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Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight. No man puts new clothes on over the old clothes he still wears.

2 Corinthians 4:10:  For we who live by Christ are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal bodies.”

Ephesians 4:22-23: “If you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, put off your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the flesh and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

I am ashamed to say, not before you or man, but before myself, that there was a long time where I did not feel like a new man. Unfortunately for me, more of my old self lived than a new self.  In fact, early on, I built my life – unchanged as it was – on simply knowing about Christ but not on being transformed by Him.  Thank the Lord I am a little better at being a new man today.

Perhaps there are many like I was.  It’s a common struggle for believers and nonbelievers to give up being the people they are to know someone they do not know.  It can be scary to consider.  Then I learned that new life means new life.  It is not just another day of life.  New means I am something now that I never that I was never before.

2 Corinthians 4:10 is saying to us, we don’t live for the Lord as much as we live by Him.  When we try to live for Him, it is easy to allow our old lives to try to live unchanged for Him.  But when we live by Him, the old is put to death and the new comes to life.

When by Him we learn to live, He is able to help us put off our old selves, our old ways, our old attitudes, our old desires and so forth so that we can become new.  If you don’t feel like something of the old you is dying daily, nothing of the old you is probably dying.

If nothing of the old you is dying daily, the new you cannot come to life.  The old you will trick you into believing you are new because your old person will speak of the joy of knowing of the Lord.  But these will be just words we use to tell ourselves and others we are new when inside, we are much the same as always.

Ephesians 4:22-23 is saying if what you have heard of Him lives in you, then what you have heard will be fast at work trying to help the new you come to life.  The Word of God isn’t just information we learn about God.  It is the Spirit and Power of the Lord working in us delivering up something to death so we can have more of His life.

This is the destiny of every believer. Our lives should be such that daily we give up something of our old life that those who are without Christ could never do. What the nonbeliever hangs onto, we should gladly let go. And we do this with glad hearts and with purpose knowing that in sight of men we may appear to be losers. But in sight of God, we are made winners.

Such is the life of Jesus – one of contradiction to the natural mind. We must learn to put off so we can put on.  For in weakness, He died on the cross. But in the power of God, He lives on today. And you and I are to be a part of His life, delivering to the cross daily the strongholds of our natural affinities, so that in our perceived weakness we manifest in our bodies the powerful life of Jesus Christ Himself.

Believers will openly talk of the virtue of knowing and obeying God, but we must permit the Word of God to work us to be what we say by mouth. Such is the life of Christ, and by this we will learn to allow what we know to live in who we are so that we become new each day.

If the old you is the way you know yourself, perhaps you have not allowed the Word to help you put off your old person so you can get to know the new person God wants you to be. If you will allow Him to help you to deliver yourself to death, that is all that He will need to come to life in you.

Then instead of trying to tell people about Him, He would through you, reveal Himself to others and He would tell them of Himself by Himself but through your new life. So, put off that old person who says “I want to know the Lord,” but who refuses to die.  Put on the new person who stays quiet in words but in attitude and in ways, a new person lives in humility and in power by the grace of the Lord.

Live A Delivered Life.

Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight. A heart of generosity is what moves the act of giving.

Proverbs 11:25: “A generous soul will be made rich; and he who waters will also be watered.”

Proverbs 19:17: “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed.”

When we think of the blessings of the Lord, we typically think of receiving something from Him that we cannot provide or get on our own. But Paul, in the book of Acts 20:35 tells us to remember the words of the Lord that says; “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”

And then there are times when we might say to others “have a blessed day” or “be blessed.” When we do this, I believe we are saying we want others to have a day that God fills with the wonders of His love and of His generosity no matter what is happening.

But for myself, I have wondered about this. I do want people to have days full of the blessings of the Lord. But I often feel like I should do more than just say those words. Words alone seem empty in some ways. They do not feed others if they are hungry.  They do not provide work for others if they need a job.

I believe I need to be more to others than just words.  But what does this mean? I think it means being a generous person before others in every way. God is Love and so He is very generous towards each of us. While many of us know Him for the things He does for us, fewer of us know Him for His great generosity that He has towards us. But it is His Love for us that shows up in His generosity towards us that blesses our lives the most.

