Jesus is our example. His whole life revolved around doing the will of the Father. Have we arrived at this point yet? God wants us to come to that place where absolutely everything we do is about Him and His plans. Our whole life must point to God as Jesus did when He walked here in the flesh.

What can be said about us today? Many believers have all sorts of reasons why they can't do this or why they can not give God 100%. Maybe, without realizing it, many have actually hindered the whole process of yielding to Jesus. Some Christians have areas in their lives where they stunted or aborted the whole process of being born again. Yes, we all make mistakes; we all fall down at times but we must earnestly seek to come to that place where everything we do is about Jesus and the mission He has for us. Don’t fall into the devil’s trap that on this side of heaven you can’t walk in all that God has for you. If we will pay the price we can.

Too often too many who think they are saved spend a lot of time thinking only about poor me or dreaming up excuses why they can't do so many things. This can range all the way from why they can't tithe to why they can not pray for the sick or why they cant share the good news with others. Others will go to great lengths to declare how bad the church has treated them or how they have a right to continue lives contrary to the way the scriptures teach. I have no doubt many have been hurt by real and imitation Christians but it still goes back to You. Will you forgive, walk away from your self proclaimed mandate to spend your life attacking or pointing out all the faults or are you going to let it go and start becoming more like Christ?

Here in North America we have perfected many lists of rationalizations and we use to justify ourselves as to why we can not do so many things. The problem with this line of thought is simply that it is not Scriptural. God gives us the grace to change. Ask yourself this question if you can be honest with yourself. When people see you do they see Jesus or do they see something else? 

The problem with a lot of people it is not that they can not change. Their actions show they do not want to change. They do not value or have any real desire to change. Let’s be very honest. If we are at this stage we need make some immediate steps. I would encourage you to spend some time on the following Scriptures. Before you even read them, ask God to bring change in your life.

Rev 3:15-16

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

How many, as you are reading this, have some sort of problem or even doubt in a certain area? What are you doing about it? What steps are you taking so your outlook becomes the same as what the Word says?

Has God given you a dream or vision? We can complete and accomplish everything God tells us to do as we follow His ways. Are we heading down the road of change or do we have some problems or even old wounds or the hurts from yesterday that are hindering us? Do we spend time with God, reading His word or do we spend much more time doing other things? How much of your time is consumed by the world and the flesh compared to what you give to God and the things that are important to Him? Will we learn to do things that cultivate faith or we end up, by default, cultivating or even re-enforcing negative things in our lives? Let's look at our relationships — do they challenge and lead us into the fulfillment of the dream and the promises of God?

We need to come to that place where we become committed to fulfilling the dream that God has given. Do our day to day actions allow conviction into areas of our lives where we may be off track? What about the lives of those we meet? When we walk into a room, what do people sense? Do they sense someone on a mission, do they sense Jesus? Or do they sense someone who is without purpose, or even worse, do they sense the enemy of our souls? What do our day to day actions show?

When people encounter Jesus they are confronted with sin; they are given hope of a better way; they are shown a better way; they encounter the reason for life. What do they see when they see you and me? If today we where charged by the police for being a Christian, would we get convicted? Or would the evidence say, "No, that person is not a Christian; he is really a person of the world."? We must come to that place where there is no doubt in anyone’s mind Who we serve and what our mission is.

Have we starting to take on the characteristics of Jesus or are the characteristics of the world increasing? Let's be real honest with ourselves. Please, do not try to fool yourself. Are you working on the areas that God shows you are not proper? Or do you continually make excuses for them or even run from them as though they do not exist. I pray that today God would open all of our eyes so we can truly see what He sees. Friends, everything we do must be about Him — not us! Today, I want to head into an area that will make you, not only think, but learn to be real before God. As sure as you are reading these words, the days of sloppy grace or cheap excuses are at an end. It is time to mature.

If we do not come to that place of accepting what God wants to do in and through us, there will come a time of severe judgment for those that refuse to move with the things of God.

AN AREA OF CONCERN

An area of concern that I have been wondering a lot about revolves around who really is saved, and who is not. It is not that I lay awake trying to figure it all out, but what I see as the fruit of many professing Christians is not one of being saved. In some cases, the people are not even heading down the road of growing in God.

Let me put it to you this way. Could it be that some people have been saved because of a foxhole experience where a certain situation happened that caused them to turn to Jesus as a fire escape. Could it somehow be that, at the time they may have been sincere in wanting God to step in and rescue them but they did not want to be changed in the situation?

Could it be that this person never allowed God to truly be Lord? They only allowed Him the be their fire escape. Once they had escaped from their adverse situation, they went right back to their old ways, doing as they pleased.

Let me try to be clear, this type of person may have stopped doing drugs, may have stopped being abusive, may of stopped drinking. This person probably even started going to church on a fairly regular basis. They may give a donation once in a while and may even share a bit about how God got them out of the old mess.

The sad thing though, that is as far as it goes. The person has never matured past the first step. This type of person hears many great messages and even tells the speaker how it was 'just what I needed' only to forget it as soon as they left the building.

Many people will always try to justify their actions. They tell many of their friends how important they are and how it is so good to have them a friend — only to turn around and gossip to others about 'their friend'. I don't know about you but I don't want that type of friend. I know of some people who even use the enemy to try to justify their actions. They feel they have a demon and so, until they get rid of the demon, there is nothing they can do (meaning they can do anything they want and not be held responsible). Some use their husband or wife as their excuse. As soon as God moves on their partner then they will grow and become the person God wants. Others blame God saying, "If He would only do this or that" then they could grow. So, until God does something, it's His fault.

Others blame their lack of maturity on the fact that they had a bad childhood; others blame the abuse in their life. For some others it is their poor job or lack of a job; some say its because your partner will not be romantic with you. Some people can't grow because the pastor does not treat them special and this list of rubbish can go on and on and on.

I am well aware that many people have had things happen in their lives to cause pain and stress, but that is no excuse. We have a God who wants to deliver and set us free from the past.

I understand the pain that many have gone through but we must not let that stop us from moving on into all the Father has for us. If we have hurts or have been wounded, let God bring healing. Let’s stop majoring on the past and start looking to the future. It is time to grow up, deal with the past and move on. We must let the past pass at last. We must stop blaming everyone else for our problems! We need start to accept responsibility for our own actions.

Some of you are not  very nice — you lie and cheat. Your word is not worth the breath you use to speak it. You condemn others while expecting forgiveness for yourself. You go on the attack as bad if not worse than the ones you say did not except or hurt you. For many your only desire is to have a soap box to stand on to justify your ways and have no real desire to become Christ like.

We must come to grips with the truth that everything is about God and His wishes, it is not about us. When we can finally grasp that reality, our outlook will start to change very quickly. We can finally start to become a fulfilled person on the road to healing and maturity- instead of being a pain in the butt.

For some this wording may be tough but I share it to point out that you are to valuable to stay in the state you are. Its time to change.

What about others? Could it be that you were lead into a relationship with a church, a ministry, or a personality, but you were never lead into a relationship with Jesus? You live your life around the church instead of around Jesus. So many times people stay at churches that are dead, legalistic, uncaring and manipulative all because they have been led into a relationship with the church instead of Jesus.

On to the next page...