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.
Happy New Year! I woke up with these thoughts being poured out to me and streaming through my mind and heart this beautiful New Year’s morning. My biggest challenge is to daily and actively apply the wisdom of God in my everyday life.
The body of Christ is all the people who listen to, (John 10:27) love and obey Jesus. (John 14:15) It is headed up by the active presence of the living resurrected Christ, Himself (Ephesians 5:23) not by a mere human leader.
It is not confined to religious corners. It shares God’s presence and wisdom everywhere. It makes disciples in all the world. (Matthew 28:19)
The body of Christ is so much more than a passive audience of religious spectators who gather to simply hear a talk about the word. Members of the body of Christ assemble themselves together (Hebrews 10:25) in order to train one another (Hebrews 10:24) to actually do the word throughout their everyday life. (James 1:22)
Members of the body of Christ consistently shine His light. (Matthew 5:14) They show people His love (Mark 12:31) everywhere they go, even to their enemies. (Matthew 5:44) They do more than sit and listen to wise and persuasive words of men’s wisdom. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5) They testify about Jesus (Revelation 12:11) and demonstrate the Spirit’s wisdom and power. (Acts 1:8)
Every new year has many challenges. My greatest challenge every year is to be an effective and Spirit-led member of the body of Christ.
There’s no room for nostalgia when every day is thrilling, healing, and joy revealing. How can you live every day like that?
Recognize Christ in You (Jesus Himself)
You can know many things That Jesus said and did But knowing about them Isn’t knowing Him. Open your ears and eyes Until you recognize The presence of Jesus. Let Him rise in your eyes! And His words thrill your heart. Christ is closer to you Than you right now realize. See Him, serve Him, share Him.
Jesus reveals Behold. Jesus heals. Be whole. Jesus thrills. Be wowed!
Bible teaching should do so much more than merely present and discuss biblical doctrines and information. It should also give people hands-on step-by-step practical training in actually encountering, experiencing, and applying what they are taught from the Bible. That way they won’t become “hearers only” who don’t regularly, daily, and faithfully do the word. (James 1:22 & Luke 24:13-35)
The biblical concept of teaching isn’t based on academics or on lecture style, classroom education. It’s based on direct personal revelation. (Matthew 16:17) It’s not just instructing people about Bible details. It’s hands-on practical training and discipling (Matthew 28:19) that empowers and releases people to daily live out and consistently obey the word they’ve heard. It doesn’t mold people into a passive audience. It transforms them into radical disciples who are strong, mighty, and outspoken in declaring their testimonies about how Christ, the Lamb of God, is working in them. (Revelation 12:11)
Where Christ’s presence is being ignored, God the Holy Spirit is being quenched. (Luke 10:38-42) Both individuals and churches can quench the Spirit. However, the Bible plainly says not to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and not to make Him sad. (Ephesians 4:30) So how do Christians and churches quench and grieve the Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is quenched and grieved wherever:
* There’s anxiety or worry. (Philippians 4:6-7) * Christians are lukewarm. (Revelation 3:16) * Seeking the inner government (kingdom) of God isn’t the first priority. (Matthew 6:33) * There’s little hunger or thirst for righteousness. (Matthew 5:6) * Religion has become formalized and powerless. (2 Timothy 3:5) * Audience-making is more important than disciple-making. (Matthew 28:19) * The gifts of the Spirit are seldom experienced. (Corinthians 12:4-11) * Pride is prevalent. (James 4:6) * Sin is approved. (Matthew 4:17) * Christians avoid, ignore or reject God’s inner promptings. (Galatians 5;16) * Christians are trained and conditioned to be passive. (James 1:22) * The fruit of the Spirit isn’t abundantly flourishing. (Galatians 5:22-23) * Love is lacking. * Joy is rare. * Peace has been replaced with worry and conflict. * Patience has been exchanged for impatience. * Kindness has been set aside for unkindness. * Goodness is uncommon * Faithfulness has vanished. * Gentleness is seen as weakness. * Self-control is lost.
