Roll In Righteousness

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Wednesday, ‎November ‎18, ‎2020 Good Morning, Lord V.O.D.: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord." -Matthew 25:21, M.O.M.: Ephesians 4:31 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.(English Standard Version) Today's reading: Ezekiel 11-13 James 1

Our daily reading today takes us into the New Testament book of James. There is a lot to hear-a lot for our hearts to hear in the first chapter of James bit let us skip to the very last words. James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

The difference between religion and faith is that we are saved by one and can be defiled by the other. One is of us(religion, works) and one is of Grace(faith). Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Religion can look good but not be... Matthew 23:27 >Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.

A hillbilly preacher(me) once said, "if you roll with the hogs, you get mud all over you". The implication, then, is that if we 'roll' with the Lord, we get righteousness all over us.

Yea, yea, I know it sounds wierd, but stay with me if you will.

True religion, the work itself, is taking care of people in need-AND-to keep ourselves unstained from the world. Unstained means just that. If we take part in the sin of the world, we are stained. If all we do is to work and save and be involved in sensory stimulation, it is its own reward. Matthew 6:2 ►"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Yes, the world is full of people who need help and children who need love but do it with the mind of Christ and because He wants to do it through you-not because of the rewards of this temporal world. Do it out of the love in your heart that comes straight from God's heart and brings Him good pleasure and glory.

Matthew 6 continues: 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.…

Rolling with God means that we must seek Him and seek to love Him the way the scripture says. We must put on Jesus. Romans 13:14-But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.

I suggest that to 'put' on the Lord Jesus means we must first want the Lord Jesus from the depths of our hearts. We must want Him so much we are spiritually ready to 'rub' Him on. It just means we want Him so badly we will do all to get as much as we can and to grow in Him as much as we are able.

The words do not matter. Whether I say roll with Jesus or you say meditate day and night. The reward is in the love and faith that Christ is in our hearts. This reward lasts forever.

So, I say, roll with the Lord God; roll with Jesus; roll with the Holy Spirit-and get Him all over you and be untainted by the world.

Roll in righteousness...

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven, I have allowed the world in and I am tainted. Search me and try me and show me all I need to deal with in Your presence. Forgive me. Great God of all righteousness! In the name of Jesus, Amen