What Is Your Personality And What Will You Do With It?

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 When a young person matures, he begins to plan what he wants in life and the path he must take to succeed. There is nothing wrong with this, in fact the wise person will carefully prepare for the future. He spends a lot of time searching out all he will need to do to reach his goal; he speaks with many whose lives are similar to the career he desires, and applies himself to be and do all that is necessary to establish his way. God forbid that he should be like the fool who spends his life eating, drinking, and being merry - what a waste of a human life. No, the wise will avoid those things that can only hold him back from the way he needs to go. But as in all things pertaining to life in this world, there’s a danger in it. The danger resides in his motives. If the career he plans for himself is purposed to acquire wealth, then he’s missed the point and later will discover that wealth does not bring him the happiness he hoped for. When he has houses and lands and automobiles, and things for recreation, he will realize that he’s missed what’s really important. Indeed Jesus spoke to this. He taught that wealth is fleeting. Wealth is subject to loss. Things that one loves will grow old and deteriorate. Nothing is certain in this world – absolutely nothing. The Lord taught that this life goes downhill, people and things age, health and wealth are not a sure thing ...and then what? Jesus taught the wisdom of seeing this world for what it is. Temporary. Very temporary. But, he said, there is another world which all will come to, some to heaven, some to hell. What one does with his short journey through this life will determine the quality of his life in the world to come. Salvation is an entirely separate issue, and one who is born again is safe under the covering of the Atonement Jesus has provided. But once that is established ...what one does with his life while on earth will determine his status and rewards in heaven. And those things will not fade away, they are eternal. If everything on earth is temporary and passing away, does it not make more sense to focus on the life to come which is forever? It takes wisdom to understand this, because we’re talking about the world we see now versus the world which we don’t see and know little about. It takes more than wisdom, it takes faith - faith in the words of Jesus Christ who revealed these things for anyone who will believe him. Without faith, one is left to himself in his short and temporary journey. Having thought little about the world to come, which is eternal, he foregoes the opportunity to lay up for himself the treasures that really matter, treasures in heaven which will last forever. “Our greatest fear should not be fear of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.” -Dwight L. Moody So. What really matters? What makes up these treasures which will be forever? The answer to that is that each one must take a good and somber look at himself, take note of the uniqueness of his personality, his makeup, his talents, and seek to know from the Lord how he can INVEST all that he has and all that he is for ...eternity. It takes seeking the will of God for one’s life in prayer, fasting, spending time before the Lord, until the Lord reveals to him his plan for his life, and then applying himself to use all he has for the sake of fulfilling that plan. How could anything be more important? Let your treasure be in what really matters. Should you spend your life this way, at the end you will have the fruits of a life well spent, with eternal reward that will never grow old or deteriorate, and that will be joy forever. And then you will hear from the Lord: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the JOY of your Lord.” Matthew 25:21

Are You Under The Influence?