To avoid quenching the Spirit, Christians need practical hands-on interactive training and discipleship in actually doing what the Bible says. Neverending one-man teaching offers Christians lots of Biblical information (2 Timothy 3:7) but it doesn’t train them to stop grieving and quenching God the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t help them become active doers of the word rather than passive hearers. (Luke 6:46-49)
If you can’t find a church that offers hands-on training in obeying and being led by the Spirit, (Romans 8:14) God the Holy Spirit Himself is ready and eager to train you throughout each day. (1 John 2:27) Begin to consistently listen to and obey His inner promptings. (Revelation 3:22)
Quiz: Contemporary churches train Christians to be . . . _____ Hot, _____ Cold, _____ Lukewarm. (Revelation 3:16)
Those words from the world-famous John 3:16 Bible verse are an open invitation for any human being to trust in, rely on, depend on, have confidence in, and keep their faith in the living resurrected Jesus Christ. The belief in Jesus that brings eternal life is so much more than merely agreeing with what the Bible says about Him.
Even the demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They believe it so strongly that it makes them tremble with terror. (James 2:19) Yet instead of relying on Jesus they constantly rebel against Him. The demons are totally unwilling to trust in and depend on Jesus by aligning their behaviors with what He says. (James 2:18)
Are you aligning what you do throughout each day with what you say you believe? If not, the Bible says your faith is dead. (James 2:17)
Living faith, the belief that saves, is faith that works to produce godly behaviors and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in your everyday life. It is to truly trust in Christ in you (Colossians 1:27) by consistently relying on Jesus to calm the storms you encounter in the boat of your daily life, no matter how frightened they make you feel. (Mark 4:35-41)
Being Spirit-led (Romans 8:14) is far more important than being tradition bound. (Mark 7:13) Be a “whosoever will” who dares to daily and diligently depend on Jesus regardless of what your circumstances may be! Train yourself to live in faithful obedience, ongoing wonder, and holy awe of Jesus.
Optimize God’s mercy and grace in your life. (James 4:6) Wake up to God’s spiritual search optimization. (Matthew 6:33)
Optimize your relationship with God. (James 4:8) Optimize your relationship God the Father. (John 4:23) Optimize your relationship with Jesus, God the Son. (1 John 1:3) Optimize your relationship with God the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14) Optimize the way you do church. (1 Corinthians 14:26) Optimize the fruit of the Spirit in your life. (Galatians 5:22-23) Optimize the gifts of the Spirit in your life. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) Optimize your ability to show mercy to all people. (Luke 6:35-36)
Christians have been trained to see Jesus as the Tree of Knowledge — as a religious figure to study, analyze, and learn information about. However, we need to see Jesus as the Tree of Life — as God in human flesh who we can develop a moment-by-moment intimate heart-to-heart relationship with.
We need to stop trying to understand and figure Jesus out. He’s beyond our human understanding. Instead, we need to allow Jesus to optimize who He has made us to be. Let Him straighten out and transform your heart and mind throughout each day. (Romans 12:2)
Ever since I was a child, I have found the one-man lecture method of having church to be a distraction from my focusing on the actual presence of Jesus. However, Spirit-led open sharing based on Romans 8:14 and 1 Corinthians 14:26 always makes me intensely aware that Jesus is present and active in the gathering.
Lifeless religion clearly demonstrates that the Tree of Knowledge doesn’t produce the life of God and the fruit of the Spirit. The Tree of Life is an invitation to experience the life of God working in and through you day and night. The Tree of Knowledge is an attempt to explain, analyze, and trivialize the life of God.
Sermon sitters who are Sunday hearers only (James 1:22) are always learning but never able to come to a personal heart-to-heart knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7) which is the living resurrected Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) They are trusting in the Tree of Knowledge but overlooking the Tree of Life. (Revelation 2:7) They tend to ignore the direct inner leadership of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14) — “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)
Far too many Christians would rather hear a religious talk about Jesus instead of optimizing their personal experiencing of His presence. 2,000 years ago, religious infrastructure had Jesus, God the Son, crucified. Today religious infrastructure hinders the free movement of God the Holy Spirit.
The job of a minister is to get people to minister to one another, not to do all the ministry himself. (Ephesians 4:11-12) The job of a preacher is to get people preaching and testifying about the risen Jesus, not to make them lifetime Sunday morning spectators.
All study with little or no direct experience with the risen Jesus makes Christianity boring. Is there a more powerful approach to the Gospel? Yes, indeed.
Living water, rushing rivers, can be studied and analyzed. However, most people prefer to experience and enjoy them — to watch, to wade, to splash, to play, to swim, to float, to raft, to fish, to hike, and so much more. Sure, it’s good for a few scientists to investigate whitewater rivers academically, but for most of us that approach quenches (1 Thessalonians 5;19) our joyous spontaneity.
