In Jesus' day, it was the leaders of the religious community who received the greater condemnation because they were leading God's people further & further from God & His kingdom. The same would hold true were Jesus to pay the churches a surprise visit today. Jesus Himself used one word to describe the religious leaders of His day; hypocrites.

Note that He condemned them for outward show with very little real change on the inside, in the heart, where it mattered. I'm afraid the same holds true in most of our churches today. Too much emphasis is placed on how people look on the outside, what people see without, & not near enough emphasis on heart condition. I often say If what you believe isn't changing you, making you a better person, then maybe you need to change what you believe. God Himself had this to say about opinions based on first impressions

I was an ordained minister in a movement for several years that tried to do away with diligent prayer, teaching that anyone who prayed about anything more than once wasn't exercising scriptural faith; but I learned quite to the contrary that God blesses those who keep praying until they experience the peace of God which is the presence of His kingdom in your situation. They believed that faith had the power in itself to move mountains; that all you had to do was believe & God would work miracles in your life; but true scriptural faith stands on the knowledge that you have received the peace of God guaranteeing the presence of His kingdom in your situation. You can quote scripture until you're blue in the face; but God will not go contrary to His word. If someone is blessing the wrong kind of faith it's Satan. For every promise of God in the Bible their are conditions to be met before you can receive anything. God promises to supply the needs of all who put His kingdom ahead of their own. God promises no lack when Jesus Christ is in control of your life. When we ask God for a new town car, & we can't afford gas for a volkswagon beetle, our prayers are a little self centered don't you think. we should be praying that God will supply what we need. He never promised to cater to our greed. In fact, He said this about prayer;

1Jo 5:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

We will receive the things we request of Him when our prayers line up with His will, plan, & purpose for our life. While God promises to supply our need, He doesn't cater to our greed. Most of the time I don't know God's will for my life; & God has made provision for those times when I don't know what to pray for as well;

Proverbs 3:5 ( my paraphrase) Trust God. Quit trying to figure everything out.

We get trust from the Hebrew term batach which means lean on God with your whole weight like a crutch. Jesus says it quite well in Matthew 6:25 in the King James Bible; Take no thought for your life. Don't think about your life; put it in God's hands & leave it there. A lot of times believers come to God in prayer & lay their problems on the altar; but when they stop praying they pick them back up & take them with them. Life is about making choices. It's not about how we feel about things. It's not about what we think. It's about making choices. We're a people who are ruled by our emotions. A lot of believers mistake an emotional high for a real move of God. Someone plays a lot of feel good music & they get on an emotional high & they think they've been in the presence of God. I find the presence of God is very real; & when I pray I pray until I experience the peace of God which accompanies the presence of God. @ that point I know my prayers have been heard in God's kingdom & something will be done about the things I've prayed about. When I get that peace, I rest in it & let go of whatever I was praying about. @ this point I make a conscious choice to trust God & quit praying; trusting Him to deal with whatever I was praying about. I don't stop praying until I experience that peace. I still remember the very first time I actually prayed through about something about 26 years ago. I had fasted & prayed for 21 days that time & hadn't gotten anywhere I didn't think. Then after I'd given up & stopped praying, I was walking down the street when the peace of God suddenly filled my heart, & a thought came which was the answer to my prayers. It's taken me a long time to recognize that as the presence of God & exercise the faith ti takes to press in & pray through into the presence of God however; & I still fall short of that many times. I still tend to take things into my own hands @ times & not entrust them into God's hands. Noone can trust God perfectly, & noone can exercise perfect trust; but we should make a conscious choice to trust God & press in & pray through one situation @ a time.