The generosity of the Lord is the Love of the Lord in action. Proverbs 19:17 is saying to us to start our engagement with others with love and fill it with love in action.  The Lord will be more generous towards us when we are generous in how we are with others.

The Lord blesses the receiver with what the giver does; but He blesses the giver with more of the Love and generosity of the Lord.  This is what the Lord means when He says it is more blessed to give than it is to receive.  When we are generous towards others in every way, we bless them in ways they often need and cannot provide.

But now I know the Lord blesses the generous among us more for our generosity than He does for the things we do for others.  He is lavish in heaping upon the generous more of His great generosity.  He blesses the giver with what is important to Him that we should have.

Just like God did with King Solomon who asked God for wisdom and an understanding heart to lead God’s people.  God gave him that and He also gave to Solomon riches and glory and honor the things he did not ask for but all people wanted. It was important to God that Solomon had these things too.

If you want to be blessed beyond your imagination, learn to be lavish with your generosity beyond what others would ever imagine.  Never give to others thinking you will get something in return.  Never give to others simply from the abundance that you have.

A generous person will give from what they do not have as freely as they will give from their abundance. If others need time that you do not have, give them what time you have.  If they need shelter that you cannot provide, give them with what shelter you can.

They will be blessed a hundred times over when you do this.  But you will be blessed a thousand times more because of your generosity. When we are generous towards the poor, we lend our giving to the Lord and He uses it to bless others and to repay us with His generosity.

Remember, generosity is God’s Love in action. No matter what your circumstances may be, you always have the generosity of you that you can always give to others. I know that receiving good from the Lord makes us feel good. But being generous makes the Lord feel good about us.

We must learn it is a better feeling to have when we know just how generous the Lord is because of our generosity.

Live a Delivered Life.

Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight. Don’t be weakened by the things that shake you.

John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

2 Corinthians 4:8: “We are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but in in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed.”

Sometimes, harvesters will use a machine to gently shake an almond, cheery or some other fruit tree to cause the fruit to fall to the ground.  The machines are calibrated so that the shaking is strong enough to dislodge the fruit but not so strong that it will injure the tree.

Fruit trees have something of value that we want.  We will shake those trees because it’s the easiest way to harvest fruit. Shaking the tree may seem harmful or hurtful and we can be sure the tree doesn’t like it. But the harvesters are not harming or hurting the tree. They are helping the tree.

If the tree didn’t drop its ripe fruit, the fruit would rot right there on the tree. And in many cases, when fruit rots on the tree it impacts the amount of fruit the tree may produce next time. Fruit is meant to grow and to fall. This is what keeps the tree healthy.

In much the same way, the Lord will sometimes gently shake each of us so that we will grow and be healthy. We must produce and drop the fruit of our lives. The challenge for us is to recognize when it is the Lord who is shaking us to make us better or when it is the work of the world trying to make us fail because we see shaking as harmful to us.

John 14:7 reminds us that the troubles that come our way should not trouble us because the Lord has given us the gift of peace. Peace is not the absence of trouble. Peace is the presence of the assurance of your growth in any circumstance. When the Lord gives us peace, we are assured that no matter what shakes our lives, we will be ok because He wants us to grow and to produce more each day.

2 Corinthians 4:8 is our encouragement. It tells us that circumstances may come at us hard, but we will not be crushed. When things shake our lives, we are not thrown into despair because troubles do not make us fearful. We may be persecuted but instead of being left to ourselves, we are always brought closer to the Lord. We know the Lord will never forsake or leave us for someone or something else.

As the Lord transformed water into wine, He can do more and better for you. David reminds himself and the Lord of something like this in Psalm 30:11. He said, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have taken off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness”. The Lord shook David and reminded him that he had more to be joyful about than to be saddened by.

When we are shaken by life and by our circumstances, many of us will come to react with fear and despair. We do not grow and produce the fruit of our faith the Lords wants us to produce. The world is happy with us when we live this way. But the Lord wants different and better for us.

If we are willing, when things shake us, we can use those things to grow beyond our weaknesses so that we produce the fruit of our faith. Fruit that does not fall to earth or that does not fall into the hands of the Lord is of no value. Eventually the fruit we produce and keep will rot our lives as we try to preserve our lives.

