Romans 15:1-6

“1. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 

2. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. 

3. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. 

4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 

5. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 

6. That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God clearly expects the mature saint to carry those who are weaker. Not to please ourselves, or do what we want in spite of those that are weak.

Translations of “ought to” are: duty; must be patient with; indebted to; obligation; must be considerate of.

Translations of “infirmities” are: failings; sensitive; shortcomings; weakness.

We are to be our brother’s keeper (Genesis 4:9). Luke 10: 25-37 illustrates that our brother and neighbor is whoever needs us. Just as Christ bore our reproaches (weaknesses), we must have that same mind. 

We are called by God to be a help. We are called to liberty (freedom – out of bondage). But we are not called to wield our liberty (freedom) as a weapon against our weaker brothers. We must serve one another in love.

Why is all this necessary? So we can walk in unity. 

How can we be unified when we have offended our brother. Or if we have turned our backs on our brother whe he needed me?

We cannot please ourselves alone. We must please God by being a neighbor to everyone who needs us whenever possible.

Oh, the responsibility of faith!!

Proverbs 3:5

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;

and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

Contrary to popular opinion, trusting God is a learned skill that must be practiced over and over. Why? Because it has to become second nature to us. An automatic behavior to the believer. 

It is not easy. We are constantly fighting against our nature – to do what we know to do to succeed.

Trusting God requires us to take the back seat. To deny our flesh, and put God first -“Nevertheless, Thy will be done.” Trusting God enough to patiently wait on him to do what he said, and be who he said he would be to us. 

In our practicing, there will be times when we fail. Repent, and forgive yourself. Get up, dust yourself off, and keep it moving. Next time, succeed. 

We can prepare be starting on smaller easier situations. So when the larger tougher situations arise, we have experience in trusting God. We can draw on those experiences for strength. 

In 2017, the ability to trust God is imperative. Many are feeling uncertain about the future. Trusting God, and standing on the word is the only sure foundation. We walk by faith and not by sight. We don’t sink into fear, we trust God.

The only true failure is to never learn how to trust God.

Ephesians 3:17-18

17 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 

18. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

Without doubt we need the Lord as never before. Let us seek him while he may be found.

Let’s us stand on/in faith; and not sink to or give in to fear. Fear kills, faith brings life.

God bless us all.

Psalms 16:11
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy;  at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

We serve an awesome God. He is so faithful to us that he takes the time to direct us in the way we should go. 

The Path of Life can be seen as a way or track laid down for walking or made by continual treading. It is the way many have walked before you. A way many will walk after you. It leads successfully to the place when God needs us to be. It leads us to a special place in him. A life that should be lived in him. Why? Because in his presence is where we will find everything we need to be successful in life.

Fulness (fullness) by definition as the state of being filled to capacity. 

Joy is defined as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. synonyms: delight, great pleasure, joyfulness, jubilation, triumph, exultation, rejoicing, happiness, gladness, glee, exhilaration, exuberance, elation, euphoria, bliss, ecstasy, rapture.

So the fulness of joy talked about here is being filled the capacity with all that joy encompasses.

This is not to say that we will never experience sadness, or sorrow, mourning, grief, upset, or any of the multitude of feelings that life will throw at us. What it does mean is that none of these feelings should inhabit us. Or be able to reach so deep inside of us that it alters the way we think, perceive, believe, live or even worship God.

How can they when we are already filled with joy?

As the children of the most high God, we should be able to successfully navigate these (negative) feelings without allowing them to defeat us. Or allowing them to stay so long with us that we forget who we are, and whose we are.

The fulness of joy should kick, and keep us from the despair that negative emotions will bring.

What I like to think of as the bonus – sticking with God (remaining in him) gives us access to pleasures defines as a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment – forever.

The right hand of God is viewed as his place of power. Because of his power there is a feeling of satisfaction and enjoyment. 

It is an awesome feeling to know how much God loves us. All we have to do is choose to study the scriptures to find out all that God desires to give us. Then make the choice to walk in them.

God will show us the path of life. We have to decide to walk that path.