01/04/2025
It’s a spirit of pride…that we think we are above being corrected. None of us are perfect…we are forgiven, but we are sanctified by Christ Jesus! How do we change? We change by receiving correction from the Holy Spirit, by hearing the Word in various ways and applying it to the insufficiencies within us.
It’s a spirit of pride that allows us to reject correction or teachings that will bring about a transformed mind…as a man thinketh so is he, Proverbs 23:7!
You are what you think and when you have “stinkin thinkin” your attitude portrays that stink! Who are you portraying? We are to have the mind of Christ that negates any “stinkin thinkin”!
None of us are perfect…we are forgiven, but we should always be changing and becoming more Christ like.
You may say…I am satisfied with who I am! Well, then, you have just relegated yourself to a life of mediocrity…never attaining your true potential!
Phillipians 3:12-16… 12 I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be.
13 No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.
15 I hope all of you who are mature Christians will see eye-to-eye with me on these things, and if you disagree on some point, I believe that God will make it plain to you— 16 if you fully obey the truth you have.
How do you think Paul got there? It was by dying to himself and being empowered by the Holy Spirit inside him.
The Holy Spirit is in you because of you choosing to accept Christ Jesus in your heart. He has many roles and one of those is to convict you to change, but you can reject His prodding! He won’t make you change. That is your choice! He doesn’t have a magic wand that He zaps you with to conform you into the image of Christ! You have to learn to hear His voice, receive His instructions and put them into action! It’s your decision!
If you go with an attitude of pride, you will never rise above the level where you are currently. In Proverbs 16:18, scripture tells us that…pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall. God lowers the proud and exalts the humble.
We hear and understand because of the Holy Spirit within us. If you refuse to listen to that still small voice within you, you are rejecting His ability to transform you and bring you to a higher level in understanding.
Unless you honor a prophet, you won’t receive a prophet’s reward. Pride keeps us from honoring the gifts within others. The cry of our hearts should be….more God, more! If you think you have enough of God; then, you are mistaken. If you think you have all there is to receive; then, Joel 2:28-29 is a lie!
28 “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
Allow yourself to receive all that God has prepared for you! Cast down the spirit of pride and every vain imagination and receive the prophet’s reward! Learn to hear and understand the voice of God because He’s speaking and we’re missing it!
It is no longer I who live, but Christ in me! Let us die to the flesh and live out of the resurrection power that lies within us! Allow the Holy Spirit to rise up and empower you to live above the flesh and be more than you ever imagined.
Will we allow ourselves to live like babes in Christ, drinking milk only and being coddled like mere babes or will we mature in Christ and be able to walk fully in the power of whom God created us to be?
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? ...
If this offends us; then, we have an issue of the flesh….I’m including myself in that!
God has told me over and over again that there is no offense that I cannot get over, but I don’t have to let others take advantage of me. There is a difference.
If you can receive this; then, you already have a heart that is open to correction. God corrects us because He loves us and wants to commune with us in greater measure than ever before. Allow Him to speak to you and listen to what He is saying. We must learn to discern His voice and know that it’s Him talking to us and not the enemy! Christ did not come to condemn the world, but to give us abundant life. If you’re listening to God; then, you will be living out of His abundance. If you are feeling condemned, it’s not from God. The Holy Spirit convicts us to change….He does not condemn us to fail!
John 3:17…God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