Let’s learn to appreciate when the world is shaking our lives with negative circumstances and when the Lord shakes our lives to get us to grow and to produce more fruit. You don’t have to go around happy about your trials, but with the Lord, you can say to your trials “you may shake me, but you will not break me.”

Don’t allow the things that trouble you make you learn to live a troubled life. Never to allow hard things to make you hard. Never allow difficult things to make you difficult. Never allow things that challenge your joy to make you live a joyless life.

Don’t allow your troubles to trouble you. Don’t allow your heart to be troubled; let your life of peace in the Lord and dependence on the Lord bring trouble to the things that come to shake you.

Live a Delivered Life.

Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight. You can be filled when you glean the best of your life to the treasure of others.

Deuteronomy 24:21: “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.”

Isaiah 33:6: “Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is His treasure.”

I have a pecan tree in my backyard.  Every year the squirrels will come along about August and over the next few months they will haul away every pecan on the tree.  Not a single pecan is left – not a one. The squirrel reaps where it did now sow, and it consumes all that is before it without regard for anyone else.

But they are squirrels. They are a greedy gluttonous little bunch of rascals. They are wasteful too.  I am helpless to keep them from taking everything from my tree. Nothing I have done has kept the squirrel from consuming my pecans. They are greedy, self-centered and they act as if they are the only ones who can eat from the tree.

God does not want us to be like the squirrels who act based on their nature more than their hearts. We have the ability to reason and not to act based simply on our hunger. Our hunger should never make us act like a glutton. Our needs should never make us act like we are totally lacking. Our desires should never make us act like we are in total need.

In Deuteronomy 24, Moses tried to teach the people these principles by telling them to, “gather the fruit of your labor but don’t glean every fruit from the tree.” Often times, the same thing may have a different value and worth to you and to someone else based on the circumstances. You may have eaten earlier in the day, but to the person who has nothing to eat, what you leave behind is life sustaining for them.

The Lord wants us to know how empty life is when we are filled with all that the world has to offer but we are empty in offering to others the things that cannot be produced by the world. The world cannot produce love, but we can.  The world cannot produce an act of service, but we must.  The world cannot produce graciousness and thankfulness.  Thankfully we can do this too.

To the poor and the needy, even our leftovers can be their treasures.  Isaiah 33:6 helps us to see that the Lord treasures our fear of the Him – of not knowing His nature. One of the best ways for us to learn to appreciate the poor and the needy is to allow ourselves to be poor and needful in some way for something.

When you have much, you have probably learned how to reap and to glean. And those who have are probably slow to sow anything at all. The knowledge and wisdom they have, they treasure.  And they will keep it from others.  People who have much, work hard to make sure they have need of nothing they cannot use their treasures to get.

But listen.  It is not true that those who have much of everything generally have need of nothing. We may believe we have no need to have anything more than what we can obtain, but we all have a fundamental need to give something more of ourselves. We all have a need to help others. We all have a need to support others. We all have a need to sow for others.

The Lord is looking for us to sow into the lives of people and into the world. Sowing is what we get to do because we are blessed by the Lord. What we get from others and from the world cannot satisfy our fundamental need to sow as much as we get from reaping.

If you lack something in your life today, perhaps it is time to look at what you are sowing into the lives of others. The Lord tells us He did not come to be served but to serve.  Let’s take that mindset for ourselves.  We are not here to simply get from what we do, but as importantly, we are here to get to do for others what others cannot get for themselves.

You can be totally filled when you learn to glean from yourself all of yourself to make the lives of others more fulfilled.

Live a Delivered Life.

Give Him what You wants and He will give you what He wants

Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight. The Lord delights in you when you want what He wants for you.

Psalm 37:7-8:” Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way.  Do not fret – it only causes harm.”

Psalm 37:11: “But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

It only causes harm.  I wish I had learned the truth of that statement long ago.  When we fret, we are given to trying to bring about something that only the Lord can do.  When we fret it will lead us to anger.  Anger will lead us to wanting wrath.  And wrath will lead us away for the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Indeed, fretting only causes harm because we are led to live by our own actions in reaction to the things happening around us. We may feel good about the actions we take before those who bother us, but this is not the way to live righteously before the Lord. The quickest way for us to get the Lord to act in our lives is for us to stop acting for Him.

