Faith is not conjured up, it is exercised. Our faith is energized/exercise when we obey the Word and how the Holy Spirit interprets the Word as we read. Our Faith is wrapped around Christ (Eph. 2:8) and all that He will do through His spirit within us. Obedience energizes the power that lives within us. Jesus said in John 14:21 that the person who obeys is the one who loves Him. What we can do in everyday life with this power in us will glorify God, it's what people are looking for.
Satan does not want us to know any truth about the power within us. He wants us to think in terms of traditianal obedience. SO many Christians are stuck in a traditional/institutional relationship with the Spirit. Mainly, going to church and being "good." This de-personalizes our relationship with the Spirit to the point that our faith in Him weakens and fades. We loose our faith to read with the Spirit as our personal tutor. We especially loose our faith to witness because we are not sure about what Christ really accomplished inside us.
Plan your day around your personal time with God. Pray honestly. Read the Bible after inviting the Holy Spirit to be your personal tutor in every session. Journal what you learn or blog it as a testament to what you just learned. Then, obey as a love gift to the Father. If you get stuck, start with forgiveness and confession.
Written as encouragement for the soul.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
God's voice is like a summer breeze
Oswald Chambers has some great advice about listening to God's spirit and knowing His will.
(1 Thessalonians 5:19).
"The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze—so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.
Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, “Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.” If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”—the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62; also see 1 John 1:6–7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to “walk in the light” by recalling your past experiences when you did “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). Whenever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.
Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crisis, your life will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be."
(1 Thessalonians 5:19).
"The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze—so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.
Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, “Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.” If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”—the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62; also see 1 John 1:6–7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to “walk in the light” by recalling your past experiences when you did “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). Whenever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.
Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crisis, your life will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be."
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Learning From Brett Farve
I think of Brett Farve and wonder what it would be like to command that much attention solely because of how well I did something. Even at a relatively old age for a football player, he is known for being a great quarterback. People generally like him because he loves the game with passion. We can learn from this. I personally hope he still has the physical ability to finish this season well.
We are commanded to develop our knowledge of the Christ who lives inside Christ followers. Unlike the attention of a great football player, the better you get at knowing Christ, the less you may be known or popular with the world around you. Perceived obscurity is a difficult course to deal with. Yes, we should grow more humble, this is one of Christ’s greatest character traits. Regrettably, at some point in life, many Christians say; “I know enough, I’ve got the basics, what else do I need?” Then, spiritual pride sets in. Any time we think we are good at something; we usually start to stink a bit. Unbelievers take notice of stinky Christians, but they develop respect for a Christ follower who has consistent passion. Passion always means growth and pursuit. Our pursuit of knowing all that Christ represents in our lives is a life-long process, not a plateau. God programmed the human brain to enjoy learning, especially about Him. Then, it becomes a natural overflow to enthusiastically tell others who need Christ in their lives as well.
Many interests sever the passionate growth of Christians in older life. This self-serving reward program called retirement dominates the last 20 – 30 years of so many lives without any biblical analysis. Since our primary goal as Christians is to influence people with our passion for Christ how can we ever adopt some TV ad philosophy of retirement. This is usually represented as having time for fun stuff all day like traveling, golf, or living in a special village with similar people.
Satan will throw anything in our lives to keep us from finishing well. Satan does not want any popular “Brett Farve” of the Christian world to inspire passion and fun. Just like the best way to stay in love with your spouse is to study him/her, the best way to stay in love with Christ is to study Him for your whole life. Plan each day around your study time. Unlike our passing arms, our brains don’t wear out. Relate what you learn to others who need hope. Stay in the game and finish well - my own challenge.
We are commanded to develop our knowledge of the Christ who lives inside Christ followers. Unlike the attention of a great football player, the better you get at knowing Christ, the less you may be known or popular with the world around you. Perceived obscurity is a difficult course to deal with. Yes, we should grow more humble, this is one of Christ’s greatest character traits. Regrettably, at some point in life, many Christians say; “I know enough, I’ve got the basics, what else do I need?” Then, spiritual pride sets in. Any time we think we are good at something; we usually start to stink a bit. Unbelievers take notice of stinky Christians, but they develop respect for a Christ follower who has consistent passion. Passion always means growth and pursuit. Our pursuit of knowing all that Christ represents in our lives is a life-long process, not a plateau. God programmed the human brain to enjoy learning, especially about Him. Then, it becomes a natural overflow to enthusiastically tell others who need Christ in their lives as well.
Many interests sever the passionate growth of Christians in older life. This self-serving reward program called retirement dominates the last 20 – 30 years of so many lives without any biblical analysis. Since our primary goal as Christians is to influence people with our passion for Christ how can we ever adopt some TV ad philosophy of retirement. This is usually represented as having time for fun stuff all day like traveling, golf, or living in a special village with similar people.
Satan will throw anything in our lives to keep us from finishing well. Satan does not want any popular “Brett Farve” of the Christian world to inspire passion and fun. Just like the best way to stay in love with your spouse is to study him/her, the best way to stay in love with Christ is to study Him for your whole life. Plan each day around your study time. Unlike our passing arms, our brains don’t wear out. Relate what you learn to others who need hope. Stay in the game and finish well - my own challenge.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Unlearning
Acts 10.
"Whenever God is at work, He leads “at both ends of the line.” He prepares us for what He is preparing for us." (Wiersbe)
God prepared Peter to accept unclean gentiles as worthy to receive the gospel message, thus becoming fellow believers of the "way." God prepared Cornelius to receive the gospel message along with his family. Both were prompted by the Spirit to take actions by faith that did not make sense in their past frame work of thinking. We should unlearn as the spirit teaches us new thinking applications based on trust and faith from Bible precepts. Suffering, trials, and stressful relationships cause us, force us to unlearn as we are pruned toward clinging to the main vine (Christ). This is a very hard process and I admit it is a daily challenge with doubts.
stretch
"Whenever God is at work, He leads “at both ends of the line.” He prepares us for what He is preparing for us." (Wiersbe)
God prepared Peter to accept unclean gentiles as worthy to receive the gospel message, thus becoming fellow believers of the "way." God prepared Cornelius to receive the gospel message along with his family. Both were prompted by the Spirit to take actions by faith that did not make sense in their past frame work of thinking. We should unlearn as the spirit teaches us new thinking applications based on trust and faith from Bible precepts. Suffering, trials, and stressful relationships cause us, force us to unlearn as we are pruned toward clinging to the main vine (Christ). This is a very hard process and I admit it is a daily challenge with doubts.
stretch
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