Tag Archives: the Holy Spirit

I Heard the Sound …

14 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in The Strange & Unusual Voice of God

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I am going to wrap up these last few blogs on the Holy Spirit by relating an experience that happened to me over twenty years ago.  Back in the early 1990’s I had the opportunity to travel to Kenya for a forty day mission trip. It was basically a trip to strengthen churches in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Nakuru, as well as other small towns.  Our small group didn’t do any construction, medical work or other activities, but we were able to preach, teach, and give testimonies in all sorts of venues and occasions. Aside from preaching and teaching on weekends in different churches, I had the opportunity to also speak in movie houses and parks during lunch hours.  It was during one of the lunchtime services I wish to elaborate on in this blog.

In Nakuru there was a park in the middle of town and the church regularly held noontime services as an outreach to the community.  As you can imagine, the crowds there varied from service to service.  On this occasion a group of over 100 people showed up for the noon gathering.  Everyone present from the church walked around the park inviting people to come for the service.  The church also brought a small P.A. system and a few instruments to sing songs to help attract a crowd.  I noticed several people laying on their stomachs under the trees.  I was told these were the hungry who had been looking for work.  Since they couldn’t find work that day, they were sleeping in the park on their stomachs to help quell their hunger.

I was the guest speaker on this occasion.  That should have been enough to attract some folk’s attention.  I probably was the whitest preacher from America with the funniest accent they were ever going to encounter.  At this time, I had been in the country over thirty days and had grown accustomed to speaking with an interpreter.  Also, I was beginning to understand which messages to share and which illustrations to use in order to minister to people.  We sang several songs and I began to share.  From all appearances everything was “normal”.  At the end of every service I would turn the service over to a local pastor.  I did the same after this service.  Several people came forward and  some gave their lives to the Lord and a few made other decisions.

While I was standing up front listening to the pastor with my back towards the crowd… I heard the sound of a galloping horse, bull, or water buffalo.  What was galloping towards us, I did not know.  At the time I wasn’t even sure if anyone else heard it.  Because I wanted to know what it was, I turned towards the crowd to detect what was going on behind me.  I looked and looked but couldn’t see anything….but the sound was getting closer.  The galloping came right into the crowd but no one seemed to care or even be aware.  I know all this sounds crazy.  It is one of the reasons I don’t share this story very often.  But I knew I was hearing the sound of a galloping animal coming into the crowd.

All of sudden the galloping turned into a crash!  The galloping horse, bull or whatever ran straight into and over a young Kenyan girl.  She immediately hit the ground with a thud.  It was like a sack of potatoes had fallen off a ten story building.  She was just six to eight feet away from me.  She laid there like someone shot or clubbed her.  Fortunately, some of the ladies in the church gathered around her and started fanning her as if she had fainted.  In fact, as the minutes passed, several of the ladies tried to stir her, all to no avail.  She continued to lay there like a corpse as the service broke up.

As time continued to pass, I heard some of the people who spoke English talk about the “galloping” right before the girl went down.  Now, at least I knew I wasn’t hearing things.  The conclusion everyone was drawing was this young lady had been slain in the spirit.  I had seen such activity before… but not in services I’d held.  I’m not against it or anything… at the time I just didn’t normally see such events.  This young lady’s experience was not like what you might have seen on t.v..  The people I had seen on t.v. barely even went down.  Still after about 20-25 minutes the people were still trying to wake this young lady.  Finally, I could see in her eyes…she was still groggy and wasn’t sure where she was or what was going on around her.

Some have asked me what I thought of the whole situation.  Because I wasn’t able to talk to her after, I don’t know what really happened to this young lady physically or spiritually.  Some would easily write the whole thing off as a coincident.  I didn’t.  I felt then and I still do now, the Lord was moving.  It might surprise you to know all I could think about was … I wanted to be her.  I wanted the Holy Spirit to come galloping across some park and run me down like a Mack truck.  I didn’t care if I was in some foreign country or at home in the U.S.A..  I didn’t care if anyone was watching. I just wanted to be taken out by God and wake-up never being the same.  Here I was preaching some “important” message and the Holy Spirit came head hunting for one lone Kenyan girl.  I am sure He knew what He was doing… but I desperately wanted to be her in that moment.

