I want God to ignite my words with a match made in Heaven so that they burn in the heart of everyone who reads them or hears them, making them a furnace that spreads God’s warmth and light around the world.
I admire people who courageously open their heart to others and live with compassion, honesty, and humility. My heroes are people who radiate love, manifest joy, spread peace, show patience, display kindness, seek goodness, live with faithfulness, and communicate with gentleness, by continually surrendering to the control of the Spirit of Christ.
People who keep their heart open to the risen Jesus and allow their life to be led by the Spirit moment-by-moment, reflect the glory of God. I love to be around people like that. I’m fortunate to know and spend time with some people like that and to be married to someone like that.
I also love to read the writings of people like that who lived in the past. Many of those people are called “saints.” Some of my favorites are: Gregory Palamas, Ignatius Brianchaninov, John Wesley, George Fox, Catherine Booth, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avilia, John of the Cross, Leonard Ravenhill, Nicolaus Zinzendorf, and the writers in the Philokalia. I love their advice!
Faith is a roaring fire in the heart. It’s not a religious routine. Motion is like lotion and emotion inspires motion. Get fired up and start moving for Jesus and let His lotion sooth your soul.
My words and my lifestyle are much more important than my vote. I want to live in love and vote for kindness and humility. I vote for love by refusing to vote for hostility. I don’t want my vote to put hostility in the White House. Therefore, I vote third party in presidential elections and avoid voting for angry people in other elections.
“Love doesn’t dishonor.” In this world Of dishonor I want to run Like a marathoner To get away From the put downs.
“Love isn’t self-seeking.” With all the dedication To self-glorification There’s little joy.
“Love is not easily angered.” The audibility Of hostility Is silencing love.
“Love keeps no record of wrongs.” Our long list of wrongs Has people singing Many hateful songs.
Love that’s tiny When cultivated And Spirit-led Will grow mighty.
Spiritual maturity comes from being led by God’s Spirit, not by our thoughts, feelings, or desires. See Romans 8:14 and 1 Corinthians 13:5.
Love recognizes that people have a right to choose their behavior. At the same time, love doesn’t demand that people applaud, approve, or accept behavior that goes against their conscience.
My direction comes from Christ-connection. An inner heart-connection with Christ must be continually cultivated. Because our human nature isn’t comfortable with that kind of intimacy with the living Jesus, it tries to cut off (quench) the flow of the flow of the Spirit’s living water from within us. Our human nature doesn’t want to be constantly challenged by the call of Christ. It prefers comfort and complacency.
To live in union with Christ and flourish with the fruit and the gifts of God’s Spirit, His followers must do what He said: “Deny themselves, take up their Cross, and follow Me.” Unfortunately, that radical call to daily follow and obey the risen Jesus has been turned into a Sunday morning religious ceremony.
If Christians will take the religious lid off of the Holy Spirit, all Heaven will break loose! Instead of trying to force fit Jesus into a sermon, a liturgy, or a church service, perhaps we should try listening directly to Him and then do what He says.
God created human emotions. Christ-followers should be the most enthusiastic people on earth, overflowing with positive emotions. ignited by the presence of “Christ in you the hope of glory.” “Quench not the Spirit.” “Stir up the gift that is in you.” “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
I have 36 journal books full of quotes that I have collected over the years. One of my favorites is: “Love never fails.”
Love constantly looks unto Jesus. It beholds the Lamb of God throughout each day. Experience love at Christ’s sight. Let Him ever write His love letters deeply on your heart and flood you with His patience and kindness, Let the Spirit of Christ lead you away from envy, pride, self-seeking, and anger so that you can enjoy mercy and forgiveness. Rejoice in the truth that if you will continually surrender your life to the risen Jesus, you can trust Him to protect you, direct you, and always be the hope of glory living in and through you. Rely and depend on Him every moment of every day. Jesus never fails!
People can’t see Christ in you if you hide His presence. Walk in His light. Day by day cultivate your heart so that Christ’s life can grow and flourish within you. Pull out the weeds that choke His presence and quench His Spirit. Plow up the hard ground in your heart so it can become Christ’s fertile soil. Let the Master Gardener prune your distractions, addictions, and rebellions so that you can bear even more fruit.
Let Jesus out of The religious box So He can detox You from life’s hard knocks And heal your hearting heart.
The pearl of great price Is the Spirit leading The body of Christ And demonstrating The presence of God. Be still and know, Then get up and go Do what the Spirit Tells you to do.
If you know Him, Let your life Be Christ’s poem Revealing the beauty Of His presence So people can see The Pearl of Great Price, God eternal gem, Shining through you And reflecting Him Everywhere you go.
It’s hard to wake up from life’s hollow daze. The word “holiday” came from the old English word, “haligdæg,” which means “holy day.” Every day is my favorite “haligdæg” because every day is a holy day, a gift from God, and Jesus is always knocking on the doors in my heart.
