Character: (1) The combination of emotional, intellectual and moral qualities that distinguishes an individual. (2) A distinctive element (3) Moral and ethical strength.
This week I would like to address one of most important component of a man or person. That component is character, why character? What is so important about character? Let’s explore the meaning of character in detail. Character is the disposition, which is a person’s customary manner of emotional response. (Frame of mind). One operates from their mental capacity, which is linked to their emotions (i.e. anger, compassion, jealousy, envy, strife and lust). Most never reach any higher than their emotional level. The next level is intellectual or mental ability. As long as one is bound by ignorance, which is a spirit, there is no chance for growth, mentally or spiritually.
Satan keeps one in a state of ignorance, which is a state of hopelessness. The ability to achieve reasonable intelligence seems out of reach for many. To further understand intelligence, let’s define its meaning: it is the faculty of thinking, reasoning, acquiring and applying knowledge. This leads us to the next component which is morals. Moral is the ability to recognize and apply the principles of right or good conduct.
All of the above mentioned components are missing in a large portion of society, through no fault of their own. A person is the product of their environment. We learn from what we see and hear, starting in our formative years.These years 1-5 form how we see ourselves and our behavior toward our self and others. Most of us are victims of generational curses, sin passed down through the generations. Who shall declare this generation? Acts 8:33
How can a man see freedom, if he does not recognize it? Even if he sees it he does not reach for it, he has been in bondage so long; he believes that is his normal plight in life. He has lost all hope. How can he regain lost hope? Ironic as it may seem , it is regained through tribulation, which produces perseverance and perseverance produces character and character produces hope. Rom. 5:2-5 How do we regain this hope? Through massagers Of God, that is sent into this world to let us know that God loves us.
In the Old Testament it was the prophets that gave the people hope. This was done up to John the Baptist. He came to bare witness to the greatest hope , The Kingdom Of God. That hope is through Jesus Christ: through whom also we have access by faith into this Grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the Glory of God. Rom. 5:2
He established this hope by sacrificing himself for our sins. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Rom. 5:6 and 5:8. Then we can be born-again and receive his Holy Spirit, thereby developing character. So let us attain to this Hope that there is more than this world’s sinful ways, that death and the grave is not the end. He did this by His resurrection, thereby establishing Hope that through Christ Jesus, we too will be resurrected in the last day, Amen and Hallelujah!!!!
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Phil.2:5
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Are You Living Life Or Is Life Living You?
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10
Greetings in the precious name of Jesus!
What kind of life are you living? Is it one of joy or one of pain, torment, and sorrow? All the things I thought would bring me joy, only brought me pain. Why? I constantly asked myself, had I done something wrong for life to be so unfair? Even as a child I had to endure so many hardships, from family and outsiders. What had I done so wrong that caused me to endure so much pain and heartache? I’m sure that many of you can relate to what I’m saying. I did not understand at the time why others seemed to have things that I had to do without; why they seemed loved and I felt so unloved.
Was I born to be picked out to be picked on? It can really seem that way, but that is far from the truth. Mind you, when you are going through the only thing you see or feel is what you are experiencing. The loneliness and rejection seem insurmountable. I didn’t know that these things were happening to me for a reason. What is the reason you ask? Well, it takes a long time for some of us to come to the truth. Let me try and explain: One’s life can seem so bleak and desolate, especially when no one seems to care. We first must understand the process of life. We are born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.Ps.51:5
I did not understand that God loved me and the world hated me without a cause. It was not something I had done: it was who I was. As it is with all of God’s children, You are special and set apart from the world. Satan does not want you to know who you are, so he persecutes you to try and make you like the world. As the scriptures said in Matt. 11:12 Satan takes the Kingdom of Heaven by force (The children of God). When you do not know who you are, you start to try and man please just to be accepted. This too does not work, because you only end up being used and abused. Eventually, you become mean and hardhearted, unable to love.
This is when you are not living life, life is living you. Every thought and feeling is the opposite of what it is suppose to be,Rom.7:15.You go through to get through. What does that mean? I (self) must die, not physically but spiritually, which means you must be born-again, out of the flesh into the spirit. I wouldn’t want anyone thinking they had to die or kill themselves. In order to inherit the kingdom of God; you must be born-again. John 3:3-6
Now, the abundant life that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10. Some may say I’m already living an abundant life. I have a good job, family, friends, and money. Are you really living an abundant life? If you are not born-again, I tell you no. Why? Without the love of God these things mean nothing. These are the cares of this world and they don’t bring happiness. They are only temporary; we can lose any or all of these things at any time. What happens when everything you possess and your loved ones are gone? What do you have then? Living for these things is only living for the flesh, you cannot take it with you. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. Rom.8:5-6 Then you can experience the abundant life Jesus talked about.
To sum it up,you reach the end of “I“(self) which lives under the law and is in bondage and become born-again, free from sin and death. Rom.8:2 By accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,you become a new creature. (A son of God) Amen.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the Sons of God. Rom. 8:13-14
Greetings in the precious name of Jesus!
What kind of life are you living? Is it one of joy or one of pain, torment, and sorrow? All the things I thought would bring me joy, only brought me pain. Why? I constantly asked myself, had I done something wrong for life to be so unfair? Even as a child I had to endure so many hardships, from family and outsiders. What had I done so wrong that caused me to endure so much pain and heartache? I’m sure that many of you can relate to what I’m saying. I did not understand at the time why others seemed to have things that I had to do without; why they seemed loved and I felt so unloved.
Was I born to be picked out to be picked on? It can really seem that way, but that is far from the truth. Mind you, when you are going through the only thing you see or feel is what you are experiencing. The loneliness and rejection seem insurmountable. I didn’t know that these things were happening to me for a reason. What is the reason you ask? Well, it takes a long time for some of us to come to the truth. Let me try and explain: One’s life can seem so bleak and desolate, especially when no one seems to care. We first must understand the process of life. We are born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.Ps.51:5
I did not understand that God loved me and the world hated me without a cause. It was not something I had done: it was who I was. As it is with all of God’s children, You are special and set apart from the world. Satan does not want you to know who you are, so he persecutes you to try and make you like the world. As the scriptures said in Matt. 11:12 Satan takes the Kingdom of Heaven by force (The children of God). When you do not know who you are, you start to try and man please just to be accepted. This too does not work, because you only end up being used and abused. Eventually, you become mean and hardhearted, unable to love.
This is when you are not living life, life is living you. Every thought and feeling is the opposite of what it is suppose to be,Rom.7:15.You go through to get through. What does that mean? I (self) must die, not physically but spiritually, which means you must be born-again, out of the flesh into the spirit. I wouldn’t want anyone thinking they had to die or kill themselves. In order to inherit the kingdom of God; you must be born-again. John 3:3-6
Now, the abundant life that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10. Some may say I’m already living an abundant life. I have a good job, family, friends, and money. Are you really living an abundant life? If you are not born-again, I tell you no. Why? Without the love of God these things mean nothing. These are the cares of this world and they don’t bring happiness. They are only temporary; we can lose any or all of these things at any time. What happens when everything you possess and your loved ones are gone? What do you have then? Living for these things is only living for the flesh, you cannot take it with you. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. Rom.8:5-6 Then you can experience the abundant life Jesus talked about.
To sum it up,you reach the end of “I“(self) which lives under the law and is in bondage and become born-again, free from sin and death. Rom.8:2 By accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,you become a new creature. (A son of God) Amen.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the Sons of God. Rom. 8:13-14
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