Decisions

I’ve heard many preachers say that we have to decide to “trust in God’s ways and give our life to Him”. This is true, but the Holy Spirit must convict us of our need for God before we will make that decision. We can’t just go through life and one day decide on our own to ask Jesus to be our Savior and make it happen because on our own, without the Holy Spirit’s conviction, we won’t do that. Before I became convicted that I truly needed Jesus as my Savior I didn’t think I needed Him unless something was beyond my control. Even then, if I prayed to Him about it and it worked itself out like I thought it should I would sometimes say “Thank you”, and go on my way. I didn’t give much thought to the process or the One Who is really in charge until I became a Christian and began studying His Word.

Mankind, in his/her natural state, will not seek God’s help until their circumstances force them to. When you come to the end of your ability then you will seek the One with the ability to take care of the problem, whatever it may be. God loves us but He didn’t want people who would be like an automaton and not love Him too. He will allow us to mess up our lives, sometimes spectacularly, to the point that we realize we are at the end of ourselves, and His Voice, the Holy Spirit can get through all of our “chatter”. We hear Him and realize that we need Him more than anything else.

The reason for our need is not because we made the decision to follow Jesus on our own but because we realize through the prompting of the Holy Spirit that we can’t live our lives without Him. For some people this is when they will tell God that they can live without Him just fine…and they will. But they will be doing it on their strength and in their ways. God won’t be a real part of their life other than as a little voice that reminds them occasionally that He is still there…waiting for them. Sometimes they think that because they hear or feel this “small voice” they are His and are “all right with God”. Satan is the one telling them this. Remember, Satan convinced one-third of the angels to follow him in rebellion so he is very good at deception.

Many in the church believe his lies. Some of them are in the pulpit. The church has become weak in its faith because of the lies and doctrines that have been made up by twisting Scripture out of context. The church at Laodecia and the letter written to them is a prime example of the church today. The church today, regardless of its denomination, has become prideful and “self-sufficient” in its beliefs. I pray that anyone who reads this will ask God to show them where they are in their walk with Him.