When I was a small boy growing up in West Georgia in the 1960’s, my Mom would haul me and my siblings to church on Sunday mornings as far back as I can remember. I felt the cross pull of sin and holiness even at a very young age and recognized it for what it was. Even though the Holy Spirit marked my heart for eternity in the pews of that tiny country church, I never went through the traditional church ceremony of walking down the aisle and doing the public confession of my Faith, much less being baptized. That didn’t happen until late 2013 at age 53.

One of the many things about my Faith I never understood or was never taught is that a true personal relationship with Jesus Christ has absolutely nothing to do with feelings and emotion, but only about Truth and Peace. How did I miss this? I always just conceded that my Faith was weak and I was a lifelong habitual backslider. Sin in our lives is spawned by desire, whether consciously or unconsciously, and it’s very cunning and very deceiving. This is one of the primary reasons we need the saving grace of the penalty paid by Jesus Christ on the cross.

The Epistle of James has always been one of my favorite sources of Bible study, teaching, and mentoring, but I completely missed the obvious implications of James 1:14 in my own life until recently. “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own desire”. Desire is not based in Truth or Peace. Desire is an emotion that is a pathway to deeds of the flesh, recurrent sin, and backsliding. Don’t misunderstand, I get the fact every Believer’s personal relationship with Jesus is very different and deeply intimate on levels that are quite frankly none of my business, but it’s my observation at my church many Believers are nearly always in an emotional state, masking it as being “Spirit filled”. This is particularly obvious in a lot of the worship music presentations of today that literally resemble rock concerts.

So how do we eliminate feelings and emotion from our lives as Believers in a world energized by satan and transition into the Truth and Peace that Jesus not only wants us to have because he loves us but because he commands it? In John 14:15 Jesus very specifically tells us, “If you love me, keep my commands”. There are over fifty of these commands. I am currently in the process of completing a morning devotion, prayer, and Bible study on these commands and the bar is definitely set high, as it should be. One of the cool things about our walk of Faith is that you can never complete it. You always have to keep striving and persevere because you are a messed up sinning hypocrite just as I am, save by the blood of Jesus Christ.

One of those commands is Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect”. So just exactly how are we supposed to pull this off? You have already failed just trying to pursue it. Jesus Christ has already attained this prerequisite for our benefit. God will never compromise his own holiness, righteousness, and perfection. I can’t put into words the comfort and contentment this gives my soul, knowing that God’s plan and playbook for us is without flaw and designed in perfection by Him for our benefit because he loves us more than our human minds can even contemplate.

Another command from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is Matthew 6:25-26 “Let not your Heart be troubled”. Meditating on this graces me with the most incredible peace and serenity, which is something I desire right now with nearly all of my will. Sometimes it seems like the harder I try on my own to do what I think God and Jesus wants me to do I end up falling all over the place due to my pride, selfish ambition, and vane conceit. I get these ideas for my church or witnessing or even this new blog without praying about it and checking in with God first, which brings me to todays paradox.

I have strong desires (there’s that word again) to do things for God and Jesus but due to my excessive enthusiasm it’s extremely difficult for me to be patient, which is of course one of the nine fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. I always feel like I need to be doing something that can impact and transform people’s lives. I keep praying for doors to be opened. For years.

So that’s one of the reasons I started this blog and today is the first post. I’ve been praying about how I can reach as many people as possible and God put it on my heart to use technology. I don’t have formal training or a seminary degree but I do have wisdom and street knowledge, plus thirty five years of management experience in the real world.

My goal here is to plant seeds in people’s minds and hearts that they can share with others and get the vines growing. Both Believers and non-Believers. I’m not really all that concerned whether you agree with me or not, that’s not the point of the blog. I’m not here to debate, I’m here hopefully to help people think with Truth and Peace in their hearts and spread thoughts and ideas.

Have a Blessed Day Everyone..