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Are you "Trying to be Good?"

Posted by Tkulp , 30 November 2017 · 812 views

Trying to be Good?

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

 

As my wife and I prepared to walk today I felt impressed that we should listen to the Bible being read, as we walked, but I did not have our CD loaded on to our i-phone.

 

She told me that we already had an audio Bible on our phones, in E-Sword. So, as we started on our walk, my wife brought the e-sword app up and showed me how we could listen to the KJV of the Bible on her i-phone.

 

She just randomly selected a portion of scripture and set it to play. The reading was the 2nd Chapter of 1 Corinthians.

 

As we listened, the Holy Spirit started speaking to me about the reason why so many people, today, do not really understand what the Bible is saying, in plain English, as they read it; let alone understand the hidden Truths, the same as most hearers, in Jesus' day did not understand the parables.

 

The following is what the Spirit spoke to my heart...

 

Is the Holy Spirit really "in" you or are you "presuming" the He is; your life lacking the evidence the He is "in" you? What kind of fruit do you see being produced in your life, (What are your entertained thoughts, that result in actions and words spoken; freely flowing from your mouth; your attitudes)?

 

Listen to your self talk to others. What is the subject matter that freely flows from your mouth (without you trying or controlling it)? From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks! The uncontrolled subject matter from your mouth and your attitudes will tell what is in your heart. It will also tell you if the flesh or the Spirit is in control.

 

Put yourself to the 'test'! ...are the words pure and holy, eternally edifying? ...are the words entertaining, worldly pleasing? ...do your words humbly cause the name of Jesus and His righteousness to shine or do your words make "you" shine?

 

Are you encouraging people to "take up their cross and follow Jesus" or to come enjoy the music, programs or food and 'fellowship' at your church?

 

Are you 'trying' to get people 'saved'? ...or are you demonstrating (a living witness), by the reality of "Christ in you" what a person looks like when they are delivered and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you an example, by your words and actions to what someone walking in obedience to the Holy Spirit within their heart lives (not putting on a show or reciting empty words, by rote, that you've learned from the teachings of men)?

 

If you do not eat good healthy fruit/food, you can not reproduce good healthy seed, to be planted and grow into new, good healthy plants!

 

In nature a plant or animal only reproduces that which is the same kind, a copy of itself.

 

Has the true, pure seed of Jesus Christ been planted in you, reproducing a plant that looks, sounds and thinks like Jesus Christ? Are you a reproduction of Jesus?

 

Jesus said, " My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work.." What is the food that you feed on? Where do you go or do when nothing is pressing you? Where do you relax and empty your mind; take your mind off of the pressures of life?

 

People talk about "Christ 'in' me the Hope of Glory." Sadly they really do not understand nor have they experienced its reality as Jesus Christ experienced the sweetness of the Father's presences within His earthly body. "I in them and you in me... even as we are one... that they may be completely one... that the world may know that thou hast sent me..." John 17:21-23

 

Are you struggling with attitudes, selfishness, what comes out of your mouth, thoughts, etc. Are all your useless struggles because of the fact that you 'believe' that Christ is 'in' you; all the while you are daily feeding on the 'world's junk food' instead of the "will of the Father". The attitudes and garbage that come out of you are a result of the 'world' that is 'truly' in you.

 

Squeeze a lemon! What do you get? Crush an apple! What do you get?

 

Put pressure on a worldly individual! What do you get?

 

Squeeze an individual truly 'full' of the Holy Spirit! You will get the fruit of the Spirit!

 

What are the 'fruits' that your life produces?

 

Are you dealing with 'darkness' (lack of understanding, selfish desires, bad attitudes, unanswered prayers and frustrations)'? Most likely it is a result of 'double-minded' 'junk' food you choose to daily fill your mind and soul (your heart) with?

 

That is what I personally discovered in my life!

 

'IF' seeing bad fruit when you are squeezed, change your diet, experience 'Life abundantly'!

 

What value is there in eating the world's vain, worthless diet? You may enjoy the short pleasures that they give you, but it is in exchange for a life of misery and sickness; popping pills to cover up reality.

 

You 'are' what you eat!

 

 

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"But just as it is written, "Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him."

 

How do we know that we Love Him?
{"If you love me, you will obey my commandments." "....you are in me and I am in you. The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me."

 

"....Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. "
"The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me." John 14:15-24}

 

"God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God For who among men knows the things of a man except the man's spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

 

Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

 

The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is understood by no one.

 

For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him? But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2:9-16

 

"And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him." 1John 3:5-6

 

..."the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!"

 

... "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Galatians 5:19-23

 

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Days of Heaven on Earth Devotional

by A. B. Simpson

 

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

 

It is said that a mother found her small boy standing beside a tall sunflower, with his feet stuck in the ground. When she asked, "What in the world are you doing there?" he naively answered, "Why, I am trying to grow to be a man."

