{"id":2516,"date":"2020-09-16T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=2516"},"modified":"2020-09-08T09:15:20","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T14:15:20","slug":"what-is-more-important-your-works-or-your-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/09\/16\/what-is-more-important-your-works-or-your-beliefs\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT, YOUR WORKS OR YOUR BELIEFS?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>\u201cSo again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?\u201d (Galatians 3:5 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Belief trumps works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of us can work our way into heaven.&nbsp; No matter how good we are, we are still sinners.&nbsp; Our good deeds aren\u2019t what gets us into heaven; our faith in Jesus is.&nbsp; Once we profess our faith and believe, God\u2019s Spirit produces good works in us that the world sees.&nbsp; He gets the glory, not us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My car is a 2016 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toyota.com\/prius\/\">Prius<\/a>.&nbsp; A hybrid is an excellent car for living in the city; it requires little gas.&nbsp; But once a month or so, I still need to put gas in it.&nbsp; An electric battery is charged every time the car brakes.&nbsp; This technology allows the car to use less gasoline, but it cannot operate without gas.&nbsp; We\u2019re the same as my hybrid.&nbsp; We can get charged up from the good things we do in life, but without God\u2019s Spirit in us, our engine won\u2019t start in the first place.&nbsp; Without an motor, we can\u2019t run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Belief fuels the engine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we place our faith in Jesus, it\u2019s like filling our gas tank with fuel.&nbsp; His Spirit enters us, beginning to crank the engine.&nbsp; We instantly want to share what we have gained with others.&nbsp; Our enthusiasm is overwhelming to those who haven\u2019t had the same experience.&nbsp; Often in life, I have to temper myself.&nbsp; Jesus didn\u2019t overwhelm people, He loved them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus\u2019s presence in our life is what motivates us to get to know Him.&nbsp; We learn about Him as we read the scriptures and begin to apply His teachings to our lives.&nbsp; Good works happen when we take steps towards Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Forgiving someone who has hurt you is good work.&nbsp; Rick Warren, in one of his devotionals, said forgiveness requires four things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Recognize no one is perfect<\/li><li>Relinquish your right to get even<\/li><li>Respond to evil with good<\/li><li>Refocus on God\u2019s plan for your life<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doing the four things listed above takes work.&nbsp; When someone hurts us, we don\u2019t want to see any good in them.&nbsp; We only want to focus on the bad.&nbsp; Letting someone off the hook is hard.&nbsp; Accepting that God wants you to love them, even though they have hurt you is difficult.&nbsp; But with God, we can do it.&nbsp; He makes the impossible possible.&nbsp; His Spirit within us creates the good works we do.&nbsp; Without Him, we cannot truly forgive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">God\u2019s Spirit fuels our good works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don\u2019t get caught up in works.&nbsp; They aren\u2019t what fills your tank.&nbsp; Time with God, in His word, will gas your engine.&nbsp; Nothing compares to moments with your Creator.&nbsp; His presence will overwhelm you, His good works overflowing from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Have you sat in God\u2019s presence lately and let Him refuel you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Further Reading:&nbsp; <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=isaiah%2022:1-24:23;galatians%202:17-3:9;psalm%2060:1-12;proverbs%2023:15-16\">Isaiah 22:1-24:23 NIV<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Galatians%202%3A17-3%3A9&amp;version=NIV\">Galatians 2:17-3:9 NIV<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalm%2060&amp;version=NIV\">Psalm 60 NIV<\/a>,&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Proverbs%2023%3A15-16&amp;version=NIV\">Proverbs 23:15-16 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cSo again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?\u201d (Galatians 3:5 NIV) Belief trumps works. None of us can work our way into heaven.&nbsp; No matter how good we are, we are still sinners.&nbsp; Our good&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/09\/16\/what-is-more-important-your-works-or-your-beliefs\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT, YOUR WORKS OR YOUR BELIEFS?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2518,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516\/revisions\/2518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}