Pages of power

If you are among the vast number of people in this world who own a Bible or Bibles you should consider yourself blessed indeed.

It is a power packed book. The only one of its kind.

It tells the beginning.
It predicts the end.
It tells of heaven.
It warns of hell.
It contains countless miracles.
It speaks truth.
It dispels darkness.
It points to One Man who changed the world forever.
It has the power to change the one who reads it, claims it, and hides it in their heart.

Knowing all of this should make us treasure it like a precious gem; but most of us could find our bible tossed aside somewhere collecting proverbial dust.

Christ told us to live by its words. To feast upon them as if they were our last meal. Do we?

I have been a believer in Jesus Christ since the tender age of 9. But only in the past few years have I begun to be a lover of the Word of God. The love affair began when I forced myself to study it. I became one of those fanatical women who attend bible study every single week.
(Still am)
Not that I needed anything extra to do but because I found myself being drawn in by an ancient text.

This book of power began to come alive to me. Stories written thousands of years ago somehow spoke into my current circumstances.

It was uncanny. But that is God. He is ever-constant and always relevant.

This past Sunday I was sitting in church listening to our associate pastor bring a powerful and convicting message.

One of the texts he used almost smacked me in the face. Strong words stung me with conviction and pierced my stubborn heart.

Amazing, isn't it?

I was sitting there with hundreds of folks....but God had something to say to me. And to them too. But only He can personalize a single passage of scripture and make it speak to many different individuals in their specific lives.

The text that smacked me in the face....Romans 8:5-8.
"Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."

Meet my flesh. This is Andrea....on days when I wake up and decide to do things my way.

Words like....sinful, hostile, and does not submit may seem a bit harsh but they are true. We like to candy coat them and just say we are having a bad day. But it goes way beyond that. We can have a bad day and still live out that day in God's will. What we really are is hostile in our minds toward God.

Yikes.

This was a powerful word of warning to me.

I am to set my mind on Christ. I am to staunchly follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. I am to submit to Him.

Doing these things will result in blessings for me...life, peace, and pleasing my Father who loves me so.