Holy Spirit

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“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5, ESV)

This passage of scripture came to me the other night as I visited a family. I was asked to come speak and pray with a lady who was on her death bed. Upon arriving I found a very weak woman in an impossible situation, naturally speaking. It was very heartbreaking to see this lady. I had a dear friend go along with me to pray for this lady, as we were praying I felt the feebleness of my own words, I knew that there was nothing in and of myself that could save this lady. I couldn’t say a good enough prayer to save her or heal her. It was truly going to have to be the power of God that saved this precious lady.

I mean I can do a lot of things in my own strength. I can encourage people, lead people, I could even preach a half decent sermon apart from Holy Spirit. But as I stood above this lady I knew that there was nothing I could muster up to save her. I could craft a really nice sounding prayer and it would not save her.

Paul tries to relate some of the same ideas in the passage above. He says that when he came to the Corinthians he didn’t even attempt to persuade them with eloquent words but rather he trusted only the power of the Spirit.

This experience here left me in a place of desperation for the Spirit’s power. I need to be utterly dependent on the Spirit everyday for his power because it is only through him that we will see people truly set free and healed.

I can’t preach a good enough sermon to save anyone; I truly need the power of the Spirit to change hearts and minds.

Think about these things the next time you are praying. The temptation is to craft a really good spiritual prayer but what matters most is what you are trusting in. Your elaborate prayer does not move God, the volume of your prayer does not move God. Rather what moves Him is faith. Faith in the Spirit's power, not your words. 

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Puzzled?

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This morning my Pastor spoke about finding your place and used puzzle pieces as an analogy to explain the Body of Christ. It reminded me of a similar analogy I used in something I wrote five years ago this week. I found it amazing that the Lord would use it again as he spoke to my Pastor about it this last week. So on that subject I hope this blesses you.

August 19, 2008 

The Body of Christ is like a puzzle and when put together looks like Christ. Now every puzzle piece looks different. Some are big and some are small. Some are bright and some are dark. Then some are just a mixture of everything. Now the thing about almost every puzzle piece is that they have two distinct characteristics, the connectors. One part sticks out and one part caves in. The only way for the picture to be seen in its fullness and with clarity is to assemble the whole puzzle into one picture so the only thing that is seen is the picture and not the pieces.

Now in regards to Christ and his believers is just that. Each believer is a different piece of the puzzle meaning that they have connectors which are strengths and weaknesses. In order for Christ to be seen in his fullness, just like the puzzle we too must come together and unite. We must allow someone else's strengths to overlap and fill in our weakness. Allow our vision to contribute to someone else's. We must really see ourselves as pieces to something bigger. That each of us has been given something to contribute to the bigger picture. That even though some pieces may look bigger, they still need the smaller ones to complete the job.

The problem though arises when we believe that we have the whole picture and that there is nothing to add to it. That one puzzle piece believes he's the picture. He becomes a one man show; In essence becoming God.

Our goal and ultimate destiny is to reveal Jesus. In order to do that, we must unite every piece into one picture to show the fullness of Jesus. God made each of us distinctively different not so we would stand out, but so we could each come together in humility to share our differences in order to reveal our similarity which is Christ.

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The Forbidden Fruit and Adam's Response

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:8-13

At the moment I am attending Liberty University, a Christian college, and I’m working on my degree online. Very often our course work requires us to incorporate scripture into our assignments as we work to integrate faith and the world of psychology.

Last night I was working on an assignment and I chose to use the above text depicting the Fall of Man in the garden. As I was working on my assignment and looking closely at the text I found it interesting that when Adam and Eve hid, they hid because of their nakedness, not because they had broken a command. Adam said “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, BECAUSE I WAS NAKED, and I hid myself". He did not even mention eating the fruit. Now maybe it is implied that is why he hid, I don’t know. I just found it interesting the reason Adam gave was that he hid because of his nakedness.

