What are you preaching?

Pr. 21:29:  “A wicked man hardens his face, but as for the upright, he establishes his way.”

Yesterday we talked about our beautiful feet, and how our lives, that point to Jesus, preach.  (You have beautiful feet)  Notice the catch there?  When our lives point to Jesus, we preach His gospel.  When our lives do not, well…

Sometimes I preach fear.  Didn’t God say He gave us a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind?  Sometimes I’m so tired that it would almost seem like my strength doesn’t come from the Lord.  Sometimes I worry so much that I appear to have no Provider that faithfully supplies all my needs.

When we our willingly living in sin, we point others to satan.  When we allow bondage and temptation to drive our actions, we are preaching something other than the freedoms that come from Christ.  When we talk only about things gone wrong in our lives or our world, we preach that praise is not our weapon.  When we don’t open our Bibles to seek or our mouths to pray, we preach that we have no need of a Savior.

If our actions preach, then we need to be very aware of which actions we are choosing.  We must not harden our hearts or faces.  Ro. 12:1 begs that we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God; reminding us that this is our reasonable service.

When we establish our way, our actions will reflect that choice.  We must not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove (preach) what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

God will renew our minds daily when we spend time with Him.  His mercies are new each morning.  He is the portion we need every day, and when we have established our way in Him we can have the strong assurance in the hope we have in Him.  With that, our lives will preach the gospel of peace…the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Established,

jamie

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The eternal reign of the Lord

The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed.  He has girded Himself with strength.  Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.  Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.

The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their mighty waves.  The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.

Your testimonies are very sure; holiness adorns Your house, O Lord, forever.

Psalm 93

Don’t take that left

Pr. 4:27:  “Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.”

This verse is pretty self-explanatory.  The verse before this says to let all your ways be established.  When you establish something, you make it firm, or stable; you give it a solid basis from which it won’t move, or institute something meant to be permanent.

When you establish your life in Christ, you are making a solid, stable place on which you are declaring to stand.   Not to be moved, you are instituting a relationship meant to be permanent.  You are declaring God as the Lord of your life, and saying that your trust in Him and His faithfulness is enough for you to place all your hope.

From that place, we are told not to turn to the right or to the left.  We are told to remain on the solid ground that is Christ.

If there is any evil in our lives, we must remove our foot from it.  If any evil comes to us after we have established ourselves, we must remind ourselves that our relationship with the Lord has been established, never to be undone.  Remembering God’s faithfulness to those who place their trust in Him, we must not turn or be moved.

Satisfaction from evil and sin is a mirage.  Sin always brings shame, guilt, pain, destruction, and death.  God is and always will be more than enough.  Nothing can compare with the pleasures that are at the right hand of our King!  In His presence alone is fullness of joy.  Why leave?

In Him,

jamie

Establishing your path

Pr. 4:26:  “Ponder the path of your feet, and let your ways be established.” 

I’ve written about paths for 2 days already, and then I come to Pr. 4 and I find 8 verses about paths and ways to go.  I don’t want to be-labor the point, but then again, if it’s in the Word so many times, perhaps we need a lot of reminders.  Over my life, I have found this to be true.  No matter how straight my path has been made, I find myself rubbernecking other paths.

Why do I do that?  Sin.  We live in a fallen world where sin was allowed to enter and now, no matter how much we long to be sinless, we are still sinners.  Jesus came to place our sin under the blood.  That has been done.  He has won the victory.  We have been granted salvation, through His sacrifice.  Until we reach our eternal home; however, we must continue to resist the devil and trust in the Lord.  We still have the ability to make our own choices.

So, here’s the point.  Since we have the ability to choose, we need to strive to establish our ways.  Something that has been established is meant to remain strong and firm, and last a long time.  Churches, governments, constitutions, kingdoms, and treaties are some things that have been established.  We need to deeply consider the paths we are taking and make a decision about the path on which we will remain.  We need to settle the matter in our heart and mind, and stick to it.

We will certainly be tempted.  We will assuredly be faced with other paths almost every day of our lives.  This is why its imperative that we have established our ways.  If we have determined to walk in the ways of the Lord, then even when other paths look inviting, we will be more likely not to place even a toe upon them.  We have to have a game plan to start.  Without a plan settled in our minds, we will certainly be lured down the wrong paths.

I have heard a great saying from my Pastor over the years that is very true.  “Most people don’t plan to ruin their lives, marriage, testimony, relationships, etc.  They just don’t plan not to.”  Establishing our ways means planning Not to take the wrong paths, not just hoping that we won’t.  We need to have the issue settled, through the Word and wisdom from the Lord.  The beautiful truth of the matter is that we don’t have to do it in our own strength.  God has wisdom just waiting for us, and as we saw yesterday (and in James 1:5), He is willing to give it to those who ask.

Jesus died for your salvation.  Knowing the victory over sin and death has been won, wisely map out the path that will lead you to heaven, and plan not to veer from that path.

Established,

jamie