Renounce that sin!

 “And Peter answered them, Repent (change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it) and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of and release from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38 AMP

 

If you want to walk the path of authentic Christianity, you cannot continue in sin. The spiritual journey does not make provision for it. What Peter said in the above passage still applies today. You must repent, renounce your sins, and believe that through the finished work of Christ at Calvary, all your sins were forgiven and you have been released from your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

If you desire to follow Christ and forge an intimate relationship with Him you cannot continue in sin (see 1 John 3:6). Do not believe that you can habitually be in sin and abide in, know, and have a close personal relationship with Jesus. Know that if you are, then you are deceiving yourself and the Holy Spirit is not in you.

 

Understand that you cannot have it both ways – you cannot have the Holy Spirit and unholy sin. Make a choice now! Holding on to even one known sin bars you from receiving the gift. Sin is sin, there are no little sins or big sins. There may be sins that concern little things but all sin is rebellion against God. Renounce that sin!

“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 NIV

 

Do not attempt to hide your sins from God; that’s pointless. Instead, ask God to search your heart and reveal to you any sin – un-confessed, unintentional, deliberate – or anything whatsoever that is a matter of controversy between you and Him and be quick to confess and renounce them all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shelley Johnson “Renounce that sin!”  ©2013 16-Apr-13

It's a Gift (revisited)

 Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace that you are saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves but it is the gift of God; not because of works lest any man should boast.”

Grace is God’s gift to us, given willingly without the expectation of payment. It is the wonderful gift of His divine empowerment, which enables us to receive the revelation of faith we require, to believe that Jesus Christ died to save us.

Man cannot save himself nor can man save any other man, no matter what he may do. Grace brings us to the realization that we are in need of a Saviour – we are saved through faith in the power of the blood of God’s own Son Jesus.

Grace is a divine enablement that came by Jesus. We cannot earn God’s grace, it’s a gift, it’s free! The Bible tells us that grace is no longer grace if our works are involved (see Romans 11:6).

Let us, during this sacred season of Lent, determine to gain a better understanding of this Truth of salvation by meditating upon God’s wonderful gift of grace.

Shelley Johnson "It's a Gift" © February 22, 2013

Eyes

Eyes are the ability to perceive and discern spiritual things. Like the ability to hear, the ability to see is a God given gift.

Jesus said,

“…whoever has [spiritual wisdom because he is receptive to God’s word], to him more will be given, and he will be richly and abundantly supplied; but whoever does not have [spiritual wisdom because he has devalued God’s word], even what he has will be taken away from him…because while [having the power of] seeing they do not see…” – Matthew 13:12, 13 (AMP)

Oftentimes we believe that we are receptive to God’s Word because we are avid churchgoers, yet our understanding of basic biblical principles is negligible, and our spiritual perception is non-existent.

How are so many in church not able to see?

They do not see because they lack spiritual wisdom; they neither value God nor His Word as they ought to. They hear but do not listen and just as their ears are blocked, so their eyes are closed. They have an intimate relationship with church and the things of church but no genuine desire for intimacy with God. They are as lukewarm as the Laodiceans of Revelation chapter 3.

The truth is, God is pleased to give us His gift of seeing but we need to want it, otherwise we will not receive it. And God knows what is in your heart, so saying yes by mouth but it’s really no in your heart cannot work. God isn’t deceived by your pretence.

God wants to reveal things to believers that are beyond the limitations of natural vision but He is not about to entrust us with such a powerful gift.

Why? Jesus, quoting Isaiah’s prophecy, put it this way…

“This people…will look and look, but not see, because their minds are dull…and have closed their eyes. Otherwise, their eyes would see…their minds would understand, and they would turn to me, says God, and I would heal them.” – Matthew 13:

According to Isaiah, dull mindedness which results in closed eyes, is a malady that is not uncommon within the Body of Christ.

Beloved this is a condition we can pass on for without spiritual eyes, you can neither see nor understand spiritual things. We should all want to possess this vital gift, so we need to pray for our spiritual eyes to be opened and for the ability to see and understand spiritual things.

Only then can we, “Go ahead—see again!” – Luke 18:42 (GNT)

Amen†

 

Shelley Johnson “Eyes” © March 2, 2025

 

 

 

Ears

There are 52 Sundays in a 365-day year, there may be an extra day which could be a Sunday but could be any other day as well, so we’ll settle for the 52. Agreed? Now, I know that there are some people who go to church every Sunday. So, for 52 days they attend church religiously. Religiously…yes that is the correct word. Religiously, because they hear the Word of God preached repeatedly 52 times, yet they understand absolutely nothing biblical, far less spiritual.

A few years ago, at bible study, someone related an incident where a burglar entered a home, upon seeing said burglar, the owner of the home an elderly lady, started shouting out, “Jesus! Jesus!” and the intruder ran off. I, first-time attendee at this bible study, stood up and said, “Well that’s because at the Name of Jesus etc etc” and took my seat. A regular member of church and bible study then got up and said, “No no. The burglar ran away because the old lady reminded him of his own grandmother who would have taught him the prayer, Gentle Jesus meek and mild.” She, satisfied with her profundity, took her seat.

Sadly, there are too many persons in church who haven’t a clue. Whose “ears are hard of hearing”. They only hear with their natural ears. To be able to hear spiritually is a gift, without this gift, it is impossible to understand even the basic concepts of a spiritual nature.

