How to be righteous and please God

In Matthew ch.5 Jesus tells His disciples that blessing will come from suffering, self denial, a desire for righteousness, mercy and peace, and tells them to rejoice when persecuted on account of Him.  As a believer I am told to salt the earth and give light to the world so that men might give glory to God for my good works.  Jesus goes on to say that unless my righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees I will never enter the kingdom of God.  From verse 21 to the end of the chapter I am told that Jesus requires that I not only stop sinning in the flesh but the intent of my mind and my heart must be pure, and that I must do good to those who are doing evil to me.  Finally, in the last verse of this chapter, I am told that I must be as perfect as God Himself ...... ...

 

 

This is where I give up all hope of trying to get into the kingdom of God by any other means except through grace, and realise that it is futile to think that I can please Him with any righteousness other than  the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ,  a righteousness attained by the Holy Spirit through the gift of faith.

 

 

Wisdom's key

I have a desktop publishing package on my computer that I have been using for some time now, but I have not been using it to its full potential.  There are many facilities that I need on this package for the work that I do, and I have not been using them because I did not know they were there.

How did I find out that they were there?  I decided to use the tutorials that came with the package.  Now I am finding wonderful tools to help me with, and enhance, the products that I enjoy creating and the things that I enjoy writing about both in card and booklet form, and on blogs.

The same principal applies to my spiritual life.  Without a teacher I will remain carnal, and without a tutorial I cannot gain the knowledge and wisdom needed to transform me into what the Lord intends me to be.  In the book of Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11, God was telling the people through Jeremiah that His plans for them were 'for welfare, and not for evil, to give you  a hope and a future.'  He goes on to say in verses 12, 13 and 14 'Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you,'  

 

Proverbs chapter 24, verses 13 and 14 reveal that the secret of gaining that hope and future lies in gaining wisdom.  They read: 'My son, eat honey for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.  Know that wisdom is such to your soul, if you find it there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.'

 

 

 

Proverbs chapter 24, verses 3 to 6  says 'By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.   A wise man is mightier than a strong man and a man of knowledge than he who has strength, for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counsellors there is victory.'


 

God's plans for His church, His spiritual Israel, is for welfare, to give us a hope and a future.  Without the wisdom of God there is no hope or future.  This is why we need to look into the Christian's tutorial  which the teacher of all teachers, the Holy Spirit, will enlighten for us, to gain wisdom so that Jeremiah 29, verse 11 might be fulfilled in our lives today.

Then this spiritual house will be filled with all precious and pleasant riches, and we shall be equipped for spiritual warfare, having the victory through an abundance of counsellors.

Without reading the tutorials on my desk top publishing package I was blindly struggling, the same applies in my Christian walk.  There is a hidden power in the Bible that needs to be unlocked and we who are born of the Spirit have been given the key.  It is to have our minds renewed in the wisdom of Christ.   Then, and only then, are we each able to do the work that we have been called to do in Him, not in our own power, but by believing on Jesus and acting on His tutorial, which is the word of God


Teach me my Father

Teach me my Father to be like Jesus
in everything I say and do
teach me my Father to love my neighbour
and not to abuse the things from You
Teach me to share the gifts You send me
of love and joy and peace of mind
teach me to see the soul reaching out
from eyes that Satan has made blind
Teach me to lean on Your love my Father
change this heart of doubt and fear
teach me to say to every stranger
'Come inside ...... there's welcome here'
Teach me my Father to be like Jesus
and not to care for worldly things
teach me to tell the poor and the sick
'My Lord has healing in His wings'
Teach me to tell them of Your love
of how your work is being done
Simply because my wonderful Father .....
I believed upon Your Son

Then they said to him, 'What must we do, to be doing the works of God?'  Jesus answered and said unto them 'This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent.'  John ch.6 vs.28,29