"Spiritually Guided" -2

"And he led them on safely, so that they feared not; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies." (Psalms 78:53) Yesterday I heard two different messages that mentioned Jacob and Israel, the names of Jacob used in the Bible; one was by Dr. Chuck, the other by Pastor Matt. Apparently, after over three decades of reading and studying the Bible, it is something that went right by me, but Jacob is one on the few characters in the Bible who were renamed by God, where God would refer to him using his old name from time to time. If he was doing well or was being used in reference to God's good plan going forth, then he was Israel, but if he was being a knucklehead or was being used as a reference to God's redemption, he was Jacob; or something to that effect. If he was trying to do something in the flesh, he was Jacob; that's pretty much the point Pastor Matt was trying to make; which was also the point of what I was trying to say yesterday. We cannot do anything to overcome the fleshly desires in the the flesh; it is totally useless for us to even try. It is by God's Spirit and His word that we overcome the desires of the flesh, not by using the flesh, because the flesh will just give in. The same is true for love. If we are going to love as God would have us to love, then we need to be having God love through us. We are terrible at loving God the way that He deserves to be loved; we can't even unconditionally love one another, how do we expect to unconditionally love God? If you think that you some how found a way to do it on your own, then you should get it published, because without the Holy Spirit living in you, your love has limits and conditions. I know we think that we can love a certain way; all couples who get married are thinking they have a certain love to maintain the marriage; that is until one of their conditions are not met. It's really pretty simple; at least it appears to be... "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:8-10) NLT