I am not saying we do not have desires of our own.  We all do.  But we must learn to give our desires to the Lord so that in return we get His desires for us. It is probably not possible for us to have what we want and at the same time to have what God desires for us.

Psalm 37:11 is saying to us know how strong and how weak we are and to live in the humility of our weakness more than our strength.  Learn to withhold your strength for another day when faced with something that comes against you. If you learn to keep yourself from acting by acting to give the Lord your desires, He will honor your patience and the strength it takes to wait and not act.

God will repay us by acting for us when we decide not to act on our own. When we decide not to act in anger, He acts on what angers us.  When we decide not to fret or to be impatient, He acts for us on the things that would cause us to fret.

When you are bothered by this thing or that thing, find a place in the Lord to sit and to wait for Him to act for you.  In Him, there will be peace. And peace is the thing we need most when our faith is challenged by something we desire.  When we are at great peace with the Lord, we will have the strength to be at peace with the things that happen around us daily.

Now don’t misunderstand me on this.  Being at peace doesn’t mean we are to just accept that we are helpless to change things around us.  We are never helpless when the Lord is our Helper.  When we are in the Lord, being at peace means that we have given the desires of our hearts over to the Lord.

When we give Him our desires, we are happy beyond measure with this.  The joy we find in having given over to Him all that we want is more than anything that can cause us to worry or to stress.  Learn to be so happy in the Lord that He is happy to give you the things you desire.

When you learn to want what the Lord wants you to have, He then is happy to give you His desire for you and your desires for yourself too.  So, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him no matter what you are facing.  Do not fret at what is before you.  Do not become angry at what comes at you.  Do not fight with what is fighting against you.

There is strength is rest.  There is overcoming is waiting.  There is peace in humility.  There is change in restraint.  Exhaust yourself in waiting for the Lord more than in what you do to change the things around you. Remember, fretting only causes harm.  Wait and do not fret. Give the thing that won’t change to the Lord.

If He doesn’t change the thing, He will change you so that the thing does not prosper against you as it has before.

Live a Delivered Life.

Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight. Freedom in Christ means we now have freedom from our selves.

Galatians 5:1: “Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.”

1 Corinthians 10:24: “Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.”

I stopped to put gas for my car. While doing that, a recording from the pump started blasting loudly to me about buying a hotdog while I got my gas. All I wanted was gas and silence. Instead, while shopping for gas, I was shopped by the station for more money.

I was seated waiting to board my flight home.  Another passenger came and sat across from me. He started playing his music so loudly that I had to move.  I wanted to sit quietly and just wait to fly home.  I had to endure his entertainment when I didn’t want entertainment.

I ordered a pair of pants online using my phone.  Now I cannot stop advertisements for pants from popping up on my phone trying to get me to buy more.  All I wanted was to shop different vendors for pants.  I didn’t want to be shopped by different vendors for money.

We are past a time in life where we must learn that our freedom to do things will almost always impact the freedoms others have to be free from the things we do. It was a life changing revelation for me when I accepted that when Christ sets me free from something, my freedom shouldn’t become bondage to someone else.

Perhaps Galatians 5:1 is saying to us, “The Lord will free us from this sin or that sin, but we ought not by our freedoms snare others by our freedom.  Freedom from doesn’t mean we have the freedom to do as we please.  Perhaps freedom from means we are now free to depend on the Lord.

Freedom from has helped me see selfishness in a different way now because the Lord opened my eyes to the liberty I have in Him.  Before, I thought selfishness was only about being more focused on me.  Me first.  Me, myself, and I.  You get it.

But now I see more clearly that there is a second attribute of selfishness, and it is a sin that stands out before the Lord.  When I am focused on myself, I am not focused on or caring about others.  1 Corinthians 10:24 is saying to me don’t just be about what is best and good for me but think about and bring about what is best and good for others.

Yes, we have inherent rights as people to basic things in life.  We have the right to play our music.  We have the right to sell our products. We have the inherent right to be free and to live happily and fulfilled.  But these rights are to be found in a life with Christ.

When we seek to fulfill these rights outside of Christ we sin just as Eve and Adam did.  Eve saw the fruit and thought how pleasant it would be to have it for herself and for her husband.  They ate; they sinned. We must learn we come to be free to do as we like because we become free from the need to do as we please.