If you're truly born again, you didn't just decide to get saved one day. God drew you into salvation & His kingdom. God wasn't just being nice to you either. He had a plan, & you were part of that plan. Now, you can live out your life as a believer never entering into the will, plan, & purpose of God; & you can be miserable like a whole lot of believers. Or, you can yield to the influence of the new life within you & find out who you are in God's kingdom & find the joy & peace that can only be found when you enter into the life God has always had planned for you. I've been miserable for years as a believer because I was trying to be like everyone else & failing dismally. I'm a unique individual, & god recognized that when He saved me. Sure, there are things God wants to change about me; but there are also things about me that God sees a potential in that I'll never know until I yield to the work He's begun in me & allow it to have it's full work in my heart & life turning me into the person God wants me to be. The pathway of change doesn't lie in self effort. Change is something that naturally happens as I yield more & more to the influence of the new life God has placed within me. All of the changes God wants to make in me are listed as fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. You won't find oranges on an apple tree or vise versa. The only thing you can accomplish yourself in the weakness of your flesh is listed in Galatians 5:19-21. Want to be the person you know God wants you to be? Quit struggling & surrender to the influence of God's kingdom on your life. Let Goid finish the work He's begun in you folks.

(Literal Translation)

Why do I emphasize walking in the light of God  together? Have you ever been concerned about the lack of real relationship among believers in our churches today? Have you ever felt like an outsider in your own church? If you have, could it be because there's so much darkness in our churches now? We tend to keep others @ arm's length because there are things in our lives we don't want them to know about. If there was nothing to hide we would have no such tendencies. That's what the apostle John is admonishing us about here; getting the sin out of our lives where we can have tyhe kind of relationship with other believers God has always wanted us to have. it's always been God's desire that the local church be like one big spiritual family. In fact the original church in Acts was just that, one big spiritual family that genuinely cared about one a nother & took care of one another. When was the last time you were in trouble & someone from your local church sensed your troubled heart & just showed up to comfort & help you? Let me give you a Biblical perspective on spirituality;

1Co 12:26 If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy.

In true spiritual unity noone in the body of Christ suffers without the rest of the body knowing about it.

Light reveals what darkness conceals

 the decision is by the word of the holy ones

How many of you actually pay attention to what you read? how many times do we all just scan scripture quickly, if we actually read it @ all, & don't really pay attention to what is being said there? For instance, these holy ones actually make decisions in the kingdom of God. Who are they? Is there anyone mentioned in the Bible who would appear to be in a position of authority besides Yahweh Himself?

Rev 4:4 And round about the high seat were four and twenty seats: and on them I saw four and twenty rulers seated, clothed in white robes; and on their heads crowns of gold.

Isn't that amazing? The omniscient all knowing God of theology actually had to come down to Earth & find out if reports He'd received were true concerning what was going on in Sodoam & Gamorrha. God does know what's goin on in our lives. He kinows because he has assigned watchers to watch over us & they report into their supervisors who in turn report to their supervisors right on up the chain of command in God's kingdom until the 7 archangels of God over 7 divisions of Earth in Biblical times reprot into the throne room of Yahweh Himself.

Job 1:6 One day when the angels came to report to GOD, Satan, who was the Designated Accuser, came along with them. Job 2:1 When the angels gathered around the LORD again, Satan was there with them,

To be just is to be saved from the penalty of your sins through the new birth. From the point of salvation a new light begins to shine in your life. Your life begins to be influenced by the new life God placed in you via the new birth. That influence grows stronger & stronger in your life as you learn to yield to it's influence, like a light that shines brighter & brighter all the time. The brighter the light shines, the more sinful you feel as it begins to reveal more & more imperfections in your character & life. You eventually come to a place where like the apostle Paul you cry out There's nothing good in me @ all! It's only then you will see your need for God's help to get your life back on course & headed somewhere. It's then that your life will begin to change & conform to the will, plan, & purpose of God for that life. Each of us is an individual; God has a unique plan for each individual life He chooses to draw into His light & kingdom. We're miserable for a good part of our lives simply because we're trying to be like everyone else when we were created a unique individual. To find joy & peace in life we must allow God to reveal to us who we really are & what we were destined to do in life. We must allow God to transform us into the unique individual He alone can see in us & bring our lives in line with His unique will, plan, & purpose for choosing that unique individual. Yield to the influence of that new life God has given to you today; & if you haven't received that new life yet, pray for God to forgive your sins & fill you with His marvbelous new life.

