2025-11-28
Good morning, Dear Ones,
The Holy Spirit has given me another hinderance to mercy and forgiveness, which is refusal to submit to God. He has convinced me that God has a plan for us, and that He allows some trouble to come our way to teach us His will and His blessings available to us. JER 29: 11-13, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and you will find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Who could ask for more than this? However, many people don’t realize the truth in this passage and God’s heart-attitude. That is when time, precious time, is wasted with sinful behavior and giving in to the flesh. So, what should our response be in this situation?
It would be easy to say that as a believer in Christ, I have all I need. But the truth is that real Christian life involves the head, heart, and the hands. For those who have the means, it also involves the wallet! The head takes the time to read and learn the Scriptures—God uses history, poetry, wisdom, etc. in the Scriptures to teach us His will. We must unpeel each layer as one would unpeel a sweet onion. The heart accepts the truth of God’s teaching and comes to believe by the receiving of the Holy Spirit. The hands serve others while serving God. He has told us to be cheerful givers [2 COR 9: 7]. That’s the ideal Christian lifestyle. But refusal to submit to God’s will stands in the way of some people.
We live in a society of consumerism. Sadly, people want things and money over doing service and obeying God. Greed is rampant and a cause of wrangling amongst people unlike anything else. If I sound cynical, it’s because I have not only seen it but at times have had greedy thoughts myself. Almost any time a person dies, there is disagreement in his family over his physical assets. Many a family has split permanently over the deceased one’s estate. The media is replete with ads encouraging this love of things—buy, buy, buy! What can we do to submit to the Holy Spirit? How can we remember, MT 6: 24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
The reason for this dichotomy is explained in GA 5: 16-17, “So I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” Just as a person considers if he wants to walk through that door marked FAITH, he is also considering if he is willing to submit to God’s wisdom, authority, and teaching in his life. Stop here and read the parable of the Good Samaritan [LK 10: 25-37]. After others had decided to avoid helping the man left on the street in bad shape, a man comes along who is willing. That kind of decision had a lot to do with the advice of the Holy Spirit. These precepts are eternal, and apply in today’s world, just as they did in the past. Consider the misery that could have been avoided in MI yesterday (Halloween) when a group of radicalized young men tried to invade a home. It was only by the grace of God that the FBI had been watching their activities and were able to find and arrest them.
What is needed to make a godly decision? The Lord tells us in JAS 4: 10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.” PR 22: 4, “Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.” PS 25: 9, “He guides the humble as what is right and teaches the His way.” Even Jesus had to learn this. HE 8: 7, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the One Who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.” Long ago, the prophet, Samuel, understood when he said to Saul, in 1 SAM 15: 22-23, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion in life is the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we visit the shelter under Your wings to plead with You to give us the will to submit to Your teaching and live the lives lead by Your Spirit. He alone is strong enough to give us Your power to overcome the evil one’s temptations. 1 JN 4: 4, “You, dear children; are from God and have overcome them, because the One Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Help us to remember that truth and to never find anything but comfort in knowing You are omniscient—aware of all we think and do. We acknowledge Your power to do good and Your plan for a rosy future for us in heavenly eternity. We will have trials but never without access to Your wisdom and aid. You are our God, and we pledge our loyalty, love, praise, and thanksgiving to You forever. In Christ’s holy/mighty name. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Holy Spirit commands me to continue writing about getting a fresh start after period of rebellion or being exposed to Christ for the first time. This time of potential transition can be a time of signal growth in spiritual maturity. It can change the way we think about ourselves and also other people, in addition to beginning to develop a vertical relationship with our Creator. God loves us so much that He provides opportunities for us to feel the warmth and wisdom of His love. We must remember that He made the most critical sacrifice of all time when He gave us Jesus, His only Son, on the cross. JN 3: 16, “For He so loved the world that He gave us His One and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Praise and thanksgiving be to Him!
Grace Be with You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2025. All Rights Reserved.
<-- Back to Archives