The more I have studied the Bible the more aware I have become of how important it is to God that we have an obedient spirit.   In the forth chapter of Genesis God is pleased with Abel because of his offering by giving the best.  God was displeased with Cain because he gave God what was left over.  God said to Cain “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” We must be willing to master sin that encourages us to put ourselves first and to become disobedient to God and others.  Can we do it in our own strength?  Probably we will not be able without the help of the Holy Spirit.  It was also Adam and Eve’s disobedience that caused their downfall.

We continue in Scripture and God makes very clear the importance of obedience: in Acts 13:22b – “God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’”  Almost everyone in the Bible that God blessed, we read of their willingness to do whatever God asked.  We read of Jonah and the great fish that God used to get Jonah to become obedient.   However, he finally obeyed God.  Gideon had to ask God for signs (fleeces) to confirm what God was telling him to do. Was it really God that wanted him to do what he believed was impossible.  Once the signs confirmed it was God, Gideon did exactly as God had asked.

We must realize the importance of doing God’s will.  How can we do it if we never study Scripture?  Would you want to stand before Christ on Judgment Day and be told you did not do the will of My Father?  Your reply: “I never knew what was required?”  Do you really believe that would be an acceptable answer?  We are told that our minds and attitudes need to be the same as that of Christ Jesus in order to be obedient.  (Phil. 2:5)  There was no doubt Christ was continually praying so that He could carry out Gods requests exactly as needed.

We are told in Philippians 2:6–11 “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

God hates a prideful heart.  Jesus gave up His omnipotence to come as a man to give an example as to how God wants us to live.  Christ humbled himself and was obedient to dieing on the cross.  If we are to please God, we must be careful not to want to be served by others but to be willing to serve.  We need to continually make an assessment to see if we are truly obedient to His will.

I Thessalonians 4:1–8  “As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.  For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.  It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.  For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.  Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.”

Living to please God must be every believer’s priority.  God requires each Christian to turn their lives over to Him.  We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.  We are told to become sanctified and holy.  Sanctified means to separate ourselves from the world and give ourselves obediently to God.  We are told to prepare ourselves for heaven in the way we live.  The Bible teaches us to let the Holy Spirit take our sinful, self-centered nature, our old habits and behaviors and let them be transformed to emulate the life of Christ.

We may think living a Christian life can be done by accepting the do’s and don’ts taught in the Scripture.  Christianity is about a relationship with God and our willingness to please Him.  It seems many Christians find this hard to do.  One of the strengths of my temperament is loyalty.  This is probably the reason I find it easier to live to please God than those with other temperaments.

I do not believe God is pleased when we deliberately sin.    In the Old Testament, people were punished for disobeying God and Paul says we will be in verse 6.  I believe He continues to punish and in most cases it may be deferred until after death now that we live under grace.

The positives are that we find God will bless us in many ways beyond our expectations.  We will have peace, calm and happiness even going through life’s trials.  Our faith and trust in God continues to improve.  Our personal relationship with Him gets better.  The Holy Spirit becomes more powerful in our lives.  We become more positive and gain confidence and know that we have continual guidance and help from God and the Holy Spirit.

There is a tremendous difference between being a religious person and a person having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Many who convert to Christianity believe they are required to live by a long list of do’s and don’ts, abide by 1000s of years of traditions and laws monitored by a God Who is waiting to punish us for any misstep.  Do you adhere to a religious philosophy that makes you feel that it is your job to work your way to heaven? You may realize the Jews had 613 laws that they had to obey.  Plus they had different sacrifices and festivals that were required.  Rules and laws, many believe, are because ordinary people do not understand how they should live. If that is you, you will miss the joy that a relationship with Christ and God can bring under the New Covenant of grace.

Mark 12:30 – 31 – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.”  If you are capable of doing these two things all of the other commandments will be met.  If you love others you will not take advantage of them by stealing, coveting or the others.