If you are a Christian, you are a temple of the Holy Spirit and Jesus is knocking on your closed doors so that He can turn the tables inside of you and purify His temple from deep within. Will you open the closed doors in your heart and let Him in and take full control?
Who is that knocking on your closed doors? It’s the risen Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Door-Knocker, is your hope for healing, inner peace, recovery, and sanity. See Revelation 3:20. (You can keep some of the doors of your heart closed to the living Jesus, but you can’t make Him stop knocking.)
Jesus is knocking on your closed doors. Open up to Him and live your life with all your doors always open to the risen Jesus. It takes courage and faith to open wide your closed doors to the living Jesus. The people who dare to continually do so are filled with the wonderful fruit of His Spirit. See Galatians 5;22-23.
Even when people Try to padlock Their heart And to block The sound Of Christ’s knock, It echos deeply Within them Like the tick-tock Of a loud clock.
Thanks to the Boy Scouts, as a pre-teen and a teenager I went camping once a month for years. It was always an adventure and a challenge. There were always obstacles to overcome.
When I was 19, I had an experience that is the solid rock of my life. I encountered and surrendered to the living, resurrected Jesus Christ and I have camped on an ever-growing relationship with Him the rest of my life. I love “gloramping” in Christ — camping in His glory!
A Christian lifestyle isn’t a pattern that we learn to follow or a religious program that we regularly attend. It’s moment-by-moment surrender to “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Christ-followers are called to a Spirit-led way of life that rises far above human habits. The fruit of the Spirit isn’t produced by good habits or self-effort. It flows like rivers of living water from deep within people who let the risen Jesus fully inhabit them. As they constantly submit to Christ living in them, He personally directs their thoughts, words, and actions throughout each day. If churches would begin to train people to continually listen to and obey the risen Jesus (instead of catering to human complacency by conducting comfortable church services) spiritual awakening would become the norm in the body of Christ.
Christ’s love is the key to God’s kingdom. (“The greatest of these is love’). When we begin to experientially know the love of God (not just understand it as a concept) we begin to actually rely on and totally depend on God’s love for us moment-by-moment. We learn to live in love throughout each day, not just to philosophy about it. As we, more and more, live in God’s love we experience the reality of literally living in God and of God truly living in us. (1 John 4:16.) Perhaps church could become a place where people train together to live in love by listening to God’s Spirit and each person saying and doing whatever the risen Jesus prompts them to.
Christianity unity has to be the heart-to-heart unity of the Holy Spirit. Christ-followers will never come into full doctrinal agreement on earth. Seeking unity through doctrinal agreement has backfired. It has splintered the one body of Christ into an estimated 40,000+ independent Christian denominations world-wide (not counting all of the independent congregations).
During the Jesus Movement I saw unity between believers bring multitudes into a direct, personal relationship with the living, resurrected Jesus. When we sang, “We Are One In The Spirit,” we meant it, and we felt it, and we lived it. But then some of the 40,000 denominations began to chip away at our unity by trying to pull us into their institutionalism and diverse doctrinal beliefs. Over a few years the Spirit-led lifestyle of the Jesus Revolution was snuffed out by churchianity. O that Christians would return to the heart-to-heart unity and direct, personal leadership of God’s Spirit!
The inner voice you hear calling you to acts of love and kindness that are beyond your complacent zone, isn’t something in you telling you what to do. It’s someone speaking personally to you through your conscience. His name is Jesus.
Make the choice To obey Christ’s voice And soon you will rejoice!
Follow Christ Himself, Not just sermons About Him Or the preachers Who preach them. Let Christ Himself Living in you Personally lead you In all you say and do. –John 17:26.
When you ignore The inner restraint Of your conscience The voice of Christ in you Becomes faint.
I feel the most productive when I’m doing the good things that I’ve been prompted to do. When I obey the wholesome leadings in my heart, my life begins to flow with positive results. I believe those leadings come from the risen Jesus as He speaks in and through my conscience.
Jesus isn’t a statue or a spiritual symbol or the dead founder of a religion. He’s the Creator of the Universe, God in human flesh! I feel the most productive when Christ’s living water is freely flowing from deep within me.
When Christ-followers call Jesus Lord and acknowledge that He is the Head of the body of Christ on earth, we’re proclaiming that we’re letting Him take over and personally direct our lives moment-by-moment, both individually and as a body of believers. O how we need to back up that proclamation with our behavior and allow the risen Jesus to personally direct us in our daily thoughts, words, and behaviors, and in what we say and do when we assemble ourselves together for worship. It’s vital that we let the living Jesus personally lead us both individually and corporately so that through us He can demonstrate His Lordship for all to see.
When Christians gather for worship, we need to let God’s Spirit show us how to light each other up with the light of Christ that is shining in our heart. We need to follow the direct, inner promptings of the Spirit, not just human traditions. We need to openly testify about what Jesus is doing and has done in our life. We need to individually show people the reality of His presence and Lordship by personally saying and doing what He tells us to. Following Jesus throughout each day makes life an exciting adventure.
