Keep What God Gave You! 8-30–26

Welcome to the word for the week. Getting something from God is easy. Keeping what you got from God is where the challenge is. When you need something from God you simply have to ask and believe. Jesus said when you pray, believe that you have those things and you will. No, you will not get everything you pray for because some of those things are not needed. But if it is in the will of God then it will happen. Maybe not today or when you want it to, but it will happen. Yes, it takes faith to pray. Yes, your faith has to be increased to get to the point you believe God will do it. Yes, that takes a lot of time. But, in time you actually do get there and it is a blessing when you do.

Keeping what God gave you is where the challenge is. You can get a breakthrough and mess it up the same day. We never like to say this, but we are very capable of messing up a good thing. Here is a good analogy. You buy a car and you needed a credit check to get it. The real part is when the payments are due every month at the same time. You get something from God but have you ever thought what that might cost you? To whom much is given, much is required. How much different should your life be after you get delivered? How much different should your life be after you get healed? It is not that you owe God something in return because you can never repay Him for all that He’s done and He does not require that. What you do owe Him is gratitude. You owe Him thanksgiving. You owe Him the praise and worship He deserves. When God works a miracle in your life it should change you.

There were ten lepers who were healed by Jesus. All ten of them were told they were healed and to go show themselves to the priests in order to be declared ceremonially clean. All ten of them started walking to do just that but one of them turned back around. Did he turn back around because he did not believe he was healed? No. He turned back around so that he could go back and praise Jesus for healing him. He knew what he got. He also knew to keep God first. How much do you think you owe God for saving you? Salvation was free for you and I but it came at the expense of the blood of Christ. How much different should your life be? Do you really think you should be the same way two years later after being saved? Do you think it is alright to go back to whatever you were doing? Even Jesus told the people after He healed and delivered them to go and sin no more less a worse thing come upon them. Something should be different about you after you have been saved.

There is a way to make sure you never turn back. It is called having a heart for God. That means that you cannot imagine your life without Him. You would never dare to make a decision without Him. You would not take any steps in your life that were not ordered by Him. If you were getting ready to do something and were not sure if He was with you in it you would double check. You would ask God again and if you did not think you heard Him correctly you would ask praying people to touch and agree with you. What you would not do is be comfortable going back to the old you. A heart for God will not let you do that. A heart for God puts Him first in your life. Nobody has to tell you God is good all the time. You know that for yourself. He is not simply the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is your God, your redeemer, and your way maker. You would rather stand still before you take a step without God. You do not have to worry about turning back when it is God you trust and not yourself. You do not have to worry about failing when you are following the plan of God. The truth is you have absolutely nothing to worry about when God is not just on your side, but you know that He lives within you. So, if you want to stay up after you get up, press on after you get started, and finish so you can win, then you are going to have fight in the Spirit through prayer in order to keep what God gave you!

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you in His grace,
Bishop Carlos J. Lennon