GOD IS OUR AUTHOR AND OUR EDITOR

If you think on it…….GOD is our Author and our Editor of our lives.  HIS story, is also our story and if you make the decision to make HIM the LORD of your life, you know that HIS pen and paper create all things beautiful and redeemed.

Is HE the LORD of your life? Is HE number one to you and are you being obedient to the Gospel?  You see, there are some false gospels out there that tell you if you just believe in JESUS, then you will be saved.  But what about in Matthew when JESUS very clearly and more than once says to………. follow HIM?  

Follow means follow, not lead, not think we know best because guess what…….we don’t!  There are many who believe in this watered-down gospel that is all fuzzy and feel good.  And the worst part about it, is that it doesn’t address sin!  So people say they are a Christian, but their life doesn’t look any different from the rest of the world. 

We have been sanctified; set apart from the world for a reason.  GOD wants us to live as a light to the rest of the world, but we cannot do that until we learn to follow JESUS and all that HE commands. In order to follow HIM, you have to get to know HIM and you can’t get to know HIM unless you are in HIS WORD.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:23 “NOW MAY THE GOD OF PEACE HIMSELF SANCTIFY YOU COMPLETELY, AND MAY YOUR WHOLE SPIRIT AND SOUL AND BODY BE KEPT BLAMELESS AT THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. HE WHO CALLS YOU IS FAITHFUL…….”

I know a lot of Christians who never open their Bible……..do you?  They have no idea what a treasure and blessing the WORD truly is.  Their argument is that it is too hard to understand.  However, it is GOD’S love letter to us and should be our only TRUTH.  I used to not understand it too, but with time and the HOLY SPIRIT’S help, I have come to understand and love the wisdom there.  When you have the TRUTH and nothing but the TRUTH, you hold it close to your heart and you learn how to live in this impossible world because of all the wisdom GOD lays right out on those pages…….just for you and just for me.

You learn that all HIS commands are really the best ones for your life.  You come to an understanding how HOLY our GOD is and how dirty our sins are, and most important, how much we need a SAVIOR to rescue us!  Our submission to HIM as LORD is paramount.  If you submit to HIS will, you will find yourself better off.  Honestly over time, you come to realize looking at all the history right there on those HOLY pages, that GOD is the Author of it all, the Sovereign HAND that guides all of HIS story, as well as our stories.  

Our LORD has been and is an editor too…….HE has chosen to change HIS mind, and then, to rewrite the story……

AMOS 7: 5-6  “THEN I SAID, O LORD GOD, PLEASE CEASE! HOW CAN JACOB STAND?

HE IS SO SMALL!”

THE LORD RELENTED CONCERNING THIS: THIS ALSO SHALL NOT BE, SAID THE LORD GOD.”

Look at this other rewrite GOD chose to do…….

JONAH 3:10 “WHEN GOD SAW WHAT THEY DID, HOW THEY TURNED FROM THEIR EVIL WAY,

GOD RELENTED OF THE DISASTER THAT HE HAD SAID HE WOULD DO TO THEM, AND HE DID NOT DO IT.”

Our GOD will and does rewrite our stories when we repent of our sin wholeheartedly and with all our might.  So be careful if someone tells you all you need to do is: believe.  That is only the half-truth.  The rest of it is, that we need to submit to JESUS as the absolute LORD of our lives and we need to acknowledge and repent of our sins turning back to GOD every day in every way, through prayer and petition. 

Oh the way is wide if you think you can just believe, but never follow.  A no-lordship life and watered-down feel good gospel doesn’t work.  Hear this:

MATTHEW 7: 13-14 “ENTER BY THE NARROW GATE.  FOR THE GATE IS WIDE AND THE WAY IS EASY THAT LEADS TO DESTRUCTION, AND THOSE WHO ENTER BY IT ARE MANY. FOR THE GATE IS NARROW AND THE WAY IS HARD THAT LEADS TO LIFE, AND THOSE WHO FIND IT ARE FEW.”

Have you submitted to JESUS as LORD over your life? Meaning, wherever HE leads, you will follow?  Submission is hard, yes?  But JESUS said: “follow me” and HE couldn’t be any more clear. 

I think it is quite striking that in the book of Matthew after JESUS talks about the narrow gate, the very next scripture warns about false prophets!  Hear this:

MATTHEW 7: 15-16 “BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS, WHO COME TO YOU IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING, BUT INWARDLY THEY ARE RAVENOUS WOLVES. YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS.”

JESUS wanted us to beware of that false doctrine that exists even today and to recognize the enemy who prowls around like a lion.  I have a wonderful Mentor who has said to me: don’t think just because some book has the name of JESUS on it, that it is HOLY and right.  If we say we follow JESUS, then we will follow HIS WORD, all of it, not just some of it and we will test all else that we read or hear against it.  Listen to this carefully……..     

1 JOHN 4: 1-2 “BELOVED DO NOT BELIEVE EVERY SPIRIT, BUT TEST THE SPIRITS, WHETHER THEY ARE OF GOD; BECAUSE MANY FALSE PROPHETS HAVE GONE OUT INTO THE WORLD.  BY THIS YOU KNOW THE SPIRIT OF GOD.”

Satan uses deception and lies to fool us and lead us in the wrong direction.  He wants you to think you are the lord of your life.  So I urge you to hold everything accountable to the whole TRUTH and nothing but the TRUTH.  The more I look into this present day deception, the more my eyes are truly being opened.  Research and look into all that innocently comes across your path!  Only GOD’S pure WORD speaks the TRUTH, follow it and place it securely upon your heart. When you do, know then, that HE is writing and rewriting your story because of your persistent love of HIS word.  Our GOD is a wondrous Author and Perfecter of our faiths, but it is up to us to seek only HIM and HIS wisdom. Don’t let the wisdom of this world interfere with the story that GOD is writing for you.  Let HIM be your Author……..let HIM be your Editor! GOD truly writes the best of stories, because they are full of HIS grace and love for those who seek HIM and call HIM LORD, but most of all, GOD’S true stories are forever written in the Bible as we know it and for all of eternity too.

HEBREWS 5:9 “AND HAVING BEEN PERFECTED, HE BECAME THE AUTHOR OF ETERNAL SALVATION TO ALL WHO OBEY HIM.”