Coming out of life's ruts!

Today I watched a little boy upon his bike. The bike was no more than two feet from seat to surface, the boy even smaller in stature. The bike was adorned with handle bar horn and streamers, and of course the all famous training wheels. A young man and his ride, when it comes to certain things age just doesn't seem to matter.

The thing that caused me to spend my commodity of time for this life time movie, was the little fellow was peddling and peddling, but making no tracks. Wheels were spinning, but he was going no where.

Looking closer I found that his bike was stuck in a rut. The wheels would go, but not the bike, nor the boy. Oh, he put his share of effort in, used all of his energy, as he pushed up and down with those little stumps of legs. He looked like one training for the Olympic gold, yet all of his attempts were self defeating.

Soon he dismounts the bike to take a look.
What is the problem?

He plops down, bottom to pavement and investigates. Still he has no understanding that he is off in a rut. Without revelation of why he is making no progress he climbs right back upon the same ditch ridden transport.

Once more the boy begins to peddle ... up and down, up and down, faster and faster as a farmer churning for fresh butter, but his works were carrying him no place, tho he seemed to move faster and faster. Two determined efforts but no results.

Once again the tot disembarks his less than cooperative ride. This time he walks round and round the bike, evaluating it from one side to the other. His brother was there but seemed disinterested in making helpful suggestions or offering aid. So finally the little guy simply walks away.

He now has abandoned his most precious possession. Left his wheels to foot it. But as he walked away it seemed he had and epiphany concerning that near a half hour event. The lad suddenly jerks around, grabs that bike and yanks it out of the rut ... climbs on and off he goes riding with great ease and joy.

Amazing how we like this little guy can get stuck in ruts wearing ourselves out with aimless effort. We can investigate, evaluate, and use up all of our energy. We can become frustrated, while others look on with no apparent interest in our "rutted" position.

What exactly is a rut?

• It is a fixed or established mode
  
• A course of life that becomes dull, offering nothing of value
  
• A rut is a road to oft traveled because of fear of taking a new course

But like the little boy, when we tire of our own efforts and rise to release it all ... the light shines and revelation comes. Suddenly we have the courage and strength to take a hold of, and yank ourselves out of the old ruts of dull routines and programs. We arise, face the fear of the unknown and move onto a new pathway, one that offers us new views and adventures ... freeing us from the mundane.

John 8:23 ~ Message translation
Jesus said, "You're tied down to the mundane; I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms ...

Faith motorized by Love

Gal. 5:6 [King James]
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.


Gal. 5:4-6 [Message]
I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.


Gal. 5:6 [God's Word]
As far as our relationship to Christ Jesus is concerned, it doesn’t matter whether we are circumcised or not. But what matters is a faith that expresses itself through love.


^{Gal. 5:6 [ Amplified]}
For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.


As we read various translations of Gal. 5:6 we find a strong thread to living a successful Christian life.

Faith's stranded strength is Love

As we read through God's written Word we find this common yarn ... Love!

• I John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

• I John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

It is only when we put our focus on love that we are truly looking to God. To say we know God and hate our brother we lie.

• I John 4:20

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?


If religion is separating you from loving people (all people), I say with the resounding Words of Paul ...

"O YOU poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you, unto whom--right before your very eyes--Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified?" ~ Gal. 3:1 [Amplified]


Jesus crucified ... for love's sake [the very cause of Love ~ John 3:16], and yet people can so quickly allow someones wrong agendas; someones erred spirit beliefs; someones bitterness of heart; someones ability to manipulate for power or prestige or deceptive view carry them away from truth that sets and keeps them free.


In the eighth chapter of the gospel of John we find religion desiring to snuff out Jesus ... God (love/Word) made flesh walking among them. The one who for later would lay down his own life ... saying while suffering an agonizing death on a cross "Father forgive them, they know not what they do." He also at this same life striping time, offered forgiveness and freedom to another mans ... liberating him to a life beyond the pain of sin and death. A privilege offered to whosoever is will receive Jesus at his Word.

• Love sent Jesus and empowered Him to live successfully here on planet earth.
• Love enabled Him to make it through the death of the cross, and then resurrected him from the dead.
• Love defeated death, hell and the grave, and then ascended to make a way for us and send one (spirit) just like his own to empower us to be a witness of such love.

We know from the written Word, that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things yet unseen. And Faith we understand is what pleases God. But without love ... that pleasing faith will remain inoperative and ineffective until it is activated (motorized) by love.


The reason I used the verb motorized here, is love should be the very essence of what motivates, energizes, and moves us in every endeavor of life. If love was truly allowed to be the active ingredient within the heart of mankind, there would be no abortion, adultery, fornication, fighting, wars, robberies, or malice of any kind.


Love is the very source of the spiritual fruit of ... joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: of which there is no law! ~ Gal. 5:22-23


The message translation says it well.

