Those who believe and ask God for His will to be done are being cleansed, renewed, and restored daily and made holy by our Perfectly Holy God.  God loves us enough to die for us, standing in our place of punishment for our sins.  We could not do that for ourselves for we are not perfectly holy. Yes, God is God and we are not.  God also cares enough to confront us when we are doing things that hurt us and others in the faith.  Listen to Him.  He is God!

We were made in the image of God but we are not God. God is the one who helps us by His power living in us to shape and mold us all the days of our lives to be more like Him in His character for the purpose of bearing the holy fruits of His laborious work in us.  We can say we believe in God but until we demonstrate His character traits, we wonder if we believe at all. 

The Apostle Paul speaks to the church about how our relationship to God through Jesus Christ is lived out in our behaviors as we walk with God.  Our belief is reflected in our behaviors and it is our behaviors that the watching world without God notices first in us.  Our actions do speak louder than our words! No joke!  That is why we must BE with God to solidify our faith in God while we listen to what God says to be true and right.  We must guard our hearts from all things not of God; so that our actions follow what we say we believe about God. 

Here’s Paul wisdom to the church then, and is applicable to us today;

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Galatians 5:13-26

With these thoughts in mind; let us praise God with the Psalmist!

Psalm 92, The Message

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.

^1-3 What a beautiful thing, God, to give thanks,
    to sing an anthem to you, the High God!
To announce your love each daybreak,
    sing your faithful presence all through the night,
Accompanied by dulcimer and harp,
    the full-bodied music of strings.

^4-9 You made me so happy, God.
    I saw your work and I shouted for joy.
How magnificent your work, God!
    How profound your thoughts!
Dullards never notice what you do;
    fools never do get it.
When the wicked popped up like weeds
    and all the evil men and women took over,
You mowed them down,
    finished them off once and for all.
You, God, are High and Eternal.
    Look at your enemies, God!
Look at your enemies—ruined!
    Scattered to the winds, all those hirelings of evil!

^10-14But you’ve made me strong as a charging bison,
    you’ve honored me with a festive parade.
The sight of my critics going down is still fresh,
    the rout of my malicious detractors.
My ears are filled with the sounds of promise:
    “Good people will prosper like palm trees,
Grow tall like Lebanon cedars;
    transplanted to God’s courtyard,
They’ll grow tall in the presence of God,
    lithe and green, virile still in old age.”

¹⁵ Such witnesses to upright God!
    My Mountain, my huge, holy Mountain!

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Give Thanks…I’m reminded of yet another song, “My Tribute” by Andre Couch.

Thanks for all God has done, is doing and will do is the best response!  Thank, praise, and honor God with all that is within us is what our Almighty God responds to most in our relationship with Him.  It is God who loved us so much He sent His One and Only Son, His best, so that we could live redeemed and free!  Thank Him with every breath!

“How can I say thanks
For the things You have done for me?
Things so undeserved
Yet You gave to prove Your love for me;
The voices of a million angels
Could not express my gratitude
All that I am and ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee”

With His blood He has saved me
With His power He has raised me;
To God be the glory
For the things He has done

[Bridge]
Just let me live my life
Let it pleasing, Lord to Thee
And if I gain any praise
Let it go to Calvary

[Chorus 2]
With His blood He has saved me
With His power He has raised me;
To God be the glory
For the things He has done

(Andre Crouch)

Lord,

Thank you for saving our souls and making us whole by Your Perfect Love. Thank for cleansing our hearts, renewing our minds, refreshing our souls and restoring the joy and peace of your continual salvation work within us each day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen