LIVING IN THE SPIRIT

How are we called to live? We are called to live a righteous life through the power of the Living God. What is righteousness? Righteousness is living in right standing before the Lord. Only you know if you are in a right standing with the Lord. God puts His laws in our hearts and minds. We are responsible to be obedient to that law, to do what is right and good in the eyes of God and man. Being a righteous Christian is a lot harder than most people think. Most people try to be good and righteous before man. However, there is no fear of God. The Lord says, “Fear Me and obey My Commandments.” This is what is pleasing to the Lord. Well that doesn’t mean in front of man. That means when you are not around Godly people. That is in your quiet time and the time when you are alone at home on the computer, watching TV, when no one is watching he is there. Let me let you in on a secret – God is always watching. He is with you always wherever you are. He is with His people. When you go to those places you know you shouldn’t go, He is there. You know what I mean – when you feel that little nudge in your conscious that what are doing isn’t right but everyone else is doing it and nothing is wrong with them. Each time you ignore that nudge, doing the wrong thing gets easier because the Holy Spirit has to remove himself from those things that are not of God (ungodly acts). No, He hasn’t left you but the power of the Holy Spirit working in you surrenders to your desire to be worldly, to live in sin, to desire the things of this world. Many people have laid down the call of God on their lives and don’t even know it. The power of God can only flow through His righteous servants – those who have surrendered to the ways of God and given up the ways of the world. Yes, that means being righteous when no one will find out, because God always knows. I think it is great when people say, “I went to do this or that, and something inside of me rose up and I felt uncomfortable doing it.” That is the Holy Spirit leading his people. What you do in those situations is what matters. It is a fight between God’s will and your will. Who will win? The stronger one will win. You say that in that situation God always wins. No, I mean which spirit is stronger in you. I remember a story a pastor told. An old man had two fighting dogs -- one black, one white and he would fight these dogs. He always knew which one would win. After the guy quit fighting them a young man went to the old man and asked how he knew which one would win? The old man said it was simple. He would feed the one he wanted to win. He would tie up the other one and not feed it. The stronger dog – the one he had fed – would always win. (THE STRONGER ONE WILL ALWAYS WIN.) So, what are you feeding yourself? Are you eating from the world or from the Lord? Are you feeding off the Word of the Lord? Are you having fellowship with other believers? What you surround yourself with will eventually overcome you. Yes, God will anoint you to go into bad places, but you need to be filled spiritually to go into those places on behalf of the Lord. If you are not walking with the Lord and go into those places to “win souls” you could easily fall into temptation. You need to be grounded in the Word of God. You definitely need to be in prayer and have others praying for you. You need the covering of the Lord for protection. Always walk with someone; don’t walk alone. I believe the Lord is building teams of ministers to bring together his purposes on earth. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying stop doing everything and become a hermit. I am saying each one of us has an accountability to which the Lord has called us. You have to be obedient to what the Lord puts in your heart. You will be accountable for your own actions before the Lord. (Rom 14:11-12, TNIV: "It is written: "'As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'") So then, we will all give an account of ourselves to God. You will be responsible for you own actions and for every word that comes out of your mouth. It is time to be accountable for our actions. If there is no accountability to the Lord, then there is no accountability to each other. If you are not responsible for your own actions, how can someone else be? God is looking for a covenant people.

I remember when I went to a service and the pastor was so caught up in receiving the blessing of the Lord and the whole church was to. They were missing what the spirit was saying I was so disturbed about the whole thing. I know the Lord was but he would not let me leave the service I sat through the whole service and from when I walked in they were speaking curses on whoever was holding up their blessing and the Lord said plainly that he had not released it yet so they were cursing him, but they did not know that. We are to curse no man. He continued and preached a good message but to a degree, they didn’t hear what the Lord was saying. Guess who was to go and say something, I have been given a wonderful responsibility to carry words of correction from the Lord. I do not take it lightly when I give correction I will pray about it for hours until I feel the lord has purged all of myself out of my action and I am truly walking in his counsel. This only took about eight hours of prayer and seeking the Lords face in this issue. Finally, I felt a release to go and give a word of encouragement. I know you are saying but you said correction: “Yes but we are to be encouragers so if you go in with the mind set of encouragement that is the fathers heart encourage them in the ways of the Lord. When we first set down to talk I started out with the Lord said he has not released your blessing yet. I did not confront them about cursing God that is his job. That should resonate with them that is left for the Spirit of the Lord to convict of sin not my place. I also said that the Lord is still purifying their hearts that is why because the Lord said the blessing of the Lord is upon the pure at heart. That was one of the scriptures that he preached on. The whole time I was pushing him to press into the Lord and the Lord was the answer that nothing else mattered It was a great meeting and I heard him quote our conversation many times latter now everything didn’t change over night because it was a process and it still is a process. We are to be encouragers in the faith not condemners, pointing them in the way of truth and life and they have to walk there on walk we cannot walk it for them and tell them what steps to take but we can help turn them back onto the right path of the Lord.