Choose today to love your neighbor; it’s the only way to avoid doing the things God hates.

My son keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee. Proverbs 6:20-22

You see God loves us not because of what we do or don’t do, but because that’s why he created us. The choice is ours, accept his gift and believe what has been completed on the cross. Or live for us, rejecting his love and gift.

Jesus died shamefully but never once put himself before the world. Hanging on the cross he asked God the Father to forgive them. Why? Because he knew that they really didn’t know what they were doing. He even said that from the cross.
Do you know what you are doing? Ask your self this question, Would Jesus do this? How would Jesus react to this situation? If you are honest with yourself you will know the answer, if you are not honest, you can be forgiven.

I would take a close look at this scripture. It’s important to remember that God is the provider of all life; it’s our choice to live for him. In making that choice you have to choose self-control. Self-control is something we can exercise to show humanity that we have a better way to live. There are two paths in life, service to self or service to God. The wrong path is service to self, meaning that I is more important.

The Path.

These six things doth the LORD hate: seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Proverbs 6:16-19

Apr 25
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate in it day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Jos 1:8)

When we choose our own way (sin) we are saying to Jesus "I know you have given all, but its more important that I have my own way. You don't matter. And what's more, its embarrassing to have You hanging around. Someone might see us together."
To grieve the Holy Spirit is to treat Jesus like He doesn't matter. The Holy Spirit proclaims Christ, illuminates Christ and points everything to Christ. So to ignore Jesus Christ, grieves the Holy Spirit. When we sin, when we are ashamed of Christ, when we behave as if He isn't there, we are loudly proclaiming that Jesus doesn't matter.

Every time we sin, we are saying:
Jesus, You don't matter.
My desire does.
Every time we are embarrassed to
speak of Jesus, we are saying:
Jesus, You don't matter.
My reputation does.
Every time we avoid speaking up about our relationship
with Jesus because it is uncomfortable, we are saying:
Jesus, You don't matter.
My comfort does.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (NKJV) Ephesians 4:30-32

Apr 24
And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. (Deu 34:7)

“That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
(1 Corinthians 1:31).

For myself, I fear any kind of religious stir among Christians that does not lead to repentance and result in a sharp separation of the believer from the world. I am suspicious of any organized revival effort that is forced to play down the hard terms of the kingdom. No matter how attractive the movement may appear, if it is not founded in righteousness and nurtured in humility it is not of God. If it exploits the flesh, it is a religious fraud and should not have the support of any God-fearing Christian. Only that which is of God, which honors the Spirit and prospers at the expense of the human ego.

These words of God are not before us for our consideration; they are there for our obedience and we have no right to claim the title of Christian unless we follow them.
So whether the world presents itself in its uglier aspects or in its subtler and more refined forms, we must recognize it for what it is and repudiate it bluntly. We must do this if we would walk with God in our generation as Enoch did in his. A clean break with the world is imperative.

World is Lost

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
1 John 2:15-16

Apr 23
And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: And he said, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me to you. (Exo 3:14)

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. For if I do this thing willing, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Je’sus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Commitment
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number: And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

Apr 22
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. (Gen 9:13)

I have to say this out loud. God doesn't make mistakes, If you were born a specific gender, male or female, that is what you are. no matter what you think or who tells you different. If you are hearing something different from this, it is Satan. Period no if's and's or but's.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 1:27 & 31

I have not said that religion without power makes no changes in a man’s life, only that it makes no fundamental difference. Water may change from liquid to vapor and still be fundamentally the same. So powerless religion may put a man through many surface changes and leave him exactly what he was before. Right there is where the snare lies. The changes are in form only, they are not in kind. Behind the activities of the non-religious man and the man who has received the gospel without power lie the very same motives. An unblessed ego lies at the bottom of both lives, the difference being that the religious man has learned better to disguise his vice. His sins are refined and less offensive than before he took up religion, but the man himself is not a better man in the sight of
God. He may indeed be a worse one, for always God hates artificiality and pretense. Selfishness still throbs like an engine at the center of the man’s life. True, he may learn to “redirect” his selfish impulses, but his woe is that self still lives unrebuked and even unsuspected within his deep heart. He is a victim of religion without power.

From God’s pursuit of Man- A.W.Tozer

These verses teach also that when the message is received in power it effects a change so radical as to be called a new creation. But the message may be received without power, and apparently some have so received it, for they have a name to live and are dead. All this is present in these texts.
Most men, indeed, play at religion as they play at games, religion itself being of all games the one most universally played. But the emptiness of it is apparent from the fact that after the pleasant religious game no one is basically any different from what he had been before. The bases of life remain unchanged, the same old principles govern, the same old Adam rules.

In Word, or In Power

For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Ghost.
(1 Thessalonians 1:5)
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and
art dead. (Revelation 3:1)

So there it is, there is the choice, and the answer. Choose God and his ways for life and good and blessing. Jesus lived and walked and taught and died to give us the path to follow. All we have to do is follow him. God raised Jesus from the dead to give us back the life we gave away, all we have to do is choose, Life and Good or Death and Evil. God’s way or the world’s way, choose God he will never leave you or forsake you.

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
Deuteronomy 31:6

God is waiting!

“See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them. I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:”
Deuteronomy 30: 15-19

I know how hard it is to admit that I don’t have all the answers, that I don’t know everything, to face that man in the mirror. In this day and age the world wants us to keep secrets; if you do then Satan wins you. That’s your choice; God gave you the right to chose. He also gave you the correct answer as well as the ability. He gave you JESUS.
God is watching!

What we all seem to forget or maybe we just don’t understand the truth. Woman is part of man, “And the rib which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2: 22-23 So it follows that if men have unexposed secrets, and woman came out of man, then women, then all of creation try to hide things. All of us want to keep secrets, not expose our true self but, God is watching!

The funny thing about being a man is, we find it hard to face that man in the mirror. I know that to find peace, true peace, I must face that man and allow God to open those secret places. Once the door is opened the secret can be told. Once the secret is told it can be overcome.
“My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear to wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2: 1-6 God is watching!

It’s amazing that we try to conceal our true nature from those around us. Thinking that what they don’t know won’t hurt them and surely won’t hurt us. How can I be hurt if nobody knows the truth? I’m a man, I control my own path, and they only need to know what I want them to know. God is watching!