THE STRAIGHT PATH

 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart    and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT.

Proverbs 3: 5

Has your path been straight?Your path should be straight if you Trusted in the LORD with all your heart and did not lean not on your own understanding; and in all your ways acknowledged him…If we failed to act in this manner our paths are bound to be crooked and filled with pain…misery…SinIf we look back for most of us I'm sure it’s a long and winding roadSeldom straight… mostly crooked

Take a look back at your life…

The long and winding road

God did not intend your life's path to be crooked and difficult for you…It is crooked because WE MADE IT THAT WAY. By relying on our own understanding we face situations that lead us to temptation and Sin. Therefore our paths become crooked.How many of us trust in the Lord with all our heart and acknowledge Him in all our ways?

Why is our path crooked?

Instead of making us like robots God gave us the freedom of choiceHe gave us the capacity to choose right from wrongUnfortunately we choose wrong most of the time. We thoughtlessly disregard His teachings and commandments on a day to day basis and displease Him

God gave us Choice…

Romans 3:23.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of

God”

a. Simply put it is because we don’t love God more than ourselves

b. If we love God more than ourselves we will not resort to displease Him in anyway. Therefore at all times we will try to diligently follow His commandments

c. Although you may fail and falter at first by holding on to the trust and by acknowledging Him in all our ways we can get stronger in our ability to counter temptation and being drawn to Sin

Why do we Sin

19ANYONE WHO BREAKS ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE COMMANDMENTS and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. IT IS BETTER FOR YOU TO LOSE ONE PART OF YOUR BODY THAN FOR YOUR WHOLE BODY TO BE THROWN INTO HELL. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

About Sin Jesus said :Matthew 5

Sin is the exact opposite of what God wants from us.A persons Sinfulness is can be measured by his relationship level with God.

We see that Sin is despised by God

GODSATAN

SIN Righteousness

Your distance indicator to God’s required Righteousness

Distanced from God Closer to God

We have to get our bearings as to where we are presently in terms of our sinfulness or the distance from our GodOnce we get our bearing then we can work at getting away from the crooked path that we have followed and the reason for effects of the negative forces that have be fallen us. We have been given a path by Jesus. He gave us commandments for us to remain righteous and live a life with love and in harmony with our fellow man

How far are away are you?

36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Matthew 22

29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'[f] 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[g]There is no commandment greater than these."

Mark 12

27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[c]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[d]"

Luke 10

Three references of the same requirementDirectly as said by Jesus from the Gospels. Therefore we see the importance of keeping to His requirements so that our paths remain straight in this lifetime and achieve the greatest treasure…Salvation and the Kingdom of God…to be in His holy presence with Jesus

The importance…

Jesus made the ten commandments in to one commandment… Love your God more than your self……and added another…love your neighbor as your self!

WE FALTER WHEN WE BREECH THESE DIRECTIVES. We then get distanced away from God and increasingly start to

depend our own understanding- without acknowledging Him in all our ways…

As a result our paths become crooked… we delve deeper in to Sin… drawing upon ourselves the negative effects of

evil…PROBLEMS… ISSUES…UNHAPPINESS…YOUR VERY SOUL

Jesus' commandments

We face problems when we are distanced from God and not follow His teachings. Most us relay on our own understanding and try to justify our wrong deeds. A life living in denial without repentance. When we displease God we draw further and further away from His awesome power…leaving us more vulnerable to the powers of evil.We voluntarily move away from a power that will protect and provide for you as a child of God

Distance from God

GOD

Distance away from God

When we move away from Gods presence

Problems…issues…worry…negativity…

misery

Distance away from Gods presence

GOD

Distance away from God

When we move away from Gods presence

Blessings from God and His protection

Distance to Gods presence

To manifest the blessings of Gods awesome power we have to live in accordance to His directives …and draw closer each day to God…constantly having a diligent determination to draw closer to His wonderful presence. When we look at the world at large today we seem to be drifting further and further away from Gods presence… regardlessly disobeying His directives and displeasing Him…Look at the wickedness…anger… jealousy… vengeance…selfishness…power hungriness… poverty…starvation…murder that is engulfing the whole world.

The manifestation of blessings

Even among Christians mostly it is only a show of righteousness…or being SUNDAY CHRISTIANSBelieving in Salvation by spending one hour in Church on a Sunday.As Christians the majority have NOT EVEN READ THE FOUR GOSPELS…the narration of Jesus’ life and His teachings…but we pride ourselves as being called Christians – CHRIST FOLLOWERS…Therefore loose-out on the depth of understanding on Jesus’ teachings that we should follow as Christians.We take pride in Christianization in numbers rather than building on the Christian themselves to diligently follow His teachings.As a result the majority has become Christians who amass treasure on earth totally disregarding the need for amassing treasure in Heaven where nothing can destroy it.

Sunday Christians

Lost?

We are fast to blame God when we encounter problems in our lives.But DO WE LIVE IN ACCORDANCE to the principals and teachings of Jesus?Look back at your life. You will see that every time you failed you depended on your own volition…without acknowledging God and relaying on your own understanding…and the problems hit you!Its like having a well defined map in hand but yet choosing a road that we think is right… and ending up at a precipiceCan we blame the Map then?

We have been given Gods principals…a map for our lives…the path to follow to achieve salvationAnd yet we try to go our way and then get hopelessly lost…only a very few find the way backBut the good thing is that God gave us Jesus. Because of Him we have the possibility of Salvation. We only have to seek Him and His righteousness… adjust our lives according to His teachings found in the Gospels. We can leave our old baggage and find our way back to seek Gods Kingdom.

Look Back

Because of His love God sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ to save us from falling in to the abyss of eternal damnation.God does not cause bad situations to manifest in your life. Because His love for humanity is infinite. His total being is Holiness, righteousness, love and goodness and has NO CAPACITY for EVIL, VENGENCE…He is a just God…The problems and issues are caused by the powers of evil whose main objective is to deflect you from your path to Gods Kingdom.

Problems…issues…worry…pain…

By shunning Sin and diligently seeking a closer relationship with God you will be protected and provided because of His awesome love for you and me. This way you are able to tap into this infinite power…deflect all negativity and begin a new life…under the protection of God our Father.Trust in the lord Look back and you will find that your baggage has disappeared and your path has been made straight because Jesus scarified Himself and took upon Himself all worldly Sin.

A closer relationship with God…

YOU HAVE A BRAND NEW START UNDER HIS PROTECTION… and

showered by His blessings as you get closer to His holy presence.

A straighter path…a new beginning

If we trust in the Lord, abide by His teachings and diligently seek Gods Kingdom we become children of God and benefit from His mighty power.By believing in Jesus and through repentance for our Sins we have the possibility of a new beginning and a cleansing and rejuvenation of our soul in our Journey seeking Gods Kingdom

Trust in the LORD with all your heart    and lean not on your own understanding;

By acknowledging Him in EVERYTHING WE DO we will receive HIS BLESSINGS AND PROTECTION and thus be able to remain firmly on a straight path to salvation protected by His awesome power from effects of evil.

Knowing our weaknesses Jesus told us when we pray to ask our God the father…Matthew 6:13

13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.[a]'

6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT.

In Matthew 6

14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

We have also to remember…

THANK YOU

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