Jesus offers people inner rivers of living water (John 7:38-39) that will forever satisfy their thirst and spring up from within them into eternal life. (John 4:14) Jesus doesn’t give us those rivers of living water just so we can study and hear lectures about them. He wants us to continually experience and enjoy those rivers, both individually and in open-hearted community.
Jesus calls His disciples friends. (John 14:15) Friends don’t simply focus on studying to learn endless detailed information about each other. Instead, they get to know more and more about each other by enjoying continually interacting heart-to-heart with one another. They treasure experiencing daily life together. Let Jesus be your forever best friend not merely an academic religious assignment.
A Christ-less crisis can crush you. Whatever you’re going through, get through it with Jesus. (Matthew 11:28-29) Desire-led and pride-led people are drawn away from Jesus. (Mark 4:19 & James 4:6)) Spirit-led people are directed into His presence. (Romans 8:14)
If you’ll invite Jesus into your darkness, He’ll be your living light. (John 8:12) If Christ is truly Immanuel, God with us, He should be experienced, not just lectured about. (Matthew 1:23)
Baby stepping by sermon hearing is good, but if Christians never begin to take the steps that lead to maturity and discipleship, they stay stuck with baby steps. “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity . . .” (Hebrews 6:1)
Sermon hearing is a good thing, but it is far from enough. Sitting and being taught once a week is a fine first step toward Christian discipleship, but without these important additional steps Christians will stay spiritual babies in the light of how Christ-followers lived in the New Testament.
* Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow the risen Jesus. (Luke 9:23) * Be continually filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5;18) * Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) * Devour, ponder, savor, and absorb the Bible both day and night. (Joshua 1:8) * Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. (1 Peter 5:6) * Confess your faults one to another. (James 5:6) * Walk in the light. (1 John 1:5-7) * Cultivate the fruit of the Holy Spirit deep within your soul and demonstrate it by how you live your daily life. (Galatians 5:22-23) * Learn to receive and frequently flow with the gifts of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) * Love one another (John 13:35) and even your enemies. (Matthew 5:44) * Keep Christ’s commandments. (John 14:15)
You can experience a Holy Spirit led meeting right where are. No need to travel to a conference, a seminar, a famous church, or a revival.
Holy Spirit led gatherings are amazing, powerful, life-changing, supernatural, and extremely rare. Yet all it takes to experience one is group listening to God the Holy Spirit and obedient surrender to what He says. Gather a few friends and experience one soon! (Romans 8:14 & 1 Corinthians 14:26)
Let me clarify. Holy Spirit led gatherings are rare because people seldom are willing to gather together to listen to God’s Spirit and then allow each person to say and do what God tells them to. If Christians were willing to do that, Holy Spirit led meetings would happen frequently.
To truly know Jesus, you must desire to continually encounter and interact with Him. It’s not enough just to think about Him or study about Him or hear a religious talk about Him. That’s why the Bible says:
“Seek first the kingdom of God,” (Matthew 6:33) “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” (Matthew 5:6) “draw near to God,” (James 4:8) “press toward . . . the high calling of God,” (Philippians 3:14) “fight the good fight of faith,” (1 Timothy 6:12) “preserver to the end” (Matthew 24:13) “keep your spiritual fervor,” (Romans 12:11) “do not grow weary in well doing,” (2 Thessalonians 3:13) “fan into flame the gift of God which is in you,” (2 Timothy 1:6) “eagerly desire spiritual gifts,” (1 Corinthians 14:1) “eagerly desire the greater gifts,” (1 Corinthians 12:31) “the desire of the righteous ends only in good,” (Proverbs 11:23) “desire (God) more than anything,” (Psalm 73:25) “desire to live a godly life,” (2 Timothy 3:12) “desire for goodness,” (2 Thessalonians 1:11) “earnestly desire to prophesy,” (1 Corinthians 14:39) “desire a better country, that is a heavenly one,” (Hebrews 11:16) “my soul longs for You (God),” (Isaiah 26:9) “let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life,” (Revelation 22:17) “I desire to do Your will, my God,” Psalm 40:8) “we desire to see Jesus,” (John 12:21) and so much more!
“One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in his temple.” (Psalm27:4) If the psalmist so passionately desired this in the Old Testament, how much more should we now that Christ has come to live within us (Colossians 1:27) and to lead us by His Spirit? (Romans 8:14) Jesus is the truth and those who are unafraid of the light behold Him.
