Is Following God Convenient?

Greetings Wakulla Citizens, thank you for allowing us to encourage you in drawing closer to our Father, Savior and Holy Spirit! The topic today is, “Is Following God Convenient?!” As our journey, my Husband and I, becomes stronger and more evident in and with God, MAN it is tough! Let’s dive in shall we? Yes, thank you:) The word “convenient” in the dictionary reads, “1) Suited or favorable to one’s comfort, purpose, or needs. 2) Easy to reach; accessible. 3) Close at hand; near.” Then “inconvenient” in the dictionary reads, “ 1) Not convenient, especially. 2) Not accessible; hard to reach. 3) Not suited to one's comfort, purpose, or needs.” The latter is how the journey seems to be a lot of the time!

As we become more aware of God and our spirit that He gave us in His Image, it is our Carnal Nature that can cause our journey to become a tough journey if we do not keep a watchful eye for the deceiver! Thanks a lot Adam and Eve!! Scripture mentions in Romans (I absolutely LOVE this book!!) 8:6-8 “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7) because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; 8) and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Scripture mentions in 1 Peter 5:8 “ Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” How you are able to know if you are in the flesh is to search your heart and mind and you’ll discover who your body is trying to be like. Our hearts can be good towards God and our carnal nature, our soul, our mind, will, and emotions will want to be self-serving, unkind. The #1 reason is not CHOOSING to spend time with God in the beginning of our day.

We are learning each and every day that when we choose to do what He requires us to do, I believe for myself the more difficult the “choice” I make, the more He is on my heart and mind. This is because I could not or would not make that particular choice had He not chosen me in the first place. Back to the point I am attempting to make, one of them anyway, is that through our obedience to His requirements will cause doors to open for us that He wants for us to pay attention to for growth in Him!!! A Scripture I am keeping close to my mouth and my heart is Proverbs 3:3 (the entire chapter 3, FULL of wisdom and blessings!) “Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.” I am now constantly in check with what my mind is saying to do, I ask myself is this how God wants me to behave and treat people? No? I do the opposite. This is now a habit for me. My carnal nature hates it and this makes me very happy once I realize God got me through!! This is where the entire chapter of Proverbs 3 and Proverbs 4 comes in!

We are currently in a series of teachings in church on “being deceived”. This past Sunday was about “doubt”, in Scripture this is considered “unbelief”. We started in Matthew 17:14-17, speaking about the Disciples not being able to heal the man’s son. Verse 16 mentions “they could not cure him”, notice in :20 mentions “ And He said to them, “ Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you. In :21 mentions that” this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” In Mark 2:19 Jesus mentions that as long as He is still physically on this earth, they are not to fast.” In Matthew 21:21 “And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it shall happen. :22 “ And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” We now know Jesus equipped His Disciples, His Disciples were definitely able to cure that man's son, they were deceived with their eyes in what they saw and with their ears in what they heard in the situation, and doubted, therefore Jesus cured the boy.

Moving the “mountain” is figurative, this “mountain” represents all obstacles that are blocking you from serving His purpose in your life! Is it convenient to speak the way the world does? For sure! Examples are EVERYWHERE! It is not convenient to speak His Spoken Word, our carnal nature is against us in doing so in every way possible! You see He requires us to seek Him out, search for Him as hidden treasures! Bible faith is in knowing the Words He has Spoken, we then speak His very same Words, no matter how our carnal nature is hating it and causing us to “feel” (soulish, our mind, will, emotions) ticked off and irritable! The more we choose to do everything His way, favor will overshadow us everywhere we go and people will notice and want in on Him!!

As I have grown to know my Father, my LORD and my Comforter, He has changed my heart and mind to His way, there is still a lot of changing to go, but I am soo different everyday! His Word does the changing because when our spirit hears His Word spoken out of our mouths our faith grows in Him doing what His Word says! Faith comes by hearing, Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” His Word hears us speak His spoken Word! His Word goes forth first then our spirit hears and Holy Spirit confirms this to our spirit and our faith grows as we act on what we spoke! James speaks beautifully on this in James 2:14-26, in :17 “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” The Word is first then the action, in Genesis 1:3 God said “ let there be light” then “light was!” This is not “mind over matter”! Or “confession is possession”!! Those are like when Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh and Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and it turned into a serpent, then Pharaoh called for his wise men and the sorcerers. They did the same thing with their magic and secret arts, they threw down their staff’s and they also turned into serpents, BUT!, then Aaron’s staff serpent ATE BOTH OF THEIR SERPENT STAFF’S!! BAM!! You see, the devil will ALWAYS try to do what the ONLY TRUE GOD can AND will do!! Then as always…FAIL!! That is in Exodus 7:8-13.

Be encouraged as you dive into His Word and begin to learn what your inheritance is in and through Him, you’ll change, you have to! You will get hungrier and hungrier for more of Him!

If you are not Born Again and want to be, confess this outloud “ Dear Jesus, I am a sinner I know. Your Word says that I can call upon Your name and be saved, Romans 10:13 says for “EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” I call on Your name now today to be saved Jesus! Take my life today and use it for Your purposes, for Your Kingdom! I confess today that by grace I am saved through faith knowing that You went to the Cross and willingly gave Your Life for my life, paid the debt I can not pay and by Your blood shed, Your death, burial and Resurrection on the 3rd day I am now saved, this is a gift from God I know! Thank You Jesus!!!

To complete your Salvation you must be water baptized, this is your burial of your dead self and your new life with power, the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 3:21-22 “ And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22) who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20) teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the ages.”