Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load. Galatians 6:1-5

You cannot put the lamb’s blood on someone else's house.

For you to restore another person who is caught in a trespass, you have to be spiritual yourself. To fulfill the law of Christ—restoring others by bearing their burdens—you have to be living in the law yourself. As you bear your own load, you will rejoice as you examine your work, assuming it is good. Once you have your own load under control, you are able to bear another’s burden. You cannot do this in your own strength, but when you become something strong and new through God’s work inside you. The presence of the lamb’s blood on your house keeps you alive so that you are then able to help others. 

Control what's on your side of the fence. 

A main part of maintaining your house is figuring out what's on your side of the fence and what's on the other side. As you demonstrate faithfulness in keeping your own house, you are able to move outward to maintain the rest of what’s inside your fence. With a well maintained yard, you will be able to influence your neighbors, but you can’t landscape your neighbors yard. Informing your neighbor on his weeds, so he will take care of them could prevent weeds from growing in your yard, but you can’t pull the weeds for your neighbor.

No one sees how hungry you are. 

Your neighbors can’t see inside your house to know how hungry you are. Your neighbors can only see the pizza that gets delivered to your house and the grocery order sitting in front of your front door. Your neighbors only see your habits of how you feed yourself. Your neighbors will also see when you are sufficiently fed yourself and you can throw a block party to feed and restore your hungry neighbors with your extra food. If you have extra good food, your neighbors will be blessed; if you only have moldy leftovers, your neighbors will get sick and loathe your presence.

No one sees how much you hurt. 

Your neighbors don’t get to see inside your life; they only see your reaction to your hunger and your hurt. They see your yard when it is unkept and the outside of your house when the paint is peeling off and the windows are black with dirt. You decide what you will seek to fill your hunger and ease your pain and your neighbors watch as you respond to life. You begin by monitoring what is going on inside your house and you progress to managing everything that is going on inside your fence. Then you influence your neighbors, but you still only control what is going on in your property.

For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.

Galatians 2:18-21

Your behaviors come from how you've learned how to survive. 

While you live in the flesh, you will have natural fleshly instincts that help you survive. When you become alive in the spirit through faith, another set of natural instincts appear that redirect your survival skills. Once your spirit is alive, you no longer have to let your life be ruled by the survival skills that have gotten you to where you are. You can die to your fleshly survival skills so your spiritual survival skills can drive the life you now live. You change your behaviors by changing whether you are surviving by the flesh or surviving by the spirit. Once you are made alive in the spirit, you must choose to live by the spirit.

Cling to your birthright. 

Only those who are born of the spirit have a spiritual birthright. Do not sell your birthright like Esau who traded his spiritual blessing for earthly survival skills. Once you are born of the spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, you have a spiritual birthright, not from your own merits, but from the merits of the One who gave life to your spirit. When you are alive in the spirit, you will walk in the spirit and grow in the spirit as you decide to make your spiritual birthright your primary identity. As you learn how to live by the spirit, maintaining your spiritual birthright, your survival instincts will become led by the spirit.

You can ask God to give life to others.

If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. 

1 John 5:16

When you see a brother who has a spiritual birthright but is living by fleshly survival skills, you can ask God to help them live by the spirit. You can remind them of their spiritual birthright and awaken them to their spiritual survival skills. When you are living by your spiritual survival skills instead of your fleshly survival skills, you will inspire others to live by the spirit.

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Matthew 17:16-20

Money, age and fame  don't change who you are, they simply make you more of who you are. 

As a tree grows and matures, the fruit it produces also matures. An apple tree doesn’t change into a tree that produces oranges as it matures; it grows into a tree that produces an abundance of apples. If you have a bunch of apple trees growing in your yard, you would expect to get trees that will produce apples. If you instead want trees that produce oranges, you have to recultivate your field and plant orange trees. The fruit of the spirit won’t grow on the tree of the flesh. You don’t naturally mature into a Christian that produces spiritual fruit if you have bad trees growing in your field. You have to change the trees in your life by planting trees of the spirit and cultivating the ground through your habits so that your new spiritual trees flourish. 

Everything that gives glory to God first has to receive glory from God. 

The spiritual fruit tree must come from the spiritual seed of God. Trees don’t grow out of nothing. The fruit that is produced by the trees growing in your field is of the same type of fruit as the original seed that is planted. A tree that brings glory to God must be planted from the seed of God’s glory. 

“Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. …. For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You. For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow, and without hope. 1 Chronicles 29:13–15

All things come from God, and without Him, everything on earth has no hope.

If something doesn't give glory back to God, He removes His glory from it.

 The trees growing in your field are the trees you water and allow to continue growing. You decide whether your field will be filled with trees flourishing with spiritual fruit giving glory to God. Your field is not your own, it is sustained by the life given to it by God, and the trees in your field came from God and you cultivate them to bring fruit back to God. As you grow and mature, the fruit you produce will abound so you are able to produce more fruit that gives glory to God. Be fruitful and multiply His fruit.

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Matthew 13:24-30

You can't feed a sleeping baby.

Sleeping and eating are two of the many basic needs a baby has. Both are essential, but they can't be done at the same time. When a baby chooses to sleep, it is choosing not to eat and vice versa. When you are watering and caring for the plants in your field, you are not pulling weeds. When multiple tasks require your time,  you have to decide which one you will do. A sleeping baby chooses to sleep instead of eating. A hungry baby refuses to sleep no matter how many lullabies you sing it.The weeds call you to come pull them, but if you listen to the voice of the Gardener, you will know how to care for the good seeds amidst the weeds. Just as a baby naturally regulates its various needs, you can naturally move between the weeding and watering when you listen to the Gardener. “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:” (Ecclesiasties). You can only know the purpose of the time if you know and listen to the purpose giver.

You can't have everything; you have to choose what you will give up.

When you choose to eat, you are choosing not to sleep. A baby that is filling up on sleep doesn't need to be filled with food. Choosing to give up the things of the flesh is easier when you are filled with the Spirit. You cannot keep your life and keep eternal life; you have to choose one to give up.. When you choose to eat junk food, you are choosing not to eat steak and potatoes. The way you succeed in choosing not to eat junk food is by choosing to eat healthy foods. The way you fill up on eternal life is by giving up your life. You can’t take away life from someone who is full of eternal life. As you give up your life and fill yourself with eternal life, you acquire a life that cannot be taken away from you. 

It's not your challenges that define you, it's how you respond to them. 

The storms don’t define you; they simply show you what you are willing to throw overboard and what you are unwilling to let go of. Storms can help you define what you will give up and what you hold on to. As you exit the storm, you become more of what you held on to and less of what you were willing to let go. When you are willing to throw the life of the flesh away so you can hold on to the life of the spirit, you will become more alive spiritually. When you are alive in the spirit, all the other things in life can be added to you (Matthew 6:33). A baby can transition between sleeping and eating peacefully when it is in a place of spiritual comfort.

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:1-11

The only way to get eternal life is for the One who has it to give it to you.

The one mindset that is to be in us, which is also the mindself of Christ Jesus had a mindset of giving. Jesus, who is equally in the form of God, took on the form of a bondservant, not to gain glory, but to give life to us. Like Christ, we gain when we give, not when we hoard to ourselves. Christ demonstrated obedience to Himself when He gave up His life on the cross, despising its shame for the sake of giving. You demonstrate obedience by giving away what has been given to you—eternal life. You cannot hoard eternal life to yourself because it was not yours to begin with. 

He gave away His eternal life but did not lose it for Himself. 

Because Jesus’ mindset was to give in order to increase God’s glory, he submitted Himself to the dominion of death. He gave up His life, but He lost nothing by giving it away. Since in God’s economy giving increases the supply, life was gained by Jesus giving His life away so we could receive eternal life.

Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Romans 6:9-10

The steward in Luke 16 was rewarded because he increased the honor and reputation of his master by reducing the amount his master's debtors owed him. The steward acted with a kingdom mindset and gained prestige for his master by leveraging his master's debtors.

He took on weakness and became no weaker.

When Jesus was born as a human under the curse of sin (Hebrews 4), He took on something He didn’t have before (flesh). Yet Jesus is eternal, so there is no “before” or “after” to Him. In the timed universe we live in, Jesus took on fleshly weakness at a point of time; but in the realm God lives in outside of our timed universe, He always had and always will have taken on human form. Also, because He is omnipotent, He can take on weakness without becoming weaker. If God is your strength, you don’t have to worry about your weakness because His grace is sufficient to cover all your weakness. Put on the mind of Christ and use your weakness to proclaim His strength.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

1 John 1:5-10

The angels hovering over the ark of the covenant mirror the angels guarding the way to the Garden of Eden.