 

His mother laughed heartily at the idea of his being planted in the ground in order to grow like the sunflower. Then, patting him gently on the head, she said, "Why, Harry, that is not the way to grow. You can never grow bigger by trying. just come right in and eat enough good food and have plenty of play and you will soon grow to be a man without trying so hard."

 

Harry's mother was right. There could not be a better answer to the question: "How do the lilies grow?" than Hannah Whitehall Smith's comment, "They grow without trying."

 

Our deepest spiritual life is the life of self unconsciousness through which we become united to Christ. We live continually on His life, being nourished, fed and constantly filled with His Spirit and presence and all the fullness of His imparted life. Scripture
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow —Matthew 6:28

 

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"(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God's children — and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.
"Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure)."

 

"Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness." 1 John 3:1-4

 

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Are you trying to be good? How many trees or plants have to try to produce the fruit that God created them to produce?

 

Much of the New Testament speaks to us about how we can know what kind of plant we are.

 

"IF" the Holy Spirit, "IF" Jesus Christ, is really living in you, your heart and mind, your life will produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit, without trying.

 

Many of you have grown gardens and know all the ups and downs of producing healthy plants. Sometimes, in the garden, the plants are lush and green. They really look like wonderful plants; but they never produce edible fruit. Why? Maybe it is because of the soil they are planted in or the nutrition, the food, they are being fed.

 

So it is with the Spiritual Plants! They get a great start, but then what? Some 'try' to produce good fruit, but they will not and can not because of the 'influences' of the soil that they are growing in! The food that they are daily feeding on!

 

"IF" you are daily feeding on the world's food, the world's influence will be reproduced in your thoughts and actions, your fruit!

 

"IF" you leave and shut out the world's input, present yourself to the Master Gardener, get grafted into the Vine, Jesus Christ, feed on His Word, and allow the nutritious sap of the Holy Spirit to "daily" flow through, and feed, your spirit, by obedience; you will be transformed into a plant that looks like Jesus. A plant that produces the pure fruit that Jesus produced when He lived here, in the flesh.

 

Please do not be deceived! If your life produces rotten fruit, there is a reason, and all the trying will not change it. You will simply become a good hypocrite! You will look pretty good on the outside, but you will be empty on the inside. A whitewashed wall, full of dead men's bones.

 

Please repent, turn around! Plant your mind in the Word of God. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you, cleanse you of "all" unrighteousness; daily teach you, as you sit at His feet with the Word!

 

Obey what He reveals to you, not what the 'church world' says or has taught you! Pray that you are not in such deep darkness, (Living in a false or deceptive light! That the 'light which is darkness' something that Satan produces, as an imitation or false "angel of light".

 

"IF" your life, the thoughts you entertain and the actions your thoughts produce, are not pure, without effort, you are grafted into the "wrong tree"!

 

Do not be deceived into believing that Jesus Christ covers all the garbage so that God does not see it. This is 'false'!

 

The Master Gardener sees and knows all! He sees the vine that you are grafted into.

 

"IF" you are grafted into Jesus Christ, but do not produce good fruit, He will cut you off and you will be burned!

 

"IF" you are grafted into Jesus Christ and producing good fruit, He will prune you so you will produce more and better fruit.

 

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"Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice — alive, holy, and pleasing to God — which is your reasonable service."

 

"Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God — what is good and well-pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:1-2

 

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.

 

And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who "does" the will of God remains forever." 1 John 2:15-17

 

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Simpson Devotional

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

 

Days of Heaven on Earth

Thursday, November 30, 2017

 

When the apostle speaks of the deep things Of God (1 Corinthians 2:10), he means more than deep spiritual truth. There must be something before this. There must be a deep soil and a thorough foundation.

 

Much of our spiritual teaching fails because the people to whom it is directed are so shallow. Their deeper nature has never been stirred.

 

The beatitudes begin at the bottom of things-the poor in spirit, the mourners, the hungry hearts. Suffering is essential to profound spiritual life. We need not go to a monastery or a hospital for the leprous to find it. Unless we are born into a different race than Adam's, the first real opportunity for unselfishness will bring into our lives the anguish of crucifixion.

 

Because men and women have not faced this truth, they know little of suffering and death. We must have deep convictions. Truth must be to us a necessity and principle a part of our very being.
Lord, make me poor in spirit. Help me to be even as Thou wert when on earth-always the lowest and, therefore, highly exalted (Philippians 2:9).

 

Scripture
In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselvesPhilippians 2:3

 

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Sadly, the humility that is out there, comes across as a false humility. True humility not only sees its own weakness and "esteems others better than themselves" but readily 'repents'; changes the failures into purity, God's Purity!

 

For one to brag about their sins and failures with no intent of repentance or victory in Jesus Christ, is dealing with pride and false humility!



  • Layman363 likes this



A very interesting and insightful posting. 

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