What happens when we live God's way?
He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—

Things like:

• affection for others
• exuberance about life
• serenity

We develop:

• a willingness to stick with things
• a sense of compassion in the heart
• a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.

We find ourselves:

• involved in loyal commitments
• not needing to force our way in life
• able to marshal and direct our energies wisely

Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.

We can say this from this passage's translation. When we open to love, we begin to both develop (mature) and find ourselves.


I Cor. 13 shares some interesting truths about love.

• Love never gives up
• Love cares more for others than for self
• Love doesn't want what it doesn't have
• Love doesn't strut
• Doesn't have a swelled head
• Doesn't force itself on others
• Isn't always "me first"
• Doesn't fly off the handle
• Doesn't keep score of the sins of others
• Doesn't revel when others grovel
• Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth
• Puts up with anything
• Trusts God always
• Always looks for the best
• Never looks back
• But keeps going to the end

As we read in I Cor. 13 we find in verse 11 the expression of anyone or anything that tries to undermine true love, or over ride the truth of the God kind of faith is acting in an immature manner.

I admonish you today ...
Have the God kind of faith, and let your Faith be motorized by Love!

Your Internal GPS

On the inside of the born again believer is a true spirit guide, the Holy Spirit. He is not a drawn up dead ancestor, or a smoke screen deception. He is a living Spirit person sent by Jesus himself to dwell not only dwell with us, but to live in us.

Today I want to express His nature to lead us.

• Lead us into all truth.
• Lead us in the direction we should go.
• Lead us into right relationships, safety, health, prosperity and all that is good.

I have a GPS in my automobile that can be programmed to get me to my destinations without delays. It even routes me around all road blocks ... it knows exactly how to vere me around troubles. All I have to do is let that little piece of technology know where I would like to go by programming in the address.

The GPS speaks and it offers visuals. When I look up I see the map coming to me via light. As I listen I hear a voice that says go left or right. All I have to do is be a good listener ... keep my eyes open and move in obedience.

If I get hungry along the way ... I simple touch the screen that says food, and it begins to show me all my options. I choose what I want to eat that day and it allows me to make a pit stop for that purpose. If I grow tired and need a rest ... I simple check the lodging options and I am taken to a place of peaceful relaxation.

I can shop and play along the way too if I choose. It's all in the program. It is as easy as A B C. When it comes to being led by the Spirit ... that to is as easy as A B C, and yet people have complicated it so much, they have confused themselves.

It seems that people want something flashy and spectacular vs. simple and effective. This causes them to miss out. And it often keeps them reaching their place of destined life and abundance.

Life is not complicated. The Holy Spirit is no harder to flow with than walking along with a best friend headed the same direction that you are.

The Word of God expresses to us "ask and receive." Asking and receiving is part of our spiritual program. Once we settle within ourselves what we want to accomplish, where we want to go, what we desire ... then the Holy Spirit leads us that direction, aiding us in reaching our destination.

We find from Biblical text God speaks to people and gives them direction. Abraham was told to leave a place and start walking ... from those obedient steps came the next. Moses was on the back side of the desert when he got his assignment from God, letting him know which way to go with his life, and how to help others.

In these cases and other Old Testament accounts, the leading was from the Spirit, was the Spirit of God coming upon people, because Jesus the Christ had not yet came and accomplished his mission of sending the Holy Spirit to live within, nevertheless. But this was still a GPS (God Positioning System) of sorts as the Spirit of God came upon those of old.

The Prophet Isaiah spoke these words ... "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

This promised word from the Spirit of God who does not lie, says that He will direct your paths as you acknowledge him. Just as we look to (acknowledge our GPS ... Global Positioning System) for directions and follow them to reach our destination, we from within look to God for our direction, and then through obedience to those directions, get to our life destinations.

The Spirit of God told Joshua, "just as I was with Moses I will be with you ... I will not fail or forsake you." God is the same today. He has not changed. God led Moses and the masses through the wilderness safely. He kept them fed and clothed. All they had to do was obey. God had a promised land for the children to enter into ... a good land, a wealthy place. However, they did not get to enter or partake of that land because of their disrespect toward God and his messengers. They murmured and complained ... never content. These attitudes kept them from God's best for their lives.

God did not keep the children out of the promises ... they hindered themselves. But among the mass of people were two men of a different nature. They had an excellent Spirit. They operated in faith. They had a can do attitude. They were bold and courageous ... seeing possibility instead of impossibility.

When a person keys in destination to their GPS ... they get direction that would be impossible without the proper mapping system given by the machine. So it is with the Holy Spirit (our God Positioning System) ... we are enabled to get to places that would be impossible without his directions.

