Please God in 2008 & Happy New Year!
Please God in 2008
What is your goal for this New Year 2008? My aim and goal is to please God in 2008 and not be a people please r. In other words, my purpose for this year is to bring pleasure to God my Lord. I am determined to make this my one and only purpose for 2008. How about you? The question then is how will I please God in 2008? Asked differently, how will I not please God in 2008? Let’s read in Romans 8.
Romans 8:5-11
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind[f] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
There are a couples things to note from this passage that will help us please God in 2008. First, the Spirit of God lives in us. Secondly, we are controlled by the Spirit of Christ if we desire His control. The Third thing is that the same power that raised Christ from the dead will enable our fleshly body to conform to please God.
How will I not please God in 2008? If I set my mind on what the sinful nature desires, and are controlled by its desires, I will not please God. Think about someone who is drunk with alcohol. This person is controlled by the “spirit” of whisky/vodka. Often a drunk person does not know where he is and can be led to do things ordinarily he would not do if sober.
Now let’s turn this around and be controlled by the Spirit of God in 2008. Are you willing to be led to do for God things that ordinarily you would not have been able to do if you were “sober”? You ask like what? The big things like Forgiveness, kindness and loving the unlovable & etc. When you are led, you walk by faith, trusting the one who is leading you since you do not know where you are going. Hebrews 11:1,6 (1”Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see… 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”).
In summary, you and I will please God in 2008 when we allow our lives to be controlled by the Holy Spirit of God and when we walk by Faith trusting God and giving Him Thanks always. Are you willing to enter 2008 not knowing where you are going but only being led by the Spirit? That is what it will take you to bring pleasure to God and in turn, “life and peace” for you in 2008.
15"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."(Ephesians 5:15-19).
Happy New Year and New You! Bring Pleasure to God in 2008.
May the Lord bless and keep you in His perfect will for 2008.
Udo
What is your goal for this New Year 2008? My aim and goal is to please God in 2008 and not be a people please r. In other words, my purpose for this year is to bring pleasure to God my Lord. I am determined to make this my one and only purpose for 2008. How about you? The question then is how will I please God in 2008? Asked differently, how will I not please God in 2008? Let’s read in Romans 8.
Romans 8:5-11
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind[f] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
There are a couples things to note from this passage that will help us please God in 2008. First, the Spirit of God lives in us. Secondly, we are controlled by the Spirit of Christ if we desire His control. The Third thing is that the same power that raised Christ from the dead will enable our fleshly body to conform to please God.
How will I not please God in 2008? If I set my mind on what the sinful nature desires, and are controlled by its desires, I will not please God. Think about someone who is drunk with alcohol. This person is controlled by the “spirit” of whisky/vodka. Often a drunk person does not know where he is and can be led to do things ordinarily he would not do if sober.
Now let’s turn this around and be controlled by the Spirit of God in 2008. Are you willing to be led to do for God things that ordinarily you would not have been able to do if you were “sober”? You ask like what? The big things like Forgiveness, kindness and loving the unlovable & etc. When you are led, you walk by faith, trusting the one who is leading you since you do not know where you are going. Hebrews 11:1,6 (1”Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see… 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”).
In summary, you and I will please God in 2008 when we allow our lives to be controlled by the Holy Spirit of God and when we walk by Faith trusting God and giving Him Thanks always. Are you willing to enter 2008 not knowing where you are going but only being led by the Spirit? That is what it will take you to bring pleasure to God and in turn, “life and peace” for you in 2008.
15"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."(Ephesians 5:15-19).
Happy New Year and New You! Bring Pleasure to God in 2008.
May the Lord bless and keep you in His perfect will for 2008.
Udo
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