The way of living

Hi how are you today? I am well and had a good week last week. In our country we are coming out of winter and I am grateful for warmer weather. It is my last year of waking up early in winter to go to work as I am retiring at the end of the year. I told my husband that the only early morning wake ups will be when we need to catch a plane. How was your week?

This week I want to look at the verses in Isaiah 2- 1 to 5 and in the Message Bible they state:

2 ^1-5 The Message Isaiah got regarding Judah and Jerusalem:

There’s a day coming
    when the mountain of God’s House
Will be The Mountain—
    solid, towering over all mountains.
All nations will river toward it,
    people from all over set out for it.
They’ll say, “Come,
    let’s climb God’s Mountain,
    go to the House of the God of Jacob.
He’ll show us the way he works
    so we can live the way we’re made.”
Zion’s the source of the revelation.
    God’s Message comes from Jerusalem.
He’ll settle things fairly between nations.
    He’ll make things right between many peoples. They’ll turn their swords into shovels,
    their spears into hoes.
No more will nation fight nation;
    they won’t play war anymore.
Come, family of Jacob,
    let’s live in the light of God.

So let’s have a look at this in relation to the way of living. Obviously this scripture was for Judah and Jerusalem but it can also apply to us.

The part I want to look at is that God will show us the way He works so we can live the way we’re made. We were born into sin but that is not the intention of God for our lives. His intention is that we are born again so we can live like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden.

We can’t go back and look at too much of their lives- all we know is God created them perfectly and they lived in a perfect place- no death, disease, sin, poverty etc. This sounds like a great place to live.

So because we can’t go back there, we have another example of how we should live and His name is Jesus. The four gospels show us how Jesus lived. It shows Him loving God and loving people.

So what were some of those things He exhibited:

1. He spent time with God
2. He only said what God said and only did what God told Him to do.
3. He knew the Old Testament scriptures
4. He treated people kindly and went around doing good.
5. He healed people of sickness and disease.
6. He cast out demons and dealt with oppression.
7. He fed people.
8. He paid for needs out of His treasury account.
9. He spoke the truth of the Word of God and taught people.
10. He gave people words of knowledge.
11. He dealt with hypocrisy and wrong doctrine.
12. He forgave sins and restored people.

Acts 10:38 in the Message Bible sums up His ministry perfectly. It states:

Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him.

Notice the important part in this verse. He didn’t do these things in His own strength but was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit.

If we have given our lives to Jesus, then we too have been anointed by God and have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to be our guide, counsellor, teacher and so much more.

So what should be our way of living? We need to follow the example of Jesus and spend time loving God and loving people in similar ways to what Jesus did. Loving God and loving others is a good place to start. You can do it- I know you can with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Bless you and keep living the life God intended.

Karen