Keeping Full of God June 30, 2025

How did we get empty?

Scarcely does the busy workingman or woman realize the price of complacency or the spiritual toll one pays by just living life as best you can without much more than a Sunday visit to God's house. So usually an extraordinary supernatural experience has maybe a couple of weeks lifespan in peoples' memories until another is needed to emotionally feel the presence of this God who made us in His image. Can we stay filled longer than a week, without falling back on earths survival ways and giving up?

 Whether it takes a week, a month, a year or longer, staying charged up can be a task which cuts into our "me" time. I just want to relax, kick my shoes off and have a beer! Okay you are Christian now, just make it a lemonade! Then turn on the T.V. for your favorite shows until you fall asleep on the couch. Oh, you don't do that? Your just not old enough yet!

 Ahh but the God of Heaven isn't done with you. He mentioned in the Word that He has plans for you, a future and a hope. Jer. 29:11

 The answer to how did we get empty is the above plus we didn't make the change. You know, "me" first to "Him" first. Hey He doesn't ask for much just a complete surrender! Remember He's got the plan, the future, the provision, all the answers you'll ever need plus a fix for everyday life.

What didn't we do?   Glad you asked. Listen to this. Romans 1:21 Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became, vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Did I mention there was a price?  They, (Israel) stopped glorifying God is the first one. In the bible people were to give glory to God. What does that mean? Let's look. Strong says to honor, and glorify. Webster says: To praise; to magnify and honor in worship; or to ascribe honor to, in thought or words. 

To me the issue is do we acknowledge the Lord as the one who cares for our lives currently also past, present and future? Simple thing to do while living the good life!

 Let's stop here, because He is worthy of all our honor, glory and worship! Pray this with me, "Father, I have failed to honor you and give you the glory due your great name and I repent! I ask you to forgive me as I now ascribe to you all the glory due you from my life."

The next part of this verse says, "nor were thankful.." which translated means, praise, give thanks, confess, thanksgiving.

Pray this with me if you would, "Lord of Heaven, my Creator, please forgive me for with-holding praise and thanks, and confession from you for every good thing you have ever blessed me with."

Now we are dealing with something the bible calls "futile thoughts" or "vain in our imaginations." Webster defines "futile" as to pour out; to prate or babble; Heb. to utter rashly or foolishly.] Talkative; loquacious tattling. Trifling; of no weight or importance; answering no valuable purpose; worthless. "Vain" means: empty; worthless; having no substance, value or importance. I think we especially need to repent in our day and age for using our faculties in a negative, offensive way, not glorifying the Father! Pray, "God I repent and ask you to forgive us and change us so that your name is given praise because of our speech!" Lastly by our actions, our foolish hearts were darkened! Darkened (eyes, understanding, and mind). The word foolish is;  Void of understanding or sound judgment, wicked; sinful; acting without regard to the divine law and glory, or to one's own eternal happiness. Lets pray, "Lord forgive me for becoming and acting sinful, without regard to your divine law and glory. I repent."

We can walk with the Lord in a greater way than most and be available to Him when He needs us. If we mess up, be quick to catch ourselves in the act and repent and ask for grace to do better! Nobody is 100% in this earth! We have a common enemy, the stinkin devil! But we have authority over it, so take it in Jesus name and stop the temptation!

Remember James? He has some good advice for us, let's listen and be changed.  James 1:12  Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

¹³ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man:

¹⁴ But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. (Remember this when the salesman comes knocking!)

¹⁵ Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.

Little by little the enemy, like a short, bald, pushy time-share salesman, wears down unwary people as a though they didn't know any better.

 You see, the salesman knows his target well and offers sunshine and roses, boat rides with family and paints a lush vacation picture for your mind to consume, never mentioning the cost. Appealing to our selfish nature is what it does best, until we see things it's way! The enemy makes promises also in case you haven't noticed! Only thing is, it lies so bad we find it difficult to resist.

The only thing almost too good to be true is Jesus and His Kingdom! The time shares and all the stuff will pass away but the Kingdom will last forever! Don't exchange temporary for eternal it will knock you flat every time. Ask God, "Is this guy telling me the truth?" If not ask him if Jesus Christ came in the flesh and died for you?

Check out the signs 

Why do people lose revelation and the touch of God on their life? Ask yourself this: Does the Gospel of Jesus seem more like hellfire and damnation, or like the great news of a great kingdom? Hellfire is not good news. Can you say, " I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." In many places though, it has become cliché. The Church is supposed to go from Glory to Glory so where did the fear of damnation come in? Jesus didn't give anyone a spirit of fear. No, Jesus drew people by the Love of God which is perfect and casts out spirits of fear! Love is a major sign of the Kingdom of God. They don't have that in the other camp! I think the goodness of God needs to be taught more and more. Did you realize that people everywhere have a built in intuitive knowledge of God? It is called a conscience. Sure do. Some along the way have been deceived, but God would not have created defective people to balance out the Chosen. All were created in the image of God first, spiritually and then physically. Check out Genesis 1:26 and 2:7. Did that God-likeness come without hope for some and not others or was everyone equal? If some didn't measure up to God's standards then we have trouble in the creation department!

One thing for certain is that no one can come to God without Him first drawing them.

Look what it says in Eph. 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

There is the level playing field. We were once all dead in trespasses and sins. We all had equal opportunity to become sons or daughters of God. The different turnout had to do with choices made. God foreknew who would follow Him and who would not, yet He gave equal opportunity to all! The ones whom did not follow were the sons of disobedience who were deceived.

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.

God the Holy Spirit who draws all men to Himself is doing that today. If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts! The God made homing device is your conscience inside you. We are not able to come to God on our own, so call out to Him when He is near.

Getting Full Again 

Romans 1:21 This scripture contains four separate elements, or keys, that can lead us into and keep us operating in the fullness of God. Expressed positively, they are glorify God, be thankful, recognize the power of imagination, and have a good heart. We have the power to control each of these in our lives.

Glorifying God  We need a heart change about the way we view our Father. Like our earthly fathers, some children look at them as bigger than life able to do anything and others see them as not sufficient for the job. I personally am working on viewing God as able to do anything. If your heavenly Father isn't big enough or sufficient enough (in your eyes) then I will suggest feeding on scriptures that say He is! Magnify the Lord in your sight!

Thankfulness can be developed to a higher level by meditating on all the good God has done for you. After all you couldn't do those things for yourself and so humble yourself in His sight and be grateful He helped you! Review in your mind those events and tell others about them and it will make you glad who your heavenly father is and thankfulness will be on your heart and lips!

Good imagination When we fail to be thankful and glorify God, our imaginations automatically become vain. That doesn’t mean they aren’t working; it just means they begin to work against us. Those of us with vain imaginations are pessimists, imagining failure instead of success. We need to use our imaginations to agree with God’s Word and see ourselves the way God sees us: happy, healthy, and prosperous. Seeing in this sense is believing. You can have what you believe and see on the inside!

Develop a Good Heart

Proverbs 4:23

Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life.

Matt 12:35  “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things,

Mark 7:21-23  “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” 

What you feed on spiritually is what manifests in your heart and mouth. We must be more conscious of what is being said around us and what we are agreeing with, as it can become something negative, spiritual or physical that could harm us. If we manifest good, God gets the Glory! Amen