"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." ~ Proverbs 3:5-6
How do we follow the leader, i.e. how do we allow God to make the decisions in our lives, and not we ourselves?
Proverbs 3:5-6 has the answer.
To follow the leader, we must:
- Trust Him - we must believe that He knows what's best for us (Jeremiah 29:13) and is working all things together for our good (Romans 8:28);
- Lean not on our own understanding - we must not rely on our own thoughts, feelings, emotions, experiences, etc. They are fleeting, ever-changing, and unreliable;
- Acknowledge Him - we must ask God to lead our decision-making and acknowledge that He has a better way of doing things than we do;
- In all of our ways - we must do these three things in everything, no matter how big or how small
If we follow this 4-step process, God has promised to direct our paths.
Seems easy, right?
More to come in the days ahead.
God bless,
J.W.
"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children..." ~ Ephesians 5:1
Most believers' relationship with God is as follows:
We make decisions - based on our own feelings, thoughts, emotions, experiences, opinions, etc. - and characterize it as God's will. Or we make decisions and then ask God to bless it.
The Bible, however, tells us that we ought to be FOLLOWERS of God. In other words, He should be making the decisions, not us. Things should START (and end) with Him, not the other way around.
More to come in the days ahead.
God bless,
J.W.
"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13
Let's end the debate! God favors love over faith.
1 Corinthians 13:13 instructs us to live in faith, hope, and love. Yet, it specifically says that the greatest of these three is love.
Love is the epitome of who God is. And it's what He's most interested in developing in us.
May you increase in faith and hope.
But most of all, may you increase in love.
God bless,
J.W.
"And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory..." ~ 2 Corinthians 3:18
Yesterday, we identified those areas that one needs to address in order to increase in love.
Identifying those areas is the easy part. The hard part is actually doing it.
But like anything, taking the first step is the key.
God doesn't expect us to be perfect, but he does want us to be better.
Take the first step today.
God bless,
J.W.
Now that we've (hopefully) established that increasing in love is more important than increasing in faith, the question is, how does one increase in love?
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 gives us the blueprint (see above).
Increasing in love requires us to increase in all these areas.
Stay tuned for more.
God bless,
J.W.
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." ~ 1 John 4:11-12
One reason that God is concerned about us increasing in love is because our demonstrated love is one way He is made manifest to others.
As 1 John 4:11-12 indicates, people can't see God. But when we show love, others get a glimpse of Him.
The more people see God, the more they'll have faith in Him.
It all comes full circle.
Love > Faith.
God bless,
J.W.
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" ~ Galatians 5:14
Still unconvinced that increasing in love is more important than increasing in faith?
Galatians 5:14 says it all.
The scriptures are ultimately fulfilled, not by having more faith; not by saying more prayers; and not by following the law to a T.
No, the scriptures are fulfilled by us showing more love.
That's the thrust of the Scriptures - to move us to increase in love!
God knows that when we increase in love, we will automatically increase in faith.
Stay tuned.
God bless,
J.W.