If we look at the amplified translations of John 14:16 we are told that the (Holy Spirit), one just like Jesus ... is our comforter ... standby ... intercessor ... advocate ... counselor ... strengthener ... and helper. Knowing this offers great confidence for the journey, just as a natural GPS offers us a sense of security on the highway.

When I get in my car and tune in my GPS to the place I want to go ... I am comforted by knowing it will be leading me down the right paths. I am confident in heading out, because I trust that the mapping system is accurate and I will reach my destination. I am also relaxed enough I can enjoy the journey, knowing that when I need food or rest stops ... I can easily access them and them while I continue on course, even stop for recreation as time allows.

• We should trust the Holy Ghost ... who knows all things.
• We should be fully confident with the Spirit within as he leads.
• We should be able to enjoy our life journey without fear of not reaching our destination.
• We should know that we have a standby at hand to help us when we need him.
• We should be able to rest when we tire without a sense of veering off course and stay completely nourished along the way.

Present Your Body

Presenting Your Body

*Romans 12:1
*I Cor. 9:27

— The inward man must become the dominant one.

*We must place our body in submission to our spirit.

We are not to die to oneself. That is a misquote and misconception of these scripture text. We are to live. Jesus came to die (sacrificially) for us. He came to give us life, not death ... even life in abundance.

Romans 6:16 ... Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?


We are to simple learn to live a self controlled life. A life that is self controlled, keeps the flesh nature in subjection to Spirit truths and realities. Let it be known that a self controlled life is not a boring, dead life without joy or pleasures as some would make it out to be. Self control is refusing to be manipulated and abused. Being self-controlled is a safe zone. A life zone. A zone that opens up health, happiness, peace, prosperity and many blessings.

We are to keep the flesh nature ... [the old man that desires to sin and carry weights], to surrender to the Holy Spirit nature that now lives in the born again believer.

Sins and weights are trouble. The end of Sin is death ... not life. Weights are burdens that keep you from living carefree.

*They keep you from living free.
*They weigh you down.
*They open you up to physical illnesses.
*They leave your mind fogged to Spirit truths.
*They rob you for joy and good relations.

But to offer one's self as a living sacrifice is to keep the natural man (body and soul) in subjection to the Spirit, which will result in life and abundance.

As we become more and more Spirit Conscious and Spirit led, we begin to live in the overflow life. The realm of impossibilities becoming possibilities. ~ Matthew 19:26 ~ Mark 9:23

People often retire from effort. Instead of keeping their bodies subjected to their Spirit ... they give in to sin or succumb to weights believing it to be easier. But it is only deception. As the sin and weight bring their disappointments, pains and disasters, as well as keeping you from a good life.

We are amazing people if we would open our eyes to see it, and our understandings to know it. The body which God has given us to present back unto Him to is a very amazing entity ... fearfully (awesomely) and wonderfully made. The poetential of the body has not yet been known or captured in the imagination. We have abilities ... great potentials when the body is presented to the Lord and kept in subjection to the Spirit.

Recall the 4 minute mile by Roger Banister? That was an impossiblity made possible. By presenting his body and making it subject to the Spirit within.

Roger Bannister had a dream. His imagination soared. He ran his race! He did the impossible with men (so to speak). But then ... years later ... because of his largness of Spirit to believe and buffet his flesh ... another rose up behind him ... a successor ... Andrija Otenhajmer ran the mile at 3:48.4. Amazing the potential of a body presented and kept in subjection.

Another amazing feat is of a man who has tapped in to the ability to maintain his own body heat in such a degree that he has ran a 1/2 manrathon in only training shorts (yes, even barefoot) in the snow of and ice of the Laplands. He did this succesfully ... breaking a world record. He also completed the course and did not lose one single toe ... as he was expected by the nay sayers to lose them all.

A man can ... if a mans spirit is large enough and his body small enough. I love the text of John the Baptist when he says ... "I must decrease that he (Spirit of God) might increase." He refused to allow his body room for jealousy or strife. He kept his body under.

"Obey God and stay little in your own eyes" .... this was the advice given to the late great Oral Roberts by his mother. Good advice. As Pride leads man to a great fall, pride that comes when a body is not presented as a living sacrafice.

When we give our bodys to God to obey him ... our lives become very large. We become a blessing to others as well as walking in the greatest of blessings. Someone might say ... "Well, what good did it do for Roger Bannister to break a track record, or a man to run a marathon in the snow and ice. But I say to such judgemental murmurers ... these men accomplished much.

First of all they fulfilled their dream ... many looked on and smiling in amazment. Writers have written, broadcasters have broadcast, movies made, stories told ... dreamers dream. These two man among many others ... have became inspirational to men's dreams and seemingly impossible endeavors. Judge not my friends ... Judge not, simply offer yourselves a living sacrafice unto the Spirit of the Lord; Obey, God and stay small in your own eyes ... and move over into Gods designed plan for YOUR life!