Some people have never felt loved or feel capable of loving.  Yet, we are commanded to love God and others.  God would never command us to do something we could not do.  Scripture tells us we must develop this love relationship with Christ.  This is only possible when we learn to love.  God knows we cannot love Him and others unless we first love ourselves.  It is amazing how many struggle with loving themselves.  They see themselves as lacking confidence, feeling unworthy or not truly being accepted by others or belonging with others.  This is why it was so necessary for Christ to die that our sins could be forgiven and our guilt erased.  Is it possible to develop a decent relationship if a person lacks any of those three factors?  Having a personal relationship with Christ will give us confidence, give us that assurance that we are worthy and assured us we will be accepted into the family of God.  There is no greater joy than knowing you have been accepted to live in eternity with God’s family.

God, knowing the frailties of man, made believers many promises, such as:  Romans 8:31 – “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”  A good relationship with God will change our personality and how we see ourselves.  He gives us His Spirit to help us do whatever God calls us to do.  He then tells us not to worry because no matter who or what problems we encounter, He will be with us and for us.

Romans 8:38 – 39 – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Scripture tells us that once we develop a personal relationship with Christ and God nothing can ever separate us from their love.  What must it be like to never have felt unconditional love asking nothing in return?

What is it that God wants from each one of us as Christians?  He is looking for and preparing a body of believers that will live with Him through eternity.  What is the number one requirement to enter that final destiny?  The answer is love through our personal relationship with Christ.  He wants our love toward Him and the same love to others.  Can you visualize living in an eternity where everyone had that kind of love for God and for others?  How do we obtain that kind of love and a relationship with Christ?  It will only come through the Holy Spirit’s help.

The Bible repeatedly says God is not interested in our works but He cares about what is in our hearts and our attitudes.  Is His love really in our hearts?  If so we have learned there can be no hate or a lack of forgiveness.  What God requires can only be obtained by allowing the Holy Spirit to change who we are.  This is why we cannot allow the Holy Spirit to be ignored or we fail in enhancing our personal relationship with Christ.  We must let the Holy Spirit become very active in our daily lives. He is our contact with Christ and God.  If we are not seeing supernatural occurrences from time to time we probably have not made the Holy Spirit our partner or developed much of a relationship.  So shouldn’t we expect the Holy Spirit to be manifest in most everything we do?  He will if we pray and ask for His help. He will not force Himself onto us.

Philippians 4:13 – “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

Start each day with prayer asking specifically for the Spirit within us to guide in everything we do throughout the day.  When we are driving to and from work we can pray, without closing our eyes that he will bring the same love God has for us so we can return that love to Him and to others.  The last thing each day, take a minute and thank the Holy Spirit for being active in our lives.  After a time we will begin to realize and recognize that God’s Spirit lives within us and is actively changing our personality and behavior.  We will then begin to realize that we as Christians have been given a unique advantage in living our lives.  We too will learn there are many blessings that God wants to give to us through the Holy Spirit within.

Do you have a spiritual ear guiding you in making correct decisions most of the time?  I have talked to some and read about others who have visions, dreams, some see signs and a few hear the voice of Jesus or the Holy Spirit.  God doesn’t tell me what is going to happen ahead of time but I have many times seen the impossible become possible supernaturally, at least I believe it so.

John 10:10 – “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”  How do I get what Christ promised: “A rich and satisfying life”?  NLT

The first thing we must understand is that God created us with a purpose.  Through His Word He promises that He will guide us throughout life to fulfill that purpose.  But we have a real problem.  We have been given a self-centered, sinful nature that wants to make decisions; we have a devil wanting to influence the choices we make and we are offered God’s Spirit to show us the path that God has prepared for us.  If we accept Christ and receive the Holy Spirit we then have one positive and two negatives that want to guide us through life, particularly in making decisions.  Our life will depend upon who we listen to: the two negatives or hone in on the positive One?  We must determine who we want to help us make decisions—the self-centered “I” or God through the Holy Spirit.

Scripture is very clear that we must live according to the example Christ set for us.  We must be obedient to God’s way.  We cannot continue living as the world lives and expect the Holy Spirit to guide us in making decisions.

It is possible that the guidance given must come from our prayers requesting direction and help.  The amount of help we may expect from the Holy Spirit will depend on how seriously we spend time in Bible study and prayer.  We must not throughout the day, continually ignore God’s Spirit if we want His help, because the two negative spirits will try to help us make every decision.  So do we make a decision and then pray that it is the correct action?  I point this out because this has been one of my problems.  Is it because of pride, the feeling I can do it on my own?  Is asking for God’s help a weakness?  Whatever it is, it comes from our self-centered nature.