Sin cannot stand in God’s presence. God’s holiness prevents sin from coming near Him, and He has guardians that keep unrighteousness from tainting His holiness. God shares His holiness with you so that you are able to come before His presence.

Since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him. You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—in these ways we continue; and we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look—we all are Your people!

Isaiah 64:4-9 

God is so holy that even in our righteousness, we are no better than filthy rags. We need His holiness to make us worthy to even stand before His presence.

One sin sent Adam out of the garden.

Because God is holy and he desires a relationship with us, he took our sin upon Himself and gave us His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). Human righteousness is not enough; only His righteousness is good enough. You have to let Him cover you in His righteousness. 

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Isaiah 61:10

It is His garments of salvation and His robe of righteousness that you must cover yourself with. When you clothe yourself in His robes of righteousness, He adds jewels and adornment to increase the measure of God’s glory that is bestowed upon you.

The only way to become a citizen of heaven is to be a natural-born citizen. You must be born again. 

The righteousness of man will not get you into Heaven. You must have the robe of His righteousness (Matthew 22:11-13). You cannot just add His righteousness to what you are; you have to become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:23-24). As you submit to Him and become a new creation, He molds you like a potter reworking a piece of clay.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Romans 8:31-35

What Satan uses with the intent to destroy,  God uses to deliver. 

When you try to put God on your side, you become vulnerable to the trials of life, but when you are on God’s side, nothing can harm you. Focus on the love of Christ in every situation, and nothing will be able to conquer you. “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20). Even in the worst of situations, God is still there and He can work for your good if you pursue Him. Satan sought to destroy God at the cross, but God used to deliver us from our sin. 

For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther 4:14

God will always deliver, the question is whether or not you will allow Him to use you to be a part of His mode of delivering.

Satan gives you temptations, but God gives you grace. 

God does not tempt you, He gives you the grace you need when you are tempted. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God;’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”  (James 1:13). Satan cannot give you grace, he only tempts you, hoping you will fall and not trust God to bring you out of your situation. But God is so rich in His power and mercy that every situation Satan brings against you only shows God’s grace and glory clearer. Therefore, you have nothing to fear from the attacks of the enemy when your hope is in God. “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,’ Says the Lord.” (Isaiah 54:17). No one can argue with God, so when His righteousness covers you (2 Corinthians 5:21) you will have victory over every adversary that comes against you.

Develop the kind of faith that steps out of the boat and walks to Jesus. 

When your faith is in God’s powers, you have nothing to fear from the waves around you. The waves around you may cause you to fear, or they can draw you near to God’s presence in the midst of the storm. Storms will either break you or make you trust in God. If you choose to trust in God in the midst of a storm, His strength will shine through you and you will become an example for others to turn to when they are in stormy waters. Satan brings storms to break you, but God uses those same storms to build your trust in Him. If you have faith like a mustard seed, you will turn to God in your storms and step out of the boat. As you step out of the boat in faith, you will walk on water not because of your great faith, but because His grace covers you. Trust in His grace, put on His righteousness, and step out of the boat to follow Him.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, … Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Romans 1:18-23

Ignoring something because you can't fix it doesn't make it go away. 

Suppressing the truth doesn’t make it less true. Neglecting the study of the truth doesn’t make it any less true. Ignoring the truth that something is broken doesn’t fix it. The only way to fix the brokenness in the visible world is for the invisible God to make it new. Trying to fix the world without God is ineffective and pointless. Ignoring the truth that God is the only solution for our broken world only leads to corruption and insanity just as looking at a picture of someone you don’t know doesn’t make you love them. Ignoring the brokenness of the world doesn’t make it go away. Reflecting on the brokenness of the world should point you to God as the only one who can fix it. 

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Romans 8:22-23.

God’s solution isn’t to throw away what is broken, but to redeem and restore it. Even when humanity broke the visible world by separating it from its invisible Creator, God reached down to restore His creation by becoming a visible part of it (John 1:14). He restores His creation by reuniting His invisible nature with the visible.

Wishing something didn't happen doesn't make it go away.

