"Worldly Vision" - Too

 "Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit." (Ecclesiastes 4:4 KJV)

  "You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, "God opposes the proud but favors the humble."" (James 4:4-6 NLT)

 The third message was one that really touched me, making feel ashamed that I hadn't figured it out on my own; or, if I heard it like this before, why didn't I make it a point to put it into action! It was the portion of Scripture that I have known and talking about many times, thinking it was primarily about praying for the ones that you care for, and interceding for them, tearing down strongholds on their behalf. 

 We are talking about the Scripture that says, "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7) How many times I have listened to this message, reading it to myself, yet not completely applying it to my life, in the way that Jesus was showing the disciples what it was intended for. 

 Basically, it is about having a spirit of humility and love, by being filled with the Holy Spirit, continually and at all times! How often we don't do what we could or should, because we lack the love in our hearts to do something we feel unwilling to do? After explaining this action, Jesus says: "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." 

 I know, it is way too simple, it shouldn't be hard to understand. We not only ask God to change us and give us all of the ability to do what is right, we must seek out the ways in which we apply what we have asked for; knocking just means that we don't give up, but we remain persistent and determined to get it right! Then, we stand! Having done all, we can do to stand, God will do His part, doing in us that which we cannot do on our own...

"I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." (Philippians 3:10-14 NLT)