Be Raised by God
Ephesians 2:1-6 (MSG) It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
Where do you receive your influence from? Would you say your parents raised you in a safe and loving environment, with good influences all around? To some this may sound like a dream or far-fetched. Sadly, many children are raised without good influences in their lives. They may have some wonderful teachers that are for them and encourage them, but not often are there life-long adults showing them the way to live. Many children receive their daily dose of "how to live" from television, radio and internet. With absent parents this makes proper training for children nearly impossible. Thank God that no matter where we received our upbringing, whether it was proper, improper or none at all, He can teach us His ways by the Holy Spirit! We may have allowed the world to teach us how to live but we can ask God to teach us His ways to live which will lead to a much better life. He will show us the right way to live and teach us proper behavior through the sweet conviction of the Holy Spirit.
I am so thankful that God doesn't allow me to remain that same year after year, rather He shows me attitudes and behaviors that need to change or improve and over time, we can become more and more like Christ. Our instincts will be based on what we feel in our spirit rather than what our flesh tells us. The enemy wants to get ahold of our thought life so he can control our actions. When you have a revelation of God's love and you realize that He is for you and wants to bless you, you will desire to spend time in prayer and studying His word so you can have the mind of Christ. One thing I like to encourage others to do is get into the habit of saying this phrase after everything you say: "and that's just the way I want it to be." So when you find yourself complaining, "my kids will never change," or "I will never have enough money to pay these bills," add the phrase "and that's just the way I want it to be" and see if the statement is true. If it isn't then lets rewind, renew our minds, and speak God's word over our lives and our children's lives. Even if you have to speak something in faith, something that is not currently true in the natural, allow those words to permeate over your spirit and watch how faith will build in you and your mind will be set on changing your words to God's Word!
Proverbs 18:21 (NLT) The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.
Proverbs 22:6 (AMP) Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God's wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], even when he is old he will not depart from it.
