Morning Coffee with Jesus - October 12, 2011
Greetings loved ones!
Today’s “Morning Coffee with Jesus” comes from Proverbs 8:36. “But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death."
I once knew a man who had a beautiful and godly wife and three beautiful and extraordinarily talented children. He was an associate pastor of a church I attended and I worked with him on several projects through the 7 years we were there together.
About three years after I left that church I found out that he had misappropriated funds in the last year he was there. My heart broke – not for the money taken from the members, though it too broke my heart, but because I knew the Holy Spirit convicted him of what he was doing yet he ignored the Holy Spirit. I could only imagine how heartbroken God must have been when this man refused to obey the Holy Spirit.
But sin itself, is hell – a living hell, and death and misery to the soul because of the departure from goodness and holiness. Our total and complete happiness is in God and when we break that relationship, the loss is a total one. Repentance and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus’ blood on the cross restores that relationship but the anguish and the pain the soul endures until that relationship is re-established is miserable.
However, if we continue in faith, daily reading and meditating on God’s Word and seeking His will for us through prayer, if our hearts are sensitized to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can know instinctively in our hearts when we stray. God’s precious Holy Spirit is there to offer a gentle “nudge” to keep us on the right road.
Today, allow your heart to be extra sensitive to God’s Holy Spirit. “Tune in” and listen to that which God is telling you. Allow the Holy Spirit into the recesses of your heart where He has not gone before. As you begin to feel a burden, buried deep in your heart, begin to lift, you will be closer to experiencing total and complete happiness. Deal with those issues because they will not go away – they will serve to continue to keep you captive.
The pastor, of whom I spoke earlier, lost everything. He lost his credentials, he and his wife divorced, and his children moved away all because of his selfishness. That is too great a price to pay! Be obedient to the Holy Spirit. Keep your relationship right with God. Your relationship with God affects more than just you!
Matthew Henry said it perfectly, “Those who offend Christ deceive themselves; sin is a wrong to the soul. Sinners die because they will die, which justifies God when he judges.”
Have an incredible day in Jesus!
Stay sweet,
stay broken,
stay His!
Blessings,
E.