Wishing that sin didn't happen and that sin didn't separate you from God doesn't solve the problem. The visible world longs to be in relationship with the invisible God, but the yearning of creation doesn’t bring back together the relationship that has been severed. The visible world can’t move back towards a relationship with the invisible God, so God makes the first move (Romans 5:8). Instead of wishing He was in relationship with His creation, God brings Himself back into the context of His creation to call us into a relationship with Him. Wishing you could have a restored relationship with God doesn’t make it happen. Only God can fix your relationship with Him, and He did everything to do that.

Instead of reliving your past sins, take a simple lesson forward with you. 

As you look at a world out of relationship with God, you see it also yearning to return to its proper relationship with its creator. Instead of looking backward at the relationship that was lost, look forward to the restored relationship God wants to have with creation and work to make that become a reality. The past is something you can't fix, which doesn't mean you should simply ignore it. The brokenness of the past should point you toward the One who can fix it. "Forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead." Phil 3:13. Instead of sitting back, wishing God would restore His relationship with creation, become involved in making His kingdom come on earth by living out His love.

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Hebrews 8:3-10

The things on earth are copies of the things in heaven. 

Since the things on earth have been corrupted by sin, they need the actual heavenly priest to purify them. The earthy, Aaronic, priests are a copy of the heavenly, Melchizedek, priesthood. Broken copies cannot fix broken copies; only the unbroken original can fix the broken copies.

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Hebrews 7:1-3

The earthly nation of Israel, the earthly tabernacle, and the earthly priesthood are broken earthly copies of the heavenly hosts, the heavenly throne room as the dwelling place of God, and the conglomerate continual praise brought to God by His people.

Your dust is connected to dust, your spirit is connected to spirit. 

Don't let the dusty parts of life run your life; rather, let your spiritual life run your physical dust. Physical dust cannot become spiritual, neither can the spirit become physical. The spirit takes off the mortal physical dust and puts on the immortal physical life. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50), because a broken copy cannot stand in the presence of the original. Spirit does not inherit flesh, it puts off the mortal and puts on the immortal. Because the life we have is a broken copy of the life we are supposed to have, we have to turn to the Original Life to restore our broken copy.

Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; do not plunder his resting place; for a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. 

Proverbs 24:15-16

Just because you failed to do something before doesn’t mean you should forgo doing it now.

You may have fallen down before, but get up like you never hit the floor. As you get up and move on from your past failure, the better chance you will have of not falling again. The more you think about your failures and worry about them, the more likely you are to repeat them. You can respond to your failures without worrying about them.

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 

If a righteous person has been plundered by the wicked, he will be prepared against a future attack. A wicked man will accept the loss and will seek to replace the material with other stolen goods. You bring your experiences forward with you. Your past failures, oppressions, and persecutions shape who you are and how you naturally react, but they don’t have to shape your future. You choose how you will respond to your past, living in fear that it will happen again or accepting that it happened, taking precautions so that it won’t happen again, and moving on.

Forgiveness changes the present not the past.

No one can change the past. When you forgive others for what they may have done to you and move on from how you may have failed, you are able to live free in the present. Instead of hanging on to the past or grasping at the future, living moment by moment gives you the freedom to live by humility and kindness with forgiveness and contentment.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Colossians 3:12-14

Just as God lives outside of time, you are able to live outside of time when you live by forgiveness. When you live by forgiveness, you are freed from the control of the past and the concern of the future. You live each moment as a gift from God that you are able to use.

Pain drives you, but love drives you stronger.

Many pains can drive you in life—past pain, present discomforts and the fear of future pain—but love drives you by the power of free choice. Ignoring the past doesn’t free you from the conditions the past has caused, but you choose how you are going to live the now in response to the then. Living by forgiveness allows you to remove the chains of the past and walk into the future with freedom. Don’t let past failures prevent you from pursuing what you should do to be conformed to the image of Christ.

Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Galatians 6:6-8

Control your health in the kitchen, not the gym.

What you sow into your heart and mind becomes what grows in your life. It is easier to improve your life by controlling what is sown into it rather than continually fertilizing and tilling the soil in hopes that it will produce something. You will spend less time plowing through rocks if you don’t let them into your field in the first place. You will spend less time fixing bugs in your code if you don’t write them in there in the first place. A healthy spiritual life begins with what you eat. Once you get the food right, then you can move on to making sure you have proper digestion.

When you hide God's word in your life, you are gathering the oil for a light that will shine out of you.

When Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,”  the lamp needs to be continually burning to show you His path. For the lamp to continually burn, it needs a continual supply of oil. Filling your heart with God’s word prepares the oil that will keep God’s word lit in your life.The lamp of the tabernacle was to be kept burning continually (Exodus 27:20), so you must keep filling your life with God’s oil that gives your life its glow. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” Having the lamp continually burning in your life is how you are able to always be ready to share the gospel.

It doesn't matter what you know if you can't or won't communicate it.

 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.” (Luke 8:16). God did not choose to make you His tabernacle so you could keep His light to yourself. He calls you to shine out continually so others can see His light burning in you and turn to Him. You must begin by continually gathering the right oil for God’s lamp—His Word—and then continually fill the lamp so it can continually burn.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. … He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-14

You don't become more righteous by listing the things you've done right.

You can only become righteous by letting God’s light shine through you. “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20). No one can measure up to God’s requirement of righteousness, and no one can manufacture their own light. Only God creates light, and He gives light to the world so that we might know Him. You can let God’s light shine through you and you can reflect His light, but nothing you do can make you become the light. You are a light bearer as you bear witness of the light, but you are not a light creator.

You cannot turn on or off darkness.

Darkness does not exist. It is defined as the absence of light; it is not a thing that can be studied. You can turn off the light and you can hide the light, but you cannot turn on darkness. You have to turn off the light for it to be dark. Darkness cannot comprehend light because darkness is a lack of meaningful information. A prism can break light down into waves that can be studied, and through light you can study other things. When you see the world through God as the light, you can better understand it. But without God, the world lacks meaningful content. Light does not become brighter when you study it, but by studying it and living by the light, you are then able to explain the light to others. Your presentation of the light doesn’t change the light either, it simply provides an opportunity for someone in darkness to step out and see the light.

The gates of Heaven are the gates of righteousness.

Just as light is the way you are able to study everything else, so righteousness is the gate that allows you to look into God’s dwelling place. Jesus is righteous; He is the gate we enter through to God’s city to praise Him. “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).” (Revelation 21:23-25). When Jesus is your light, He shows you the door to God’s presence as He lights the path before you. “Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, through which the righteous shall enter.” (Psalm 118:19-20). Jesus’ light of righteousness shines out like a beacon to those who are in darkness to come to the gate and let the lamb become your righteousness.

These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: John 16:1-8

 

Do not seek worldly grief but Godly grief.

It is for our advantage that God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and convict us of sin, warn us of judgment and lead us into righteousness. Worldly grief gives sorrow without hope, but Godly grief leads to repentance and change.

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:9-10

Measure your grief by your desire to change. The reason why it is to our benefit that Jesus went away is because the Holy Spirit came to dwell in us, convicting and changing us.

What voice are you tuning yourself to?

The more you tune to a voice the more you will hear that voice and resist others. The Holy Spirit is God’s voice that calls out from your inward parts. Reading your Bible sets the signal of your heart to the right station. With the Holy Spirit inside you, your heart also sends out a signal. When you align the two signals, your life changes as you stand on the line of communication between the two transmitters of God’s voice. The more you tune yourself to God’s voice, the more able you are to keep your balance as the winds blow and other transmitters tempt you to step out on their lines. “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats… Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.” (Romans 14:3-5). When you know the voice of the Lord, you will be free to live. Of course you will still grow in your faith, but you won’t be tossed around by every whim of doctrine (James 1:6). You won’t be constantly questioning whether a new concept is God’s voice or not. Your growth will be a seamless movement of your life in alignment with God’s voice. 

If you can rule yourself, you have more sovereignty than kings.

 A king who cannot rule himself is not free, for “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8:34). Freedom comes from being tuned to God’s voice. When you know God’s voice and allow Him to control your life, you will have more sovereignty than many kings. God’s voice will lead you through the processes of repentance and change as you pick up new subtle tonal adjustments in your alignment to His voice. Do not fear what others may do to you, when you listen to the voice God has spoken to you, you will not stumble.

Share in suffering as a good soldier in Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 2 Timothy 2:3-5

 

Don't fear God's punishment; cling to his provision and protection.

In our broken world, you will experience hardships. You can view those hardships as punishments from God and/or the brokenness of the world we live in, or you can see those hardships as opportunities to put more of your trust in God. How you respond to hardships can embitter you towards God. You can perceive Him to be the source of the problems of the world as sin and selfish living become the imposition of His standards upon human freedom. Alternatively, you could view hardships as a result of the fall and opportunities to renew your dependence upon God’s provision and protection.