“The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.” Proverbs 12:5 Why is there such a difference between the thoughts of the righteous versus the thoughts of the wicked? Are we not in control of our thoughts? Well yes, to an extent. But the believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and his thoughts are monitored and influenced by the Spirit of God. The unbeliever on the other hand, is under the influence of Satan who is "the god of this world" (2nd Corinthians 4:4). We are all born as fallen human beings into Satan's realm, so until a person is born again his thoughts are influenced by Satan - often in very clever and undetected ways. Scripture informs us about Satan, his character and his purposes: “You are of your father the devil, AND THE DESIRES OF YOUR FATHER YOU WANT TO DO. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, FOR HE IS A LIAR AND THE FATHER OF IT.” John 8:44 Jesus said this, by the way, to the religious leaders of his day. We see therefore, that the thoughts of the unconverted are going to be deceitful, and most of all - prideful. They are not aware that there is an actual spirit, an entity, who is putting evil suggestions and ideas into their thoughts, and actually setting up circumstances to lead them into sin. The unconverted is not aware that he is being DECEIVED. Why do the unconverted become evil in the first place? Again, because we are all born into a fallen human nature. All of us. (Romans 3:23) There are many traumas and bitternesses in life in this fallen world and a person who has been traumatized, afflicted, or rejected, will react to those things with hatred, bitterness, and desire for revenge. That's normal human nature. The believer also grew up in this world, subject to trauma, affliction, and rejection, and may carry many scars because of it, but he has chosen the way of the Lord, and the Lord will influence his thoughts and ideas, and he will direct his steps. “The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.” Proverbs 12:7 The born-again believer will stand and remain, because it is the Lord who sustains him. But the unconverted is on his own, with Satan determined to deceive and destroy him. There are curses that come upon an unconverted person, and they are carried down to his children to the third and fourth generation. “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:5-6 An example to demonstrate this: let’s say a man is an alcoholic, and under the influence of alcohol he sins greatly. It will oftentimes follow that his children will be prone to alcoholism. And so it is with any other sin. The tendency will be passed down to his children. And this goes back several generations, so there is a lot of influence upon all of us from the past. But it all comes down again to choice. Even if one finds himself under a curse because of the sins of his parents before him, he still has a choice. And if he chooses right, and if he surrenders his life to the Lord, then the story turns around and he will receive mercy - if he loves God and chooses to keep his Words. When one is born again, he receives a new nature, and he can leave the old life and be a different person because the Spirit of God will dwell within him, and He changes everything. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATION; old things have passed away, BEHOLD, ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW.” 2nd Corinthians 5:17 If you love your children, make the right choices now. What you do will greatly affect their future, so be very careful in the choices you make. If your children are grown, it will be up to them to make their choice, but you can pray and intercede for them, asking God to bring them to this new life. It is a spiritual thing, not something you can make happen, so don’t nag them, that can even push them away further. Pray for them. God hears and answers prayer if we are patient enough to trust him for it.

Stop Nagging! It Doesn't Work

“Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.” Proverbs 12:1 And why would a person hate correction? Is it not from pride? Telling a fool he is wrong will ignite his pride and he will only turn from you in anger and hate you for trying to point out to him where he’s wrong. It is a waste of your time to try to reason with him. Speak to him or her once, but if they refuse to take to heart what you’re saying, do not prolong the conversation, it is useless - they want to cling to their opinion and there is nothing you can say to persuade them otherwise. Let it go lest you enter into argument and become a fool yourself. “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, LEST YOU ALSO BE LIKE HIM.” Proverbs 26:4 The heart of the fool has no care for truth, he only wants to speak and be heard. He craves attention, and will turn on anyone who doesn’t care to listen to him. Let him be. This kind cannot be changed because his pride will prevent it no matter how good your argument is. “A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart.” Proverbs 18:2 If you find foolishness in a loved one, know that you can do far more harm than good by engaging him or her in argument. Have they not already heard what you have to say? Saying it again will not increase the likelihood that they will listen to you, no, they will only oppose you all the more. You’re fighting a battle you cannot win. Stop it, therefore. God has provided us with tools that work in the spiritual realm, and our greatest tool is prayer. Prayer can move mountains. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man AVAILS MUCH.” James 5:16 What is impossible to man is possible with God. When you were born again, it was God himself who taught you and led you into truth. If there were people prior to that who were trying to “reach” you through argument - remember how unreachable you were and how foolish their arguments seemed to you. Only God can break down the walls of resistance in a human heart. Only God can change a heart, and the only sure weapon you have is prayer. If you only knew how powerful prayer is, you would cease all other useless efforts and turn to prayer alone with all patience, knowing that your prayers will ultimately succeed. True story - one of the great men of God was on his deathbed and a nurse heard him praying. He was thanking God for the grace and patience he had to continue in prayer all those years although he saw no evidence of his prayers being answered. Someone followed up on this and found that when the man died, not a single one on his prayer list was saved. BUT – before they died, every single one of them was saved. I heard this true story in a sermon and it became the foundation of my own prayer life. Pray with me: Father, there are people dear to me whom I’ve grieved over for SO long. You know how I’ve tried reasoning with them but they CANNOT receive the truth. My efforts have put walls between us and it only produces anger and deeper rebellion. Father, please help me to stop trying. Please help me to see that my efforts only make matters worse. Please help me to turn instead to you in daily prayer, because I know you are the only one who can change a human heart when that heart doesn’t want to change. You have ways and means to reach a person, but you are the only one who can. No one is unreachable to you. Help me, therefore, to stop my efforts which only deepen their resistance and to turn to prayer alone. Help me to keep in mind that my trust must be in YOU and in you alone, for you alone are able.