My whole point for sharing this story is to remind believers that we all should be ready in the blink-of-an-eye for the Lord to move, even in unusual ways.  We never truly know just what the Lord is going to do in any given situation.  We quietly go about our business, even sometimes spiritual business and the Lord is just about to break into our world with a visitation.  I do believe we should desperately desire Him to do more and be more in our lives.  There have been other occasions when the Lord showed up when I least expected Him.  I was just as shocked on those occasions as I was in this one.  Not everyone needs to be run down by a wild, galloping invisible force… but I do believe we need to be touched from time to time. I don’t think the Lord ever intended us to travel this life without Him visiting us and giving us just what we need in those moments.

If you are saying to yourself…”The Lord has never touched or visited me,” well that just may be the issue.  You are neither believing or expecting the Lord to move in your life in any supernatural way.  You just may have relegated the Lord to the quiet recesses of your life and never really expected Him to show up in any way.  When the Lord does show up, you don’t even believe it is Him.  It is sad when all we read about is “what God did long ago in history past” and never hear stories about “what God is doing in the here and now“.  I know I have grown tired of reading about what God did years ago in revivals past.    Praise God He moved back then.  But, what I really want to see and experience is God moving today.

Let me encourage you to seek the Lord anew.  Give the Lord permission to move in your life anyway He sees fit.  And if you are hearing the sound of a galloping horse coming up behind you… get ready!  Your time of visitation might be at hand.

Blessings,

Pastor

 

The Holy Spirit’s Discpline

07 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in When the Holy Spirit Comes

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The Kingdom of God has order. Hearing always precedes speaking. Just think about it for a moment…The Holy Spirit has never spoken a word to you which He didn’t first hear the Father speak to Him.  Wow!  Could you maintain this type of discipline?

 

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  John 16:13

 

Jesus wanted everyone to know how He personally operated. Like the Holy Spirit, Jesus listened first, then He spoke. This is the order of heaven and we need to know it because this is where our instructions and our truth will originate.

The Spirit of God is never going to give us brand-new, startling, isolated truths no one has ever heard.  Every now and then some “minister” will say, “God has spoken to me and has revealed to me a brilliant new idea, no one has ever taught.  The Lord has only spoken to me. If  you want to know the secret, you’ve got to come to me!”

This was exactly what Jesus said would not happen. The Spirit of God will never speak in this fashion. He will only speak what He hears. Therefore, what He reveals or speaks will always be integrated truth.  This truth will always be in line with what God has already spoken. It will never differ from what God has said in the past. This is why Jesus said “I didn’t come to abolish, but to fulfill” what was already spoken.

I personally have a large library of books.  I was moving into a new office one day and someone commented after seeing all my books, “I don’t read much. The Holy Spirit tells me everything I need to know. I don’t need to read books.”  Now, I have heard this line numerous times.  What these folks are basically saying is, “I am too lazy to read, learn, and listen to the lessons of others.”  I don’t want to chase this particular rabbit now. But, suffice it to say…this is exactly how error is born and developed.  I don’t read much these days to learn some new spiritual truth. I read to learn how the saints struggle and fight to continue serving even during dark times.  I read to avoid errors.  I want to know how others avoided life”s pitfalls. This is one of the reasons I blog.  I want to help others avoid the same mistakes I’ve made.

The Holy Spirit will build upon what He previously taught others in generations past.  I do not want to fall into the same pits my ancestors fell. No, I want to build upon the legacy they left behind.  If you personally are just trying to maintain what the previous generation accomplished, you need to rethink whether or not you are listening to the Holy Spirit. Because while the Holy Spirit is our Tour Guide, while He only speaks what He hears… He is constantly speaking about the future.  Your future to be exact. If you are one of those just maintaining the status-quo, you are probably in the dark.

