Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

Poisons, passions and pollution

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A dash of poison in the lake, would you then venture a swim?  Radiation in the town, water or sky, is this where you would choose to raise a family?  Contagion or bacteria in the soil, upon the meat or in the sandwich, which of us would allow our kids or parents to eat?  The Lord our God commands to purity, but do each of us even contemplate the meaning of Holiness, devotion or remaining unspotted in this blackened and fallen world?

What constitutes enough danger for you to avoid a building, district or downtown?  Proverbs counsels that a wise man sees danger and will not proceed, yet each of us walks blindly, proudly or unknowingly into houses of darkness and districts of demons without worry or contemplation.  Does this mean that we lack wisdom, or are many of us just unwilling to ask God for who gives it liberally to all who ask?  All of us would hold our breath as long as we could if we knew that we stood in an area of poison gas, a cloud of bug spray or a room densely filled with thick plastic smoke.  Yet we readily breathe the filth put out by profiteers, politicians and pornographers.  We consume and entertain visions and ideas that poison the lake of our minds.  We ponder and revisit sins that would leave our Mothers in disgusted worry for our teetering salvation.

How do we believe that we live so dangerously, so precariously, so inattentive to the things of God without repercussion?  What is the readiness to which we are called?  What is the level of purity to which we have been commanded?  And if our example is Christ then how may we continually avoid His admonition to remain vigilant in our pursuit of righteousness?  What cause us to abandon God’s Word regarding this purity or body, mind an spirit?  Is it perhaps too difficult a task for mortal man?  Why then does God give us His Spirit if not but to reach each pinnacle to which we are individually and mortally incapable?  A light never shines as bright as that light which chooses to shine brightly in surrounding darkness.  Will you shine Christ’s Light?  Do you see the need for mental, verbal, sexual and physical purity?  Remember what His Word says about our sacrifice in Romans 12:1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.    

This Word says that it by His mercy that we present our bodies, not by our own doing, but by our choice to surrender to His Holy Spirit for sanctification to Holiness.  Through this surrender we find ourselves Holy, acceptable before God.  Then the Word says something astounding, this is your reasonable service.  So, this thing, given unto God is nothing extraordinary, but rather logical and “reasonable” considering His Grace given unto each of us.  Remember folks, these times are becoming as evil as they might ever be, so we must train ourselves to surrender to God’s Merciful Hand and avoid the poisons, the passions and pollution of the fallen world.  I pray it is unto the protecting Hands of God that you have given your life for truth, relationship and protection.  Be free by the cleansing Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, the Light of the World.

Called out, not counted out

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The enemy wants us divided, on the sidelines, fearful, apathetic, defeated, our joy elusive if not eliminated.  The word for church in the Greek, which is a very specific language, means “called out from to”.  We as the church are called out from the world and called to relationship with the Lord.  The enemies of God are clever, crafty and talented at deception and subterfuge.  In the third century AD, the devil wisened up and made Christianity the state sponsored, inclusive religion, tolerant and accepting of all rituals, even those associated with Pagan worship.  This effectively neutered the church for well over a thousand years, until revival again called revisionists “out of the church to repentance and re-dedication to the Lord.  Unfortunately, God’s enemies outlive the short term lives of humans, so over time, this vigilance necessary to remaining a “called out body from the world to” allegiance and service to God has weakened.  The church has become infiltrated, tolerant, impure and poisoned by worldly beliefs, rituals, attitudes and unbelievers masquerading as the saved.  The question now becomes what shall be done about it?

For the short term, those who see this quenching of the Holy Spirit, this departure from the path to purity and accepted worldliness as a call to condemn church leaders.  This condemnation has done even more damage to unstable church foundations and ostracized, banished or rendered impotent those voices and energetic believers who would help heal and reinstate the church to its pure calling.  Again, the enemy is clever and plays to the natural weakness and blustery tempers of men, casting us in to the exact unresolvable conflicts that solidify our worldliness and infection.  What is truly needed now, and I hear this calling of the Holy Spirit within my own heart, is that those called out must become ambassadors themselves, imploring, praying and calling the remnant of the church to re-dedication to the Lord.  This is a difficult process, but logical and consistent with the Word of God, as we are called to loose those worldly characteristics of brawling, argument, discontent, condemnation, anger and critical spirits.  We must individually decrease if the Holy Spirit’s characteristic fruits are the increase.  The day will never be won with my own skills, attitudes, abilities and treasure.  The victory will be the Lord’s and I must dedicate myself to getting out the way, allowing God to rule and reign through the vessel of my worldly body.  I believe that those called out or admonished to a return to true Biblical Christianity, must now become the Diplomats required to awake the church for harvest work.

