I love to express what I feel called to say. Writing helps me to open up my heart and do that. I hope that what I write helps you in some way. I hope it makes you think, encourages you, or inspires you. If it challenges you or if you disagree, I hope you know that I respect your right to have a different point of view.
“The world cannot accept Him, (the Holy Spirit) because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.” (John 14:15-17) Do you see God the Holy Spirit? Go beyond studying God’s light. Learn to see His light.
No matter how much a blind man studies light, he still can’t see. When the study of God’s light overshadows the reality of direct spiritual insight, hearts become hardened and covered with cataracts. Then divine revelation and personal connection with the risen Jesus are replaced by mere religion and church tradition.
The cure is not to learn more information about God light. It’s not just to study and be more religious. A heart covered with spiritual cataracts needs to be inwardly circumcised by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 2:28-29) Bible analysis alone, apart from God’s Spirit, cannot bring light. (John 6:44)
The cure is to consistently see the light — to “look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.” (Hebrews 12:2) It is to continually “behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29) and to always allow God to shine in your heart. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
Flesh and blood and human effort can’t reveal the presence, power, and love of Jesus to you, but God the Father can. (Matthew 16:17) Let Him! “What no eye has seen, or ear has heard, and what God has prepared for those who love Him, these are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
If you want to see God light, gather with some people who are passionately in love with Jesus and are willing to be led by the Spirit. (Romans 8:28) Assembly yourselves together to encourage each other and to spur one another on to love and good works. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Then let the people present share “a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation,” and whatever else God puts on their heart. (1 Corinthians 14:26) As they do you will see God’s light shining from within them like sunlight reflecting off of the morning dew.
I want to see that. How about you? If so, then go beyond studying and do what God the Holy Spirit tells you to.
When Christian faith becomes systematized rather than Spirit baptized it becomes routine instead of an inner supernatural stream of light. (Acts 1:8 & John 7:37-39) Don’t stay caught in that trap.
God’s light isn’t a religious subject to study. It’s His radiant brilliance shinning in and through your heart to inspire you and others.
Freely allow Christ to dwell in your heart through living faith. (Ephesians 3:16) The words given by God the Holy Spirit and written down by the apostles and the prophets can’t be understood by human reasoning. However, multitudes of people have experienced that those words will ignite divine revelation in the heart of anyone who will consistently ponder them with openness, receptivity, and humility.
When I contemplate and meditate and notice what is happening within me as I slowly read and absorb those words, I become aware of a supernatural presence communicating within me and molding me from within. The Holy Spirit, Himself, explains the words that He spoke to the people who listened to Him in the past and whose writings are collected in the Bible.
Living faith that comes by hearing the words of the Bible with your inner ear. It brings the mind supernatural knowledge that is far beyond mere human reasoning and intellectual comprehension.
True faith is relational experience based on shared life with God, not mere religious information built on mental analysis. It’s the gift of God’s revelation, not the results of intellectual elevation.
Living faith is the light of God that shines in your heart. It’s not a teaching about how light works. Faith is God’s love being poured into your heart. (Romans 5:5) It fills your human spirit God’s presence.
Living faith can be accepted or rejected by your free will. Every time you feel it seeking greater admittance into your heart, voluntarily receive it. Refuse to reject it.
Fully trust and rely on God’s presence to continually inwardly rearrange your thoughts, feelings, and desires and to align them one after another to His purposes. Use the supernatural ability that God wants to give you to ever say yes to His will.
Living faith is active and practical. It overflows with compassion and good works. It radiates unceasing love, joy, gratitude, and adoration for God’s gift of His Son Jesus. (John 3:16) Humbly surrender to the living God and receive the ever-increasing faith that He is trying to give to you.
I had opened a famous book and tried to read it several times in my life. (I don’t remember the very first time.) Yet I always found it dull and boring and I quickly put it down. Although most people had one or more copies, I had never seen anyone actually open it up and read it for pleasure.
Then one day I met some people who were talking about the author. I thought the author was dead, but they said that they had met him and that he had become their personal friend and now lives inside of them. They said His name is Jesus Christ.
As they talked about Him, I felt His presence come inside and begin to reside within me. I’ve never been the same. He walks with me and talks with me day and night. Jesus makes the words of the Bible burn in my heart. I read it every day.
To abide in Christ is to let Him be your Lord. It is to make Him your moment-by-moment guide who resides inside you and decides what you say and do. It is to experience His presence, power, love, and reality again and again throughout each day.
Jesus is The Way, Follow Him; The Truth, Walk in His Light; And the Life, Let Him live And reign Inside you. (John 14:6)
A man delightedly reads a glowing ancient book in a cozy library
There is a common belief that happiness happens through the lucky happenstance of happy happenings — that happiness depends on pursuing and finding comfortable and enjoyable, long-lasting situations. That’s a misconception.