This is why we are specially told by our Lord to expect the Holy Spirit to speak truth into our lives.  You need truth, I need truth…all God’s children need truth.  The problem is the truth we are told is not the truth we always want to hear. This is the main reason why people cannot hear the Holy Spirit speak to them personally.  He is only speaking TRUTH and they are not looking to hear the blunt truth from the Lord.

Let me give a personal example. I have heard the Lord speak to me so many times about pride issues. I have gotten to the point where I did’t want to hear about it anymore.  Have you ever been there?  I really did’t think there was anything wrong in getting up every morning and looking in the mirror to sing “How Great Thou Art.”  Just Kidding.  Follow me here.  In those times of the Lord confronting me about issues of pride, my quiet times were very, very…lets say “quite“. The Holy Spirit had nothing else to say and no other truth to offer.  I wanted Him to say something else.  I begged Him to say anything. By the way, this didn’t mean the Holy Spirit wasn’t using me to preach a message or lead people to the Lord.  I could still be used.  Being used of the Lord and being completely obedient to the Holy Spirit’s leading are two different things.  Don’t be deceived.  God used Balaam’s ass, but it still was an ass. You probably know what I had to do to move on. I could fake it or make it real. The only way to move on was to repent, confess (agree with God’s assessment), and allow the Lord to show me a better way.  Once that transpired, I received new truths.

A professional carpet layer stepped back to survey a newly installed carpet. Reaching into his shirt pocket for a cigarette, he realized the pack was missing. At the same time he noticed a lump under the carpet in the middle of the room, about the size of the missing cigarette pack. There was no way to retrieve his cigarette pack from under the attached carpet without ripping everything up and starting over. Finally, he decided to beat the object flat, thereby destroying any evidence of his mistake.        Gathering his tools, the carpet layer walked out to his truck. There on the seat of his truck was the mislaid pack of cigarettes. As he lit one up, the homeowner hurried out of the house and asked, “Hey, have you seen my son’s gerbil?”

It is possible to believe something is true when it is not. It is equally possible to believe something is not true, when in actuality it is true. Understand, the Holy Spirit is trying to bring TRUTH into our lives.  It is our job to give Him access to both sides of our belief systems.  Most believers are able to allow Him to teach them “new” truths.  They struggle in giving Him access to “old truths” they believe.  These are labeled “sacred cows” and untouchable.  The problem, this is exactly where the Spirit begins many times.  I have a long list of beliefs the Holy Spirit has totally destroyed and ultimately rebuilt.  The quickest way to grow unhindered is to give the Holy Spirit unlimited access to every area and belief in our life. It would be one thing if you were a BLANK SLATE, but you’re not and neither am I. We all have programs and data on our hard drives. Sometimes the Lord needs to do some erasing before He can write new programs.  Remember it is the Holy Spirit’s job to lead you into ALL TRUTH, not partial truths or incomplete truths.  The only question is will you allow Him access.

Blessings,

Pastor

 

Getting to Know Your Spiritual Tour Guide

06 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by in When the Holy Spirit Comes

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(Last Line)
An inscription on walls of cellars in Cologne Germany, where Jews hid from the Natzis

According to Jesus we need a guide to lead us in discovering spiritual truth. This word “guide” is sometimes used in reference to leading blind people.  Jesus knew we could not discover spiritual truth on our own, so He sent the Holy Spirit.

I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. John 16:12-13

His job is to accompany us through life, through scripture, through prayer, and every other spiritual discipline.  Our level of understanding should rise as we continually walk along with the Holy Spirit.  It is not going to be one big display in which you get it all in a seven-week course.  In other words, the work of the Spirit should be a gradual unfolding of truth in every believer’s life.

