In order for you to benefit from the lessons taught here you must first be born again. Church membership and/or service does not mean that you have believed on the "Christ". Jesus is your salvation, not your religious affiliation. To find out how to become born of the Spirit click here <><. You need to be born again, not just a good person or church member.
Once we have believed on Jesus and become born of the Spirit we must begin to feed on God's Word and allow God's Kingdom to "grow" in our hearts. There are no shortcuts, compromises, or substitutions.
|
Matthew 4:4 |
|
|
The Bible is God's written Word - Period. Preachers and Teachers can be an enormous help to you, however it's the time we choose to spend alone with God that makes the difference. The time we spend reading, meditating, and dialoging with God is the very action that allows God's Kingdom to grow in our hearts. It is absolutely necessary to get God's Word in our own hearts. This can only happen when we choose to invest our own time to learn what God is all about and what He has to say.
Christianity is so much more than being saved. God wants to build a relationship with each one of us. The only way a relationship can be built is by spending time with someone. God is God - He is also a person. Many people fail to realize that God wants to build a personal relationship with His children.
Consider for a moment any good relationship you have ever had. Ask yourself how did this relationship get started and grow? The answer will tell you a lot about God and how He wants to build a relationship with us.
The anatomy of a relationship is really quite simple. First you have to take the time to get to know the person. This usually takes some time to develop. During the first phase of a relationship you talk, listen and watch. Your relationship with God is no different. Only through spending time talking (praying), listening (reading God's Word) and watching (living by God's Word) do we begin to build the kind of relationship that God wants to have with us.
After you have begun to build a relationship with God you get to know Him on a deeper level, just like any other relationship. Not long after the first phase of your relationship you realize that you now have a friendship in the making.
The Bible says that Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He's always there no matter what. Once you realize that Jesus is your friend you also start to figure out that He is also your Mentor (someone you respect, trust, and learn from).
Now that you have established a living, growing relationship with God you'll begin to understand a lot more about the Bible and God's personality. The Bible says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. As a relationship grows both parties begin to have common interests, values, and most of the time even the things they say are common.
God doesn't change, we do. It takes a choice on your part to turn your heart towards God, this is important to keep in mind. As you grow in the Lord you'll begin to take on His characteristics if you choose to. It takes a constant, conscious effort to allow your heart to be turned towards God. It's not a natural thing for us to believe God's Word, in fact it's opposite of most of what we have learned. Without making the choice to believe God, we can easily reason our way out of faith.
How can I reason my way out of faith? It's easier than you might think. When we begin to realize God's Word at work in our hearts, we tend to make comparisons to our day to day lives. This leaves us with choices to make. The fact is that the worlds logic and God's logic don't match. We need to choose God's way over the way we are used to doing things - remember all things need to become new to those who believe. Just one example: the world says that we need to get even, God's Word says that we need to forgive!
The point I'm trying to make is that God's Word is contrary to the world we live in. To allow our hearts to be turned towards God, we need to trust God. If we continue to do what we know works in the worlds system we will never allow our hearts to be turned towards God because there is no faith (trust) involved.
In any relationship we have to make a decision to trust the other person or not. In this case you need to decide whether or not to trust God and take Him at His Word. On the surface this may seem easy enough, however the deeper the relationship the more trust God wants us to place in Him. It's not that hard to trust God for your salvation, that's way off in the future. It is hard to trust God for the right job, it's harder to trust God in a job you hate, it's even harder to trust God in your finances (starting to get the picture?).
Without faith it is impossible to please God. So who are you going to trust, yourself, your worldly experience, or God? How much of a relationship are you going to have if you don't trust God and take Him at His Word? In a real relationship you have to trust the other person totally or it isn't a true relationship. God wants the same kind of commitment from us! Allow your heart to be turned towards God!
|
John 14:26 |
|
|
|
|
Acts 1:8 |
|
| |
|
1 John 2:27 |
|
|
Jesus told us that He would send a Helper (the Holy Spirit) and that He would teach us all things. Another hard lesson is learning how to listen to the Holy Spirit. I don't want to get into a doctrinal debate, so I'm not going to call this the "baptism of the Holy Spirit". What I do need to tell you though is that there is something that comes after salvation. It's not that you get more of God - you get to know Him on a deeper level.
Like any other relationship, as it grows you begin to communicate on a deeper level. Take a man and wife for example. When they first begin to date they use words as their only form of communication. As we begin our relationship with God, we start out the same way, using words - in this case God's Word.
Once the relationship deepens they begin to communicate on a different, deeper level. After a while the couple can communicate with words, body language, tone of voice, and even a simple look or expression. Now ask yourself, did this couple get more of each other, or did they get to know each other on a deeper level?
