Daily writing prompt

What’s something you do completely differently from how you were raised?

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I do faith completely differently than how I was raised. Here’s why:

Faith is beyond belief. It is daily dependence and reliance on Christ living in you. (Colossians 1:27) It is being led, guided, and directed by His Spirit moment-by-moment. (Romans 8:14) “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is a gift from God. (Acts 3:16) Each person has been given a measure of faith (Romans 12:3) but faith without works is dead. (James 2:17)

Have you received the faith God has given you? Are you allowing it to capture you and work in and through your life? Or is your faith dead and without works?

Spiritual passivity quenches God’s Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) It is a sign of dead faith. “Wake up sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)

Unfortunately, routine religion is mostly passive. Step out in faith. Be led by the Spirit and go beyond church as usual.

Jesus never said, “Church attendance is the way.” He never said, “Tithing is the way,” or “Sermon-hearing is the way,” or “A well-trained worship team is the way.” Jesus said: “I am the Way!” Listen to, follow, and obey the living Jesus.

Programmed Christianity follows religious authorities and their nicely packaged programs. Spirit-led Christianity follows, obeys, and is directly led by the living Jesus.

The purpose of a church that wants to obey the Bible isn’t to gather a crowd to passively hear a religious talk. It’s to train and empower people to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24-25) and to deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow and obey the risen Jesus. (Luke 9:23)

When one-man systematic sermons replaced Spirit-led mutual encouragement (Hebrews 10:24-25) Christianity lost much of its power. All the sermons preached around the world every Sunday seem to have very little impact on how Christians live their daily life. But letting Christ live in and direct you makes a drastic difference in how you live.

Google: Beyond Church Ekklesia.