If you want pleasant-looking fruit or if you want a great paying job or if you want to own your own business, look first to find those things in the Lord.  He will help to keep your freedom to have from becoming snares to those seeking to be free from how you live with what you have.

Don’t allow your selfish focus on yourself to cause you to become an unwanted voice blasting out all over your surroundings “I love my hotdogs, why don’t you try one?”  Don’t allow your selfish focus on yourself to keep you from realizing what is good for you may not be good for others.

Christ sets us free from ourselves so that we can depend on Him for ourselves.  Christ sets us free from ourselves so that we can help Him provide good for others who are not yet free as we are.  We are freed from ourselves so that we can become free to depend on Him.

Live a Delivered Life.

Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight. To despise knowledge and wisdom and truth is to grow up into foolishness.

Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:20-22: Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.  How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?  For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.”

I have done several messages on wisdom and on the idea of how foolishness steals the lives the Lord wants us to live.  You also know that I believe social media is one of the primary reasons we have become less wise and more foolish today.

It is important for believers to learn to live our lives and to base all that we do and say and believe more on facts than on the thoughts and opinions and feelings that we hear each day. We have a world today where many people believe that the facts we have about many things are not as important as the opinions we hold about those facts.

Many people believe what was true yesterday is now something that stands in the way of greater enlightenment. Understand what I am saying and test it against something greater – the Word of God.  Never test what is true against what you want to be truth.

Having baseless opinions shaped by how we want to feel is how we become foolish and scornful. Facts are more important than opinions. The opinions that matter most are the views that will point you back to the facts that make you wiser and more intelligent.

Proverbs 1:20 warns us that scorners find joy and happiness in scorning the views and positions of others. Scornful people are typically those who profess “The Truth” is not their truth.  They reject knowledge and understanding for their own feelings and opinions.

We are naturally going to be driven away from real knowledge when we are drawn to foolishness. Scornful people will sow the seeds of foolishness right into our hearts when we do not guard ourselves against any view or opinion that attacks the Truth.

For the believer, wisdom and knowledge is always crying out to us.  So, be on the watch for the scornful views and opinions of others.  Those who are scornful live in the middle of their emotions and never the facts.  They want to advance how they feel, and they want you to feel ashamed about how you feel.

They care more about how they feel than about the Word of God.  Don’t you be this way. Scornful people will not speak about the facts.  In fact, they cannot speak about the facts because they typically do not know the facts. Instead, they will attack you and your views simply because yours’ may be different from theirs.

They will ridicule you and they will hate you for believing in the Truth, believing they are standing for what is right and best. They believe they are right and that they hold the view the world must hold. When you hold a view that is different from theirs, they believe your view must be ridiculed and scorned to death.

The scornful are actually the very thing they say and hold others to be. They will say others are intolerant; but they are intolerant of beliefs of others. They will make the loving and the caring people feel and seem like they are unloving and uncaring. But in reality, the scornful are unloving and uncaring.

Today we have allowed scornful people to rise to the highest positions in our government, in our schools, in our church, in our judicial system, and in almost every walk of life. They have legitimized the illegitimate and the foolish among us simply follow along with them.

With their position and authority and status they have worked very hard to bring scorn and ridicule to those of us who simply want to live in Truth and in Love toward everyone.  Be mindful of who you listen to today.  A strong opinion is never more right than the knowledge, wisdom and the Truth we have in the Word of God.

Seek knowledge and wisdom and avoid the loud noise of those who shout how bad others are because you may be hearing the scorn from someone who is actually worse than those they speak of.

Fear the Lord.  Trust in Him.  Seek His knowledge and His understanding.  He will lead you with knowledge and wisdom that is the only thing that can stand the scorn of the foolish when it is directed at you.

Live a Delivered Life.

Place your expectations for others on the Lord rather than on man.

Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight. We should learn to expect more from the Lord than we do from man.

Genesis 33:9-10: “But Essau said, I have enough my brother.  Keep what you have for yourself. Jacob said, no please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, in as much as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God.”

Psalm 118:8: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.”

Essau had not seen Jacob in over 20 years.  It had been that long since Jacob had tricked Essau into giving him his first-born blessing of God. Although Essau had been very angry with Jacob, he did not hold a grudge against him now. Scripture says when he saw Jacob from far away that he ran to him and hugged him and kissed him and they cried.  Genesis 33:4.

