BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING
Author: Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans
Translator: Robin Barker
A while ago someone sent me the following piece of wisdom:
"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you do not have. Rather remember what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for."
This piece of wisdom made me start thinking and I now want to share with you what our Lord gave to me:
GAL 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Someone may say:
“That is all fine and dandy but how do I get it right to walk in the Spirit? Where and how do I begin?”
Begin at the beginning –
ACTS 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
ACTS 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
ACTS 2:39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Because I do not believe in ‘by chance’, for me the evidence that our Lord has called you to Him, is the very fact that you have opened this email and have already read it thus far.
Just Him and you know if you have answered His calling and if He now has to plead with you.
You see, it is written:
ACTS 2:39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Redeemer and Saviour, you must listen very carefully to His Spirit’s Voice which is continuously speaking to you from within and will give you guidance and you shall continually walk in the way of our Lord.
JOHN 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
JOHN 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid
If you do what I have now shown you, you have certainly come to that wonderful point in your life and concerning this matter I can now with total confidence apply Job’s words to me:
JOB 42:5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you
As I have told you – if you do what I have shown you from the Word, you come to that lovely point in your life where life is a festival because you know:
ROM 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
You really must, and I cannot emphasize it enough, you must listen to His Spirit’s voice which is continually leading and warning you from within and you must be obedient to that voice. Because remember:
EPH 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do
Regarding the desires of the world, I can only quote from the Word:
1PETER 2:11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
1PETER 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Then we must also remember:
1JOHN 2:17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
In closing: Just this concerning the riches and “rat race” of this world:
HEB 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
HEB 13:6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
Greetings,
Sakkie