Having been a high school coach, production foreman, a store manager and a buyer of equities it seems all I did was make decisions and most instantaneously.  It didn’t seem like most decisions allowed time for prayer.  If I did pray I expected an immediate response.  There are times when you have adequate time to pray and wait for an answer.  For example, choosing a spouse, buying a home or car, these decisions do not have to be made quickly.  Sometimes it may take weeks or longer for God to help you make wise decisions.  So we must be patient, keep praying and listen intently.  When there is not time we ask before making a decision: God is there some unintended consequence I should be aware of before making this decision?

There will be times when God will allow you to make the wrong decision.  There are some things we can learn only through bad experiences.  We should never ask: “God why did you allow this to happen to me?”  The correct response is: “God what did you want me to learn from this negative experience?”  Did I make the wrong decision because of the pressure I was under?  Should I have prayed more or longer?  But you said you wanted me to have a rich and satisfying life.  To get there may take learning experiences.

When bad things happen that we have no control over, such as parents losing a child in death, there may be a tendency to blame God.  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)  When we were created God knew everything that would happen in our lives and you were chosen to be the parents of the one who died at an early age.  We will only know the reason when we get to heaven.  But there will be a reason. There may even be occasions when God uses sickness or other means to draw us closer to Him.  We then have time to read our Bible and certainly we increase our prayer time.  Remember the outcome of all decisions God knew the result before we even thought about it.  Is our relationship with Him such that He is our mentor or the person we come to only when we need bailing out?

Finally, how do we know when our decisions come from God?  We sense a real joy and peace in our heart.  It feels like the right choice to make.  We have sought His help, allowed Him time to answer and believe He is in it.  I complied with what I believe God wants me to do and am willing to accept the result of that decision.

Scripture says our attitude will influence the outcome in the decisions we make.  Are you a positive or negative thinker or somewhere in between?  Do you have a problem trusting God, accepting His promises or do you hear an inner voice predicting only bad things are going to happen?  Do we concentrate on what Scripture tells us or do we listen to what Satan is saying, who wants to defeat us?

Do you wonder why you have gone through life continually having problems?  We know that a poor self-image creates a defeatist attitude and self-fulfilling prophecy can result.    Do you see yourself as a winner, a loser or just unworthy?

Life is full of hindrances.  Many of our problems may result from the temperament we were born with.  A perfectionist may not try something unless they can do it perfectly.  Often they find it difficult to make decisions because they never want to be wrong.  Other temperaments have weaknesses as well as strengths.

How important is your attitude?  Our attitude can be our most important role in determining our future.  How do we respond to any given situation, particularly a serious problem?  We have many attitudes toward many things.  We can have a favorable attitude toward blue and a negative attitude toward gray.  We also have an attitude or philosophy toward life.  You may dwell on the unpleasant things or see things through rose colored glasses.  The world is not perfect and life presents many hindrances.  You may be faced with a divorce, loss of job, a financial disaster or health problems.  Different people may handle each in various ways.  As bad as the situation may be, worry will drain one’s energy and possibly cause unhealthy conditions.

The more we study the Bible and become more spiritual and Christ-like the greater is our motivation, we are more energized, enthused and it usually raises our productivity.  We have a greater commitment to following the teachings of Christ.  We become more trusting and obedient to the commandments of God.  As our attitudes changes we learn to love rather than hate, to forgive rather than be unforgiving.  As our spiritual condition gradually changes our perspectives on life should change.  We can overcome the hindrances of being critical, jealous, greedy, prideful, unbelief, and lustful.

Stress can kill!  Negative attitudes have a tendency to produce stress.  Our attitude determines what we see in life.  What we think is who we are and what we become.  What are two very important points found in the Bible?  It is having a life filled with peace and joy.  Joy and peace produce healthy bodies.  Lack of joy and peace produce unhealthy bodies.  Having participated in sports and as a coach I found those with normal positive attitudes healed quicker than those who were more negative.  I don’t think most realize the importance of having a positive, Christ-like attitude when it comes to health issues. Christ-like attitudes do not guarantee healthy lives but it improves the possibilities.