“He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak.”

Ever gone anywhere via GPS?  Insert your own joke here.  But in general, we as a society have had to grow accustomed to using GPS systems.  Now that we have grown accustomed to the idea of using them, we have adapted to using them more effectively.  We know when a GPS will be reliable and when we just might be better off following road signs or reading a map.

The Holy Spirit works kind of like a GPS.  He speaks to us and gives us the directional information we need at just the right moment.  If we fail to follow His directions, it is not His fault.  He can only speak what He hears from heaven.  He cannot make our turns or force us to choose correctly. When we make a mistake, He can only say, “Make a u-turn at the next intersection.”  It is our job to actually make the u-turn or course correction.

The Holy Spirit is our Guide, not our Consultant. When God speaks through the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t make much sense to push back or give Him ten reasons why His plan won’t work. This is an argument we can’t win. Resistance is futile!  But we’ve all done it. We’ve all had times when we knew exactly what God wanted us to do, but we still decided our own wisdom was better than the Lord’s. Only later did we discover the Lord was correct all along.  If you have pride issues like me…you just hate to admit it.

Here’s the problem. God doesn’t do consulting work. Never has, never will. He does God. When I treat Him as a consultant, He simply stops showing up in my life, in my church, and in my ministry. And it gets worse if I continue to choose to follow my own logic.  God not only stops showing up, He also pulls back some of the light He’s already given. The negative law of reciprocity kicks in…Ouch!

This is what Larry Osborne calls “The Dimmer Switch Principle.” It has a profound impact on our spiritual life for both good and bad. Most of the time people fail to remember or even care about it. Yet, this principle is at work twenty-four-seven.

Have you ever had the Lord turn down the light of revelation in your life?  This is why spiritual insights seem to come in spurts to most people.  When we are growing, we stay tuned into the Lord and the dimmer is turned up!  It seems we cannot keep up with all the revelations the Lord is pouring in our lives.

Then, when we reject the light of God’s word, the dimmer switch of God’s leading is suddenly turned low. This is why some people, who once possessed great spiritual insight, can regress to the point of mind-boggling foolishness. If your spiritual walk is one of many ups and downs, you need to remember how the Lord’s process works.  Stay in the light!

It’s a simple principle. When we respond to the light we have, God gives me more light. When we reject the light we have, God takes away the light we already possess.

It is the Holy Spirit’s job to lead us into God’s light and God’s revelation. Our job is to stay in that flow.  Whether you agree or disagree…Whether you like it or dislike it…Whether you understand or are totally confused.  Remain obedient to the light you have been given.

Listen, we are living in a day and time when as a whole, God’s dimmer switch is being turned down.  It is growing dark out there folks.   As believers, it is imperative we allow our own personal light to be turned as high as it will go.  We each need the guidance and voice of the Holy Spirit to lead us through these dark times.  If not, we will become like Romans chapter 1.

Here Paul outlined the downward spiral of a culture when it turned its back on God. Three times in this passage he pointed out that the increasing moral decay of a society was the direct result of having rejected the truth they once knew to be true.  In each case, God turned them over to even more depravity and darkness. In other words, the Lord put his hand on the dimmer switch and turned down the light.

Praise the Lord…The exact opposite is also true. When we respond to the light we possess, no matter how dim it has become, God grabs the light switch and turns the light up.

Blessings,

Pastor

When the Holy Spirit Comes… Conviction of Righteousness

31 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in When the Holy Spirit Comes

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When the Holy Spirit comes there will be a second form of conviction.  Through the believer the world will be convicted of righteousness. Jesus said, “because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more.”  (John 16:10) That is, when the world looks at the church, it ought to see a different way of life, a different standard of behavior. Only the believer can walk in righteousness.   What the world once saw in Jesus it should now see in His followers.  Christ in us is what convicts the world that there are absolutes in life.

