Word for the Day May 25
By:
Evangelist Cascille Hammack
"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." James
4:17
For those who set goals and succeed in accomplishing
them, the temptation is to become proud and feel it was accomplished of oneself and not with the help of God. Pride
comes before destruction so this is a very dangerous place to be. We are to live in complete dependence upon God.
Everyone needs help from God and help from others He uses. Many times God will use others to help His children.
This depends upon His children being obedient to accomplish His will. Many times I have seen the Lord's hand moving
upon someone's heart to bless another one of His children and then the person choose out of selfishness to halt
and quench the moving of His Holy Spirit. He will not violate anyone's free will. When this happens, the person's
heart is hardened by sin's deceitfulness and they rationalize and justify their actions to not give, when in fact, they had
felt a tugging on their hearts to do so by the Lord. The result of this is devastating as they withhold their own blessings
as well as those they withheld the blessing from. The end result of the hardening of their hearts due to this act is
devastating to them. The multi-faceted blessings that would have resulted in being obedient to God, including the building
of their faith and the one they were to give to is stopped, not to mention the testimony of the countless others who would
have been strengthened by hearing of the blessing and the power of God to use people to answer the prayers of others.
Those who are not born again are selfish, still
living as lovers of themselves and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. How can one love you with the
love of Christ, if the love of Christ is not in them? Do not say you live in the love of Christ and then do
not do what He says. Your actions prove if Christ's love truly lives in you and through you. The world operates
by putting self first. This is not the way we are instructed to live as Christians. Everyone will give account
for all deeds done in the body whether good or bad. Quenching the Holy Spirit of God and withholding His hand of blessing
to another, when He has instructed and weighed upon the heart to reach forth and bless another person is a grave sin, one
of quenching His Holy Spirit and preventing His will from being done on the earth.
Have you prevented someone's prayer from being answered by your unwillingness to follow the
leading of His Spirit to give, when He instructed you to do so? The consequences of such are eternal. The result
of it is a hardening of your own heart and separation from the Spirit of the Lord. If you will not obey Him, why should
He dwell with you? He is relying on you to be led by His Spirit to accomplish His will in the earth, not your own will.
"Anyone, then, who knows what is right to do and doesn't do it, sins." James 4:17