Are You Going My Way?

Remember the old 1944 movie "Going My Way"? With Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald and Rise Stevens? Crosby got an oscar for "best actor" from this movie that year. Look at that gorgeous dress Rise is wearing!



In Jeremiah 6:16 we're instructed:
Thus saith the LORD, Stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls.



To the tune of "FOLLOWING THE LEADER, THE LEADER, THE LEADER, FOLLOWING THE LEADER WHEREVER HE MAY GO."



We've got to TRACK DOWN God's plans and His paths for our lives.

If we're not hearing God, that's troublesome grounds to be on.
If we're ignoring the voice of God, THAT will be troublesome to us.
If we're busying ourselves with taking care of everyone else around us and wanting to pencil God in on our day....it smacks of "Forget You God, I'm too busy."

"Oh no, I've already got plans!" Quit making plans and then asking God to bless them. He wants us to seek out His plans and paths for our lives and THAT'S what He can BLESS.

Matthew 24:12 tells us:
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

I WANT TO HEAR GOD
AND KNOW WHAT GOD WANTS ME TO DO

I've had enough failure in my life, haven't you? We can get into darkness by disobeying the Word of God. God's looking for SOMEONE to stand in the gap and PRAY and INTERCEDE.

We need to be FILLED with the Holy Ghost and the FIRE OF GOD in all of our lives, and the Word of God is the logs on our fire. It's going to take the Word of God to save us, to heal us, to deliver and keep us and to get us out of here.

Proverbs 14:12 tells us:
There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Proverbs 16:25 says:
There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Romans 6:21 warns us:
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

We need to stay in His WAY, the paths of His choosing, the old paths, the good WAY. We must hear from Him and FOLLOW His lead.

Psalm 50:23
Whoever offers praise glorifies Me and to him who orders his conduct aright, I will show the salvation of God.



Father, HELP US to be hungry and thirsty after You. Help us to seek You with our whole hearts, and not be a disappointment to ourselves and place ourselves on dangerous grounds vulnerable to our enemy. You said for us that know to do good and does it not, it's sin. Circumcise our ears, HELP us to HEAR YOU, open our eyes, Help us to quickly obey what your instructions are to us, FOLLOW YOU, and not give a place to our enemy. FILL US with Your Spirit and with Your FIRE, to burn out everything that does not belong with us. Thank You for your tender mercies towards us all. Thank You for making every provision we need to live this life in total VICTORY. You have brought such strength to all of us, Lord, HELP US to be led by Your Spirit and by Your peace, in Jesus' Name.

Saving of the "soul."

About 30 years ago I read one of Mr. Kenneth E. Hagin's books entitled "You Can Be Led By The Spirit of God"

It really did bring a lot of insight into my life and what I'm sharing today is an excerpt from it.

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The Saving of the Soul

James 1:21
...receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save our souls.

The spirit of man is the part of man that is born again. It is the part of man that received eternal life., which is the nature and life of God. It is the spirit of man that becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. The soul is not the innermost being at all. It is not the soul that is born again. The saving of the soul is a process.

James 1:21 used to bother me when I was a denominational preacher before I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I didn't know what I know now. I used spirit as the soul, and interchangeably - referring to the spirit as the soul, and the soul as the spirit. I didn't divide them as the Bible does. But I did have enough sense to leave this verse alone until I grew so that I could understand what it is saying.

The Epistle of James was not written to sinners. James did not write a letter to the world; he wrote this letter to the Church. We know that because of James 5 where he says, "is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church..." (vs 14). In other words, if there is any sick among the Church, let him call for the elders of the Church. Also referring back now to the first chapter of James, let's pick up with verse 8:
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

James is talking to born-again believers. Of the Father's own will, he writes, we were begotten, or born again by the Word of Truth. He calls them "my beloved brethren." so they were in Christ. Yet he encourages these born-again Spirit-filled people to receive the engrafted Word with meekness, "...which is able to save your soul." Evidently, their souls were not saved.

You see, a man's spirit, the innermost man, the real man, receives eternal life and is born again. But his intellect and emotions -- which comprise his soul -- still have to be dealt with. They are not born again. They are to be renewed.

Paul speaks about the renewing of the mind, writing to the saints at Rome.

Romans 12:2
2. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The Psalmist David spoke of restoring of the soul:

Psalm 23:3
3. He restoreth my soul....

The Hebrew word translated restore in the Old Testament, and the Greek word translated renew in the New Testament mean about the same thing. The should -- the mind -- is to be renewed or restored.

My mother left me a chair which she inherited from her mother. I don't know exactly how old that chair is, but it is quite old. I can remember when my grandmother had it restored. They put new upholstery on it. They revarnished it. It was still the same chair; it was just restored. It was renewed.

In the Word of God it is never written that God restores our spirits. Our spirits -new creatures in Christ Jesus. Our souls, however, must be renewed or restored.

How? We have these scriptures relative to the soul: receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls...be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God....He restoreth my soul (James 1:21; Romans 12:2; Psalm 23:3)

Man's soul is saved, or restored, when his mind becomes renewed with the Word of God. It is the Word of God that saves our souls, that renews our minds, that restores our souls.

When our minds become renewed with the Word of God, then we think in line with what God's Word says. We are able to know and prove the permissive and the perfect will of God -- because the Word of God is the will of God once we get our souls saved.

The greatest need in the Church today is to have minds renewed with the Word of God.

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Father, I ask You to HELP US to renew our minds/souls to your Word. Thank You for HELPING US to put your Word first place in our lives and to make it the final authority OF our lives. It helps us to see with Your eyes, believe what You say, and speak and agree with You. In Jesus' Name.

Feelings, Reason and Conscience.

Feelings are the voice of the body.
Reason is the voice of the soul (mind, intellect, seat of our emotions)
Conscience is the voice of our spirit.

In John 10:1-6 we're told that WE hear God's voice, and that he calls his own sheep by name and lead them.

John 10:27 tells us:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me

We, as Believers, have already been told that we KNOW His voice. All we have to do now is to become intimately familiar with it. We do that by spending time in His Word and time sitting before Him listening to our "middle" for what He is saying to us.

I've seen the Body of Christ RESPOND to the Lord at any given time and in fellowship, but she needs to be LED BY HIM - deliberately and on purpose, follow His direction.

Father, I ask YOU to HELP US to know the difference between the voice of our mind, the voice of our body and the voice of our spirit...where YOU abide, and to be LED BY YOU, in Jesus' Name.

God's Living Bread

Deuteronomy 8:3
...man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

Matthew 4:4 also tells us:
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

James 1:22
But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Father I ask You to HELP US to put Your Word, Your Living Bread, in our mouths. Help us to be led as little children by Your Spirit and by Your Word. Help us to submit and DO what your Word says, and when we do we'll not be deceiving ourselves. Thank You for bringing to us Your answers for our lives and helping us to place them where they work for us, in our mouths and on our lips, in Jesus' Name.

Do Not FORGET!!!

There's a place in the Word that tells us:

Deuteronomy 8:10-14
10 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
11 "Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12 lest--when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them;
13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;
14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage

Father, Your Blessings are wonderful for us all...but God HELP US not to FORGET YOU - with a thankful, humble heart....while enjoying what You've brought to us by Your hand. We WILL bless YOU, and honor You all the days of our lives, in the Name of Jesus.