Don’t be alarmed that secular writers and philosophers believe there are no absolutes and no standards. Without the Lord, men have always defaulted back to “doing whatever is right in their own eyes.”   We are deluged today by “situational ethics“, the idea that the situation alone determines whether a thing is right or wrong. The world will continue to operate in this fashion until it sees in the church a righteous standard of behavior. Surveys have revealed time and time again that there is little difference between the moral and ethical standards of the church and the moral and ethical standards of the secular world.

Once again when the world looks at the believer, they should be convicted of righteousness.  This occurs not so much by what you say with your mouth, but…

  • by the life you lead;
  • by the decisions you make;
  • by the fundamental truths you believe in;
  • by the peace and tranquility you possess; and
  • by the fact of Christ living in you!

What the world ought to see when it looks at the church is beauty. The Old Testament calls this “the beauty of holiness“.  When the Lord Jesus is reigning in an individual’s life, there is a beauty about that person’s life which captures people’s attention.  Real righteousness is captivating.

Listen, I hear people praying all the time for God to send a Great Revival which brings conviction and causes people to repent.  I have prayed for this.  According to this verse, how and by what means will God send a revival?  Real revival will only happen in you. The only way for the Holy Spirit to convict, reach, and touch the world around us is for God’s people to ask and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with the righteousness of Christ. If you really want the Lord to move… then you must be willing to be moved by the Spirit first.

There are two ways to tell people they are wrong.  One is you can convict them on everything they do wrong.  Or, you can speak to them about what is right.  Which approach do you think the Holy Spirit takes?  When the Lord was convicting you, did He speak to you about all the sin in your life, or did He convict you because you were rejecting Christ.

This is the Holy Spirit’s job to tell people there is a better way… Jesus. The Holy Spirit keeps Jesus before our eyes. Yes, He keeps Jesus before the world’s eyes, but they usually do not listen.

QUESTIONS:  

  • Since the world is going to pot (spiritually downhill), is the Holy Spirit failing in doing His job?
  • Could He be doing a better job?
  • Has the Holy Spirit left and are we on our own?
  • This is the crux of the matter, isn’t it?

The Holy Spirit is doing His job and we should be doing ours by allowing the Holy Spirit to keep Jesus before our eyes twenty-four-seven. It is impossible to win people by telling them how wrong they are and at the same time lacking the presence of Christ in our life.

We have two approaches we can take.  We can continue to tell people how bad they are and how bad their sin has become or we can tell them how good our Jesus is.  We can follow the Holy Spirit’s approach and speak to people in the fashion which He is convicting them.  Or, we can follow the devil’s lead and tell them how rotten they are.

In most cases, people understand they are sinners.  What they need to know is the Good News of Jesus Christ, the impact of repentance and confession.

What has been happening in our world today from Christians and the Church?  What has been the results?  What do you think will be the future results?

Blessings,

Pastor

 

When the Holy Spirit Comes… Conviction of Sin

30 Wednesday May 2012

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When the Holy Spirit comes into us and operates in fullness as He intends, He will have this three-fold effect upon the world. I am not talking about the “experience” a person might or might not have in their life.  I am referring to the effect the world ought to evidence when it looks at the ekklesia, the gathering of believers.

 And He (the Holy Spirit), when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11  and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.John 16:8-11

 

There are three manifestations the world ought to see when it views us as believers.   If it does not witness these three manifestations of the Spirit, then you are not filled with the full intention of God.

So, lets begin by discussing the conviction of sin. 

The first thing Jesus said the world ought to experience when it is around us is the conviction of sin.  This means we personally have allowed Jesus to reign supreme as Savior and Lord in our life. This fact should convict others because this is the primary issue of life. Why does this bring conviction?  Because, as Jesus said, “They believe not on Him.”  When people see Jesus in you, are they convicted?  I love this verse in Acts.

