27/10/2015 - TWO CRUCIAL MISTAKES

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Because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel.  Deuteronomy 32.51

Every child of God should never forget his duty: to serve the Lord, not doing what he thinks best or most adequate, for he is not the owner of the work or he who decides what should be said or done. If we execute what we have been ordered, we should not expect for a reward, although it will be given to us. However, if we act according to our will, we will be evil, for it is impossible for man to do good (Rom 7.21). If we do so, we will suffer the consequences of our attitude.

Every servant should be worried to please He who recruited him. Serving God is not difficult if we have stripped away all our will. The preparation to be a servant is not intellectual; we learn it at the feet of Christ. With it, we are released from the flesh and its slyness. What a person uses from his own self does not serve as worship to the Lord, for He does not accept glory from man (Jo 5.41).

To prevaricate in the fulfillment of your duty will cost you a great punishment. Why should you let yourself be driven by the wrath and sorrow caused by ingratitude, or why should you accept the offers from sin, if you have been saved and made a new creature (2 Co 5.17)? Refuse to be led by the law of sin and death, for the Lord has placed you under the law of the Spirit of life (Rom 8.2). When you accept Jesus as your Savior, you receive power to become a child of God (Jo 1.12). Therefore, be directed by the Holy Spirit.

Another problem is not sanctifying the Lord amongst the people – giving Him the honor He deserves. Now, when you agree with someone who thanks you for the grace that he received, you commit many sins, for your participation in a miracle is only due to the kindness of the Lord. If you accept the person’s gratitude, she will not give to the Lord the honor He deserves. Thus, other people might deposit their faith in you, offending the Most High.

The devil, knowing about the possibility of leading a child of God towards sin, will tempt you. What he wants the most is that you may lose salvation. Thus, he will not avoid doing whatever he must to separate you from the Creator. Jesus instructed us to watch and pray, so that we may not fall into temptation (Mt 23.41). Those who do not listen to the Master’s exhortation will never be able to please the Lord. The price for their negligence will always be enormous.

Moses spent more than 40 years in complete faithfulness to the divine plan. However, when he was about to have the pleasure of seeing the Lord fulfilling His promise, the commander of the people of Israel heard from Him that he would not enter the Promised Land. His mistake was to prevaricate and not to sanctify the Lord before the Israelites (Num 20.12).

The Word teaches that you must subdue the body, reducing it to subjection (1 Co 9.27), so that after you do what you are told, there might be no accusation concerning your life. These were two crucial mistakes that hindered the greatest leader of all times to enter in the Land where he was leading the Israelites. Watch so that you are not hindered from entering in the eternal Rest.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares