Faith

by Debbie Wallis

all the outside activities, kids in and out, dogs in and out, ice cream, sand, and eating on the run Late nights and early mornings starting all over again leaves little time for deep cleaning so I spent the day doing “spring cleaning” on the second day of school It’s hard to keep a house clean and it’s hard to keep a life clean because sin stains everything Sin is like a contagious disease When a person with a cold kisses a person in perfect health, does the sick person catch health from the healthy person? No, the healthy person can catch a cold from the sick person. Sin is like dirt and like disease. It transfers m easier than holiness.

relationship with Himself

God’s blessings begin the moment we begin to obey Him “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin,”

1 John 1:7 God will bless you in your obedience The Apostle Paul declared in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” What is the secret of obedience?

Never give up Keep on doing good, keep on serving the Lord, keep on helping others, keep on living for Christ, and in the end you will reap a bountiful harvest When that glad day finally comes and you see Jesus, you will have no regret serving the Lord

“Jesus replied, ‘That’s true, but the people who are really blessed are the ones who hear and obey God’s word,” Luke 11:28. If you don’t have a Bible please contact me at sfadebbie@yahoo com and I will provide you one

“Love means that we do what God tells us And from the beginning He told you to love Him” 2 John 1:6 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments,” John 15:14

God gave us the law, the Ten Commandments, so we could see how far from His ways we are Jesus later said in John that if we loved Him we will keep them James 3:2 warns us that we all stumble in many ways It’s not murder or robbing banks that most Christians are tempted with but keeping the Sabbath holy may be. Envy would be lots easier to ignore if we had everything we wanted. Gossip is no problem until we hear something juicy. We never lose our temper as long as we’re not around other people We’re usually not grumpy or rude until someone gets under our skin Obedience is easy in theory but difficult in practice This is really a lesson about the pervasive power of sin If you wash your hand and then touch a dirty plate will your clean hand make the dirty plate clean? If you walk on clean carpet with dirty shoes the carpet gets dirty Sin is like dirt and spreads quickly Summer is so busy with

When your heart isn’t right wit God, whatever you do will be wrong God wants the hearts o people to be fully devoted to H “But Samuel replied, ‘What is m pleasing to the Lord; your burn offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Obedi is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than the fat of rams,” 1 Samuel 15:22 God doesn’t want a big house filled with empty hearts He didn’t want animal sacrifice unless it was accompanied by a living sacrifice of the people. You can’t fool God. He isn’t impressed by religious ritual unless it is accompanied by a humble heart. God wants your heart because if He has your heart, He’ll soon have every other part of your life That’s why Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life ” Don’t waste days, weeks, months, and even years blaming others for your problems After you are through blaming the world for the mess you are in, you will still have deal with God The quicker you deal with God, the quicker you can get better and move on with your life God is not out to hurt you He wants to bring you to a deeper