“The knowledge about the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.” – Matthew 13:11 (GNT) Here, Jesus was responding to His disciples who had asked why He spoke in parables.

Going to church every single Sunday does not qualify you to receive this knowledge. What are you doing outside of the regular church service? Are you so attached to the brick and mortar that you are neglecting what is more important?

A man said to me, “I haven’t seen you in church”, my reply, “That’s because I wasn’t in church”, he continued, “But how you expect to get close to God if you don’t come to church?”, my response, “Don’t you understand that you can have a relationship with God outside of the building?” his response, dead silence.

Now please don’t get me wrong, I am certainly not advocating that you don’t attend church services, I am just saying that don’t just attend and do nothing else out of the church. You must do church otherwise, not just in a building that is designated a church. You can go into a church for an hour or mare for 52 Sundays in a non-leap year and leave the building 52 times and still have no understanding whatsoever of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Spiritual ears are God-given and there are very few churchgoers who, like Jesus’ first-century listeners, have this gift. Why? Jesus, quoting Isaiah’s prophecy, put it this way…

“This people will listen and listen, but not understand…because their minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears...” – Matthew 13:14, 15 (GNT)

According to Isaiah, dull mindedness which results in blocked ears, is a malady that is not uncommon within the Body of Christ.

Beloved this is a condition we can pass on for without spiritual ears, you can neither hear nor understand spiritual things. We should all want to possess this vital gift, so we need to pray for our spiritual ears to be opened and for the ability to listen, hear and understand spiritual things.

Only then can we, “Listen…if you have ears!” – Matthew 11:15 (GNT)

Amen†

 

Shelley Johnson “Ears” © March 2, 2025

A Three-Day Journey

Perhaps you know the bible story of the prophet Jonah. Jonah was directed by God to warn the Ninevites of their impending destruction if they did not heed His warning.  Jonah did not like the Ninevites, he wanted God to destroy them. To avoid making this journey, Jonah decided to go in the opposite direction. In changing direction, he made a conscious decision to go contrary to God’s will and purpose.

How many times have you made a conscious decision to go contrary to God’s will and purpose? Oftentimes you know that you’re being lead in one direction, but you still go ahead and do what you want to do. We have all done that and some of us are still doing that because we just do not want to go where God has told us to go.

Understand that Jonah was God’s messenger, a well-established prophet of God yet he thought that he could run from God. He must have known that that was futile. He would have been keenly familiar with the Psalm that says,

“Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence?...you would be there;” (139:7, 8 GNT)

This was a journey outside of Jonah’s comfort zone, beyond his regular purview. Jonah’s disobedience cost him three days of darkness enclosed in a “fish’s belly” after which he was coughed up and embarked on the journey to Nineveh.

Scripture tells us that Nineveh was “an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across”, but after only one day of walking Jonah had completed his mission. You know that Jonah, if he had done what he was supposed to do in the first place, would not have put himself in that fish-belly mess.

You know that you would not have ended up in a fish-belly mess if you had just done what God had told you to do. What was the point of you wasting three days, or three months or three years or even three decades of your life running from God just because you wanted to do what you wanted to do?

Like Jonah, you may feel that you can outrun God, and He will allow you to run but only for a time, eventually you have to stop – He will stop you.

Jonah, when he obeyed, was able to complete a three-day journey in one day. He must have received supernatural help. God makes the impossible possible.

Beloved, when you obey God, and genuinely serve Him, He helps you and you will find much joy.

“God is…always ready to help…” – Psalm 46:1 (GNT)

“…where will my help come from? My help will come from the Lord…” – Psalm 121:1-2 (GNT)

“…you will find the joy that comes from serving me…” – Isaiah 58:14 (GNT)

Going in the wrong direction on purpose is not worth it, it only makes the journey more difficult. Don’t let disobedience hamper your walk.

 “You’re blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. You’re blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him. That’s right—you don’t go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set.” (Psalm 119:1-2 MSG)

Amen†

 

 

Shelley Johnson “A Three-Day Journey” © March 1, 2025

 

The Journey or Part thereof

 That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness.” – Hebrews 3:7-8 (NLT)

The Christian walk is long because it is a life-long journey of total personal dedication to God to whom we offer up ourselves. The Journey can be very difficult at times, especially when it comes to being humbled, tried and persecuted in one way or another.

You can feel as though you are being ground fine into flour and baked at high temperature but still press on. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in their fiery furnace experience, you will not be alone as the Holy Spirit walks with you every step of the way.

“When you go to war, your people will serve you willingly. You are arrayed in holy garments, and your strength will be renewed each day like the morning dew.” – Psalm 110:3 (NLT)

Spirit is your Person, serving you willingly, teaching, guiding, comforting and strengthening you.

It is a journey to the finish line of the good fight race. We must remain faithful as we “press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:14 NLT)

On the Journey, you are set apart, that is, separate unto God. It is a journey into God, into unity and fellowship with Him.

Beloved, the Journey has so many moving parts that cannot be described or explained in a simple blog post, only part thereof.

Actually, no one can really describe or explain everything that it involves because though, we go through certain things in general, each individual journey is different. So don’t believe that your walk will be exactly like your friend’s walk but do believe that you will both be in the same place at the end, which is with Jesus in Paradise (see Luke 23:42-43).

Photo by O'Reilly Lewis

May God continue to bless you on your journey as you keep soaring toward the goal.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “The Journey or Part thereof” © March 1, 2025