The amazing thing about this new life of ours is that God Himself, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, does all the work in our hearts as we yield to His will, His way. We must deliberately choose to learn to live co-operatively with Him. Disobedience drove mankind away from the Garden in the first place, but our obedience – our “yes” … our own personal choices – takes us into the kind of relationship Jesus Himself had with His Heavenly Father. And our loving Father heals us over and over again, through the choices we make. Our faith, expressed by our personal works/actions done in faith, opens heaven’s doors toward us. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16.

When I choose to deny myself for His sake, I am putting to death my old way of thinking, in favour of something God Himself said in the bible. At the same time this means I am deliberately yielding to the Holy Spirit, believing that He knows what is best for me, better than I know it for myself. I’ve learnt that my first response may not always be my best response… BUT I can trust what the Lord has said in the book – because He wrote it down. It’s in black and white, with some red thrown in!

I used to read a lot of other books to help me understand what the bible said, but I discovered that eventually other people’s interpretations actually coloured my POV. It meant I kept seeing verses, passages, themes through that particular teacher’s eyes. In the end, I stopped reading other books – because I wanted to know what He wanted to say to ME – right here, right now! What He says to someone else may not be what He wants to say to me. It is good to read testimonies about other people’s faith etc. and the revelations that the Lord has given them, but it is not good to substitute reading about their faith, to digging in and finding your own.

Meanwhile, I totally think we’ve beaten that verse in Acts: “God is no respecter of persons.” (10:28) almost to death! We’ve developed a tendency to major on, and quote from a few verses that support our own POV. In doing this we’ve reduced 66 books in the bible, to the size of a brochure! That verse in Acts is talking about humanity’s salvation – not God dividing up His love fairly! That is not something we should even begin to think about. 

I love to pray that the Lord will bless our pastors, because I know that they devote themselves to listening to God, for us. But nobody expects to eat just one meal a week! It will take me using my own personal faith learning to listen for myself – to grow. And at the same time I am strengthening my inner spirit man. The Body of Christ worldwide is struggling over the issue of faith – our faith is being tested everywhere we look. We all need to know that the God we love and serve wants to talk to each one of us, daily. He knows our names and He knows what we are going through and He deeply cares about each and everyone of our trials and tribulations.

However, unfortunately, most of the time we are not digesting what we read. Reading is not digestion. We must “taste and see that the Lord is good,” for ourselves, personally. When God Himself helps us change our stinky attitudes, our faith grows – we activate our own faith. If I am to … continually forgive others …  I can’t just say: “That doesn’t apply to me, I’m not mad at anyone.”  Instead I have to go to the King and ask Him – “Holy Spirit, who am I mad at?” Reading this way is a proactive process. We will have to put down passive agreementto pick up the shield of faith. We desperately need to look for ways to act on our faith in our ordinary everyday lives and consider how what we’ve read today, applies to us! 

It is way too easy to hinge our relationship with Him on perceived answers to our prayers – or even how we feel. Our God is incredibly gracious and generous to His kids. However, answers to our prayers are not signs of His favour. His favour was demonstrated, once and for all, at Calvary! When you or I say ‘I can’t change’ or even:  ‘they won’t ever change’ – you may as well say the sky is green! When we think like that we are scrunching up our faith and throwing it in the rubbish bin. Our God can do anything. That is an established fact. Just because He hasn’t done anything so far, that doesn’t mean He won’t. Timing is everything to Him.

It works like this: we ask for His Grace and help, then we purpose in our hearts to change our behaviour, and then we go ahead and step out in faith changing our behaviour. Activate your own faith – listen, apply, and DO.👋🏻