I'm very fortunate because I've had a godly aunt in my life and I've had an opportunity to see a person who was not fearful but joyous. And she was content to be in her assignment as assigned by God and she worked there! She radiated joy in God. God was never a burden to her but was a joy. She didn't have to try to be an example of a godly person for she was a godly person.
A truly godly person who is led by the Spirit of God is not a fearful person for he knows God will always be with him and help him to make godly choices.
He doesn't have to be godly by himself but HE has the Spirit of God in him to show him what to do and the Spirit will always lead in that which is right in the sight of God.
The people who try to live by the letter of the law are ridged and always afraid.
Yet we, who follow the Spirit, uphold the law by the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is Holy and will not present a way to us that is opposite to scripture or contrary to that which God wants us to do.
We are as Paul said in the following: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; (Phil. 2:15-16)
We, who live by the Spirit, are free from sins, for we follow the Spirit who leads us in the way of God, and we are joyous, thankful to God that we have another way to live on this earth.
We are a blessing to all who come across our path!
Importantly, we know our assignment from God as we live on this present earth and we get our instruction from God and we follow HIM and we remain steadfast in that which God gives us to do.
In this Podcast, I will try to show examples of persons who live by the Spirit of God and how different they are from church goers who are living by the letter of the law.
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My aunt married a man she did not love. As a type of rebellious teenager in approximately 1915, she loved a young man but something happened and out of spite she married another "boy".
The man she married was physically rough. When we visited them when I was a child, he would "hug" me when we arrived at their house, but the grip of his hand on my arm hurt. And he was a man filled with fear.
Somewhere along her life, my aunt became born again and was even transported into heaven and she said it was all golden there.
My aunt was wonderful at cooking and cleaning and sewing! She had a great joy in her as she helped her husband and family and others. That joy radiated!
During part of her life she was postmistress in their rural village in Arkansas. Later she worked as a clerk in a department store in the dress shop area. She put her whole heart into that which she did and worked in joy.
I didn't hear her mention God but everyone knew she was a godly woman.
And she loved people and did all she could to help them, even strangers.
She had the Spirit of God in her and she followed the Spirit of God although she attended the Church of Christ denomination which even removed some of the Bible references to the "Holy Ghost".
Before she died, I was born again, and we spoke often of things of God. She was never afraid of me.
She told me she knew some things were wrong at "the church".
Mostly when I was with her after I was born again, we spoke of scripture.
When I think of Proverbs 31, I think of this aunt.
She once said to me, "I always knew you would never do anything wrong."
(I did lots of things wrong but she must have seen me by faith.)
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Amazingly her daughter was just opposite. She attended Church of Christ and was always afraid that someone would do something wrong. I doubt she was born again. She tried to live by the letter of the law, so far as I can tell. She was the most fear filled person I've ever seen. And even after I was born again she fought me greatly. I don't think she knew what it was to be born again. She seemed to think that we humans did things of Bible by our own will.
She once said to me, "Well ... I believe you are a Christian ... I just don't see how you can be!"
(I just laughed, for I was pretty sure she was not born again though she always attended church and her husband was a leader in their church group.)
Being born again and following the Spirit of God is often bewildering to church goers.
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We who are godly keep ourselves in the love of God.
And we are joyous and extremely hopeful for we truly know God. We don't try to be joyful. We are joyful for our experience with God is joy.
Yet we obey God by HIS Spirit as HE shows us scripture and we allow God to re-create us in the image of that verse of scripture as we apply that scripture to our lives.
We follow God by HIS Spirit doing scripture with great joy knowing scripture is freedom from sin for us.
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