by Susan Hall
What have we learned from God’s Word lately?
What has the Holy Spirit convicted us about recently?
Often, there is a recurring theme of conviction in my life lasting for days or weeks. The words love, forgiveness, and longsuffering have been His recurring theme upon which to meditate for me in recent days. We are fighting a spiritual warfare. When we are mistreated or dealt a heavy blow, this does not make void the commandments of love, forgiveness, and longsuffering. Does mistreatment by others justify us in breaking God’s commandments? We cannot pick and choose the commandments which we believe others should follow and then neglect commandments for ourselves. We must look at our lives and ask, “Am I really yielded to God’s commandments?”
Recently, I stepped in to exert my will in a situation instead of waiting and yielding to God’s will, and it was a mistake. I failed to yield to God’s leading and commented as to what I thought should be done. “No commenting” is a common instruction in our home to our children. When unnecessary comments are made in response to someone else, a battle of the wills often follows. I would have been wise to follow the rule myself in this particular instance. Proverbs 16:18-20 says,“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.”
When we find ourselves in a similar situation of not obeying God’s commandments (I hope I am not the only one), what should we do?
- Yield to God’s will.
Jesus prayed, “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Jesus completely yielded to fulfill God’s will to die for the sins of all mankind on the cross of Calvary. We were created to worship and to bring glory to God. Let us first yield to His will.
- Search for commandments.
God wants us to obey His commandments. There are several great online concordances to use to do a Bible word study. What commandments or themes of conviction are being brought to mind? Are there commandments that we are neglecting to obey because we are keeping record of another’s lack of obedience? It is easy for our flesh to fall into this trap.
Luke 6:42, “Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” Let us ask God to forgive us for our sins in this area. Next, let us search for commandments similar to Luke 6:42 and let the Holy Spirit convict our hearts.
- Humble ourselves.
God has recently brought to my attention the commandments that I have failed to keep while holding on to a Pharisaical attitude. I hope I am not the only one who would confess to that. While it is comforting to lift myself up in pride or to have a pity party, I am failing to keep God’s commandments and to trust in the Lord. Matthew 23:12 says, “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
- Love our enemies.
Matthew 5:44 says, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” There is a sweet, precious release in our souls when we go to someone who we have wronged and ask for forgiveness. We all want to be forgiven, loved, respected, and cherished. Let us do that for others. The Lord will help us do that for our enemies. That is a tough one, but is it not a commandment? We must not give up on others. We must let our lights shine in this dark world.
Let us peruse the following Bible commandments that have a special meaning for each of us. Perhaps we can dwell on them and pray for the Holy Spirit to use them if they are lacking in our lives. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of areas in which we may have fallen short in obedience. I pray my honesty will encourage us all to take an honest look at our lives to see if there are areas of the heart that could be cleansed by yielding more fully to the commandments in the Word of God. Let us each ask ourselves, “Am I really yielded to God’s commandments?”
Proverbs 20:22, “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.”
Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking ,be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Philippians 2:3, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
Thank you, this article has been a blessing to me. It has opened my eyes to many areas I need to work on. But only Christ can help me make the changes. Please pray for me.