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.
Turn Christianity into a mere Sunday morning routine.
Bore people and literally put them to sleep in their seats.
Quench the Holy Spirit.
Become a dangerous lullaby that sweetly rocks Christians into deep spiritual sleep.
Make people believe that they are right with God when they aren’t.
Cause people to feel safe and secure and protected from God’s commands.
Be an example of what Jesus called “the blind leading the blind.”
Make people feel comfortable (instead of repentant) about their sins.
Distract people from being aware of the awesome presence and power of the living Jesus.
Make people believe that a preacher or pastor is closer to God than they are.
Serve as a substitute for daily Bible reading and prayer.
Make people feel like they’re doing God a favor by attending and sitting through a sermon.
Try to coerce and control people.
Manipulate people for money.
Train people to act like the Bible Pharisees.
Cool off and calm down fired-up Christ-followers.
Hurt people deeply.
Reject people.
Make people believe that God is distant instead of present when we gather in His name.
Cause people to believe that God’s house is a physical building instead of human hearts.
Ignore the Bible’s 50+ “one another” commands.
Send people home without the fire of God burning brilliantly in their heart.
People who follow and obey the risen Jesus are the body of Christ. No building or religious organization or Sunday meeting can take our place.When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” He didn’t mean for us to join a religious organization and be passive spectators.
Christian doctrine says Jesus can run the universe; Christian practice says He’s not able to personally direct a church service.When we try to organize Jesus and make Him play by our rules and by our “order of worship,” we curtail His power.
People who say, “I’m trying to find myself,” often do everything that they can to avoid self-observation. You can’t know yourself if you’re unwilling to honestly observe both your abilities and your faults.Life is full of obvious wake-up calls, but like shutting off an alarm, it’s easy to ignore them.
Observation is often exchanged for assumption. You can’t observe what you’re unwilling to notice. Blind indifference fails to observe much that is obvious.
Many people will ignore your observations, but that’s okay. Express them anyway.
When our observations are off base our analysis will be too. Unobserved details make your opinion inaccurate.
Beauty abounds, but unobserved beauty is always unappreciated. Creativity begins with observation. Freedom does too.
Two enlightening experiments: 1) Sit somewhere and observe your surroundings; 2) Sit with your eyes closed and observe your thoughts.
You don’t have to wander To observe remarkable things That are filled with amazement And wonder.
Bias Makes true observation By us Impossible, Especially if we’re unaware We’re bias.
Evaluation without extended observation is usually short sighted and inaccurate. Solid analysis requires honest surveillance.Emotional attachments cloud our observations of life and often lead us to inaccurate opinions.
Observe your thoughts, emotions and desires. Notice their impact. Embrace the helpful ones, resist the harmful ones.It’s easy to replace observation with recitation by stating what we feel instead of pursuing what’s real.
Uncomfortable truth is easily unnoticed and unobserved. For me, life goes better when I listen to my conscience for answers instead of trying to override it and create my own answers.
No matter how a church meets, if people don’t notice, observe, and interact with the living Jesus, it’s just running through religion. Run in the inner freedom that Jesus offers–freedom from bondage to our desires, thoughts, and emotions.
Everybody you meet is weak. We all struggle with defeat. In that you’re not unique.
Weakness is a guide That can free us From enslavement to ego And the prison of pride.
The realization of our weakness frees us from pride and enables us to surrender to God’s strength. If people say you’re weak, have the strength to agree with them.
Life’s better when we’re no longer dominated by desires and entrapped by ego. To ignore your inner weakness isn’t a sign of strength. It’s a sign of denial. A sneer is a sign of fear.
When we refuse to admit our weakness, we’re not free. We’re in bondage to pride and deception.The more we admit our weakness, the softer our heart becomes and the more mercy and kindness we have for other people.
The greatest weakness is pride because by preventing us from admitting our other weaknesses, it keeps us forever stuck with them.Combat demonstrates that humans are weak, not strong–any of us are able to be snuffed out in a moment.
Humbly letting people see your inner weakness encourages them and opens their heart to compassion. Masking your weaknesses with excuses and explanations is prompted by fear.
Human nature is weak. If you’re a person, everybody knows that you have weaknesses, no matter how much you try to disguise them.
When weaknesses train us to feel remorse and to make amends, they lead us to healing, recovery, and inner freedom.Tears are liquid light that reveals a compassionate heart. They’re a sign of humility. Almost no one takes pride in their tears.
It requires strength and courage to humbly admit weakness. Acute awareness of our weakness makes us willing to be helped by God.
Reliance on God isn’t passive. It requires a rigorous, ongoing pursuit to subdue self and surrender in obedience to Him.
