Working and Inspecting

My last post was about listening and being silent before God.  After writing that post that is all I seem to run into as far as verses in the Bible, messages on church signs, friends blogging about the same message.

I know that is God keeping that in front of me and teaching me to listen to Him, or listen for His voice.

For the last 5 1/2 weeks, I have been working through a new Bible study called 'Duty or Delight' by Tammie Head.   When I say work, I mean work. God has been working on my heart and bringing things or sins to my attention that I had  glossed over.  He is also teaching me to listen to Him and to stop sowing to my flesh and walk in the Spirit.


Honestly,  I have struggled with forgiving a family member. I won't go into details but God told me that the battle belonged to Him BUT I developed unforgiveness, bitterness, toward this person and I brought it before the Lord every day but I still held on to the unforgiveness even though I thought I had let it go.

Yesterday, through the study Tammie was teaching us the 3 elements to success in repentance. Afterwards we were to inspect our "crops".   Reaping what we sow.  Are we sowing to please the Spirit or the flesh?   She then went on to list several things that we get when we sow to our sinful nature. Unforgiving, Envy, Easily Angered, Laziness, Gossip etc... just to name a few.

I went through each one that I had been sowing to my sinful nature and asked God to forgive me.  I want to sow to please the Spirit but I can't do that on my own and I have to ask the Holy Spirit to come and do this in me because He is able.

A quote from Tammie:

Sin resists, but repentance yields
Sin numbs, but repentance wakes
Sin separates, but repentance restores
Sin turns, but repentance faces
Sin is duty, but repentance is delight.


This morning I poured a cup of coffee and went out on my front porch.  I was spending a brief moment outside before the heat decided to come back with a vengeance. I wasn't out there long when I knew the Holy Spirit was drawing me back inside to study Titus.

This short book in the Bible is filled with tons of nuggets.  In the first four verses alone, we read that God does not lie, God does not break His promises and through Jesus we have life without end.

Three times being self-controlled was mentioned. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.  Again, walking to please the Spirit not our flesh or sinful nature.

Instruction for older women and younger women and the reason we must be self-controlled and walking in obedience is so that no one will malign the Word of God.

We are instructed to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. That is hard but possible with the help of the Holy Spirit.

There are many things in this world to distract us from spending time with God, from prayer time.  God instructs us to devote ourselves to doing good.  Respect the government, be law abiding citizens, always lend a helping hand, don't slander anyone, be peaceful and considerate, show true humility toward everyone.

Lastly, this stood out to me: Jesus purified us to be eager to do what is good.  The world tells us it's all about us,  God's Word tells us it's not about us, it's about Him. It's about putting others before ourselves.

God says that we are to devote ourselves to doing good so that we live productive lives and all our necessities will be met.

Hurts and disappointments come into our lives but we aren't supposed to stay there. We have a God who will bind up our wounds and mend our broken hearts. We have a God who is always willing to help us in any area we struggle with sin. We can ask for His help to be eager to do good.  We are not left alone to figure this out by ourselves and whatever God asks us to do, He will equip us to be able to do it.

I am not sure how to end this other than to say, this is where I am at, this is the work God is doing in my heart and life.  It's hard, it's work but it is good. God is Good.