EPHESIANS 4:26 Get Angry.

Ephesians 4:26 

" Be angry, and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath." 

APPLICATION: God knows that I am going to get up-set and angry, and thats okay. God understands. But it's part of our walk with to groom and train ourselves to not act out in our angry. When I am upset wit someone I need to go to that person ( after I have offered it to the Lord) and shout things out. I find myself doing this more and more with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am so grateful for that!Because even thought this is an uncomfortable and I'm unskilled in this, when I do this I become closer in fellowship and free! There is freedom in not letting angry drag on! I don't want to be in the habit of living in angry. I want to have no angry in my being.      

EPHESIANS 4:25 Trust a Lier to Lie.

Ephesians 4:25 

"Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor." for we are members of one another." NKJV

Most of us as kids are taught to not lie, cheat or steal. In my house the most stressed lesson was not to lie. My dad would always tell me " you can always trust a thief to steal, and a cheater to cheat.. but you can never ever trust what a lier. Only to always trust that ever word out of their mouth is untrue."

Lying is a powerful, evil and tricky way of life. When we lie we hide who we are as well as trick others to see or not see situations as they truly are. Usually when we lie we have to somewhere along the line have to make up another lie to follow-up with the one we told before. When we live in a state of a lie we are not truly living. And I think the person that lying hurts the most is those who tell it. Because we can also find ourselves believing the very lies we told to begin with! 

APPLICATION: Telling the truth sets me free. Then I live in a lie I can not live a normal life( the one God has for me.). Telling the truth is always the best policy. Also something thats also important to remember is that it's never too late to tell the truth.

Colossians 3:9 " Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds." 

EPHESIANS 4:24 A Fresh Start.

Ephesians 4:24

" And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, true righteousness and holiness." 

When I read this, the word that is highlighted most in my heart is "New", so I looked in the back of my bible to my concordance and looked up the word "New" and the Lord took me to Lamentations 3:23-24 

Lam 3:23-24 " they are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion." says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!".... I am new every morning, when I read this I see that the Lord gives me a chance to try again, learn form yesterday's sins and short comings and go deeper with Him. God does not want me to be held back by the mistake I made in the past. I don't have to lurk within and in the old girl or now women I was before. He doesn't want me to feel guilty about my past and not except the grace and mercy He gives me. For it was there since the day on the cross, the day that the pure blood of Jesus was shed for my name sake... my soul. Why did He do this you may ask? So that I can have a relationship with HIM! So that I can grow close to Him and have the hole in my heart filled! So that I can teach other people how to fill that hole and share the good news." He has risen" We are saved! (For reference see  Matthew 28: 7-10.). 

Something else that I have learned today through this verse and my classes just today was that there is a huge difference between conviction and guilty. Guilt is a tool of the enemy (or satan). He uses this to make us feel bad about something form our past to separate us from of beloved Father ( AKA God).Guilt is how you feel toward a situation, that  there's really nothing you can do about except feel bad about. For example; the death of a family member or loved one, sexual impurity of the past before you knew God's will for marriage, other things you did in your past before you knew the love of the Lord and His will for you life, and others I can't quite think of at the moment. Conviction is something different. Conviction is something the Lord lays on your heart that can be fixed, achieved or changed. An example of a conviction would be; God convicting yo to send more time in His word each day, praying for purity in your relationships with your boyfriend or girlfriend, tithing to your home church more or more often, making prayer a daily occurrence in your life, laying down a bad habit or relationship, or in my case taking my first year out of high school and giving it to the Lord to learn His word and serve His people down in Costa Rica... It is vital to understand as a christian the difference between conviction and guilty. Feeling guilty about something you can't change for the better is useless and letting it get in the way of you and the Lord is sin. Don't take part in this tool of the enemy (santa), but if this does happen to you which I am sure it will, pray and ask the Lord to show you how to fix the situation and if He doesn't then ask Him to take it away form your mind.

APPLICATION: To be aware of the things in my life which place a wage between the Lord and I, and to hate those things and pray that they leave me as fast as they entered my brain. Also that those conviction the God puts on my heart to improve my relationship with Him, I do and understand that no matter how odd, scary or painful those convictions look that I will have the piece of mind that they are for the bettering or my loving story with Jesus. 

EPHESIANS 4:23 Happy New Years.

Ephesians 4:23 

" and " be renewed in the spirit of your mind." - NKJV 

"It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you." (MSG)

New Years Resolutions...hummm New Years Resolutions... Every year people make them, "I want to lose weight, I want to walk every morning, stop smoking, stop drinking, start going to church, spend less money, not get a speeding ticket," the list goes on and on. Every year at whatever New Year's Party I end up at I hear these very commitments, and every year I (more times then not) I see that every person that vowed to lose 10 lbs, not walking every morning, skipping the gym, and eating whatever they feel like. Now I am not saying that they are liars or that they didn't really sincerely want to lose that extra somethin somthin, but what I am saying is that they didn't really set themselves up for success. In other words,they relayed on their own strength to over come and herd-dal in their life.

