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I pray "Lord, teach me to do (act/react) what You would do."  I want so much to be lead by His Holy Spirit.  To speak His Words, to love others as He loves them, to understand and to use wisdom and to draw upon His knowledge.  I want to realize that I am never alone and that it is not 'me' that will accomplish anything of great worth - but Him 'in' me that will make a difference.

'Talking' these concepts is so very easy.  to mentally agree with the thought that He is with me always - to agree with the idea that He speaks through me as a need arises - to say I believe that He 'will' do what He says.  Thinking it, talking it and discussing it are easy.  Putting action to words is much more difficult. 

I can easily say "I Love You" - but do I act like I have love for you?   I can easily say "I want to share His Word with others" - but when given the opportunity do I speak?  I can easily say "by His stripes I am healed - for He has sent His Word and Healed me" - but do I speak more about sickness and pain than I do about Him? 

Every time we are offended it is another opportunity to 'choose' His love.  There are two paths before us - one begins with taking on a hurt feeling, this may progress to anger, become a offended attitude, and probably will involve gossip and so on down that path.  The other is a little more difficult to see - depending on how good we are at reading the 'road signs' - if we are accustomed to following the path of 'hurt feelings' than we may never see that there is another path available.  We must look for it and actively make a decision to 'choose' the path of forgiveness and love. Acting on what the Word instructs us to do is not as easy as simply saying 'I forgive you' or 'I love you'.   I must check my actions and my words to see if I am truly allowing God's Holy Spirit to direct me or if I am in control of the situation. I must be honest with myself.   It is very easy to 'reason' in my mind that I don't have to show what I say!   It is easy to say "Holy Spirit - lead me" - and then go about doing what I want to do.  "But" I say - "I asked Him to lead me!"  He did His part - He will always lead when we ask - but I need to honestly look at my actions and consider whether or not I am 'following'! 

Every time we find ourselves with people who do not know Jesus as Lord we are presented with another opportunity.  What we say and what we do should be representations of Him.  In ourselves we are not able to act and react in every situation as Jesus would.  We don't know the words that will touch the heart of the person who is seeking.  The wonderful thing is that He does know - and as we allow His Holy Spirit to direct and lead us we will be used to accomplish great things.  (remember all heaven rejoices at one more name being written in the Lamb's Book of Life!) Again - it is not a matter of His leading - it is a matter of our willingness to follow.

Every time sickness and pain enter our physical body we have a choice.  We can say - I believe God will heal me - but then how do we act?  What does our conversation sound like?  Do we go on to describe every pain - to recount every inability and disability?  Do we tell everyone we know about the terrible attack that we are experiencing and then ask them to pray for us?  We must listen to our words to understand what we 'really' believe.  What takes control of the conversation - the Word of God or the sickness.  What do we focus on - God or the attack?  There is nothing wrong in asking for prayer - but giving 90% of the conversation to the illness and then tacking on "I believe...." at the end is not acting according to God's Word.  Telling everyone details of a sickness does not help to 'make it go away'.   Telling about the pain or the circumstance does not lessen the burden.  There is nothing another person can do to make an illness leave.  Focusing on the problem only makes it larger in my own mind. When I ask someone to pray for me the details are really not necessary - God knows my needs.  When I ask someone to pray - I ask for a prayer of agreement - based upon God's Word - based in His promise to me.  We are instructed to 'be transformed (change, alter, remake, reconstruct, metamorphose) by the renewing of our minds' - it begins in our minds! Whatever we do, whatever we say - it all begins in our minds.  Who we are - how we react and relate to others all begins in our minds.  If we know that we can effect others through our words and actions - why can't we understand that we are also effecting ourselves.  Let's speak God's Word and then act upon it. Whether we are completely healed of the physical manifestations of disease or whether, like Paul we are required to endure a "throne in the flesh" - our words should glorify God, not call attention to the 'throne'.

"Lord let us turn from describing in great detail our own weakness and instead point to Your wonderful power that is ours through Your Holy Spirit."

Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. [2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Here's how it is written in the Message:   "Place Your Life Before God"
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life -- your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life -- and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.  Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention on God.   You'll be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it.  Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.