Someone made me check my blog settings today; & I just now realized my blog was set wrong & I couldn't receivecomments. LOL I was wondering why with almost 800 visits I hadn't received one comment. OOPS! I hope you'll all go back & comment about the thgings you really liked now & even those you didn't like, or didn't fully understand.

Wayne Freeman

When you finally press in & pray through that very first time, there is a peace on the inside in spite of any emotional upheavals you're experiencing because of your problems. That peace is the presence of God's kingdom in your situation. You should never stop praying until you receive that peace. it's not an emotional experience @ all. A lot of churches misteke an emotional high for the real thing; but that emotional high is not the presence of God in your life. That is an influence from the outside in; but the presence of God experiences your life from the inside out. A lot of people hear voices in their ear & believe they are hearing from God; but God influences us from the inside out. It's a form of thought transference. Suddenly these thoughts seem to come from nowhere, & they are always accompanied by the peace of God. That's how you know who or what is influencing you.

No peace. No God. Know God. Know peace.

My exwife & I pastored a home church for over 12 years before she got sick & we couldn't handle the work load that went with a home church. She was sick for 6 years before she died, & in all that time I can count the people who called or visited her on two hands & have fingers left over. In all that time one person actually offered us help. I would work all day & sit up in the hospital with her @ night for weeks @ a time. My mom & my step daughter would come & sit with her once in a while to let me go home & take care of things there. When she died, I was very bitter & disillusioned with church people. I wanted no part of them anymore. It still amazes me when a believer actually does something really nice for someone else. I know it shouldn't, but I've experienced so little of it in the past 26 years. For the most part church people are like everyone else, caring only for themselves & their immediate family. I fasted & prayed 21 days after my wife died. I wanted to know how people who professed to be christians on their way to heaven could act that way. It was then God taught me about light & darkness, yin & yang. He's as concerned as I am about the darkness that has crept into our churches. A system of belief is defined by the effect it has on the hearts & lives of those who believe it. What kind of people have we become through believing it. If it hasn't made us caring & compassionate people, then I have my doubts concerning it's origin. God is light. Light reveals what darkness conceals. What would happen if God showed up in the average church this Sunday morning? How many people would be able to remain in the presence of that light? I believe in a 4 step program to a victorious christin life; & i'd like to share it with people who are struggling with the darkness in their own lives.

When I see you the way God sees you, I wont be hung up on the things you do to the point that I fail to see why you act that way. I won't get so hung up on your faults & failures that I fail to see your potential. I will finally be able to love & accept you the way God loves & accepts me. I will be able to forgive you & forget all the wrong things you've done to me. I will no longer treat you the way you deserve to be treated; but will be merciful to you instead. All of this is a natural byproduct of being loved, accepted, & forgiven by God. Those who fail to do so often have not been able to receive God's forgiveness & acceptance for themselves.We really need to experience God's forgiveness & acceptance for ourselves folks. When we do we will begin to see each other through brand new eyes; God's eyes.

I try to keep everything I write simple & life changing. I know what it took to change my own life, & I know what's it's taking to change it now. I try to limit what I say to sharing my own experiences with others who may be struggling with a lot of things. If you are having a struggle with booze or drugs, know that I've gone through that struggle first. If you're battling with other things in your life, know that I've had similar struggles all my life. 26 years ago last June, God's kingdom became a very real part of my life & God began to reveal to me how to overcome the struggles in my life. I still struggle with things now; but it's because I want to let those things control my life; & I don't get the victory over those things until I allow God to show me those things as the enemy they are. The 4 steps I teach to victory in any situation you're dealing with work. They've been working in my own life for over 26 years now, & they will work for you too.

