Trying Is Hope. Excuses Are a Quitters Song by Brother Duke Hansen

           It is important to understand what a word actually means before you ever use it. The word I want to look at is influence.  Our flesh wants to define the word along the lines of control and authority. The actual definition of influence is "The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone, or something,or the effect itself." Darkness in the world is always trying to imitate the light. The word of God will not change in a time of foolish thought and apostasy.

        Our influence as a church in the world comes down to how much light are we shining in the darkness. Ask yourself if the word of God is influencing your character? Paul says in one of his letters that we need, as true believers, to put on the mind of Christ. The influence you have daily, how you treat your loved ones, your friends, your acquaintances show your character.

        Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:33. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Be Not Deceived  There are things over the last forty plus years that people have accepted and the church has accepted which GOD has never nor will ever accept. What is character? It is mental and moral qualities to a person. How can a persons character be changed? One way is through pain. Character can be changed through trials, tribulation, but it can also be changed by discipline. If you install discipline in your life, you are less likely to see the left hand of God. 

   

        Just because you gain some knowledge from the scripture does not cause a change automatically. If you learn something and then you put it into action, that is where you start to change. When you put solid biblical knowledge into action in your life on a daily basis, that gets God's attention! Yet, it is hard to do daily because our carnal man, our flesh self is against our spiritual growth. Our spiritual growth is the opposite of what our flesh wants.

        Read the room is a nice way of saying to pay attention to who you are surrounded by and what they are talking about before you open your mouth. You need to be clear headed and on guard of certain spirits when you are in any room or situation. Look at the story of Stephen in Acts chapters 6 through 8. He read the room all the way to his death. We need to understand and develop spiritual perception and discernment. Study the story of Noah. Study the story of Jesus with the money changers in the temple over in the gospels. Being a Christian does not mean having immunity from sin everywhere. You do not always know when God may shut a door in your life. You have to trust the five fold ministry before you even try to start trusting yourself. Discernment is very important. We need to understand the difference in when to be strong and bold and when we need to be quiet. 

        Turn to 1 Timothy 6 verse 1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. If you do not treat them with honor you are rejecting God. Being influenced by spirits will always be a problem for mankind. Often times we will get blinded by our own conditions, circumstances, and our fleshly prejudices.

       If you think you are receiving knowledge and not practicing discipline daily to take care of your own faults, you are not being a good steward of what you have been given. You should not be a little too late type of person. There are opportunities every day where you can choose faith or fear. The world has an agenda, but God already wrote his agenda and process out in the Bible! This should not be a mystery to believers. The processes and the end benefits for you are laid out in print. This leads back to your faith and how much are you truly wanting to believe. In every situation, whether it is in a room of family or co-workers, maybe on Facebook, you need to be aware when someone or when something is trying to influence you. God will change your desires and give you the desires of your heart. When you get bad news, or something does not go the way you wanted, stop and pause before you react!

        We all need to take on the character and the attributes of God. We need to realize that our behavior, our speech, our character influences others whether it is at our job or in the public. Ask yourself now, How much influence does God have in my life? I will end with this Trying is hope. Excuses are a quitters song.