The same thing happens we get to know God on a deeper level, we begin to communicate with Him in new ways. Again, it takes a choice on our part to allow ourselves to listen to God in ALL the ways He chooses to speak with us. We also need to remember that when the Holy Spirit begins to speak to us, He will only tell you what's in God's Word. The adversary will also speak to you in many different ways, but it won't line up with the Word of God.
|
Joel 2:7-8 |
|
|
It seems that everyone wants to be a soldier in God's army, but how many of us are willing to go to boot camp? The truth of the matter is that EVERY soldier that fights in the war must not only go to boot camp - but to survive they must graduate! If you're going to make a difference in this war you have to learn to fight in accordance with God's battle plan. Boot camp is a place of intense tactical training, conditioning, testing, pushing ourselves beyond our limits, and learning to be obedient and take orders without question.
Not everyone who goes to boot camp comes out a soldier. The majority of the people who fail boot camp fail because of a lack of determination, not physical limitations. The same holds true for the Christian. If we refuse to allow God to change our hearts we rob ourselves of the chance to graduate. According to God's Word the choice is entirely up to us. We can choose to quit, or simply ignore the principals God is teaching us. How can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.
If we choose to ignore the training God is giving us we will be unprepared for the battles set before us. Not graduating boot camp will not keep you out of this war. As the BODY of Christ we are all involved in this spiritual warfare, we have no choice. We are all one body in Christ - when one suffers we all suffer, when one rejoices, we all rejoice, and when we go into battle, we all need to fight the good fight of faith.
One of the gifts bestowed on me by the Father is the gift of counsel. I was placed by the Father in an outreach ministry and regulary attended services at their church. I was also an elder in this church.
A typical service consisted of about 30 minutes of "rock and roll" praise and worship followed by another 30-45 minutes of prayer requests and praise reports. After that the offering, a few more songs, and then the sermon. For a while it was not unusual at all to get to church at 11:00 AM and be dismissed between 1:30-2:00 PM.
If you're already a mature Christian, and see the flow of the Holy Spirit in the service, this kind of service is great! On the other hand if you're not yet mature in Christ, or not even a Christian at all - this type of service is way too long.
Many of the people who attended the church were not Christians at all, or were brand new Christians. They didn't understand why the service had to be so long and many of them needed to take a break. So they would quitely step out back to smoke a cigarette or just stretch their legs.
Once in a while (not every service) the Spirit would move me to go and minister to one of them. So I would quietly follow them out the back door. At times there would be powerful ministry going on, some even came to Christ. Other times I would just let the person know we cared enough to come out to see if everything was alright.
The pastor of the church asked me what I thought I was doing - pastor said I was being disrespectful to the move of the Spirit on the "inside" of the church. I was told that I could no longer do any "personal" ministry during the church service. Pastor said that everyone needed to be inside the church while service was going on, and there was no excuse for anyone to leave the building during the service.
When I tried to explain to pastor that the same Spirit that was working "inside" the building was also at work "outside" the building, it fell on deaf ears - judgement had already been passed. I was expressly forbidden to minister outside the building when service was going on.
This tore me up pretty bad because in order to be obedient to the pastor, I had to quench the Holy Spirit! This didn't make any sense at all because I knew beyond the shadow of any doubt that God had placed me in that ministry to do exactly what I was doing, and now I had to quit?
At this point my emotions were in a full blown tizzy! I was hurt, angry, I felt betrayed by the pastor, and to a degree I felt betrayed by God. I stayed pretty confused for a few days, then God revealed to me what I needed to know.
God showed me that when you're in the midst of battle you must not depend on your emotions to guide you (we walk by faith and not by sight) - you have to rely on your basic training, which is the Word of God. Depending on your emotions to lead you in times of battle will only lead you to certain defeat.
It was revealed to me that I needed to go back to my own basic training to find the solution to my dilemma. God reminded me that in His Word He commands us to to be obedient to those in authority over us (we don't have to agree, we must simply obey). God's Word also tells us that the Spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
What God was showing me is that I needed to follow the chain of command the way God Himself ordained it. Jesus is my commander, He put me in subjection to that pastor, He also put the Holy Spirit under my subjection so I could follow the orders given by the pastor.
The responsibility that rests on me is to be obedient to the authority God has placed me under. The decision to quench the move of the Holy Spirit was not mine - I only enforced it, the pastor made that decision - I am not held accountable for it. This experience was a storm in my life to be sure, but God is faithful and gave me peace in the midst of the storm.
God did not release me from that ministry for what seemed like forever. Although I was miserable there, I did my best to remain faithful and obedient (and no - I didn't always get it right).
I share this experience with you to encourage you when you're tested. There are many hard lessons we need to learn before we're fit for the Masters service. Remember that obedience is the key! There is no justification for disobedience - even if you're being obedient to the Spirit within you. Now that I have learned this lesson, God has released me from the authority of that pastor, and now I'm once again free to minister as the Spirit leads!