Happiness is an inner attitude built on gratitude. If you haven’t learned how to be happy inside, life is a wild ride that bounces back and forth between sad and glad depending on your outward circumstances.
True joy comes from an inner apprenticeship. When you learn to listen to and obey the risen Jeus Christ as His apprentice, you begin to experience genuine happiness. His joy begins to freely flow from within you and makes your joy complete. (John 15:11)
A preacher’s job is to help train people to be Christ’s apprentice. He is supposed to introduce people to The Speaker (Genesis 1:3) who with The Word (John 1:1-5) created everything, and to show them how to listen to and obey the inner voice of the Word become flesh (John 1:14) — Christ in you, the hope of Glory. (Colossians 1:27)
Biblical Christianity is about Christ’s presence continually living in and through you. It produces amazing happiness that the Bible describes as: “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” (1 Peter 1:8)
— Real Talk —
God wants to Talk to you Directly — Not just through A preacher. Hear His voice Inside of you. Then go do What He tells You to do.
Church attendance without spiritual transcendence is powerless religion. According to the Bible, an outward form of religion without ongoing inward transformation should be avoided. (2 Timothy 3: 5) When Christians talk more about their church, their pastor, or their country than they do about Jesus, they have their priorities mixed up.
A joyful clown named ‘Giggles’ holds a colorful sign about happiness at a lively fair
Jesus said: “Go and make disciples.” Instead of asking Christians, “Where do you go to church?” ask them, “Where are you making disciples?” The way to grow disciples is for Christians to show and demonstrate the presence, power, and love of the living Jesus everywhere they go.
Disciples are made in an environment of Spirit-led mutuality. In more than 50 places, the New Testament tells Christians to minister to one another in various ways. It says that Christians have been given spiritual gifts to build one another up. (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) It calls Christians a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5) and says that we need to be led by the Spirit not by human or religious authority, effort, or opinions. (Romans 8:14)
When Christ-followers begin to function as God’s Spirit-led priests and start assembling together in order to disciple one another by encouraging each another and spurring one another on to love and good works, (Hebrews 10:24-25) miracles happen. The presence of the risen Christ grows strong among them and a Jesus powered revolution begins to spontaneously happen within them, among them, and wherever they go.
That’s how the Jesus Movement of the 1970s started. It wasn’t by church services, evangelistic rallies, seminars, famous preachers, or religious music. It happened by people encountering and obeying the risen Jesus and then helping other people do the same. It was a movement of ordinary people discipling people by getting thrilled about Jesus and sharing their excitement with one another.
Mutual discipleship was happening among teenagers and young adults all over the USA and around the world. It was happening on college campuses, in parks, at workplaces, on the streets, in bars, in high schools, in stores — anywhere two or more people were gathered.
It was even happening on my college campus — the University of Tennessee Martin, in rural west Tennessee. The Spirit-led mutual discipleship that was occurring there swept me into a deep awareness of the presence of the risen Jesus that has never left me. In fact, it has grown stronger year after year.
My best friend, Jimmy Hoppers, has written a book about our experiences (and those of many others) while in college in the small southern town of Martin, Tennessee. It’s called, “The Jesus Revolution Southern Style.” Read it and discover the “beyond church” — mutual discipleship side of The Jesus Revolution. You’ll be glad you did!
Last night God led me to a small group of amazing people who are “gentle and humble of heart.” Here is how He did it:
Last Saturday I felt prompted to go to Plaza Marichi in Nashville. It’s a big indoor Mexican market, plaza, and food court close to my house, but I hadn’t been there in a few years. While we were there my wife Ernie and I stopped at a small stand looking for a special kind of tea. The lady who was helping us, Lucia, didn’t speak English, so I switched to Spanish. She found the tea and there was an immediate connection between us. Then she invited us to a house church that meets in her home.
If you’ve read my writings, you know that I am always looking for what the Greek New Testament calls ekklesia — a gathering of Christ-followers where anyone present is free to share as they feel prompted by the Holy Spirit. That kind of Christian gathering is extremely rare and almost impossible to find.
So last night, Tuesday, I showed up at her house. There were seven adults and one baby gathered in her living room. They were from four different countries: El Salvador, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Cuba. They all welcomed me like I was family.
Richard, Lucia’s husband, introduced everyone. Then he offered to have someone translate into English, but I told him that I could understand them.
They begin with worship. Richard played the guitar and another lady played the Yuke. It was beautiful and heart-felt. The presence of God’s Spirit was deeply moving. The man sitting beside me looked up the Spanish words of each song on his phone for me.