Joseph Wayne Freeman

getrealwithgod

I was going to do a blog entry this morning about  something a friend, Gene Spies, & I were talking about. We were talking about the quakers when I began to think about the difference between knowledge & wisdom, & guidance from God. The greatest distance in the whole world is only 18 inches. That's the distance from a man's head to his heart. To know something is good; but to know how to use that knowledge to bring about a real & lasting change in a man's heart & life is better. Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge to our hearts & lives & bring about a constructive change there. In the Bible it speaks of a word of knowledge & a word of wisdom & a prophetic word. The three of these are very real, & all are vital to living the life God wants you to live. A word of knowledge is a thought that comes out of nowhere by which you know something you have no way of knowing in the natural. In recovery that would be seeing something about your life that you either didn't know, or didn't want to know period.  It can be an attitude you have justified for years, & suddenly God focusses your attention on that attitude & you know He wants you to deal with it. It's no longer acceptable to God. it can be something you've been doing for years & justifying that God causes you to see through different eyes all of a sudden. That would be a word of knowledge. On the other hand, when a thought comes out of nowhere telling you just how to deal with this wrong attitude or wrong that you're justifying, that would be a word of wisdom. Remember, wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge & bring about a real & lasting change in someone's heart & life.  A prophetic word on the other hand is knowing about something before it happens. When applied to recovery it might be the God given ability to see the final results these attitudes & wrongs we do will have on our lives & the lives of those we love. We can suddenly see the end of the course our life is following right now.  Remember, these three words are tools that God uses to bring about a desired change in someone's life. They are never given to glorify a man or a woman; but always to bring about a change in the life of an individual, or a body of believers. What it all comes down to is praying until you get the peace of God about a situation in your life, or your life in general; & then quietly waiting for God to reveal something to you. No matter how big a problem, or how imp[ossible a peaceful solution to that problem may seem, God is a miracle working God who will guide you to eventual victory every time.

If sin was something you do, then salvation would be as simple as stop doing it; but you do the things you do because you are the person you are. Before there can be any really & lasting change in the way you do things, there has to be a real & lasting change in the way you think about those things. There must be a real & lasting change in the way you see things. As long as I thought my drinking was ok, as long as I thought the only person I was hurting was myself; there was no change in the hold my drinking had on my life. The day I began to see my drinking for the enemy it truly was, that was the day I found the road to recovery. My heart was truly grieved by the things I saw about my drinking to the point where I had an all consuming desire to be free of the hold it had on my life. I had tried to quit many times; but had always ended up right back where I was before. This time however I realized my problem was out of control & it was controlling & destroying my life. When I fully realized I'd never see any real & lasting change in my life without God's help I began to cry out for deliverence; & God met me @ the point of my need. He broke the hold that desire had on me & put me on the road to recovery. You need recovery if anything in your life has such a hold on you that you will sacrifice everything you have, & everyone you love to fulfill that desire. It's not a battle you can win yourself. It's a victory God alone can give you in life; & you'll never experience that victory until God causes you to see your life the way it really is. 

God doesn't always show us where our whole life is headed, but he does promise to give us enough light for today. The question is, do you want to get beyond your own plans & ambitions to see where your life is really headed? Do you want to see where the decisions you are making right now will take you later on? Do you want to see the fruit of the choices you are making right now? In Deuteronomy 11:26-28 God tells Israel that it's their decision whether they want to be blessed, or cursed, in this life; that trusting Him & following His guidelines will lead to a blessing, & going contrary to His will plan & purpose for their lives would bring a curse. It wasn't God blessing or cursing them, but their own choices in life doing so; & the same is true for us today. Which will it be for you? will you seek God's light before making choices, or will you foolishly rush on in, doing what you feel is the right thing to do?

I get up in the morning, put on my pants, start my day, trusting God to take me where He wants me to be @ the end of the day.