I have my own ideas, I was wondering what some other thinkers might think.

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Burnt Out

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Ok let’s admit it. It happens to us all; we all get stale in our faith, bored, worn out, stagnant. In today’s modern evangelical world it is easy to get lost in so many well-meaning things and totally lose sight of what we are really doing.

It happens to me from time to time. I can tell when it is happening because I lose the satisfaction of serving, giving, studying, and even praying.  Everything then becomes an obligation.

Why does this happen? This should not be our attitude as believers right? I mean do we not remember who it is we’re serving? Well that may be the problem at times, and I dare say most of the time.

Whenever we find ourselves in this place it is mostly because we have lost the awe and wonder of who Christ is. Our eyes have lost sight of His majesty and have instead embarked on some other spiritual journey instead of seeking to know Christ.

This is how we end up in this place of dissatisfaction; when programs, leadership status, titles, and so on take the place of the wonder and awe of Christ. Now all those things are good in their place but everything out of its place, though good, can become bad.

I just posted on Facebook the other day “Being a preacher is like framing a picture, you're just trying to make Christ the focal point.” The problem so many times is that we have moved the frame from centering on Christ and have made the focal point other things and have diminished Christ to a footnote.

The book of Colossians has always been able to stir my heart for the Lord. I can’t explain it fully but I think it has something to do with how it frames Christ. Here read it for yourself;

 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” (Colossians 1:15-18, ESV)

That in all things He might be preeminent, first, top, of greatest importance. That everything was created by Him, the universe was formed by HIS HANDS. Not only did he create it but HE HOLDS IT TOGETHER. All matter is being held together by HIS power! Your chair is a chair right now by HIS COMMAND.

Maybe that doesn’t stir you but I challenge you one night to go outside under the night sky, away from the city lights, look at the stars and recite those passages to yourself. Remind yourself of how big he is, how powerful he is.

The old hymn was correct when it said “And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Nothing seems to matter a lot when you are blinded by the majesty of Christ. Tribulations become just as the scriptures say, “a light momentary affliction” 2 Corthinians 4:17. No other endeavor is as attractive. Nothing else holds power over us. When we gaze into His awesomeness we experience freedom to the utmost.

So are you burnt out? Do you feel worn out? Tired? Lost in your faith? Lacking excitement and zeal?

Step back from every pursuit you have. Leave every frustration behind. Adjust your eyes to once again gaze upon the beauty of Christ and watch the Spirit renew you and fill you with fresh strength and vision. That is my prayer for you today my friends.

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What Is Love?

I think a horrible fantasy to live in is where Love is thought of as this eternal bubbly feeling that never leaves. I find that sometimes people are under this impression that love hits you and it never leaves.  I think love is something that must be maintained. I found this out several weeks after I got married.

Now many of you reading may disagree with me and that’s because you are not married or you have some abnormally great marriage where nothing goes wrong. I think love is like any other emotion. It must be maintained in order for it to be present. See, I stay mad when I continually remind myself of something that was done to me, the same thing can be said about depression. When I choose to not dwell on those things I’m not mad or depressed.

Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,..”

Galatians says that love is a fruit of the Spirit, meaning that love is something that the Holy Spirit produces in us. Now as humans we have love, but it is mostly shallow, self-serving, and short lived, but the love the Spirit produces in us is described in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

This type of love is sacrificial, unconditional, and durable.

For me to love my wife as I should, or better yet love people the way Jesus calls me to, requires an intentional and deep relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Going into a marriage or relationship without this revelation can lead to a failed marriage, or worse stuck in a relationship that lacks love and is filled with bondage. We must go into a marriage understanding that the Holy Spirit is the one that breathes life. I have learned that a successful marriage requires two people seeking Christ, two people drinking from the fountain of life.

“ I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3

The foundation of my marriage must be a relationship with the Holy Spirit or else everything else is bound to fail or be unfruitful and void of life. 

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