I want to share my heart and my experience with you. When I was younger, I attended a church that did not allow women to wear pants, wear makeup, cut your hair, go to ballgames or movies. These were the rules of the church. To not do these things meant you were holy, set apart and not “of the world”. Jesus began to deal with my heart about these things.  He began to speak to me about the “outward appearance”.  These things were not what made me holy but the Holy Spirit living in me and my heart being totally surrendered to Him, would I live a holy life.  I am not holy only His Spirit that lives within me is holy.  It was the condition of our “inward” heart that is important to God. How we allow God to help us live holy lives pleasing to Him is what God wants from us .  The church was acting like the Pharises with all their rules and regulations and their hearts were far from God.  I saw many people that “looked holy”  but acted unholy.  Jesus came to the earth to show the people that the rules and regulations from the Pharisees were not what God wanted for them.  He wanted totally committed and surrendered hearts committed to serving Him.  He wanted our “hearts” not our rules and regulations.  God wanted me to learn to “listen to Him and get guidance from Him for my daily living and to set me free from the bondage of rules placed on me by the church.  He wanted to set me free.  To experience His joy and live my life according to what He wanted from me and not from man-made rules.  Only God should have the power to lead and only God should have the power of influence in my life.  If I give that power or influence to someone else or to the church, then I give them power to control and manipulate me and that is NOT from God. 

For example. Only God can give us direction on fasting.  On when and what to fast from. That should come from God only and no one else has the right to do that.  For example when we look at the life of Daniel.  God directed Daniel to fast from the king’s rich food and Daniel did not allow the king or the kings servants to influence Him from his conviction placed on him by God alone.  God had control in Daniel’s life.  When we allow rules and regulations set upon us by people or a church that are not from God, we are allowing them to become hinderances from what God truly wants for us.  We are living to “comply with man-made rules”  instead of living to comply with God’s ways, God’s Word and God’s leadership in our lives.  He sets us free from man-made rules so we can experience Him. So we can experience Him and  His freedoms from things that hinder us from being totally committed to Him. 

Who and what are we influenced by?  Who are we committed to?  Who do we allow to control us?  Are we allowing God to guide us, to be influenced by Him and Him alone? 

Let us allow God to guide us… Let us allow God to teach us… Let us allow God to show us His truth and be only influenced by Him alone. 

Psalm 25:4 – “Show me your ways o Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth, and teach me, for you are my God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. “

John 8:36 – “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”