The Hebrew batach from which we get trust actually means lean on God with your whole weight like a crutch. The totally God dependent life is the only life that will take you where God wants you to go. It's God who not only empowers you to live that life, but gives you the very desire to live that life to begin with. When you start your day trusting God to get you where He wants you to be by the end of the day, you're trusting Him to help you to become the person He wants you to be as well. It's only when you quit struggling to become that you will truly be that person. There's never been one real & lasting change in my life that I brought about through my own efforts; not one. Start trusting God today & discover the God dependent life He's always wanted you to live

In AA we were taught to deal with life one day @ a time; but we can't successfully deal with even one day as a whole. What we have to do is learn to deal with one situation @ a time successfully practicing total God dependence. We've got to learn to back up & strive to see every situation we face from God's perspective. Only when we do, & strive to let God handle things will we ever be really successful in life. There's something strangely peaceful about a God dependent life. When CoCo & I committed ourselves to finding God's will & doing it no matter what that turned out to be; things began to turn around in our life, & God began to bless it big time. It never worked before then; but it's working now. Make a definite commitment to find God's will & do it in the situation you are facing right now.

God looks down into a crowded room somewhere & chooses you out of everyone there to be come a part of His kingdom. Why? Because he has a plan that you alone will fit into. God is able to look beyond all of your faults & shortcomings to see your unique potential; & He has a job for you to do. Why are we so miserable? We were created individually. Each of us has a unique potential, & we're trying to be like everyone else. That's enough to make anyone miserable. When will I stop being miserable? When I quit trying to be like everyone else.When I find out wherein my individual potential lies, & with God's help begin to strive to live up to that potential whatever that is. I don't stop being miserable when I get saved because I'm trying to live up to someone else's idea of what I'm supposed to be like as a believer. I'm not supposed to be like anyone else. I'm supposed to be different. I need to find out who I am in God's eyes, find out what I'm uniquely qualified to do, & strive to fulfill that potential in God's timing allowing Him to transform me into the person I was meant to be. Only then will I discover the true joy & peace that can give me.

4 things make my life work folks:

(1) Striving to see things through God's eyes

(2) Being genuinely grieved by the wrong things God reveals

(3) Knowing I can't make any real & lasting changes in my own life through my own efforts

(4) Wholeheartedly desiring those changes, & trusting God to bring them to pass.

These 4 things transformed my life 26 years ago; & these 4 things are still transforming my life more & more every day now. I quit trying to be like everyone else, & started trusting God to make me the person He alone can see in me. I strive to find the potential God alone can see in me, & live up to that potential, every day of my life now. You should too.

I was sitting in a mission where I was about to preach one night not long after I got saved, when a burden of intercession hit me & I got on my face before God. I saw a bearded biker's face, & God told me to give him my motorcycle when I saw him. You have to understand, that bike was my most precious possession; but I obey God even when it hurts. That biker showed up that night, & I knew if I hesitated I might not obey God. So I took the title to my bike out of my wallet, signed the back of it over to the biker, got a preacher there with me to witness it, & then gave the bike , title & even my helmet to the biker letting him know God had told me to do it. Ever seen a big ugly biker cry? That one did. He'd been praying for a bike so he could join CMA for weeks @ that time in the early 80s. another time I had a 65 Chevy pickup I was really partial too, & God told me to give it to my neighbor across the street. Again I didn't hesitate. I walked across the street, signed the title to my truck over to my neighbor like God told me to, & you should have seen him cry. He'd been praying for days that God would make a way for him to buy my truck from me because he really needed it. So God told me to give it to him. Aniother time it was an apartment full of furniture & a nice station wagon I had to give away. When God tells you to do something, you have to obey Him; even when it hurts. No matter what the cost, you obey God. For the person who does, God promises to bless you in your giving; but never tell someone God told you to do something & then back out of it. In the early eighties again, God told me to get a truckload of food together for a mission on the Mexican border; & within a few days I had that truck load of food collected & sitting in the floor of my church waiting for God to show me what to do with it. I fasted & prayed around the clock for 7 days before I heard from God; & God showed me a Ford Ranger XLT pickup in a vision. The morning of the 8th day I was in front of the church when a man drove up in the parking lot in that exact pickup. He sat there for a while. I asked him several times if he wanted something, & he told me no. Then finally he told me God told him to give me $100.00 to buy a car with. He never did obey God that day. He was bragging to me about all the work he'd just had done on that pickup; but when he tried to leave the pickup wouldn't start. He ended up having his mechanic work on it for 2 days in front of my church; & then had to tow it home. He told me later when he almost lost everything he had including his life that God told him to give me the truck & He didn't obey him. He never did obey God. The mission ran out of food because I had to pay a freight company to haul the food to the mission. He almost died in the process & had to have me pray for him before God would heal him. Obey God folks; even when it hurts.

