This idea of being ‘led by God’s Spirit’, which is what God’s children do (Rom. 8:14) strongly implies we are ‘following’.

As we discussed yesterday, quoting Psalm 23 might provide some comfort during times of distress and darkness, but true ‘soul restoration’ takes place when we ‘follow the good Shepherd’, to which Jesus told us He was- (John 10:14). And it is in the ‘paths of righteousness’ that He is going to lead us in; as in...going and ‘sinning no more’. IF...we are abiding in Him...we are going to ‘walk as He walked’ (1 John 2:6) and ‘no longer practice sin’ (1 John 3:6,9; 5:18; 1 Pet. 4:1-2)

So what does it mean to return to our ‘first love’ and ‘doing those first works’ as we have been talking about based on the passage in Rev. 2:4-5? It is good to make note that there can be no renewal where there is no repentance. Repentance will always precede God restoring and renewing us, and that my friends, comes from being in His presence. (Acts 3:19; 2 Chron. 7:14; James 4:7-10; Luke 15:17-24) Oh, for the record, sin still separates us from Him (Isa. 59:2; Luke 15:24)

“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord...or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart......He shall receive blessings from the Lord...” (Ps. 24:3-5). And what did James admonish us to do there in that passage I shared in the last paragraph (4:8)?

So after He ‘lifts us up’ (James 4:10), He empowers us with His grace so that we might go and do the will of God which includes living righteously and holy before Him (Titus 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 1:14-16). And it is ONLY by His grace...can we do this.

This idea of actually ‘following our Good Shepherd’...really is ‘a thing’, you know? And guess what? He will actually speak to you. No, seriously...I know this can come across as odd or peculiar and makes us a bit hesitant to admit that ‘God talks to us, but please turn back to John 10 and underline vs. 3, 4, and then look at vs. 27-28. Lots of folks find ‘security’ in the promise made how you can ‘never be lost again’ because ‘no one can ever snatch you from the Father’s hand’ (28). But who is Jesus extending this promise to? His sheep (27); and what does He tell us about His sheep there? “My sheep hear My voice...I know them...and they...follow Me.”

I want to interject something here that some might find troublesome, but I’ll leave that to the Holy Spirit to help you work through if/when you are ready. I have no doubts that many sincere people who were ‘coached’ to go through some motions and words before ‘joining the church’ and signing up to get busy working alongside a bunch of other ‘good folks’... may be uncertain as to whether they have actually ever heard God speak to them, let alone have such an impactful experience as is mentioned in Acts 3:19. And I would submit to you the reason for this is because they never truly surrendered their whole heart to Jesus, willing to ‘forsake all, take up a cross...and follow Him’. (Luke 14:25-33)

You see...if/when we first come to Him, it is with the understanding that we are prepared to ‘forsake all’ as we surrender to His Lordship. It’s easy to ‘say’ we ‘gave Him our hearts’, but please know this - He will ‘test and examine our hearts’ to see how serious we are about this, and He will do it early on; trust me! (Deut. 8:2; 1 Thess. 2:4; Judges 3:1-4)

The rich young ruler we read about in Matt. 19 learned quickly that if there is anything you are unwilling to lay down that Jesus points out to you when you first come to Him...then you don’t even ‘get in the door’ and begin the process of being transformed into a new creation. (Matt. 19:21-22)

Now I don’t know who needs to hear this, but when you first come to Him with all your heart, God is not going to test you by asking you to go do a bunch of ‘weird stuff’ to make you look foolish. That’s not to say you won’t experience some ‘supernatural happenings’ as He begins to reveal Himself to you, but can I just tell you up front...He’s more interested in removing all those ‘besetting sins’ (Heb. 12:1) that have been the source of all your problems. And He’s going to deal with them ‘one by one’, or ‘little by little’ as He did when he led the Israelites into Canaan land and wanted to remove those evil nations off the land.

And here’s a ‘news flash’ for us all – He’s going to pick and choose the areas in the order that He ...wants to deal with first. He’s the Lord and Good Shepherd and the One leading, so He does not need our advice, help, suggestions, or ideas. Believe me, He knows what He is doing and He just wants your cooperation. So just give it all to Him and let Him...do the leading. More tomorrow...Lord willing....