 

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Life will either draw you toward God so He can solve your problems or make you run away from Him as you determine to struggle through life on your own. The biggest moments in life (birth, death, etc.) cannot be done on your own. You cannot perform surgery on yourself while under anesthesia. You have to put your trust in the doctors who are not under anesthesia and are outside your autonomous system. The closer you are to the doctor, the better he can perform the surgery. Your pain and need for surgery should draw you near to the Doctor so He can draw near to you and your pain.

 

The only way to make sense of the pain of life is to turn to Jesus.

 Sharing in Christ’s suffering is part of what it means to be a good soldier in Christ Jesus. “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” (Matthew 10:24). The only way to make sense of our pain is to look to the One who bore the greatest suffering of anyone on the cross. We can partake in the joy set before Christ (Hebrews 12:2) by partaking in the suffering of life with a spirit of joy. Suffering can make you draw near to Christ as you cling to His provision.

 

Jesus offered forgiveness even for those who put Him on the cross.

 When you share in the sufferings of Christ with a spirit of forgiveness,, you allow His grace to flow through you to the world. Suffering is senseless until you add God’s love to the equation. His love holds everything together and offers freedom and forgiveness to those who are causing the suffering. Allow the suffering to draw you closer to God so that His love can shine through you. Cling to His protection during the surgeries in life while He holds you together and helps you make sense of every scar.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you. James 4:13-5:6

Find a better carrot not a bigger stick. 

Riches, fine garments, weeping, and howling are often motivating factors for us. We are often more motivated by what we get to have than what we might miss out on. We will clean up for a marshmallow that is offered to us, more than we will behave because someone threatens to take away our free time. As you seek to motivate others, find positive reinforcement for good behaviors rather than threats for negative behaviors. Positive reinforcement leads to motivating out of love, which causes another’s heart to be drawn toward the rewarder of good behavior (c.f. Romans 2:4, Hebrews 11:6). Threats, and negative reinforcement of bad behavior may produce behavior modification, but it doesn’t woo the heart you are reaching towards. (c.f. Exodus 7-11—Pharaoh's behavior was changed to let the people go, but he hardened his heart). If you want to have a far-reaching positive influence on others, offer rewards, riches, and fine garments; if you threaten with pain, weeping, and howling, your influence on others will often bring short-term compliance but harden their heart over time.

 

Teach what you believe in, not what you're against. 

The best way to lead others into the truth is to show them the truth rather than point out the lies they need to avoid. As you lead others into the truth, they will become aware of the falsehood pitfalls that are along the path of truth, but their focus will remain on the path of truth. The more you focus on the truth, the more you are able to ignore and avoid the falsehoods. You teach and live best by positively reinforcing the truth, rather than negatively attacking bad information. Throughout his epistles, Paul confronts false teaching, so it is important to guard against false teaching. Good teaching needs both an admonishment against false teaching and clear presentation of the truth. A society needs both clearly defined and enforced punitive consequences for violating its laws and a means to applaud those who exemplify what the society holds as good. Praising good behavior provides the carrot that motivates individuals; punishing bad behavior reinforces the rules of the society. The rules (negative reinforcements) are not harmful while the rewards (positive reinforcements) are good (Romans 7:7-12). Both rules and rewards are necessary. Only having rules leads to a fear of the law and disengaged compliance, but only having rewards leads to a disregard of the laws and leads to chaos. if rules and rewards are implemented together, it leads others to positive behavior out of a desire to do so.

Unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.  2 Corinthians 3:13-18

You're either ruled by fear or freedom. 

If you need glasses to see properly, you are not freed from the fear of not having the ability to see by not wearing glasses. Freedom is not removing aid or removing rules. Freedom is found by knowing the rules and working with them. Fear is working outside the rules and hoping you won’t get caught or expecting someone else to work outside the rules and cause you harm. Both fear and freedom are based on God’s rules of life. Fear is caused by actions that are outside of God’s rules while freedom is living within the rules of life. If you know the rules of taxes, you are free to use the system in the way that brings you the most benefit from the tax system. If you know the rules but don’t follow them, you live in fear that you will eventually be caught. If you don’t know the rules of taxes, you are not free from them; you will operate in fear that you might break the ones you aren’t aware of. In the rest of life, you either live by fear or by freedom by knowing God’s rules and living by them. If you don’t know God’s rules, you live in fear that you may violate a rule you were unaware of, but God’s rules are easy to learn (Romans 1:20) and once you learn them , you are accountable to them (Luke 12:42-48), and free to live within them.