Satan always has a counterfeit for everything God wants us to have in life. When God is about to do something real & lasting with your life, Satan will always do everything he can to destroy that work. It's very important that we stay prayed up @ those times to avoid Satan's deceptions. If not, we will fall prey to them every time. Satan will offer you everything your sinful little heart desires to keep you from discovering the life God has for you. It's very important that we bring every decision we make into the light of God before making any choices. Then & only then can we see those decisions through God's eyes & make the right choices. We do that by praying until the peace of God comes, then sitting quietly waiting for God to reveal His will in that decision. Make sure you pray through & find God's will before making any major decision in your life folks.

Gal 3:3 Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?

This is how one translation I really like begins Galatians 3:3 How can you be so stupid? yet we're just that. We all subconsciously live our Christian lives with the attitude that God is going to help us run our own lives successfully. The only reason any of us ever turned to God to begin with is because our lives had gotten totally out of control in the first place. We're all focussed on the symptoms in our lives instead of dealing with the disease. The real problem is, none of us need to be running our own lives period.

Jer 10:23 I know, GOD, that mere mortals can't run their own lives, That men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life.

Jeremiah had to be one of the smartest men who ever lived to realize he didn't need to be running his own life. That's where all real change begins in our lives folks; when we reach the end of our rope & give up all hope of ever having a decent life as long as we're trying to run it ourselves.

We're all prone to form an opinion of someone based on first impressions without ever really getting to know that person. What if God did that with us? I'm glad He doesn't. aren't you? God looks beyond all our faults & failures to see our potential. He looks beyond the things we do to see why we act that way.

1Sa 16:7 But the LORD told him, "Samuel, don't think Eliab is the one just because he's tall and handsome. He isn't the one I've chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts."

Make a conscious effort today to seek God's help to see beyond the things someone is doing to you to see why that person is acting that way. I guarantee you can have compassion on your worst enemy if you will just allow God to help you see that person through His eyes.

All of our attention is focussed on the things we do. We're stuck on symptoms, & never get beyond what we do to deal with why we do it. There will never be any real & lasting changes in our lives until we begin to see our lives through God's eyes folks. Only God can look beyond the things we do to see why we do them. When we allow God to change our heart attitude toward life, there will naturally be a change in our heart attitude toward other people. These things are not salvation themselves; but merely the fruit of salvation. Salvation itself comes through the new birth; & salvation bears fruit when we yield to the influence of the new life God placed inside of us through the new birth. I teach four steps that lead to a brand new life. That's what worked for me, & that's what will work for you. Our lives are out of control because we're trying to control our own lives. The day we surrender to God's influence on our lives is the day we find ourselves ont he road to the new birth experience, to salvation & recovery.

If you think you can handle your own life with a little help from God, then you'll never experience the life God wants you to have folks. You'll never experience that new life until you're really sick of your old life & know there's not a thing you can personally do about it. It's only when we reach the end of our personal ropes that we find the life more abundant Jesus promises a true believer.