In comparison to God, the mind of man is very weak. We are prone to all sins and lead astray form the small infraction when we relay in our own strength to overcome any from of obstacle when we are left to our own devices. In order to have success over my sins and the mountains in my life I need to call upon the Lord. Call upon Him, tell Him I can't do it in my own strength. Ask Him to walk with me and guide me in the task at hand. 

Isaiah 58:11" The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen you bones; You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."

When I call upon Him He will bless me. I have learned that my old way produces failure. But now I have found a new way and call upon Him in all I do. When there are things is my life that are hard and seem like a New Year's Resolutions, good intentions but weak in might, I will call upon the LORD. I will do this in all situations, when I am having an impure thought for a person or situation, when I am in the checkout line calculating the cost of my items in the cart and thinking"Do I really need everything I put in my cart?", when I  have unclean feeling toward a situation or person asking God for the right words or proper steps to take next. 

EPHESIANS 4:22 The Blame Game.

Ephesians 4: 22 

"That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." NKJV 

Imagine an old, grayed, sight impaired, wrinkly, hunched- backed, frail man. He is sitting on his run-down porch in a rocking chair with the dirtiest of all looks on his face. Day after day he resides on the front step, rocking back and fourth in his chair. Everyday people pass by his house, smiling and waving at the old man and the old man just increases his scornful stair and the people quicken their pace and pass by. The old has seen and had horrible things happen in his life so he thinks " The world hates me and I hate the world!" " If the world hadn't been so wicked I wouldn't be wicked back.". One day he sees a man, close to the same age as he, but he is different.... This man is happy, this man is smiling, he is up-right and wide-eyed. The man on the porch see that other man and wonders " what does he have that I don't have?".So after a week of seeing as he passes by this house, the old mean man stops the other." You haven't you seen pain and sin in your life? " Why don't you have hate for the Lord?" My walking man stops and tells the man " I have seen much pain, but I have seen more love." "I have forgiving the worlds old conduct and walked on a new path."...... and he smiles and walks on.... The grayed and hunched man is stunned.... "forgive the world and it's former conduct?" 

APPLICATION: I am saved, I am always reborn. Now that I am a new creation I need to walk away form my sin and OLD CONDUCT and walk as a new happy upright man. I will do this by every hatful thought or painful memory form my past, I will obedient offer it at the feet of the Lord. I will be a new man, still old and wise in the ways off the world, but not dwelling in that and becoming a victim of my past. I need to take ownership of it and then give it to the Lord. Don't be that old man.... don't be a victim friends... be the new man, free and a new creation!  

ROMANS 12:9 The Narrow Path.

Romans 12:9

"Let love be without hypocrisy Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good." 

APPLICATION: I pray that God will break my heart for what breaks His, truly. But also that does not make me scared to face evil. That i learn how to handle difficult situations with a God-like mind set. God knows what's best for me, it gets hard sometimes, but God is with me, not against me. 

Don Miller writes in his book Blue Like Jazz " normally the things we want the most in this world are the things that kill us." I believe this to be very true. It isn't human nature to seek the things that the Lord offers us, the ten commandments, and for me the still small voice or calling He has for my life. We aren't born a christian,saved and heaven bound, we must at some point in our lives answer the call God has for our lives and live accordingly to that. 

Because i know this,it makes my convictions very clear. Love the way God loves me, given freely, loving all, deeply, sincerely and at all times. Cling to what is good, the truth of His words and to hate those things which are evil and that can trick me into a "Luke-

Warm" christian walk or not one at all. For the things of this world, the things that my flesh craves the most, security, merit, popularity, pride, money, that new pair of Nikes. These things I can get instead of the fruits of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-26) selling-out for the things that make me died inside...The things that kill me. 

MY APPLICATION:

Matthew 7:13-14 

" Enter by the narrow gate;for wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the path which leads to LIFE, and ONLY FEW FIND IT."

Now that i have found that small narrow path, that few are on, I am want to walk in search of the gate that is hard to find. I consistently and feverishly pray that I do not venture off the small path. And lead other to the small path, and love them in hopes that they too don't depart from it. 

MY COMMISSION:

Psalm 119:11

" Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You."

AND 

Proverbs 22:6

" Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart for it." 

ROMANS 12:13 Love.

Romans 12: 13 

" Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.: NKJV 

Theme: Sharing is caring, the saints are us, you and me, the ones that know and love the Lord. In order to be effective disciple of the Lord we have to be all of the fruits of the Spirit. See Galatians 5: 22-26. 

When we display affections for each other and specially those who do not know that Lord, they will know us for the love we have for one another. When people that are suffering, sad and alone in this world, they will look at the saints AKA: you and me and wonder " why are they do happy? How do I get that?" They will ask and we will tell them one word: JESUS. We have joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It's important to try our very best to enact all these fruits the Spirit gives us in our; daily walks on our own, in  our  family and friend relationships, as well as our marriages and boyfriend/ girlfriends relationships.