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. Acts 4:13

 

I am convinced that the church in general has not reflected the real Jesus and spoken of Him passionately enough.  If we had, the world would not have so readily forgotten about Him.  The world desperately wants to forget Jesus ever came and lived among us.  It desperately wants to relegate His name and all his teachings to the farthest reaches of ancient history.

Academia gives all sorts of reasons why it is unneccessary to follow the teachings of Christianity.  They give a staunch record of the indiscretions of the church, the wickedness of the followers of Christianity, and the oppressive nature of the Bible. Once again, according to Jesus, the real reason the world wants to shed Christ is because He convicts them of their sin and need for His Lordship.  This is the sole reason.  Don’t ever think or believe differently.

Listen, why is the church in existence?  It thrives to bring Jesus consistently before a dead and dying world.  We don’t have to shove Scripture down people’s throats. We don’t have to throw spiritual haymakers and knock people out to win them over.  All the Lord requires is that we get full of the Holy Spirit and He will convict them of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

The church has tried many different ways to be more attractive to the world in the last twenty-five years.  We have made our enviroment so “seeker-friendly” that it is not longer Holy Spirit friendly.  The truth is no man can convict, convince, or coerce another man to become a believer.  Even if he could, it isn’t his job to do so.  When people examine our lives, they should automatically fall under conviction.  Why?  Because they see in us the “hope of glory and the life of Christ.”

When I was 14-15 years old, I wanted desperately to give my life to the Lord.  As I would sit in the pew week after week, I was convicted by what the pastor taught.  I knew it was true and felt the Holy Spirit dealing with me through the pastor’s sermons.  But when I looked around at my teenage “church friends”, the conviction faded.  I would ask, “Are you believer?”  They would respond, “yeah, I joined two or three years ago.” Some even confessed that their experience faded with time. These were the same people I was smoking dope with throughout the week.  These were the same people who were cursing, drinking, and partying. Needless to say, there was absolutely no conviction oozing from their lives.  In fact, the conviction from the Holy Spirit quickly departed when I left church and starting hanging around them.

Now, as a pastor, I want the unbelieving to feel convicted when they are around me.  I used to seek to make them feel comfortable.  Not any more.  I want them to feel they are going to drop straight into hell. As I have grown in the Lord, He has taught me to incorporate this conviction with love.

What happens when a person “joins” a church without the convicting power of the Holy Spirit?  Not much.  You can love, convince, and talk someone into joining a church.  You will end up with a group of dead beats that can only imitate what a real church should be like.

Without the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, we are left with manmade forms of capturing people.  These usually are presented in the form of some program. The early church presented Christ, not programs. The early Christians never wasted their time in this area. They never talked about the church; they talked about Jesus. The church itself doesn’t save anybody. It is the Lord who does the life changing work. He redeems, He changes, He revolutionizes, He forgives, He restores, He heals—not the church!

When the church is Spirit-filled it talks about Jesus. When the world hears this message, it will finally be convinced its most basic and fundamental sin is not the evil things it has done, but the fact that it has neglected to believe in Jesus.

Blessings,

Pastor

Three Doorways to Discernment

15 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Our Spiritual Process

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There is an axiom I live by in my life.  God is not trying to keep information from me… He is trying desperately to get revelational knowledge to me.  I believe this with all my heart.  God is a good God and desires to share Himself with those that love Him.

Having said this, sometimes it is difficult to discern the will of God, especially when the matter is not black and white. You have probably discovered that some issues in life are not mentioned in the Bible as sins or activities to be avoided.  But as you discover afterward, you have actually grieved or quenched the Holy Spirit’s work in your life. Now the presence of God has faded from your life.  Ouch!

How are we to know if it is ok to participate in certain activities?  The anointing will help you.  This scripture from Romans paves the way and reveals three doors for discerning God’s best for us.

