Be Moved

"The beings could move in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved...the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels, so wherever the spirit went, the wheels and the living beings also went." Ezekiel 1:17, 20

The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision from God and in this vision he saw four living beings.  They each had 2 sets of wheels that would move in the four directions.  They were moved by the spirit so that their gaze was always in front of them.  

Now let's dive in...

The movement that these four creatures had can be paralleled to our lives.  The four beings were moved by the Spirit.  They never moved by themselves; therefore, they never took their gaze from what was in front of them.  In the same way, if we live by the Holy Spirit and let this Spirit take over our lives, then our focus will always be on God.  We would never lose focus on God and His eternal plan, because we would let His Spirit move us wherever we went.  We typically move ourselves though.  We like to live our own lives and go our own way.  When we do this, we take our gaze off of God.  We turn to the left or the right to see where we are going and in doing so, we lose sight of God.   We quiet the Holy Spirit within us until we can no longer hear the directions He is giving us.  We have absolutely no reason to not trust in God and absolutely no reason to not trust the Holy Spirit that He has given us.  The Holy Spirit within us is our compass in this life and a direct line to God Himself.  Without the Spirit of the Lord, we are lost and lonely.  Before you accepted Christ, you were lost and lonely.  Now that you have God dwelling within you, embrace it.  Trust it.  Let the Spirit move and guide you in every area of your life.  When you do this, your focus will turn back to God.  Things will become clearer and when you take things out of your hands, things might become easier. The Spirit is leading you into Truth.  The Spirit is leading you into the will of God.  They Spirit is leading you into eternity.

Do you live a Spirit filled life? Or do you make your own way in this life?  Ask the God of all creation and the God who deeply cares for you to restore your focus.  Ask Him to help you live by the Holy Spirit so that you can focus on Him.  He is more than willing to help His children turn back to Him.  Ask these things with sincerity of heart and watch and wait for God to transform your life.  Keeping your gaze forward on God rather than turning from side to side is a guaranteed way to keep Moving Forward...

"But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative - that is, the Holy Spirit - he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you."  John 14:26

Kelsey J.

Don't Get Burned

"Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire? Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?" Proverbs 6:27-28

These verses are talking about sexual immorality and specifically, adultery.  I think that these verses can be applied to other areas of our lives as well. We are married to God.  When we give away our love to other things such as money, our sport, or another relationship, we are cheating on God.  The flame and the hot coals in this passage refers to sin and your clothes catching on fire, while your feet blistering refers to the consequences of that sin.

It is impossible to walk on hot coals and not blister your feet.  In the same way, we can not carry on with sin in our lives and not expect that there will be consequences.  God has freely given us grace but that is not an invitation to continue in our sin.  If we sin, we will get burned.  "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive. (1 Corinthians 10:23)  Think of it this way, when we were kids our parents told us not to touch the hot stove.  Even though we were told not to, we still wanted to test our limits and see what was permissible.  We went against our parents instructions, touched the stove, and got burned.  Once we did this, however, we learned our lesson and never did it again.  We realized that we could do it, but it wasn't beneficial to us.  Our heavenly Father instructs us through His Word not to touch the stove (sin) so that we won't get burned.  Through our human nature though, we feel the need to test our limits before we can fully trust and obey Him.  So we sin, and we get burned.  

 What has burned you?  Don't do it again. Grace is free but it is not a ticket to keep sinning.  Trust your heavenly Father's instruction.  You can't place fire on your clothes and not expect to get burned.  When you stop walking on hot coals, you will find that it becomes easier to keep Moving Forward...

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" Romans 6:1-2