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Walk As Children Of Light
Eph 5:1-5
Paul last tells us to be kind, compassionate, and forgiving and now is adding "be imitators of God as dearly beloved children. Reminds me of this country song by Rodney Adkins. Little kids watch their parent's actions and start imitating them. We are told to imitate God, who is the Perfect Father.
We're told to walk in love just as our Messiah Yeshua did and gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God. That offering and sacrifice was a sweet aroma to God.
This does not mean that we become doormats to others to take advantage of or doing so much for the other person that they are never getting up on their own two feet. I think we need to seek the Lord when giving of ourselves that we give in the manner that God shows us to give, not just throw it all to the wind, and whoever catches what we throw it helps. Yeshua literally gave all that was within him, but we never see him doing anything that The Father had not shown him to do.
Yeshua spent a lot of time in prayer. Prayer is NOT just bowing on our knees and telling God all the things we want Him to do for us. Prayer is a conversation with God. A conversation is at least two people, each talk, and each listening. I remember hearing a pastor say something to the effect of, "the one who knows nothing, comes before the One who knows everything and the one who knows nothing does all the talking". Before God, we are the one's who know nothing.
Look at the way Yeshua prayed and the way he taught us to pray. Don't turn it into a formula where you make sure you spend one minute doing this, then you move on and spend one minute doing the next thing, and so on and so on. God is a good Father. While we are to speak reverently to Him as the Maker of heaven and earth and God of the universe, He is also our friend. We can be honest with our feelings. And we need to listen to Him more than we talk.
We listen by reading His word and asking questions (that's praying too) as we go along and listening for His answers. We may stumble a bit in conversation as we begin, but soon we will begin hearing Him speak to us and touch our hearts and heal us and change us.
In verse three Paul again gives a list of behavior which is unacceptable for those who claim to be believers in Yeshua... sexual immorality and any impurity or greed.
Here is the list again from Gal 5:19-21 : sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, witchcraft, hostility, strife, jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.
There is no question that these activities in a supposed believers life is NOT ok. IF one has really repented of their sins and put their faith and trust in Yeshua, they no longer walk in these things. By "walk in" it means to do it "repeatedly, continually" and feeling no remorse and without any attempt to bring it to God and even other stronger believers and get help with it. We don't say, "Jesus loves me anyway" and then continue as is. To paraphrase James, "to look in a mirror and then walk away not chaning what you see" See Jms 1:22-25. If that is our way of life, then we have not truly repented and given ourselves to God. It's easy to fix though...repent and then go and sin no more.
Paul says, "obscene, course, and stupid talk" is also out of place for a believer. He says to replace these things with the giving of thanks". That's not just a prayer over your food. He adds that it should be known for certain that no immoral, indecent, or greedy person, who by continuing in these activities is showing themselves to really be idol worshippers at heart have no inheritance in the Kingdom of God.
Eph 5:1-5
Paul last tells us to be kind, compassionate, and forgiving and now is adding "be imitators of God as dearly beloved children. Reminds me of this country song by Rodney Adkins. Little kids watch their parent's actions and start imitating them. We are told to imitate God, who is the Perfect Father.
We're told to walk in love just as our Messiah Yeshua did and gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God. That offering and sacrifice was a sweet aroma to God.
This does not mean that we become doormats to others to take advantage of or doing so much for the other person that they are never getting up on their own two feet. I think we need to seek the Lord when giving of ourselves that we give in the manner that God shows us to give, not just throw it all to the wind, and whoever catches what we throw it helps. Yeshua literally gave all that was within him, but we never see him doing anything that The Father had not shown him to do.
Yeshua spent a lot of time in prayer. Prayer is NOT just bowing on our knees and telling God all the things we want Him to do for us. Prayer is a conversation with God. A conversation is at least two people, each talk, and each listening. I remember hearing a pastor say something to the effect of, "the one who knows nothing, comes before the One who knows everything and the one who knows nothing does all the talking". Before God, we are the one's who know nothing.
Look at the way Yeshua prayed and the way he taught us to pray. Don't turn it into a formula where you make sure you spend one minute doing this, then you move on and spend one minute doing the next thing, and so on and so on. God is a good Father. While we are to speak reverently to Him as the Maker of heaven and earth and God of the universe, He is also our friend. We can be honest with our feelings. And we need to listen to Him more than we talk.
We listen by reading His word and asking questions (that's praying too) as we go along and listening for His answers. We may stumble a bit in conversation as we begin, but soon we will begin hearing Him speak to us and touch our hearts and heal us and change us.
Here is the list again from Gal 5:19-21 : sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, witchcraft, hostility, strife, jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.
There is no question that these activities in a supposed believers life is NOT ok. IF one has really repented of their sins and put their faith and trust in Yeshua, they no longer walk in these things. By "walk in" it means to do it "repeatedly, continually" and feeling no remorse and without any attempt to bring it to God and even other stronger believers and get help with it. We don't say, "Jesus loves me anyway" and then continue as is. To paraphrase James, "to look in a mirror and then walk away not chaning what you see" See Jms 1:22-25. If that is our way of life, then we have not truly repented and given ourselves to God. It's easy to fix though...repent and then go and sin no more.
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