Abundant life doesn't consist of having everything your greedy little heart desires in life. It's found in being content no matter how little you really have. It comes from know ing God is in control of your life & he really cares about you & will never leave you, or forsake you. It's knowing He's still in control when your life seems out of control. It comes through trusting God. We get our english trust in our Bibles from the Hebrew batach which means lean on God with your whole weight like a crutch. Are you leaning on God with all of your weight, or just trusting Him to help you run your own life?

If what you believe isn't changing you, making you a better person, giving you a better life, then maybe you need to change your beliefs. Look around you & be honest about what you see. Are you any different than all the believers around you? Is your life any different? Is it working? These are hard questions we have to ask ourselves if we ever hope to really get somewhere in the kingdom of God folks. If you're not ready to getrealwithgod don't expect any real & lasting changes in your life. If you're content to deal with the same old mess, day in & day out, then these teachings aren't for you; but if you really want a new & better life, if you want to be a new & better person, then really pay attention to what I'm saying here. It really works. It really changes hearts & lives.

A disgruntled postal worker walks into a post office & starts shooting people. Many innocent people died that day; but what if he had simply chosen a different career years ago? You never know how many lives will someday be affected by the choices you are making right now? Make good choices folks; & the only way to do that is to keep praying until you have the peace of God on the inside no matter how you feel on the outside. Then sit silently in God's presence & wait for guidance before making those decisions. Before making any major decisions in their lives, the quakers would call together their meeting which is the equivalent of the modern church, & they would wait silently in the presence of God in their meeting house until they all received the same guidance from God, no matter how long it took. Then the person seeking guidance simply did what God told them to do; & it always worked. Believers today don't care enough about anyone to press in & pray through for that brother or sister in Christ. We would see a lot more victorious lives in our churches if we did. Before you make the decision you are about to make right now, press in & pray through. You never know whose life will be affected by that decision.

I don't see the problem in our churches as being full of people who aren't saved as a lot of people suppose. The Bible is clear that one thing alone qualifies you for Heaven, being born again. What I see however is a lot of believers in churches who are living way below their potential simply because, while they have the life of God on the inside, they aren't allowing that new life on the inside to influence their old life on the outside. So they're still the same old people they were the night they got saved 20 years ago. They don't need to get saved all over again as a lot of people suppose. They just need to get in touch with the new life they already have on the inside & allow it to change the old life on the outside. In the parable of the sower, the same seed sown in the best of soil bore varying amounts of fruit in the lives of those who possessed it; some 30fold, some 60fold, & some 100fold. The fruit it speaks of is listed in Galatians 5:22-23. Fruit is the natural product of a source. The fruit of the spirit is what the spirit produces in your life. I think the spirit in this passage in Galatians 5:19-23 is talking about the spiritual life you received in the new birth. Your life is either being influenced by the old sin nature, or it's being influenced by the new spiritual life inside of you right now. Which is it?

If you're really a child of God, a citizen of His kingdom, you didn't just decide to get saved one day. God drew you into salvation.

Joh 6:44 No man is able to come to me if the Father who sent me does not give him the desire to come: and I will take him up from the dead on the last day.

God chose you for salvation. God drew you into salvation. God gave you the very desire for a brand new life. He wasn't just being nice to you either. He had a plan, & that plan included you. God saved you because he has a plan for your individual life. He has a purpose for choosing you out of all the people who were around you the day you got saved. There's a unique job in His kingdom you are uniquely qualified to do.

Mat 25:14-15 "It's also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left.

God looked beyond all your failures, all your shortcomings, & He saw your potential. He looked beyond what you are right now to see what you can be. He looked beyond all the wrong things you are doing to see what you are capable of doing. That's why He chose you for salvation; because of the person He alone could see in you. He had a use for that person in His kingdom. He had a job for that person to do, so He drew you into salvation & sanctification; & He will finsish the work He's begun in you. What determines how long you will be miserable in this present life you have is your willingness to be changed. You need to yield to the work He's trying to do in your heart & life & let Him complete that work in you.