To my surprise, after worship, Richard, quoted 1 Corinthians 14:26 that tells Christians what to do when we meet together. It says that each person has a psalm, a hymn, a revelation, or something else to share in the meeting. He said that they meet that way and that I was welcome to share as well.
People began to share Scriptures about the Holy Spirit and about how real He is to them. I could see the presence of Jesus in their faces and feel Him in the tender excitement in their voices. An hour and a half flew by. We ended in a time of powerful heart-felt prayer.
Afterwards they brought out food and drink. Everyone was inviting me to come back. When I left they all hugged me. I love how strangers who love Jesus can recognize His presence in each other when they come together to be led and prompted by His Spirit.
I’m so grateful to God for leading me to that group. I am in awe at how God brought us together. I’m excited to go back and take Ernie with me.
For three and a half years, God has been leading me on a Spanish journey. I wrote about it at this link.
A group gathers in a cozy living room for a heartfelt support meeting
How did Jesus wash feet? We know the physical actions that Jesus took in order to do the task. But what were the inner actions that enabled Him to do such a humble thing?
John 13:3-5 describes three things:
1) Jesus knew “that the Father had put all things under His power.” He didn’t just know that intellectually, he knew it as direct personal revelation from and intimate communion with the Father. The greater our personal connection with and surrender to God, the greater will be our humility.
2) Jesus deeply understood that “He had come from God.” He didn’t need people’s approval or applause. He didn’t need human status. He didn’t need human ego. Being assured that He had His Father’s approval, Jesus could lay all pride down and fully embrace the deep humility of foot washing.
3) Jesus realized that “He was returning to God.” He was intently aware that His destiny was that one day every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. He wanted to show His first disciples and the rest of humanity that because of His confidence is in God the Father, He could humble Himself, so He washed feet and even surrendered to death on the Cross.
Since Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, we should wash one another’s feet but not merely as a ritual. We should embrace and live with the attitude of foot washing in all we say and do. But how can we?
We need to continually let the risen Jesus convince us of and demonstrate to us three things: 1) That God has all things under His feet, 2) That we are not our own — that we are bought with a price and are sent to be led by God the Holy Spirit instead of by our own thoughts, feelings, desires, and opinions, and 3) That our destiny is to be eternally with God — that this world isn’t our home, but we are here as ambassadors of Christ to represent the kingdom of His inner government by living under the direct authority and command of His presence within us.
When eyes are fixed on Jesus, hearts are on fire. Intently gaze at the risen Christ throughout each day. See Him who is invisible. Behold the Lamb of God.
A man washes a young person’s feet in a gesture of humility and care
Jesus calls His followers to humbly serve people. If you feel like you have to put people down in order to lift up and defend your opinions, perhaps you are insecure about what you say you believe.
Be polite. People are more important than your opinions. People are made in God’s perfect and eternal image. Your opinions are made from your flawed, self-focused, and short-term perspective.
True Christianity causes Christ-followers to radically love others. It motivates them to speak the truth in love, to bless those who curse them, and even to love their enemies. You will recognize genuine Christians by the fruits of their compassionate lifestyle.
Sometimes we all need to say no. Life requires that we all set boundaries. If we stay open to everyone and everything, we will be swept into inner and outer chaos. However, true Christians are called to say no with kindness and humility — to set boundaries that are saturated with compassion and mercy.
A man and woman argue intensely over a garden fence between their homes.