Spiritual vertigo Will make you go Stumbling about, Living without Long-term hope.
Ask God, “Are You real?” And let Him reveal His presence.
To be Spirit-led Is to do What Christ in you Tells you to. Roman’s 8:14.
The ekklesia At Laodicea Became lukewarm And turned into church. Revelation 3:14.
“The truth will set you free.” It’s time for Christians to gather and allow everyone present the freedom to obey the Spirit.When Christian worship is overmanaged and overcontrolled, there’s little or no room for the living Jesus to do anything.
Christians are trained to talk with God by giving Him a list of what we want, instead of having heart-felt conversation with Him.We need to discover the presence and the reality of the living Jesus, not just to learn information about Him. “O taste and see.”
True Christianity is based on Jesus’ manifestation, not on religious manipulation.You don’t make disciples by manipulating people with religion. You make passive, obligated church attendees.
Christians have the living Jesus to teach us the Bible. We need to be trained to listen to Him, not to a Bible-answer-man. Jesus said to make disciples, but it’s much easer to make sermon-hearers.
A biblical pastor guides people to discover and obey the risen Jesus. He doesn’t attach people to Himself or to a religious organization. Too few Christians have been taught how to learn directly from the risen Jesus.
True Christian leadership is through godly influence, not through titles or positional authority.Christian leaders are recognized by their fruit–the demonstration of their surrender to Jesus by their lifestyle and character.
When one person can control a church, people have no protection against bad leadership. Mutual accountability is safer. Christians need to be coached to follow the risen Jesus, not manipulated to follow a human leader.
Instead of depending on the living Jesus and the Bible for guidance, Christians have been trained to depend on a one-man pastor.When one person is responsible for explaining Scripture, he replaces Scripture’s authority with His own.We learn to follow Jesus through action, not just through instruction.
Christians need to put a spotlight on the living Jesus, not on church or preachers or politics or patriotism or pride or prophets.There seem to be bored Christians and Christians stirred up about politics, but where are those who are passionately excited about Jesus?
Discipleship isn’t manipulation or control. Disciples freely obey Jesus because He has become amazingly real to them.
Disciples are made by introducing people to the risen Jesus and the Bible, and by helping them to listen to and obey Him daily.If you aren’t following the living Jesus instead of your own desires, feelings, and opinions, you can’t help others follow Him.
Until we have the faith to daily do what Jesus commands, we’re only pretending to believe.It requires no faith or obedience to hear a sermon or listen to Christian radio, but discipleship requires both faith and obedience.
“Self-ized” Christianity that blends your feelings, opinions, and desires with the Gospel falls far short of the real thing.Too many Christians are incarcerated in religious pride, spiritual passivity, and church programs.
It’s time for faith and grace! Faith is believing in Jesus enough to obey Him. Grace is the supernatural power to do so.
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I love to be Like a kite In the wind, Lifted by the Spirit To soar like an eagle.
The Bible isn’t a course of study. It’s light to unmuddy your heart And get you on God’s course.
The Bible, Read with the head Feels dead, But read with the heart Gives you a new start.
When you need A fresh point of view, Read the Bible And let it work in you.
To study the Bible as curriculum can make your heart numb. When it is read with devotion it will heal your emotions. It’s easy to quote the Bible, but it takes courage to emote the Bible–to open up and let it burn in your heart.
Christians are too often Bible “peekers” instead of Bible seekers.If you want to experience what the first Christians experienced, you need to regularly read and follow what they wrote.
When I let my soul soak in the Bible, the words go beyond my brain and heal my pain.When I humbly ponder the words of the Bible, the power of the Lord begins to radiate within me.
When the Bible is presented as academic, it makes people spiritually anemic; but as God’s light, it releases supernatural delight.Christians who don’t regularly read the Bible with a humble, open heart are like farmers who don’t plant any seeds.
When read from the heart, the Bible becomes the map that leads to spiritual discovery and life recovery. Even when I don’t understand the Bible, its words stand under me and lift me up! I don’t analyze the Bible. It analyzes me & causes me to fix my eyes on Jesus.
The Bible isn’t a boring book of ancient history. It’s a living guidebook for experiencing Jesus and His story in your daily life.
Academic study of the Bible is formally called “biblical criticism.” Perhaps it would be better if we let the Bible criticize us.It’s a treadmill trying to prove the Bible wrong; but you’ll discover that God’s real, when you let the Bible prove you wrong.
Christianity is about discipleship, not scholarship–about obeying the living Jesus. It’s not about trying to figure Him out.
When you have a strong desire, the Bible teaches that life doesn’t require that you do it. Free will can mean freedom or bondage, depending on how you use it.
Much good has been left unsaid. I love to discover some of it and say it.