Christmas Mary Gave Birth to Christ. Now the world says Merry Christmas But doesn’t see Lord Jesus Christ Who came to save People from sins. Look beyond the Gifts and food and Decorations. Take time to say, Happy birthday, Jesus! (Matthew 1:21)
Eight days later Simple Simeon Was Spirit-led To hold Jesus In his own arms. Then Simeon said By the Spirit, This child’s a light, Revelation For all people. He will reveal And deeply heal The inner thoughts Of multitudes. (Luke 2:25-35)
Christmas reminds Us to wake up And to notice Revelation That comes through Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
Be creative This Christmas Day. Find a fresh way To adore Christ And to hear what He has to say! (John 10:27)
Wake up to Jesus! If the risen Jesus isn’t your Savior, your Lord, and the literal Master and Head of your daily life, then your Christmas is decapitated.
There are so many influences in life. Much of those influences occur because of birth — who we are born to and in what culture and part of the world we are born and raised in. However, there is an influence that transcends all of that.
True Christianity is so much more than religious institutionalism! In a world filled with people who believe in a religion because they were born and raised in that religion, shouldn’t there be a better reason to believe or not believe than where you were born and how you were raised? Yes!
Hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens who were born and raised in atheism have personally encountered the living Jesus and given their lives to follow and obey Him. Multitudes of Iranians who were surrounded by Islam since birth have met the risen Jesus and been transformed into passionate Christ-followers by His presence and power. I once spent three months in India and met many Hindus who had been radically changed and empowered by Jesus.
In all three of those countries (and many more nations) it’s dangerous to change your religion. It can even get you killed. I even knew a young man in India who was stoned to death at a well in a village because he was telling people about Jesus.
I grew up in a nonreligious family, yet from my earliest memories I believed in God and interacted with Him. My parents were confounded by my faith. When I was about 11, they took me to a Presbyterian church, and I was enrolled in a new member class. After a few weeks I was sprinkled with water and made an official church member. That led me to believe that I was a Christian.
A few years later during a church service this thought came to my mind. “If you were born a Hindu what would you be today?” As I thought about it, I realized that I would have been a Hindu. Immediately the thought came to me, “Why do you think you are a Christian?” I suddenly realized that I had no legitimate reason to believe that I was a Christian.
At that point I rejected Christianity and the teachings of the Bible. However, my logical mind couldn’t dispose of the idea of some sort of Creator. It made no sense to me to believe that everything that exists is the result of nothing more than time and chance.
About two years later I met some people who talked about Jesus like they knew Him personally. I could see that they had something I didn’t. In an instant Jesus became more real to me than my physical environment.
Every day since then Jesus has been my best friend who is always working in and through me from my innermost being. The more I listen to and obey Him the closer He aligns me with the Bible and its theology and the more I’m moved beyond the rigid control and traditions of the institutional Christianity that surrounds me.
Thank You, Jesus. I can never express to You enough gratitude for all You have done and are doing in and around me.
(For more of my journey, google my book: “Beyond Church — An Invitation to Experience the Lost Word of the Bible — Ekkllesia.”)
I’m always searching for Spirit-led, tenderhearted Christian community that clearly demonstrates (1 Corinthians 2:4) the reality of Immanuel — God with us. (Matthew 1:23) It’s rare and it’s fragile. Even when you find it, it can quickly vanish. I most recently found it in Heredia Province in Costa Rica. Ernie and I just returned from three months in an environment of openheartedness, hunger for more of Jesus, humility, and caring. It’s called Vida220 Discipleship School and it’s truly amazing. (Google Vidanet.)
“The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” (1 Corinthians 4:20) It’s not religious routine, rituals, and rules but “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans14:17)
Seek first the kingdom, inner government of God, and His right living, not just another church service and sermon. (Matthew 6:33). When people have a form of godliness but deny it’s power, have nothing to do with them. (2 Timothy 3:5) “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22)
Participating in God’s presence is much more powerful than a programmed religious presentation. A humble heart-felt flow of faith is much more powerful than a hardened formal facade.
Let God the Holy Spirit make and keep you pregnant with His presence so that His power and reality can ever grow in your heart. (Colossians 1:27) Let Him produce and release His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) to always flow from within you as rivers of living water. (John 7:38-39) Let Jesus continually rescue and keep you from sin. (Matthew 1:21)
Free Gas for Your Think Tank -- Fill Your Mind and Your Heart With Hope 