“Whatever you have learned or received or seen in me or
heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be
with you.” Phil. 4:9 (NIV)
The
apostle Paul gives his readers very good guidance here. His readers in the
first Century received the word to “put into practice’ whatever they learned
from his letters, heard in sermons, or saw in his practice.
When we
are new Christians and start studying our Bibles, we are taught that we are to
apply what we learn to our hearts in order to experience growth in our
spiritual lives.
By
applying what we learn to our lives and our hearts, two things happen. First,
we grow a little more like Christ each time. Second, when we display godly
traits, we model Christ for those around us.
Godly traits can be the extending of grace to
a neighbor, holding a door for an elderly person or anyone, taking the time to
do something for a friend.
Recently,
I had a problem about the way something was handled by a lady. I didn’t want to
cause hurt feelings with a mutual friend. I called the mutual friend and got
her voicemail. I left the message asking her to pray for me. Later that
morning, she called me. I found myself telling her what was wrong. She had already
prayed for me; while we were on the phone, she listened. She took the time out
of her busy day to listen to me. I felt blessed.
I think we've not explored or studied the leading of the Holy Spirit like we could, and need to do. God has so much for us, if we take the time to listen to His voice in our hearts and through His word. We are way too busy sometimes (I speak for myself).
ReplyDeleteJeanette:
DeleteYes, we seem to use the excuse that we are too busy to build our realtionship with the Holy Spirit. As generations of people stray away from God and His teaching, we find more of the younger generation who don't know anything about Him or what He does for us.There are a lot of children who have never been to church, have never heard Jesus' name used as it should be, have never been inside a church. We may have a lot to apologize for when we go to be judged.
What a good lesson...taking the time out to listen...and to pray for one another yields peaceable fruit of righteousness...learning to be obedient to the Holy Spirit's promptings also brings great joy and peace in the heart. I'm still learning this. I know it in my head and heart, but I have a hard time putting it into action in my life. Too many excuses. May God help me forget the excuses and obey His leading while He is still prompting my soul to act. Amen.
ReplyDeletePamela:
DeleteThank you for your kind thoughts. We each have to learn thes lessons He has for us. Jesus has a plan for each of us. We have to learn from Him in order to grow in His grace.
I think often we struggle more than we need to simply because we don't turn things over to the Lord, nor walk in obedience. I appreciate this encouraging reminder!
ReplyDeleteKaren: Thank you. You are so right. We should all keep in mind the hymn,"What a friend we have in Jesus, all or sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege we forfeit, what a burden we bear, all because we don't carry everythingto God in prayer."
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