Women in the Word

I have been doing the 1 John Bible study at Good Morning Girls. And I have been enjoying it so much! Todays Reading was 1 John 2: 26 - 27
  "²⁴ So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. ²⁵ And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.

 ²⁶ I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. ²⁷ But you have received the Holy Spirit,^[h] and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit^[i] teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ." 

While I was reading these verses, I realized something. Something that every Christian should know and do but fail constantly in doing so. Can you guess what it is? Read it one more time. We are constantly falling out of fellowship with our Heavenly Father. When I say "we" I mean "I, as in me, as in myself"! For a long time I struggled with knowing what Christianity really meant. I struggled with seeing what it was REALLY suppose to look like. I grew up in a Christian home, I went to a Bible college, I was even a Pastor's wife for 8 years. I did not always have a constant relationship with God. I did not always remain faithful to what I was taught. It was easier as a PW because I was setting the example and I tried to be the best example of what a Christian was suppose to be, but I know that I failed in many areas. I lacked knowledge, and it was because I wasn't listening to what the HOLY SPIRIT was saying to be true. I was confused about a lot of things, I did what was expected of me but it was more out of duty then love.  Reading and studying 1 John I have learned what it really means to Love. Not just others but to Love God as well. This is truly the first time I am seeing it from a clear, unobstructed perspective. I have always loved God, I always believed in Him. In my heart I truly wanted to serve Him and do what was right, and that was easy while being in the ministry. But when things got tough and trials came, I lost my footing. I was thrust backwards and because I never quite had my own standards and convictions I no longer knew what was acceptable. What was okay and not okay? Everything I knew didn't seem "right" to me. In this time, I was given plenty of advice from people that I respected, people that, in my eyes, where "good" Christians. Looking back not everything I was told was truth. Some things I was able to acknowledge as ungodly counsel, but some things where not so clear to me. That's where verse 26 comes into play. There are always those that will try to lead you astray from the truth. Whether they do it intentionally or whether they are astray themselves. Either way these are people that  are not walking with God. People that are not yielding to the Holy Spirit. Sadly there are even Pastors and leaders that are doing this in their very own church. This is why it is soooooo important for us as Children of God to walk with Him. To know Him, to know what His Holy Words say and speak. We need to submit ourselves to His truth. And in order to do this, in order to let the Holy Spirit teach us we need to LISTEN! We need to quiet our own spirit, we need to read and study His words and pray. This is vital if you want to avoid being deceived. If you want to avoid being led astray. Sometimes we are so busy yelling at our children to clean up their rooms, so busy stressing over our unkempt home, so busy trying to take care of all of our chores and duties that we can not hear the Holy Spirit. It's like chaos going on inside of us. Take time to walk with God. To know Him to commune with Him. Do this for yourselves, do this for your family so that they can see what a genuine relationship with God looks like. Do this because you LOVE God and want to obey His commandments. I challenge you!