Where is Jesus in the typical church service? A) Watching from heaven? B) Present but mostly ignored? C) Actively directing the meeting by prompting various people to openly and humbly share what He puts on their heart?
O that we would let the living Jesus take full and direct control when we gather in His name!
Viewing the risen Jesus together with other Christ-followers as we watch Him work in and through each other will override our divisive personal views about doctrine or politics or any other obstinate opinions that we have. Observing Christ living in and acting through each other will unite our hearts in overwhelming love for the risen Jesus when He is being literally and clearly demonstrated in our midst. Our love for each other will soar.
So why not? Why not gather and cultivate an environment where Christ-followers can watch the living Jesus work in and through each other? Why not let the Holy Spirit (Christ in you, the hope of glory) take control and personally direct our church services by prompting anyone present to say and/or do whatever He tells them to? Every Christ-follower can be aflame with the fire of God and overflowing with His Spirit.
The world has seen enough tightly programmed and rigidly run Christian meetings. It’s time to let Jesus lead us and be the literal Head of His body, not a mere figurehead whose authority is usurped and overridden by human hierarchy and control.
Many times, I’ve experienced the living Jesus working in and through a group of diverse people who are free to listen to and obey His Spirit together. I always leave in awe about how Christ’s presence unites our hearts in love that sweeps aside human pride and opinions. Why not make that the norm for Chrisian worship gatherings? See 1 Corinthians 14:26 and Romans 8:14.
The classic smiley face is my favorite emoji. It reminds me that there’s not much to smile about in my complacent zone.
The smiley face emoji makes me realize that staying in my complacent zone is boredom for my mind! It challenges me to stretch my face with a smile and to stretch my life by living beyond complacency.
Think about, focus on, listen to, watch, and read the things that make your mind a peaceful paradise. Mental health without mind-management is a myth.
Mental health is built on mind management. It requires discernment, discipline, and focus. Recognize the thoughts that make your life better and the thoughts that make it worse. Welcome and cultivate thoughts that improve your mental wellbeing. Oppose and drive away thoughts that don’t. Refuse to be distracted by the enslaving enticements that seduce you from within and without.
Messed up thinking is not mental illness. It’s brain mismanagement.
A great way to get out of your complacent zone is to welcome Christ’s thoughts into your mind. Let them lead and direct you throughout each day. Resist and reject all ungodly thoughts. Allow them no place in your mind. Step outside your complacent zone and begin to experience Jesus-adventures every day.
The topics I most like to discuss and share with others are the amazing things that Jesus does in my life. For instance, He led my wife and me to unintentionally attend a Catholic mass. Here’s how it happened:
We were recently in Matera, Italy. As we were exploring the medieval walled city there, we realized that we were lost in the narrow maze-like passageways of a residential area early on a Sunday morning and there was no one around to help us. Suddenly we heard what sounded like a beautiful Gregorian chant.
I walked around the next corner and heard the chant-like song coming from a small church. I looked in the open door and saw a priest robed in white and singing passionately from His heart in a darkened sanctuary with only two women in attendance. I immediately went in and sat on an ancient uncomfortable pew. My wife came in to rescue me and then we realized that we were stuck.
The priest’s face was aglow with an inner light; his eyes hope-filled and bright. He was truly a delight to watch. The priest began reading a liturgy in Italian and the two women in the congregation responded from time to time. Although we didn’t understand, our hearts were captivated by the presence of Jesus that we felt there.
After a few minutes the priest stopped, walked over to us, and in the kindest voice began talking to us in Italian. We didn’t understand his words, but we knew that he was welcoming us with the love of Christ. We smiled and nodded and pointed to heaven and told him that we didn’t speak Italian. He beamed with peace, walked back to the front and continued with the liturgy.
Then one of the women went to a pulpit and prayed. Later another went and read something.
The priest walked back to our pew again and we understood that he wanted to know our names. So, we told him: “Steve and Ernie.” He repeated each name a few times and pointed to us correctly identifying us. Then he smiled, walked back to the front, and continued the liturgy.
Suddenly he stopped and walked back to us for a third time. As he spoke, I heard the word “cantare.” I told my wife that I thought he wanted us to sing. Ernie began to sing Amazing Grace in English. I quickly joined in. Then to our surprise the priest began to sing it with us in Italian as the two ladies watched from the front of the sanctuary. His face was beaming. It was a special God-moment for all five of us.
After the song, the priest spoke more to us in Italian. I think he was inviting us to the altar for the Eucharist, but we weren’t sure. However, sitting there in a sanctuary packed with ancient religious ornamentation and tradition, we experienced deep heart-connection with a beautiful Christ-follower–a priest who was eager to step out of routine formalism and demonstrate the reality of “Christ in you” to two strangers from another country who didn’t speak his language or follow his religious tradition. I loved accidently attending mass!
Free Gas For Your Think Tank (A blog to jog your mind and unclog your heart . . .) 