We must resist the pull of the world at all cost. It is very tempting to cave into fleshly desires of all kinds, but we must be very careful and resist those temptations. We must continue in the love of Jesus Christ and keep our hearts and minds focused on Him.
There will be times when we fail and fall head first into sin. We must confess our sin to the Lord (I John 1:9) and repent of that sin and get up and keep following Jesus. We believers in Jesus Christ must be awake to the dangers all around us. We are indeed hard pressed on every side. Our enemy, the devil, lurks around like a hungry lion trying to see whom he can devour next.
We must stand firm upon God's world and in the love of Jesus Christ. We must resist the devil so that he will flee from us. The Lord will help us through any difficult situation that we encounter, but we need to be trusting in Him. We can't do the Christian life on our own at all and that can be hard for many believers to come to terms with. It is the Holy Spirit that dwells within everyone who is trusting in Jesus Christ that is making more like Jesus each and everyday.
We may not see that results ourselves, but is we are living for Jesus other people will notice that their is something different about us in a good way. We believers need to be careful also about becoming too worldly and compromising our faith in Jesus Christ. It is all to easy to drift off course and not even realize it.
It is important to read the Bible and study it. We must keep on praying fellowshipping with the Lord everyday. Jesus loves us and He wants to have a close relationship with His children that is hard to do if we never talk to Him or worship Him from our very hearts.
I am reminded of the Ephesian Church in the book of Revelation 2:1-7 which says,
"1 “To the angelaof the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God".
The Ephesian Church had some good things going for it. They were busy and working hard at doing things. They didn't like wicked things that people were doing around them and they exposed false teachers.
The Lord saw all that they were doing, ,but He had something against them. In all of their busyness they had neglected their first love. Their love for Jesus had grown cold if it had been there at all. There love for others suffered as well.
We must be careful that we never let our love for Jesus Christ fade that we start growing cold and becoming like the world around us. We need to stand firm in the love of Jesus Christ and love others as He loves us.
The Church is in danger of falling asleep (if it hasn't already done so) and losing it's effective witness in the world. We must awake out of our sleep and love the Lord Jesus Christ and live for Him. Let us take up our cross whole denying ourselves and follow Jesus everyday.
The Lord Jesus Christ loves you. Are you showing love for Him or for the world around you?
Let us continue to walk in the Spirit and show the love we have for Jesus to those around us.
Lord,
Thank You for Your love and mercy.
We praise Your name.
Come Soon O Lord.
Draw people to You for salvation.
In Jesus name we pray,
Amen.
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