|
|
|
Heb 12:12-16 Lift up your tired hands, then, and strengthen your trembling knees! Keep walking on straight paths, so that the lame foot may not be disabled, but instead be healed. Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it. Guard against turning back from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison. Let no one become immoral or unspiritual Heb 12:25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! 1) BE AT PEACE WITH A EVERYONE The above mentioned scripture says: TRY (this means work at it/follow/pursue/press forward) to be at peace with everyone. Rom 12 :18 As far as it is possible for you, be at peace with all men. You see, much too often we as Christian brothers and sisters don't "live at peace" with even one another! We argue about this and get on each other about that and allow our feelings to get in the way of being at peace. We hurt others either by what we do or by what we fail to do and by what we say or what we fail to say. But then quite often we really have no idea that we have hurt someone. What to do: TALK: The first thing you do once you become aware that you have hurt someone is to go and talk to him or her. If face-to-face talk is not possible, then write or phone. APOLOGIZE / RECOGNIZE HIS HURT: Even if what you did or said was completely innocent, recognize that the other person was hurt. Whether the hurt is justified or not, apologize nevertheless, for having caused hurt. Apologize even when the hurt done was unintentional. The sooner you do this, the better; the easier it will be for you and for the one you hurt. EXPLAIN REASONS: Explain the reasons behind what you did or did not do to the one hurt. Your explanation, however, should not include excuses for what happened. To say, "I'm sorry. It happened because I was so tired (or: I was under much stress or I was not feeling well or I was so busy)" - is, in fact, to say, I'm sorry but don't blame me for what happened. It was my fault. I accept no responsibility for the failure." When an apology comes with excuses, there is no apology at all. Genuine apology is to clearly identify the wrong done and accept direct responsibility for what had happened. ASK FORGIVENESS: If the hurt is justified, ask for forgiveness. CORRECT: Correct what may still be corrected. If YOU were hurt by someone – forgive & forget; burn the list which you are keeping against that person! Eph 4:26 says don’t go to bed
angry. The above mentioned scripture
says: try to live a holy life (this means clean/set aside/pure), because
no one will see the Lord without it. Over the years we may have developed bad habits of sin. Am I willing to give up these habits that keep me from being all that God wants me to be? Every time we sin we make it easier to keep on sinning. We reinforce these patterns, or habits, until we make a commitment to make a new habit not to sin. Have you made it your aim, goal, passion, not to sin? Have you made it a commitment to live a holy life? The only way to break old habits is to make a commitment to start forming new ones. God cannot do that for us. It is our responsibility. How do we break these old habits of sin? How do we destroy the powerful grip of sin? It is in the heart that the changes must take place. “The heart is the center of the inner life of the person where all the spiritual forces and functions have their origin” That is where the commitment to an obedient life must begin. If I love the Lord God I will obey Him. I will seek to please Him . What to do: COMMIT YOURSELF TO THE LORD EVERY DAY: Begin your day with a renewed commitment to live God’s kind of life. “Lord, I want to please You today in everything I do. I give You this day, come and fill me with your Spirit and live in and through me.” KEEP YOUR HEART SENSITIVE TO THE LEADING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: Gal 5:16-17 What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do. Gal 5:22-23 But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. SPEND TIME IN GOD’S WORD: This is the only way to find out what God’s will is for the Christian. Living the Christian life will
not come automatically. It is your responsibility to love and obey your
Master. Then above mentioned scripture says: guard against turning back from the grace of God. You have heard the message of God’s undeserved kindness that is available to you…. It is free; Jesus paid the price! Accept it once and for all! HIS GRACE IS: The above mentioned scripture says: let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison. Bitterness can be described as a harsh, disagreeable taste. (For example try: drinking orange juice right after you brush your teeth or malaria tablets …. ) When we say someone is bitter it means they have become angry, resentful, hostile, ugly and hateful. Bitterness is poison to your heart, your attitude, and your life. Bitterness is when the pain talks. Remember Job's wife? Do you recall her response to the grief of losing her children all in one day? Her infamous words, "Why don't you just curse God and die?" Many have judged her harshly for speaking such words but I don't condemn her, for it was the pain that was talking. If you have ever experienced heavy grief you will say, "I can't believe I said those things, thought those things, and felt that way." That is the pain talking. Bitterness can be caused by: The Bible gives us two illustrations of bitterness. Firstly it is describes as a poison. A poison is a chemical that will cause injury, harm or death. (It obviously is not good for you); The second illustration is that bitterness is described as a plant / tree – that will bring bad fruit.
Bitterness prevents you from having good
relationships with others! 5) LISTEN TO THE ONE WHO IS SPEAKING Heb 12:25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! You have been listening to many messages in church, you have been reading your Bible, you have been attending bible studies, doing courses … did you really listen? Did it have any impact in your life? Did anything change in your behaviour and your lifestyle? Luk 6:48-49 He is like a man who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. The river flooded over and hit that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But anyone who hears my words and does not obey them is like a man who built his house without laying a foundation; when the flood hit that house it fell at once---and what a terrible crash that was! STRIP OFF THE SIN, FIX YOUR EYES ON JESUSHeb 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. |
KEEP
WALKING ON STRAIGHT PATHS