Embrace the Within no. 196

“What then [are we to conclude]? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under [God’s] grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that when you continually offer yourselves to someone to do his will, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either [slaves] of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness (right standing with God)” (Romans 6:15-16 AMP)?

Faith is an action. Hope is my confidence. I awaken every day with a choice. What am I going to choose?

Choices are really important to me in my physical, mental, and spiritual journey. I have spent over a decade preaching the good news of choices. And people are as reluctant to listen to that truth as equally as they are reluctant to listen to The Truth. Courage is choosing to change.

I am a creature of routine and habits. And three years ago I made a conscious choice to change those routines and habits to align with my philosophy. I was tired of being told what to fear. I was tired of being enslaved to fear.

And that is when I chose to make a change. And that change was not easy or simple. That change was drastic. I stopped buying into the fear and lies that the world was using to enslave me. I stopped making myself unhealthy. I chose a path to physical, mental, and spiritual health.

And that meant changing my routine. I started with the simple changes of getting myself healthy. I changed my routine to incorporate a physical routine in the morning of ten push ups and ten sit ups and some jumping jacks and such. That routine has expanded and grown over the past three years. I changed my routine to incorporate study and writing every day. That routine has expanded into prayer and studying The Bible and recording those reflections on my blog. I changed my routine to incorporate more gardening. That routine has expanded into several raised beds, trees, and a greenhouse that provide my family with healthy alternatives.

Sure. It looks like a lot now BUT it was all built on the back of making a choice. It all came from the courage of making one choice. And every day I awaken I get to make that choice. Am I going to pray? Am I going to work out? Am I going to read The Bible? Am I going to write my thoughts? Am I going to take care of the garden? Am I going to feed the chickens?

I can just as easily stop. I can stop talking to God. I can stop working out. I can stop studying His Truth. I can stop writing. I can let the garden go. I can let the animals fend for themselves.

I get to choose daily what path I am going to follow. And it doesn’t take something monumental at first. It only takes one simple choice to want to change, to want something different, to want something better. What do you want?

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH

Embrace the Within no. 195

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts and passions. Do not go on offering members of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness. But offer yourselves to God [in a decisive act] as those alive [raised] from the dead [to a new life], and your members [all of your abilities—sanctified, set apart] as instruments of righteousness [yielded] to God. For sin will no longer be a master over you, since you are not under Law [as slaves], but under [unmerited] grace [as recipients of God’s favor and mercy]” (Romans 6:12-14 AMP).

Faith is an action. Hope is my confidence. I wake up every day with a choice. I live each moment with a choice. I am the sum of those decisions. Am I going to choose to act with faith?

There is nothing I can do to deserve grace. There is no amount of deeds I can do to make certain I earn grace. I am given grace freely. I need only take grace. And then I need to act like it.

Works can’t get you grace. Works are there to show your grace. Remember that, “Euen so the faith, if it haue no woorkes, is dead in it selfe” (James 2:17 GNV). So I don’t get a free pass to accept grace and do nothing with that grace. Faith is an action.

That action requires that I live as an Ambassador of His Kingdom by living in alignment with His commands, “'Iesus answered, and sayd vnto him, ‘If any man loue me, he will keepe my worde, and my Father will loue him, and we wil come vnto him, and wil dwell with him. He that loueth me not, keepeth not my wordes, and the worde which ye heare, is not mine, but the Fathers which sent me’” (John 14:23-24 GNV). And that looks a lot like, “''And he sayd to them all, ‘If any man will come after me, let him denie himselfe, and take vp his crosse dayly, and follow me’” (Luke 9:23 GNV). Every moment of every day I need to deny myself, take up His cross, and follow obediently.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH