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.
When Christ Is freely allowed To live and reign In you, He will continually Renew, empower, And refresh you.
Christ in you is not “the hope to cope”–to just get by as a carnal Christin. He wants to live within you and be “the hope of glory!”
I think that “think” isn’t the right word for how to respond to Christ in you. “Savor” is better. Savor His inner presence and His glory. “O taste and see that God is good.” Savor the risen Savior!
When we surrender to the presence of the living Jesus and let Him live in us and continually direct us from within, we experience ongoing rivers of living water that flow from our innermost being as the fruit of the Spirit and as spiritual gifts. We overflow with His hope and glory, regardless of our outward circumstances.
The more attuned we are to the indwelling Jesus and His inner Light, the more the kingdom of God comes to rule and reign within us and through us–His will being done by us as it is in Heaven. Our conscience is activated and directed by His presence, and we eagerly obey it. His Lordship is no longer a theological concept, but a practical, daily reality. He’s no longer just our figurehead but He becomes our literal Head. We not only hear His voice; we do what He says! We are “led by the Spirit.” We “walk in the Spirit. We “live by the Spirit.” We “glory in Christ Jesus.”
Directly hearing Jesus’ voice isn’t some kind of weird mysticism. It’s normal Christianity. Jesus said: “My sheep hear My voice.”Spiritual deafness is abnormal and substandard Christianity. Begin to listen to and obey the risen Jesus! (If you don’t hear the living Jesus talking to you, it’s probably because you don’t want to.)
The risen Jesus lives inside of Christ-followers and can express Himself thru them. All we need to do is to listen to His voice and then say and/or do whatever He tells us to. This results in supernatural demonstrations of His presence.
Jesus said: “I will build My town meeting.” (The Greek word that Jesus is quoted as saying in that statement is ekklesia, which was the official name of the town meeting in Greek city/states.) A Jesus town meeting is a forum for Him to express Himself thru everyday Christians.
Historically church has tended to have one man talk about the Gospel every week with little or no demonstrating of the actual presence of the risen Jesus. Talking about Jesus without demonstrating His presence and reality falls short of sharing the Gospel.
True Christianity is more than mere explanations about Jesus. It’s actual demonstrations of Jesus’ presence and power through present-day Christ-followers.When human energy takes the place of God’s power, you have religion without the supernatural demonstration of Jesus.
Doing good things for people is nice, however, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Jews and people from every other religion can do that. Even nonreligious people do good things for others. Thus, being nice and serving others demonstrates human kindness, but it doesn’t necessarily demonstrate the reality and love of the living, present, and active Jesus.
I’ve always tended to be uncomfortable telling people about Jesus. I’m better at sharing Jesus thru writing and speaking to groups than talking to people one to one. I guess that is because I still struggle with shyness, fear of man, and the intimidation of the devil. I’ve tried to overcome that by will power and self-help. I’ve also prayed to have more boldness for talking about Jesus to people one on one. For 5 1/2 years I was a counselor and chaplain in a Salvation Army alcohol and drug rehab center with 86 beds. In that setting I found that I was able to freely talk about Jesus to individual men without intimidation. Another thing that helps me is that I find it easier to ask someone if I can pray for him or her. The majority of people I ask say yes, so I close my eyes and talk to Jesus on their behalf. Many times, people will have tears in their eyes afterwards.
I think that if churches would give people the opportunity to talk about Jesus by giving their salvation testimony during church services, it would help train Christians to talk about Jesus to others. It would be quite simple for a church to schedule one or two people each week and put them on the Sunday program to give their salvation testimony. That simple action would make a powerful difference in any church courageous enough to implement it.
There are many parts to the body of Christ, but too often church only recognizes two parts–the preacher and the congregation. Perhaps it is time to recognize every individual member as being an active part of the body instead of being confined to the mere role of a passive attendee.
We need benediction-free worship–interaction with Jesus that never ends. Church benedictions seem to put the brakes on God by saying, “The spiritual part’s over, now get on with your life.”
If you worship the glorious God who never ends, it’s misleading to declare a benediction that’s says the time for worship’s over. Church benedictions are a fancy way to say, “The end.” They aren’t true. “We are now done with worship.” Never! Worship is an ongoing lifestyle.
Perhaps the benediction is a tool to protect our addiction to avoiding God. It helps us draw near to God with our words but keep our heart away from His ongoing control.
How a benediction is often perceived: “Church is over now so you can ignore God until next Sunday.” It can be a polite way to close the door on God.
The truth is that Christian spirituality has no closure–no on and off button. If it’s not ongoing it’s substandard. It’s based on continual dependency on Jesus, not on closure.
Religious control or religious chaos are not the only choices for Christianity. Spirit-directed meetings that train people to live an ongoing, Spirit-led lifestyle are the forgotten option.
And now for the benediction . . . (I’m not giving one. Instead, stay focused on the living Jesus both day and night.)
I believe that God’s salvation is like an elevator ride from the basement to the top floor of a huge skyscraper. Jesus is my elevator. I got in Christ years ago. I’m abiding in Christ now and if I don’t step out of Christ on the wrong floor, I’ll arrive in the future at God’s penthouse on top of the building.
Grace opens the door for me to have a relationship with God. Faith is how I walk out that relationship every day.
Faith abandoned isn’t faith. It’s unbelief. Don’t stop before the top!
Christian community matters. Jesus builds His community thru Spirit-led interaction when Christ-followers gather to hear and obey His voice. By gathering as Jesus’ town meeting and all being led by the Spirit as we serve and encourage one another, we strengthen our faith and help each other stay close to the risen Jesus.