We've established a trusting relationship with God, allowed our
hearts to be turned towards God, and we've learned to hear the Holy Spirit and obey
God's Word.
Now it's time to get radical!
|
1 Tim 6:12 |
||||||||||||
So what's God trying to tell us here? We are at war!, and we do have an enemy. Our enemy is taking this war very seriously, like it's life or death (this war is spiritual life or death). We need to be just as committed as our adversary is. In this battle we need to keep alert and aware of the enemy's presence and his tactics. The enemy doesn't play fair, and he doesn't take vacations. The adversary will attack you any way he can - without mercy. His objective is to kill you spiritually (he will even try to kill you physically once you're in the heat of the battle), and if he can't kill you he will try to cripple you. In addition to satan and his followers, we need to be aware of the fact that our flesh is also an enemy of God's Kingdom. Romans chapter 7 explains it best. We must fight this war on two fronts, in the spirit world, and in the desires of the flesh (which we must crucify daily). Our adversary is skilled in manipulating and tempting our flesh. Being prepared for battle is a 24 hour a day commitment. Satan will use anything and everything to confuse and conquer the Christian in battle - INCLUDING GOD'S WORD. Remember 1 Peter 5:8 - "seeking WHOM he may devour". If we allow ourselves to become complacent in the battle, or if we quit (or even slow down) reading and communicating with God we become the "WHOM" satan may devour. Keeping the communication lines open with our commander (Jesus) is the only way we stand a chance. Keeping God's Word in our hearts is imperative if we are to survive. In the heat of this battle the enemy will try to get you off track, he will attempt to confuse you with biblical legalities that will draw you away from the battle at hand. Your enemy will attempt to lead you into a false security and he uses God's Word to do it. If the desire of your heart is truly to POPULATE HEAVEN then you will plainly see the necessity of PLUNDERING HELL. We are going to have to invade the territory of the enemy and fight for every soul we plunder from the enemy's camp. We must remain faithful and strong in the Lord our God. We must not only fight our own spiritual and fleshly battles, but we must remain strong enough to rescue those who do not yet know Christ. Whimpy saints won't make it in spritual warfare If you're the kind of Christian that thinks 2 or 3 times a week in church is more than enough, YOUR WRONG - DEAD WRONG. You're just the kind of Christian satan is seeking to devour. If you're unwilling to put forth the effort to build a relationship with God for yourself you won't be able to stand against the enemy when he attacks. If you enter this battle unprepared you may find that you've brought a knife to a gun fight. YOU WON'T WIN You're out manned, out gunned, out classed and have no business being in the fight. You may think this statement is contrary to what you've been taught, but remember the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13-16). They were unprepared for the battle and it cost them greatly. They had no personal relationship with Jesus - do you? The truth of the matter is that we need to walk by faith. If you dig into the Greek text and pull out the big Websters dictionary you will find the true definition of faith. Faith is the trust we place in someone because of personal knowledge of thier character. Biblical faith is not something we can just turn on when we decide to. The only way to have biblical faith is to know God personally. Church attendance will teach you ABOUT God, but faith comes from KNOWING GOD for yourself. You'll be in this fight until you go home to be with the Lord, so you better get prepared. The enemy is already prepared and he has a battle strategy. Satan and his bunch are already battle hardened veterans of this war (with over 6000 years of experience tempting and manipulating man). If you intend to live a Christ like life the devil will attack you (count on it). The responsibility to stay prayed up, read up, and filled up rests entirely on us. We are the ones that have to ABIDE in God's Word. We all need to be not only hearers of the Word, but doers of God's Word. We must use all the weapons in our arsenal, the armor of God, the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit, praying without ceasing, and the list goes on. This fight is for real, and satan is playing for keeps. Satan and his forces are actively looking for any Christian they can devour. If you intend to get into the heat of the battle you have be ready in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:1-8). It's going to take a hardcore commitment on our part to actually live the Word of God. God leaves the choices up to us, we are the ones that decide how victorious, or how defeated we are in this war. We don't have the choice as to when, where, and how often we are attacked - we can choose victory, if we remain faithful and obedient to God's Word. Peace In The Midst Of The Storm
Jesus Himself tells us that we are going to have trouble, but He gives us hope at the same time. If we have taken the time and energy to build a real relationship with God, when we KNOW HIS CHARACTER then we can truly have peace in the midst of the storm.
Knowing God personally allows us to take God at His Word. When we truly trust God we can know for ourselves that whatever we go through in this life, whatever battles we must face - WE WIN! We can have confidence in God that no matter what happens, He will never leave us or forsake us. There is a divine peace in the midst of the storm. Jesus told us to be prepared for the battle, He warned us that we must suffer for His sake - but knowing we are victorious in the end gives us a hope and peace the enemy can not steal.
|