"Be in Agreement" -Too

"How right they are to adore you. I am dark but beautiful," (S.O.S. 1:4c - 5a NLT)

  By now, most of you that have been following this blog, whoever you are, must know that I have more than once shared about the need to listen to what the Spirit says, and to act upon it. We know when He speaks, it is more than obvious to anyone that is following Christ, because the whole point of following Christ is that we listen to and do what the Holy Spirit says we should do.
  You may have also heard me say that it is not a good idea not to listen, as, if we do not allow Him to direct own life, He will not force us to obey; which usually will result in silence, at least for a while. It is not that He gives up, because there is no way God is giving up on His children; but He simply allows us to do things our way, until things get so bad, that we give up and give our lives completely over to Him. As I have said, which is totally in line with God's suggestion: We can do it the easy way or the hard way; but one way or another, it is going to be God's way! (Isaiah 1:16-20)
  As James declares in his epistle: "Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." (James 4:17 NLT) Which takes on a whole new character of do's and don'ts; because the whole point of following Jesus has more to do with not doing what you should do, than doing the things that you should not do! To be perfectly honest, (if we could,) we already know those things that we should not do, at least we have heard the suggestion; but the power of God working in us is only realized by doing the things that we ought to do, which are the things that are demonstrated by listening to the Holy Spirit.
  This is not rocket science, but simply a new way of thinking. The message Jesus was stating in, Matthew 9:15-17, is about the importance of being made NEW! As it is with Paul's declaration in the Book of Romans, how we need to reckon the old man crucified in Christ. This makes many issues with the flesh undone, the first important of which, is the fact that we are no longer a slave to sin; but secondly, and more importantly, is that we are now a slave to God, to do the things that bring Him glory.
  These are the things that make us realize Him working in our lives. Not doing what we know that we should not do, is good, but it will not satisfy the yearning in us to demonstrate that God is at work in our lives. There are humanistic ways to control our fleshly desires and habits; but when we yield ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit, the things we can do will surpass anything we could have imagined; and that is when we start to discover the real power of God!
  It is really not about our little life, as much as we might think that it is; if that were the case, God would have taken us home as soon as we were saved. I don't know about you, but looking back, that would have been the time I would have wanted to go! But, then again, there has, and will be good in Him keeping me here; at least that is my prayer...

"Well then, since God's grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living." (Romans 6:15-18) NLT