Scripture repeatedly emphasizes God wants us to have our needs met.  In fact, He talks about true believers being prosperous and having abundance.  If you don’t expect it, chances are you will not pursue it.  You can’t be positive all of the time.  That would be disillusional.  However, Christians are told they can do all things through Christ who gives them strength.  Whatever Scripture says you can do, believe it and don’t be a doubter.

Remember, attitudes are not something you learn, they are acquired.  Who are you and how do you see yourself?  Do you feel unworthy of being successful or prosperous as too many do?  Have you been told you will never amount to anything?  Do you accept everything you hear?

Luke 6:38 – “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

A person with a positive attitude has a tendency to be a giver.  A person with a negative attitude often is a taker.  How can you be a Christian and not be positive and a giver?  Can you be Christ-like and be negative most of the time?    Only if you imagine Christ being negative and there is no indication of that.

Do negative thoughts come as a result of a lack of trust in God?  Maybe you do not understand God’s unconditional love for you.  Do you see yourself as a child of God?

Proverbs 11:25 – “The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.”  NLT

Proverbs 13:21 – “Trouble pursues the sinner, but the righteous are rewarded with good things.” NIV

Proverbs 28:25 – “The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper.” NIV

We as humans have a love that is perverted, selfish and selective.  Christ came with a gospel correcting the love that man knew.  Our love was not what God had intended for man.  It wasn’t until Christ revealed the nature of God did we understand the true meaning of love.

Sin is a type of perverted love.  How could we love God with all of our strength, mind and soul if the only love we knew is what can I expect in return?  What’s in it for me?  This is not the kind of love God wants and especially not the love He has for us.

We are told to live a holy life.  This cannot be done without love. The two are inseparable.  Living a holy life is the perfecting of love.  Christianity is our love to God and to others.

I Corinthians 13:1 – 8 “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.   Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”

There is nothing more important than unconditional love.  You can have the fruits of the Spirit and the gifts, but if you do not have love you will not have the ability to exercise God’s gifts or the Spirit’s fruits.  God’s love is directed outwardly toward others and this love is not toward ourselves.  Unless we overcome our own desires and instincts we cannot give unconditional love.  Therefore, we must develop the mind of Christ in order to consistently love God as He loves us and for us to love others.

Love is having patience with people but not necessarily with normal events of life.  Love is being kind in dealing with people.   A Christian who is unkind lacks love.  Positive responses normally come when we are kind and thoughtful toward others. Love does not envy.  Envy can mean that we want what others have badly enough to do almost anything to get it.  Envy can mean that if we can’t have it we do not want them to have it either.  Most everyone would like to be wealthy, well known and accepted.  How we accept others good fortunes is indicative of our true love.  A person with love will not boast.  We realize how unworthy we are, were it not for Christ’s death and resurrection.  Love keeps us humble and it never offends.  There is a difference between confidence and pride.  Love does not allow our egos to become inflated.  Great leaders do not think of their importance.  Love does not become rude and self-seeking.  Christians are to be tactful and polite.  Love for others allows us to control our tempers.  Anger many times results from a bruised ego.  When we become exasperated with others we must not lose our tempers.  We must not allow situations to defeat us.  Love forgives and holds no grudges.  We must never be pleased with the misfortunes of others.  Love looks for the good in people.  Christian love never hides the truth.  Truth must always win out.  Love is trusting and takes God at His word.  We must look for the good in other people.  Love always hopes.  The worst thing a Christian can have is a negative attitude.  Prior to Christ the Israelites feared God.  Fear can cause people to do irrational things.  Christ came that we may overcome fear by giving us hope.  Love is reaching out to others.  It stops indifference, isolationism and pride that hinder relationships and exclusiveness.  Love is central to a Christian’s faith and lifestyle.  Christian perfection is a perfection of love.  Christ said if everyone had unconditional love there would be no need for laws.

A number of months ago I believe I heard Dr Charles Stanley say once He could feel God’s love it changed his life.  I have prayed that I too might feel that love and that I might return it to God and others.  The answers to my prayers seem to say: You do not need a sign.  Your faith is sufficient.  You understand what unconditional love requires.  But I keep on praying!