If you let yourself Get whooped up By a false prophet, You’ll soon be duped up.
False prophets aren’t rare. Jesus said that there are many of them. If a “prophet” tells you what you want to hear, he’s probably a false prophet.
It’s easy to get caught up with a false prophet if you don’t humbly check what he does and says, by the Holy Spirit and the Bible.Assuming that something is true because you like how it sounds is a common way to be mislead.
Crowds follow false prophets much more than true ones. The people wanted Barabbas, not Jesus.People enthusiastically praise false prophets when they should appraise them and check for where they twist the Bible.
False prophets focus on titles and religion. True prophets focus on the living, resurrected Jesus Christ.
A false prophet assures you that you’re aligned with God. A true prophet helps you overcome the things that have you unaligned.
False prophets are like counterfeit money. It’s easy to get excited about them unless we notice the discrepancies in them.
False prophets are popular. True prophets are persecuted.
False prophets hide many things from people. True prophets let people see who they really are.
False prophets like to vent. True prophets call people to repent.
False prophets want fame and applause. True prophets realize that popularity is deceptive.
Pride is a sign of a false prophet. True prophets are humble.
False prophets love to be praised. True prophets know that being praised by people frequently distorts the truth.
False prophets want power over people. True prophets want people to follow the living God instead of them.
False prophets are looking for rewards. True prophets look for truth.
False prophets twist the Bible. True prophets let the Bible twist them.
If you’re tired of being duped and/or seeing people duped by false prophets, take up the “sword of the Spirit” and read the Bible with an open heart, like your life depends on it. It does.
The Beatitudes are a series of life-links–steps that progress toward a life governed by the living God. They were beautifully spoken by Jesus in what is known as The Sermon on the Mount. I call them the beati-links. They’re like peas in a pod and all begin with the letter p. How many of the 8-p links have you followed?
Poverty of spirit; This is brokenness and humility. The Bible says that God “resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Coming to the end of our own resources (mental, emotional, and material) and surrendering our will to God opens us up to humbly and desperately receive His help.
Participation in sadness: This is called mourning–allowing our heart to be broken by the things that break God’s heart. Mourning includes being deeply sorry for all the ways we have gone wrong and all the pain we have caused.
Pliability: Brokenness and mourning make our heart meek and pliable so that God can begin to mold and bend our heart to His will.
Passion to live right and to be right with God: As we continually allow God to change us from the inside out, we get more and more hungry and thirsty to change our outward behavior so that it matches God’s will.
Presentation of mercy: The closer we get to God, the more we realize how far away we have been from God and His perfection. This causes us to feel much grace, mercy, and compassion and to share it by being kind to and forgiving all people.
Pure in heart: The more we give mercy and forgiveness to others, the more forgiveness we receive and the purer our heart becomes.
Peacemaking: The purer our heart becomes, the more we have the peace of God inside of us and the more we radiate His peace outwardly to others.
Persecution: People who are threatened by the truth and by God’s light won’t like the Beatitude qualities that they see manifested in our words and lifestyle. Our daily living out God’s truth and speaking it with love and kindness will make some people uncomfortable and they will sometimes react negatively toward us, being unkind, hostile, and even cruel. Jesus said that persecution is something to celebrate because it verifies that you are on track with the beati-links and will be greatly rewarded.
After finishing talking about the beati-links, Jesus calls those who follow the links “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” He tells them not to lose their saltiness or to hide their light, but rather to let their light shine in front of people. Then people around them can see the good works that come from their changed heart and lifestyle, and glorify God for what He has done.
The Beatitudes aren’t just sweet sayings for a Sunday morning sermon. They’re a call to radical, all-out obedience to God.
It’s better to be shocked by truth than snared by a comfortable untruth. Truth leads to freedom, lies to bondage.
One of the most unused human rights is the right to change your opinion.When someone disagrees with you, it doesn’t prove them wrong. It just proves that they see things differently than you do.
Go small! Do something to encourage one person today.
People are like gravity pulling you into their influence. Choose people who are positive influences. When you’re afraid of the truth, it takes great courage to be honest.
Difficulties, opportunities to gather strength and grow in character, are too often squandered by anger and frustration. Reason obeys logic, but emptions take pride in being illogical.
Weak people lead by heavy-handed authority. Strong people lead by the influence of their character and lifestyle. People who get offended when they’re being held accountable shouldn’t be trusted.
Too many people Fill their mind With things Unkind.
Insecurity lays down the weapons of reason, understanding, and compassion and takes up the weapons of coercion or violence. If it’s inhumane to train animals to be used in combat, perhaps the same applies to people.
Free Gas for Your Think Tank -- Short Reflections, Lasting Encouragement 