Many claims and few points for evidence require that I must make a better case for my supposition.  First, I see very few members of my church, or any church in our region, serving the poor, orphaned, sick, elderly and widowed.  Very few members of our church will venture outside to disciple to the lost, whether reaching them at home, public gatherings in neighborhood hot spots.  Complacence, solidarity and fellowship have become the mantra of the church, thinking itself comfortable, contented and Holy, residing within the segregated body of loving believers.  Daycare, basketball, camps and single day missions have replaced the true work of hospice care, healing, public heraldry for Christ and care for those who have not.  We have collectively become a worldly business that displays the name of Christ without the Holy Spirit in residence.  But this issues cannot and must not allow us to become divided, for the assets, the bodies, the workers remain within the body of Christ.  Leaders, must not become rebel and effectively eliminate their efficacy by simply becoming angry and unforgiving of the “church”, replacing the true enemy with our contempt and condemnation of the church.  Judgment is the Lord’s prerogative, we should remain aligned with the duty of love and leadership through encouragement.

Lord, give me the capacity to convince.  Allow me to exalt Your Holy Name, knowing that if it is your will the increase, the magnet, the people, the provision will be provided through Your Graces and, riches and Glory in Jesus.  Let me not be waylaid, led astray or deceived into prattling about the circumstances or details.  Give me an eye pent on eternity.  This is not our home, this is my workplace.  Let me do great work so that when I come home it is for rest alone.  Give me a heart for the lost, sick and dying, giving them a glimpse of Your Glory so that they may turn away from impending precipice.  Silence the enemy in my head, unless it is for Your good pleasure and my correction that You have allowed him access to my life.  Praise You Father, Bless You Father, protect Israel Lord, turn our hearts to You, allow us to see and crave humility in service to Your Glory.  In Jesus’ Name I pray.

Feelings, facts and faith

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Teach me your way, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.  Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.  I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.  Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say on the Lord!  Psalm 27:11-14

Determining direction requires analysis of facts and feelings, unless you are driven specifically by animal instinct.  Making decisions based solely on “fight or flight” results in grievous error often representing greater danger than the initial stimuli.  So, as we mature we either rely heavily upon fact or choose to trust our “gut” feelings or emotions.  This presents a particular view of the world based upon our specifically chosen or learned filters.  What then happens to humans who, out of response to circumstantial experience are forced to one side of this decision spectrum?

If the facts may be in dispute or my editor/analysis tools are skewed then I am subject to the often gushing guidance of my feelings.  What then shall I do if I find myself continually driven by whimsy or emotional demand?  Especially, when based upon shocking or lasting experiences my “emotions” are out of sync with reality.  Shall I, as many do, resolve to making decisions solely based on data analysis and fact, determining to remain stationary until facts indicate otherwise?  Or is there an optimal or linear function that prescribes the appropriate mixture of the two, so that I am neither dragged here nor affixed there?  How then does this dichotomous relationship integrate into discernment and dependance upon God’s direction?  Is there an override clause that causes me as a believer to make decisions in faith even when the facts and my emotions tell me otherwise?  How can we achieve this “faithful” practice without surrender to God’s Will over our own?  We cannot.

Determining that we shall adhere to God’s Word as our guide when our emotions and the facts tell us differently, demands choice and practice.  God tells believers to “walk by faith not by sight”.  This process is not possible under doctrines of self-reliance.  We must be changed, renewed, transformed to a point where we trust in God dismissing alternate stimuli or relegating them to secondary or tertiary reliance.  If what my senses and the facts tell me leads me away from God’s inerrant truth or guidance then I “must” be able to dismiss them.  Without that understanding I will always be driven to making decisions based on the tools of worldly feelings and facts.

Praise you Father that you have given me the opportunity to learn from and be counseled by Your Holy Spirit.  Give me a reliance upon that righteous and faithful direction even when the facts and my feelings contradict Spirit’s Word.  At that point I will fully understand the Words of Isaiah and others which tell me to “Wait upon the Lord; Being of Good Courage”.  For this is the position of faith to which believers commit their hearts and lives.  Thank You so much, In Jesus’ Holy Name.

Take Care

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For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.  Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.  Moreover I will be careful to unsure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. 

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.  And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who brought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.  And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.  By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. 

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them in to chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but save Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)– then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.  They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. 

But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime.  They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls.  They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 

The Second Epistle of Peter 1-12 through 2-14 NKJV

  • Do not be negligent in your reminder of those things which God has made known for this life is short.
  • We do not follow fiction or fable, of these things remind yourself until the Holy Spirit fills your heart, for the Word of God is Holy Spirit delivered, not simply the interpreted soundings of men.
  • Beware of existing and coming false teachers who will blaspheme the Holy Spirit’s Word for their voluntary destruction is assured.
  • God has not changed and if He punished angels, cities of historical men by flood and fire then He will judge “all” of humanity especially those who foolishly speak ill of things they do not understand, corrupted by their own internal lusts.
  • Pity those who will be caught by their own unrighteous, but be aware they are among you and will corrupt those souls who are unstable in the faith.
  • Be aware of yourself and your surroundings.

Praise the Lord God for the Holy Spirit inspired direction leading us to and beyond the Cross where Jesus paid the price for all humanity.  Be free in forgiveness and faith.