“My Lord and my God!” Like Jesus’ disciple Thomas, reason can’t resolve my doubts, but encounter can. The more I open my heart to experience the risen Jesus, the more I’m astounded, undone, and overwhelmed by Him. I don’t understand the theology of it all, but I bask in Christ as He lives in me and fills me with the hope of glory.
Another Thomas, Thomas of Aquinas who lived in the 1200s, spent his life trying to rationally explain God. He is known as one of the greatest theologians in church history. Late in life he went to a monastery and had an amazing encounter with the living God. Afterwards he is quoted as saying, “All that I have written seems to me so much straw after the things that have been revealed to me.”
Biblical Christianity requires much more than theology. It requires direct revelation from God. Like Jesus told Peter: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” If you want to know who Jesus is, open your heart to Him. One peep of His voice. One glimpse of His glory can change your life forever. Listen to and behold the Lamb of God!
Live by God’s Spirit, not by your own desires. When Christians live in God’s Spirit, they’re united. When they don’t, they aren’t.When the body of Christ gathers under the direct Headship and direction of the risen Jesus, it becomes His town meeting (ekklesia).
Human intellect has no solution for the problem of evil.
Truth to inspire: Having a desire Doesn’t require That what you want Transpire.
I continually resist and fight to reject society’s brain washing. Instead, I ask God to bathe my mind with His hope and compassion.
When people surrender to wrongful desires and emotions, they try to hide their shame by grasping for rationalizations and excuses.If people worked hard resisting their negative desires and emotions instead of resisting their conscience, they’d be far better off.Because of Jesus, you no longer have to be controlled by your desires and feelings. Instead, you can be led by God’s Spirit.
If you think you’ve got God figured out, your thinking isn’t adding up! To talk to God but refuse to listen to Him is human pride demonstrating unfairness.
To overcome fear Shift your life Into God’s gear So you can hear And obey His voice.
If you find life To be a bore Or a chore, Let Jesus Restore Your joy.
One of Christianity’s greatest challenges is to let the resurrected Jesus’ literally demonstrate His supremacy when His body gathers! “He is the Head of the body, the church (in Greek “ekklesia”–the participatory town meeting in ancient Greek city-states) . . . so that in everything He might have the supremacy.”
When Christ-followers gather to actively surrender to Jesus’ supremacy, He will actually take the reins and begin to reign in their midst as they all listen to His inner voice and then as each person says and does whatever Jesus prompts them to. It’s amazingly encouraging to let Jesus take the literal headship of and directly control a gathering of His body.
When I see Jesus in action, demonstrating the reality of His presence by directly leading and manifesting through ordinary people, my eyes light up with awe as my awareness of the risen Jesus’ grows in my vision. Whenever that happens, it’s the ekklesia (church) that Jesus is building.
By connecting heart-to-heart with the living Jesus and seeking to maintain that vital connection throughout each day, my awareness of His presence grows. By continually opening my heart to other people and seeing my interactions with them as Christ-connections that I need to literally allow Him to lead by obeying His inner promptings, I behold the living Jesus working on them and/or in them and I get a taste of His glory!
Here’s the challenge of ekklesia: Listen inside your heart and follow the risen Guide together with other believers. Love abandons self-focus.
Since Jesus is the truth, dishonesty and deception distance us from Him and distort His voice within us. Stream truth and flow with light. To live fully in the light we need to continually, humbly, and courageously be “speaking the truth in love,” streaming truth both within ourselves and to others.
Without the conviction (light) of God’s Spirit, darkness falsely tries to convince me that I see. Deception from the dominion of darkness diminishes my vision and sometimes I mistakenly think I’m right when I’m wrong. Admitting my own sinfulness and my ongoing need to be rescued from darkness, I’m learning search for and stream God’s inner light–the living, resurrected Jesus Christ.
When darkness Is screaming In your head There’s bad Supernatural streaming Going on.
When you’re streaming The presence of Jesus Your face will be beaming With His light.
In Christ’s body All members Need to be Directly led By Jesus The Head.
To keep supernatural music In my soul, I stream Jesus’ voice And He makes me whole.
When you swing
On a tee,
Or step on a slope
To ski,
Or try to live free,
If you don't
Choose to focus
You'll fail.
In golf, skying, and life, you can’t control the hazards, but you can call the shots. You can increase and develop your skills for living.
On a golf course and in life, peaceful swings are more potent than panicked swings.Instead of letting life’s downward pull defeat you, be like a skier & let it propel you on a joyous ride.
Life pays the green fee, but you have to swing the club. Life pays for the lift ticket, but you have steer down the slope.
Church is like the ski lodge or the club house. Its purpose should be to empower people to hit the slopes and play the course.
I woke up with this thought on my mind today: “For relief beyond belief: Instead of forcing yourself to believe–receive and perceive the presence of Jesus.” I think that’s the key to heart-felt prayer. It freely flows from the risen Jesus living inside us. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” It streams from Jesus’ love manifesting in and through us.
The Beatitudes shine light on the blessedness of that kind of prayer. Effectual, fervent prayer begins with such poverty of spirit that we mourn and become meek (pliable to the leading of the Spirit). Then we hunger and thirst for righteousness so much that we continually cry out to the living God for His presence and power, emptying our heart of all bitterness and unforgiveness. We continually let God’s presence fill and purify our heart as we make peace with Him and with others. When we’re opposed, we let that opposition bring us back to poverty of spirit and we repeat the beatitudinal cycle.