 

17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.  Romans 14:17-18

 

First Door: Righteousness

Before pursuing a course of action ask yourself, “If I do this activity will I lose my righteousness?”  Your righteousness is your standing before God. In other words, if you choose to participate in this activity will it cause you to forfeit the righteousness you have in Christ Jesus?  Will doing this violate your conscience, cause guilty feelings, and bring conviction from the Holy Spirit?

I am sure you know by now that some activities are not necessarily sin for most people. But God has already personally talked to you about those same activities.  It may have been two or three years ago, but you already know that God does not want you personally involved.  When you choose to participate anyway, your righteousness (right standing) before God is gone. There is a great verse in James which addresses this issue.

 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17

 

(If you can make it through the first door without losing your righteousness, then move on to the next door.)

 

Second Door: Peace

Ask yourself honestly, “If I participate in this activity will I lose my peace?”

Your peace is the certainty that your relationship with your brothers and sisters is intact.  In other words, if you participate in a certain activity will it hurt your relationship with other people.  It might be ok with God, but others may have difficulty with you enjoying it.

I have been around certain Christians who thought playing cards was a sin.  So while I was around them, I did not play cards.  I personally felt it was alright to play cards. God had never convicted me about it. (Now I am not talking about gambling or strip poker, etc)   But if I continued to play cards in front of other fellow believers knowing they believe it to be sin, then I will sin as well and lose my peace.

Peace is very important when visiting other cultures.  While in I was in Israel visiting the Holy Sites, it was required for women to wear dresses and men to wear kappa’s (domes or skull caps).  I would have lost my peace and caused others to stumble if I had just burst through and visited the sites without regard to their customs.

Someone once said, “It may be permissible for you to do it, but it may not be beneficial.”   You can do it and be alright with God, but the saints will suffer.

(If you can make it through the first and second doors without losing your righteousness and peace, then move on to the next door.)

 

Third Door: Joy

The question to ask yourself here is, “If I do this activity will I lose my joy.”  Your joy is the relationship you have with you.  “Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  Nehemiah 8:10

Here is how it goes…You may get an ok from God and other believers may not care if you participate in this certain activity, but as you pray about it you feel the joy of the Lord depart from you.  Why?  Because inwardly you know it will not build faith in your life.

The Bible says, “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”  Romans 14:23  In other words, the activity you are questioning is permissible.  You can do it before God and man; but the problem is it will ultimately NOT build your faith. You may not realize it at the moment… but the activity will probably deter your faith, at least briefly.

For instance, in the past I have wanted to watch certain movies.  It was ok with God and did not bother friends and family, so I went forward and viewed that movie.  When it was all said and done…my joy was gone.  Why?  Because I just wasted two hours of valuable time.  The whole activity did not build my faith.  On other occasions, the issue was not about the time wasted.  I discovered my joy was depleted and I just couldn’t put my finger on what exactly happened.  Each believer must determine the activities in life that are neither good nor bad… but are simply “joy thief’s.”  If you are a discerning Christian you will understand this issue.

Am I just being overbearing and picky about everything or is there some bigger picture here?  We all must understand that if we want to grow deep in the things of God there is one word we are going to have to get accustomed to knowing and experiencing.   The word is SENSITIVITY.   The goal is to grow more and more sensitive in the knowledge and ways of God.   Walking with the Holy Spirit is a very sensitive issue. Because He is sensitive, we are to be sensitive.

As we continue to grow in the Lord, all three doors can be summed up in one phrase, “am I sensitive to the movement of the Holy Spirit in my life?”  The more mature we become the more important your righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit will become.  His flow and presence will become your primary importance.

When I was in college I hung a homemade sign over my desk.  It read: “Others may, but I can’t.”   That little phrase sums up all three of these points.  When it is all said and done, we are all at different stages.  In order for you to continue to grow in the things of God, YOU WILL HAVE TO LEAVE SOME FOLKS BEHIND.  They are not currently ready to be this sensitive to the ways and movements of God.  It is not that they are bad and you are good.  It is about you and the Lord, nothing more. I used to love to play “patty-cakes” with my kids when they were young. But I was ever so thankful when they moved on to bigger and better things. You and I cannot continue to play patty-cake with God. We must move on to deeper issues in the Kingdom.