How can it be that Essau would meet Jacob with love rather than anger? We typically think Essau was foolish to sell his birthright. On the surface we don’t see any relative good in Essau. But wait! Look a little deeper and this is what you will find.

Essau had to learn that what Jacob took from him would not help him deal with what was before him today. He had to give up his anger. Essau came to understand that his expectations for what was right and good for him had to be on God more than on Jacob. That’s Psalm 118:8.

Essau didn’t need anything from Jacob because he had received more than anything from God.  Essau set his sights on what God could give him more than what he wanted from Jacob. Essau’s expectations were set on God not on man.

Essau made it easy for Jacob to return home so that Jacob would not be separated from his home for the remainder of his life. Oftentimes, we make it impossible for people to get right with us because we place expectations on what they must do towards us.  Our expectations should be on the Lord more than in man.

When our expectations are on the Lord we can live with others without holding grudges or being offended by the things they will do to us. So, ask yourself today, who are you keeping away from coming home?  Who has offended you to the point that you have expectations they must meet before you will allow them back home?

You may never get the revenge you want from someone who has harmed you.  Instead, you will always get the ability to live free of vengeance when you ask the Lord to help you live free of hurt and pain. I know this may be a hard message for some of us.

We are taught by man to hold people accountable and to forgive but you don’t have to forget. I’m not sure that is what the Lord expects – at least of me. Essau was not worried that Jacob would return home and steal from him again. But this is exactly how many of us live. We place our expectations on the man more than on the Lord.

Man will never be able to live up to our expectations because we cannot free ourselves from the thought that we may be hurt or harmed again. When you place your expectations on the Lord, you won’t need man to do what only the Lord can do in man.

Learn to place your expectations on the Lord and not on man.  No matter what your expectations may be, ask the Lord to provide for you and He will do it. Then you will be blessed beyond what you could have been.  Then you will have more of the things you didn’t even imagine you could have.

Lord, it is in You and You alone that I will place my trust and all my expectations. In this, help me to be like the changed Essau was towards Jacob. Help me to be better for I know it is in You and not in man that I should put all my trust.

Live a Delivered Life.

You cannot live a changed life while holding onto the life you do not want to change.

Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight. An unchanged life cannot live the life of change you want.

Matthew 9:14: “Then the disciples of John came to Jesus saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

Often times we think we must have something new so that we can live in a new way. That may work in our carnal lives, but it does not work with God.  The Lord wants us to accept that we must change before we can live changed lives.

Change in ourselves must happen before change with ourselves can happen.  We must change our attitudes before we can have the change that comes with better attitudes.  We must change what we believe before we can have what we didn’t believe before.

In Matthew 9:14 Jesus is telling us fasting is not what makes us believers but being believers is why we fast.  John’s disciples were like many of us today who look down on what others are not doing because we want to exalt ourselves above others.  Perhaps Jesus was also saying you cannot get to where I want you to be when you keep hanging on to who and where you are today.

Many of us are quick to say we will pray and fast for something to happen or for something to change in our lives.  But Jesus is saying, if you change your life before you pray and before you fast, you will be led to pray and to fast from a life that is already changed.

Jesus knows that the things of God cannot be received in a life that is unchanged. The new things of God must be fitted into a new life because the old life cannot contain what God has planned for you.  New wine should not be put into old wine skins. New wine will expand and rupture an old wine skin.

The changes the Lord wants for your life, and the changes you should want for your life cannot be fitted into your old life.  If you want your relationship with your spouse to be better, change yourself into a better person.  This will allow better changes in your relationship to come to you.

It is not likely you can have a loving relationship with anyone when you are not a loving person.  It is not likely you can have a respected relationship with anyone when you do not respect others.  Being loving and being respectful are the things that indicate you can have love and respect.

If you want to experience more of the Lord, change the way you live.  You cannot understand the Lord when you want to understand more of the world.

Abraham had to change where he lived before he received the promise God want to give him.  Jacob had to return to his home before he could receive the home God promised.  Moses had to give up a high position and status before he could have the position and status God wanted for him.

