SOUL NEED PART 5
REDEEMED BY HIS SPIRIT
As we observe the world
becoming an ever-darkening place, these days will hopefully only reinforced our
need to be constantly reassured by God’s presence in our life. They will hopefully
strengthen the Christian resolve as it has in the past. The less people can hold onto in this
world the more they seek God and abide in the presence of God. And the more they abide in the presence
of God, the bolder and confident they get in God.
I was reminded of a scene
from the Lord of the Rings.
Frodo is speaking to Gandalf and says, “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.”
Gandalf replies, “So do
all who live to see such times.
But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is
given to us. There are other forces
at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil.”
Do we not all wish none
of these dark things were happening in the world? Don’t we all wish we wouldn’t
have to experience them? But we
can’t wish them away or get to decide the times in which we live but to decide
what do with the time we are given remembering God is at work not just evil.
“I
have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy
themselves. He has made everything
appropriate in its time. He has
also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work,
which God has done from beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to
rejoice and do good in one’s lifetime;” Ecclesiastes 3:10-12
“And
we know that all things work together to those who love God, to those who are
called according to His purpose.
For who, he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he predestined, these He
also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified,
these He also glorified.” Romans 8:28-30
The world is a growing
cesspool but perhaps cesspools are needed to show people what they are being
suffocated by so they might swim up to the surface and call out to be saved by
God. (Yes saved from eternal damnation -to the plunges of the natural eye -to
spiritual battles.)
Ephesians
5:15-16 says, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
redeeming the time, because the days are evil”
Walk vigilantly, cautiously,
watchfully, not as fools who aren’t mindful of the Spirit, but redeeming the
time by the Spirit, because the days are evil.
Redeeming the time… is to
redeem the days in God.
God doesn’t want to be a
bystander to his children’s lives.
He wants us to invite Him into the things in our life. He wants to commune with us and guide us
through all the tasks and experiences in this life. He wants to warn us and instruct us and direct us. Then the things we face won’t seem so
burdensome, mundane and repetitive or even fearful.
“For
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound
mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7
· What happens when we allow God to guide and direct
our day instead of us trying to “go it” our own way?
· What happens when we allow Him to guide us through
unfamiliar experiences?
· How many times has he made us aware of the presence
of evil and to act and speak accordingly?
“For
in him we live, and move and have our being; as certain also of your own poets
have said, “For we are also his offspring.” Acts 17:28
“I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I now live in the
body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20
Redeemed
in Him means “Thy” will be done not “our will” be done. Note: Matthew 6:10
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