole project I found myself pleasantly full of peace. Unlike my normal self that would have been upset at each delay, and there were plenty. So what I am saying is, walking in Them with faith works. Their life, their character, who They are will live in us if we invite them to do so. Why walk around frustrated by setbacks and disappointments? Why stress over the slightest thing going wrong? Why do any of us try to bring ourselves calm and peace through any other means other than through the Trinity. 

I cannot explain how much God has overcome so many things in my life in the last four months. It is just staggering. 

I want, what I am experiencing daily, for you to have too. I wan God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit to find a home in you. It isn't a hostile takeover. It isn't a lose of any will, it's a gain of self-control and love and peace of mind. Its not loosing you mind every time things don't go you way. Its a peace like no other and as the world crumbles around us, we can walk in Him unmoved by it all. Have you ever seen those massive explosions going off behind some actor portraying a cool hero. They never flinch and it makes them look even more bad than they did before. That is us with God in us. We can walk straight through the flames of anxiety and never be touched. We can walk through the explosions of things not going the way we planned it and never flinch a bit. Why? Because our confidence is in Him. Our ability to cope relies on faith in Him. Our hands never touch it, we don't worry about it because we let Him take care of it for us. Does He correct the happenings around us, nope. Instead He gives us the ability to go through and never be affected by it.

That is fact, it's happening in me daily and it can happen in you too. Just let go of the controls. Don't try and figure it out or think of how your going to deal with something, just let it go to Him. If I worry about what I'm going to do about that van, then I have no confidence in Him. If I get upset and throw things and curse, I am not letting God handle the issue. If I even think or worry about it for a second, then I'm not trusting God to keep me in Him. We often times let God handle the small stuff but when it comes to the big stuff we think we have to take over or we let Him handle the big stuff that is truly out of our reach only to take care of the small stuff ourselves. 

God wants us to rely on Him for everything. We cannot wake up in the morning and try to tackle the day in our minds. We must let Him work through us. My daily prayer to God is this: God be my hands and feet today, be my ears and lips and tongue, be my mind and my heart Lord. I cannot live without You taking complete sovereignty over all of me. Lord thank you for living in me, walking in me and shining in me. The key to that prayer is having the faith to believe the words. It's not the words themselves but the faith behind it. If you give God control by word alone yet continue to doubt His ability to do so, then He will not work in you. The words are only as good as the intentions of the heart behind them. Wow, now that's good.

I think I've exhausted you enough for today. I've got a van to fix. Love you!

To God be the Glory! Always!