Paul had to give up his entire way of life before He could have the life the Lord offered Him.  All around us people are a clear example of how we must change.  And what about you?  What is it that you must change before you can have the change you want for your life?

If things are much the same for you and around you, perhaps it is not because things are too hard to change or because things are out of your control. Perhaps things are the same because you are the same. When the Lord is at work in our lives, nothing is ever the same in our lives.  Nothing!

We cannot have the changed lives we would love to have while we keep living the unchanged lives we love more.

Live a Delivered Life.

Your Moment at the Well

The Lord’s insight.  When we live a life of repentance, we will produce a life of repentant fruit.

1 Samuel 16:7: “But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.  For the Lord does not see as a man sees; for a man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Matthew 3:8: “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father.”

I spend a lot of time repenting of my sins, but then I sin again.  I spend a lot of time asking forgiveness for my thoughts and my actions, but I have thoughts and actions that need to be forgiven again and again. I wonder why my life as a believer does not line up with what I say as a believer.

We sin, we repent, then we sin again in some other way.  Seems the cycle of sin and repenting and sin just goes around. Why can’t we break free of this?  Can we break free? Am I alone in this?

For me, the very thing I don’t want to do, often that is the thing I do.  The very thing I should do, that is the thing I don’t do.  The very thing that could help me is the last thing I go to.  The very thing that can hurt me is the thing I find easier to embrace.

It would be easy for us to simply conclude that we are sinners, and sin is what we do. I don’t want to be a hypocrite when I say I love the Lord, but still, I am not always obedient to what He says. Sin is indeed a big reason we struggle to live faithfully.  But there is more.

Sometimes I ask myself “what is wrong with me?” It seems so wrong for me to know better but to not do better. But the fruit I bear comes from the person I don’t want to be. So, it comes down to this for me.  I am not able to live a life of a believer on my own.

We need the help of the Lord at work transforming our hearts so that He can impact our actions and our behaviors.  1 Samuel 16:7, is telling us that the Lord looks deep in our hearts to know who we really are. What we say and do before others is not truest indication of the health of our walk with the Lord.

Matthew 3:8 then reminds us that there are people among us who have chosen their own brand of faith and actions based not on the Word but on how they want the Word to play out in their lives.  These people He says, should change from their way to a repentant way of life.

I realize now that I often try to live a changed life with a life that is not changed.  I keep bearing the same old fruit because I keep nurturing the seeds of the same old life. I repent of sin over and again because I do not plant an unrepentant seed into my life.

For me, to repent is an action I am willing to do over and again.  But repentance is the key to life change because repentance says I will live in a constant state of change from who I was to who the Lord wants me to be.  Repentance starts and never ends.

A repentant life is the key to having a fruit-bearing life. A repentant life is ultimately the work that must be done to transform our hearts so that we are able to produce fruit worthy of identifying our transformation.

I can clearly see now why I could not live better.  I was living off my own strength to repent.  But I needed the Lord to help me live a repentant life. I could not do it on my own nor can you or anyone else.  If you want to change your behaviors and your way of life, you must learn to live a repentant life.

When you learn to live a repentant life, others will see something in you that screams of your belief in the Lord. And even though you may trip or stumble along the way, others would likely see that as a stumble from something old that needed changing so that you can fall into something more of the Lord.

Scripture says the fruit of the Spirit of such a transformed life is:

• Love: Demonstrating a love for God and then for others, even when it’s challenging. 
• Joy: Experiencing joy that is not dependent on circumstances but rather rooted in your relationship with God.
• Peace: Living in inner peace and extending it to others because you are a child of God. 
• Patience: Learning to be ok with waiting until the right thing happens for you and for others.
• Kindness: Treating others with the kindness and compassion that the Lord treats you. 
• Goodness: Pursuing the Good God wants us to pursue always. 
• Faithfulness: Being faithful in your relationship with the Lord and what He can count on you to be. 
• Gentleness: Living so that your life brings gentleness and humility in all your interactions. 
• Self-control: Exercising command of yourself in all your ways so others can tolerate you.

When you are living a repentant life, you will produce the fruit that is the indication that you are working to transform yourself from simply having repented of your sins and turned from your past to a life that is guided to its future by a transformed heart that is changed more each day.

A repentant life is a quiet life.  It’s a life that allows the fruit to speak.

Live a Delivered Life.