We are to love outside of ourselves- love God, love Others

Eph 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 

Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 

Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 

Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 

Eph 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord

Walk circumspectly.

Definition: cir·cum·spect - thinking carefully about possible risks before doing or saying something

To walk circumspectly means we are living our lives aware of our actions, aware that there are consequences to our actions.  We are to be wise, not fools. A wise person is aware of the eternal view, not the temporal view. While we are not to WORRY about tomorrow, we are to be AWARE.  Worry and aware are two different things. You can know something as a fact without worrying about it. We can know that things look hopeless and choose not to worry about it by comprehending that the worst possible outcome of tomorrow does NOT take from us the promise of eternal life.

To walk circumspectly, wisely, we choose to use our time in such a way that promotes the eternal life to come. We live KNOWING that eternal life is a REALITY for us. We don't live our lives as if here and now is all there is to it and nothing matters but our seeking to get as much pleasure out of this life as possible. We comprehend that the days we live in are evil, THEY ARE.

Satan will stop at NOTHING to promote his agenda, and that agenda includes capturing as many people in his snares as he can and keeping them from eternal life. THIS IS SATAN'S AGENDA! Our days are FILLED with things that are meant to take eternal life from us. You don't get any more evil than preventing someone from attaining eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We need to truly understand what the will of the Lord is- do you know what it is?

Joh_6:40  And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day

1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

1Jn 3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

The will of God - to BELIEVE and out of that belief we obtain the SPIRIT and through the SPIRIT we keep His commandments to love.

We are to be FILLED with the Spirit- not with artificially contrived things that make us feel differently than we do without them, making us feel less pain from the evil around us.  We need to be FILLED with the Spirit. We keep the commandments to LOVE GOD and LOVE OTHERS and this is what we are to be filled with- NOT any commandment that tells us to love ourselves first. I can't find that one anywhere. We are to LOVE outside of ourselves in order to be filled with the Spirit of love.  This is the will of God.

Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs- in our hearts!

This is how we are to live! The inward man inside each and every one of us needs to glorify God in song! It's amazing what music, what singing, what songs can do for us.

Just recently they're proving the power of song with Alzheimer's patients.  Truly there is power in singing, in music, in psalms, in hymns and we don't have to do it publically to reap the benefits, we can do it in our hearts!

The life of a Christ believing person, is the life of one who believes in loving others not self, it is a life of singing inwardly.

Will the Christ believer have a perfect life? NO, a thousand times NO! Will the Christ believer be promised life free from heartache, pain, agony, torture and so on? NO, a thousand times NO! Believing in God and His begotten son Jesus Christ is not a hope to live a good life here on earth now, it's just not. If anything it almost guarantees you are HARDER life now- more pain, more agony, more torture, more heartache because Satan stops at NOTHING to inflict all the pain he can upon Christ believers. Our HOPE is an ETERNAL HOPE, and ETERNAL LOVE.

Please, Father, bless us with Your Son, help us, keep us from evil and increase our faith in the sacrifice made for us.  Help us to love outside of ourselves- selflessly.

Please give us the Spirit, Father. We need the Spirit!

All in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior now and always!

Amen.