Jesus lived a lifestyle of obedience. He lived the way that the Scriptures instructed Him to and He obeyed the voice of the Heavenly Father. We can too. To do the Word is to build your life on the rock. To merely examine, analyze, and investigate the Bible is to build on sand. (Matthew 7:24-27)
The lure of religious knowledge is often deceptive and can easily puff us up with pride (1 Corinthians 8:1) and cause us to think that we understand God and have no need to experience Him. No matter how high you climb in the tree of knowledge, mere information about God can never heal or satisfy a human heart the way that personal surrender to and obedient interaction with God does. (Psalm 46:10)
Faith without a firm foundation in life-changing experience and obedience to God, is only theory. (James 2:26) It is informative yet not transformative. (2 Corinthians 5:17) It is hearing about God yet seldom hearing and doing (James 1:22) what the Spirit says within you. (John 16:13)
People can, and frequently do, forget what they hear or read about God, but when they humbly do the Word, Divine revelation flows (John 7:37-39) directly from God to them and causes them to hunger and thirst for God. (Matthew 5:6) They begin to seek Him and His righteousness with all their heart. (Matthew 6:33) The only way to truly learn the Bible is by training yourself to do what it says throughout each day. (Luke 11:28)
Speculating about God and analyzing Scripture to make it fit your speculations (2 Peter 3:14-16) is subjective. Although God is beyond our human ability to measure, truly experiencing His presence, power, and reality is the most objective part of my life. An intimate, heart-to-heart relationship with the Creator (Genesis 1:1) is my firm foundation. (John 3:16)
Learn to let God empower you to speak, “not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” (1 Corinthian 2:13) Let the Holy Spirit “guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.” (John 16:13) Set aside your will and your own interpretation of things so that you will be able to allow God the Holy Spirit to carry you along. (2 Peter 1:20-21)
Lean not to your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Ask God to give you wisdom (James 1:5) and revelation. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) Be directly led God’s Spirit. (Romans 8:28)
Jesus lived a lifestyle of obedience. He lived the way that the Scriptures instructed Him to and obeyed He the voice of the Heavenly Father. We can too. To do the Word is to build your life on the rock. To merely examine, analyze, and investigate the Bible is to build on sand. (Matthew 7:24-27)
The lure of religious knowledge is often deceptive and can easily puff us up with pride (1 Corinthians 8:1) and cause us to think that we understand God and have no need to experience Him. No matter how high you climb in the tree of knowledge, mere information about God can never heal or satisfy a human heart the way that personal surrender to and obedient interaction with God does. (Psalm 46:10)
Faith without a firm foundation in life-changing experience and obedience to God, is only theory. (James 2:26) It is informative yet not transformative. (2 Corinthians 5:17) It is hearing about God yet seldom hearing and doing (James 1:22) what the Spirit says within you. (John 16:13)
People can, and frequently do, forget what they hear or read about God, but when they humbly do the Word, Divine revelation flows (John 7:37-39) directly from God to them and causes them to hunger and thirst for God. (Matthew 5:6) They begin to seek Him and His righteousness with all their heart. (Matthew 6:33) The only way to truly learn the Bible is by training yourself to do what it says throughout each day. (Luke 11:28)
Speculating about God and analyzing Scripture to make it fit your speculations (2 Peter 3:14-16) is subjective. Although God is beyond our human ability to measure, truly experiencing His presence, power, and reality is the most objective part of my life. An intimate, heart-to-heart relationship with the Creator (Genesis 1:1) is my firm foundation. (John 3:16)
Learn to let God empower you to speak, “not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” (1 Corinthian 2:13) Let the Holy Spirit “guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.” (John 16:13) Set aside your will and your own interpretation of things so that you will be able to allow God the Holy Spirit to carry you along. (2 Peter 1:20-21)
Lean not to your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Ask God to give you wisdom (James 1:5) and revelation. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) Be directly led God’s Spirit. (Romans 8:28)
A man in traditional robes reads an ancient scroll in a rocky desert setting
Jesus made forgiveness a requirement for discipleship. He said: “If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14)
Jesus made disciples. Then He told His disciples to make disciples by training people to obey everything that He had originally trained them to do. This was supposed to be an ongoing process that repeated itself throughout history. (Matthew 28:19-20)
Then somehow along the way the process of training people to be disciples halted and Christians evolved from being self-denying, daily cross bearing, obedient followers of the risen Jesus, (Luke 9:23) into being mostly lukewarm in their faith. (Revelation 3:14-17) Perhaps it is time for Christians to rediscover and begin to wholeheartedly apply the lost art of disciple making throughout each day.
Before a Christian can make disciples he or she must become a disciple. But how can we become one? Jesus gave three requirements for being His disciple. You must do three things: 1) deny yourself, 2) take up your personal cross daily, and 3) follow and Him.
Self-denial is extremely painful. It requires that you lay down your own desires for Christ’s desires — that you give up your will for His will. To deny yourself is to completely set aside self-focus.
Deny yourself, but don’t deny your cross — don’t deny or run from the situations in life that cause you trouble, pain, heartbreak, and great difficulty. Those situations are your cross. Allow them to humble you and train you to continually and desperately cry out to, draw near to, and stay near to the risen Jesus.
Follow Jesus. To follow Christ is to listen to Him speak within you (John 10:27) and to faithfully say and do what he tells you to. It is to keep His commandments. (John 14:15) It is to be a doer of His word, not merely a passive hearer. (James 1:22-25)
So, what is discipleship? Discipleship is to follow and obey the risen Jesus throughout each day as you let Him lead and guide you from within by the Holy Spirit, moment-by-moment.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” Refuse to settle for less than genuine faith.
A depiction of anxiety as a heavy cross carried through a crowd
Free Gas for Your Think Tank -- Short Reflections, Lasting Encouragement 