Here’s the Word For The Day:

Psalm 23:3 “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”

Restoration.  Since the garden man has needed to be restored.  Adam sinned against God by eating forbidden fruit and instead of killing Adam and Eve God restored them by sacrificing an animal and covering the nakedness of His creation with its skin (Genesis 3:21).  The children of God are as prone to stray away as sheep are prone to stray away from their shepherd.  We all have and will make decisions that we know are contrary to the will of God.  James 1:14 explains it like this “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”    Paul explained our willingness to stray in Romans 7:18-20, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”  Now, let me say this before I go any further: This is not an excuse to sin!  For any born again child of God there is no longer an excuse because sin has now become a choice.  We choose to either live holy and practice holiness or to sin.  We have been commanded by God to be holy because our Father is holy.  “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:15-16)  God has not commanded us to live a holy life because He wants us to have a mediocre and sad existence full of rules and laws.  Jesus came so that we can have abundance in every part of our life (John 10:10).  God knows that every sin carries a consequence and although He is the God of mercy and grace who restores His children, He is also the God of justice and wrath who chastises His children as a loving father.  God didn’t destroy Adam and Eve but they along with the rest of mankind paid a heavy price because of their choice to stray.  The saints of God carry a great responsibility because we have been called to reconcile the world to God through Christ.  We are the investment of God in the Earth paid for by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.  I don’t know of anyone who wants his investment to look shabby and unprofitable, do you?  It’s God’s desire for us to follow His will and not our own because we reflect Him to the rest of the world.  He leads us in the path of righteousness for His namesake!  When we’re blessed and prosperous people take notice of how God blesses His children.  Likewise when we suffer the consequences of sin people also notice and point out the fact that we claim to be children of the living God!  The choice is simple; either we choose to satisfy our sinful nature or we choose that God is worthy of us choosing to honor Him by the way we live.  I love you and may God bless you.