 

 

Maturity in the Holy Spirit is when you stop living off of a “do’s and don’t” list.  A spiritual person learns to flow in the things of God.  God allows you to choose what is right and wrong.  The Lord wants you to learn to choose on your own the right, Godly, and wholesome choice.  He doesn’t want you to continue to reference a list.  Lists are for the immature.

Some of you today need to move from the “made to do” stage of spiritual growth to the “let it flow” stage.  If God or God’s word doesn’t clearly state “don’t do it”, you will ultimately do it.  Why?  You didn’t see it written somewhere. Believers usually state this phrase in the positive.  “Well, God didn’t tell me I couldn’t, so it must be ok.”  This is knuckle-headed faith.

When you talk to people, are you constantly telling others about the things you “cannot do”, instead of the flow of what God is doing in your life?  There is a big difference.  I am sure you love God, but in your mind and heart is God still a “made to” type of God to you?  Are you ready to grow past all this?

Understand… Intimacy with the Lord is something you must pursue. Read my lips…It will not happen unless you get hot-hearted.  God is not going to chase you down and force intimacy on you. This is why the Holy Spirit is grieved when we faint in our pursuit of the Lord.  If you truly love someone, you will go after and pursue that relationship.

When I started to date my wife I thought she was pretty good gal to be around.  In fact, it wasn’t long before she was just head over heals in love with me.   No, I was in love.  I constantly wanted to be around her.

Now what if……….

  • my parents had to make me go over to her house to visit;
  • my friends had to convince me to go out on dates with her;
  • I never offered to pay for dates, but made her pay;
  • (some of you ladies are saying you married that man;)
  • I never held her hand;
  • all I ever talked about was myself; and
  • I rarely told her how I felt.

Do you think she or anyone else would have I believed I was in love with her.  I doubt it.

Is there any doubt today that you love the Lord?  Intimacy is intimacy… whether it is physical or spiritual.  You cannot be intimate in a robotic way.  Intimacy is a flow.  God desires not only our obedience but our entire hearts as well.  Our pursuit of Him reveals how much we truly love Him.  The great thing about pursuing the Lord is that occasionally He lets us catch Him… This is glory!

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

Smith Wigglesworth Quotes

14 Saturday Jan 2012

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“Fear looks; faith jumps. Faith never fails to obtain its object. If I leave you as I found you, I am not God’s channel. I am not here to entertain you, but to get you to the place where you can laugh at the impossible.” ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“Some people like to read their Bibles in the Hebrew; some like to read it in the Greek; I like to ready it in the Holy Spirit.”˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“Great faith is the product of great fights.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“How can one come to possess great faith? Now listen, here is the answer to that: First, the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. Faith must grow by soil, moisture, and exercise.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“You will have to voice many things in order to bring them into being.”  ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

 

“If you are in the same place today as you were yesterday, you are a backslider.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

 

“To the man of faith, there is not a thing that is not opportunity.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“Before a man can bind the enemy, he must know there is nothing binding him.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“If you want to increase in the life of God, then you must settle it in your heart that you will not at any time resist the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost and fire – the fire burning up everything that would impoverish and destroy you.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“God’s plan for you is to forget the past in every way, because the future is so amazingly wonderful. Oh, the word of God is so wonderful! The word so eats me up that I have no place but in God’s word.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“If you leave people as you found them, God is not speaking by you.  If you are not making people mad or glad, there is something amiss with your ministry.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“If the spirit does not move me, I move the Spirit.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“No wavering. This is the principle: He who believes is definite.  A definite faith brings a definite experience and a definite utterance.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth

“Before God could bring me to this place He has broken me a thousand times.”   ˜ Smith Wigglesworth