Living by God's laws gives you freedom. 

You can look at God’s laws as either the glasses through which you see the world or the veil that hides the world from you. A tree has not been freed if it is removed from the dirt, and a fish is not free if it is out of the water. God’s laws are like the dirt and the water. God’s laws  give you a life-giving context to build your life and actions upon. Freedom is not living without laws; it is knowing the laws and being able to live within them. God’s laws are the dirt and water that you live in.

Murder yourself to live for God.

You are the most free when you are doing what God wants rather than what you want. Thus, putting yourself to death so you can live for God gives you the greatest freedom you can have. As you learn God’s laws, you discover your freedom to live and move and have your being (Acts 17:28). If you know God’s laws, you are free to live within the world He created, which is governed by His laws. If you don’t know God’s laws or choose to live in opposition to God’s laws, you will live in fear rather than freedom.

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. Psalm 119:9-16

The Holy Spirit is ready to water your soul but you have to turn on the spigot. 

The water is always ready but you control the flow. You decide what you will seek with your heart, and you decide what you will hide in your heart. The way you decide what you will declare with your lips is by what you fill your heart with. You can only indirectly control what flows out of your mouth; you control what pours forth from your lips by controlling its water source—your heart. The reservoir of your heart is ready and waiting to be filled; you have to decide what you want to fill it with. Once your heart is filled, whatever is filling it will flow out of your mouth. “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45b). Be mindful of what you fill your heart with, for it will come pouring out of your mouth.

You’re not supposed to only know God, you’re supposed to believe in Him. 

Knowing God is the first step in filling yourself with Him. knowing God exists is an act of the mind; believing in God is an act of the heart. Knowing God is the equivalent of knowing water exists; believing in God gets the water running through the pipes to the spigot. “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19). Getting water to the spigot doesn’t water your soul; you have to turn the spigot on.

You’re not only supposed to believe in Him, you’re supposed to be His disciple. 

Once your mind and your heart are connected in the pursuit of God, life can begin to flow (Hebrews 11:6). Turning on the spigot is when you connect your heart to your body and allow the water of the Holy Spirit to change you. You can only become a disciple of Jesus if you are willing and decide to follow Him. Many are willing to follow Jesus, but only the ones who actually follow Him will be saved (see Luke 9:57-62). Becoming Jesus’ disciple is more than an act of your mind and your heart; it is an act of your soul, which begins in your mind, flows to your heart and then comes through your body as discipleship transforms your life. It is a movement of your entire soul.

You’re not only supposed to be His disciple, you’re supposed to be His apostle. 

Once you have the spigot turned on, water can flow into your life, but it also needs somewhere to go. If water just sits in one place, it begins to create mold and mildew. For the system to be healthy, the water has to have a place to run into. As part of being a disciple, you have to have someone else to pour your life into. The spigot won’t run out of water. You need to let what flows into you flow into others so that you are ready for a fresh supply of water. The gospel begins in your mind, flows to your heart, transforms your body (actions), and then goes out to water those around you.

“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior. I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, and there was no foreign god among you; therefore you are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “that I am God. Indeed before the day was, I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?” Isaiah 43:10-13

Keep holy the things that are holy. 

Keeping things holy doesn't happen naturally, if you don’t make an effort to keep something holy, it will quickly become commonplace. God is holy, and, as His servant whom He has chosen, you are to spread His holiness to the world around you. You are to declare that there is no savior apart from God and that no one else can deliver out of His hand. You can only become the witness of His holiness if you share and spread His holiness. An integral part of His holiness is that there is no other God than the Lord.

God is neither a vending machine nor a slave driver. 

God is a relationship and He is holy. Because God is completely holy,everything He gives is holy, but all He does is only a glimmer of His holiness. To keep God's holiness pure, you have to focus on Him rather than anything that comes from Him. He gives grace to the humble, to those who can't afford to buy anything from God's vending machine (everyone). He also demands more holiness from us than the Scribes and Pharisees had. But He pays for us to receive from His vending machine and gives us the holiness we could never attain on our own.

Do more than is expected of you. 

When volunteering to do more than is required, you turn a required task into a choice. You eliminate the drudgery of something by deciding to joyously do even more than what is expected. Going beyond what is expected is another aspect of God's holiness. He created the universe, then goes beyond what is expected by creating mankind in His image. Mankind chooses to reject Him and again God goes beyond what is expected by redeeming mankind rather than starting over. Not only does He redeem mankind, but He sacrifices Himself to do it. He requires absolute holiness for anyone to be in His presence, and then He gives us His holiness to meet His requirement. God alone is completely holy and we become a witness of His holiness by allowing His holiness to be reflected in us.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Heb 11:1-3

All education is spiritual. 

Education comprises learning of both physical properties and non-physical principles that govern those properties. You cannot learn something about the properties without also learning something about the principles and the One who made both of them. Everything you learn about the visible world teaches you about the invisible framework that holds the physical things in place. All learning, whether about the visible or the invisible, teaches you about the invisible hand of God. As long as you are actively engaged in some process of learning, you will be learning about God. because God made everything, visible and invisible, He is in control of both the physical properties and the non-physical principles. He performs things that seem like a miracle to us but to Him are simple expressions of Himself. 

He causes water to come out of the rock.

God is full of life. He created His image by giving life to dirt, surely He can bring forth life-giving water from a rock. He adds the principles of life to inanimate objects, making them more than they were before. Even inanimate objects are animated at the subatomic level as the strong force holds the nucleus of an atom together while electrons orbit like the planets in our solar system. As long as you are engaged in the process of learning, you are learning about God. Just as faith, a non-material principle comes out of the material substance of evidence, God creates life-giving nourishment out of inanimate objects. God gives life because He has an abundance of life that overflows from who He is.

God's river does not run dry.

Life flows from God, and He never runs out. He created the universe and pours the overflow of His life into it. The universe displays a small measure of God’s creativity. Every time you learn anything about the universe, you are learning about the creativity and order of God’s nature. When you study the work of His hands, you can begin to see the groves of His fingerprints. Life flows out of every ridge and crevice of His fingerprints as He holds the universe in the palm of His hands. You will find that His life goes deeper than any valley and higher than any mountain ridge. You can never come to an end of learning about God and His creations because His life has no end. Everything you decide to study and learn will show you more of His life.

Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity. Honor widows who are really widows. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God. Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. And these things command, that they may be blameless. But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man, well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. 1 Timothy 5:1-10

You cannot love your enemy and hate them at the same time.

The clearest expression of loving someone is providing for their needs. The first need someone has is to be alive—all other needs are contingent upon this need. This is why Jesus asserts that the resurrection applies to the Patriarchs (Matthew 22:29-33), and that the greatest act of love someone can do is to give up his life (John 15:13). It is hard to hate someone you are providing for. If you don’t give life to (provide for) your own family, then you aren’t doing what even the unbelievers do (Matthew 5:43-48). Your family is an extension of who you are, they will magnify your good and bad habits. Family relationships can be challenging, but they are also rewarding.  

What if God wants you to give up your life and even what is important to serve your spouse and kids.

The greatest mission God has given you is to minister to your family. Many times the missions that are important in your life become less important when the more important things require more of your time. If the most important mission of your life is to love in truth, you won't have the time and energy to hate. “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;” (Romans 12:9-10). The more you cling to what is good—love—the more your love will be sincere, without hypocrisy. Love without hypocrisy will not remain within its limits. It begins in your immediate family, but should overflow to those who are outside your family—including your enemies. When you cling to love, you will naturally abhor, dislike, what is evil. If you love what is good, it increases in goodness. If you love what is evil, it takes your love and asks for more and more without returning any good.

Your family is the Promised Land God has provided for you.

The optimum setting for you to sow good into is your family. Your family becomes the deepest expression of yourself and what you cling to and what you abhor. The world was created to be good, it was man’s desire that brought evil into a good world (c.f. James 1:14). Our desires need to be aligned with God’s desires so we love what He loves. The first good relationship God created was family as He made mankind in His image. When you truly, deeply love your family, it allows your love to overflow to your enemy who you might not naturally love. Life is a process of giving up your desires to serve others first, and you learn that by loving your family. Enjoy the promised land God has given you, your family, and allow your love to flow beyond the limits of family.