A mistake that religious people are making today is substituting their intellect and reason for the anointing of God. The fall of humans at the beginning of our age came with this promise You will be like God, knowing good and evil. This allows people to consider everything in their own conscience before acting on it. This may be good for our independence but we must make an effort not to be independent of God. When humans found out about the gospel plan, they began to believe that their comprehension of religion was what it takes to please with God. Nothing could be more wrong.
People are saved by faith, which means that intellect will only lead them in the opposite direction. Do you believe that the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom? Christians must live and experience God's truth in order to know it. A very long time ago, Augustine said, "I believe in order that I may understand." We must not believe that the Spirit will teach us spiritual truths by revealing the mysteries first to our intellect and then in our experience. God's way is contrary to this thinking. Following Jesus and His truth in simple faith always means we experience Him first. Our correct understanding will usually come later.
Faith in the truth of God is following Jesus Christ. Many people today are not following the truth of God but believe they are following Jesus. This is naturally a failure to reach God because obedience is required by the Creator of our life. We must realize that success is Jesus Christ living through our experiences of faith. Look at what has been said about the Christian life:
Receive what you do no comprehend.
Submit to what you do not understand.
Expect what is a mystery to your reason.
Believe what appears impossible.
Living in a way that most do not.
After we have shown our faith to God and others, the Spirit will begin to retrain our conscience in the ways of God and then we will understand the things of God. What a wonderful peace comes into our life when we yield to the Spirit in this way.
Staying in Christ for the rest of our life should be the cry of each prayer. Believe it or not, the secret is ceasing from our efforts. When we quit trying to live by our own reason and efforts, it leaves room for the Spirit to show us the way to live. This takes trust, which is exactly what the Savior is looking for in His family. the Holy Spirit is working toward this new life in Christ. The Spirit is silently but surely guiding us into communion with God. The faith we use in our experiences is rewarded by the Spirit's light, revealing what the Lord has done in our life. This is the power of God in our life.
If we want the Spirit to teach us about Jesus we should consider the following:
Believe that the Spirit can work in us continually.
Believe that the Spirit has the power we need to stay in Christ.
Believe that it is impossible to live without the Spirit's help.
Believe that the filling of the Spirit is our daily portion.
Believe that the Holy Spirit is the bond of fellowship.
Believe that your faith can deliver you into the water of the river of life.
It should be plain that unbelief is what displeases God the most.
Living this new life makes it easy to feel the hop of His return. John says that continuing in Jesus is how we will be confident and unashamed before Him at his coming. 1 John 2:28 A Christian easily gives up loving the world and the things of the world because we know that this world and everything in it will pass away someday. God has promised eternal life to those who overcome this world in the name of Jesus Christ.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! and that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-3)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Seven Pillars of Christianity-Pillar Three-Holy Living-Part 2
The wonder of God's spirit living in us is beyond our understanding but there is no other way to know Him personally. King David wrote about God's intimate knowledge of our innermost being. We are to understand that every detail of our lives was known before God made the earth. The Spirit works within us having full knowledge of our needs in each situation. With His knowledge we are protected from the Devil and a temple for our God is maintained. Jesus in us, makes our life fit for service in God's army. Our Lord has asked us to help bring in the harvest and there is no time to waste.
We must be serious about living for our Creator and never abandon the truth which the Lord has revealed to us. Christians must use the discipline they find in their love of Jesus to train themselves in a life of Godliness. Each of us should be devoted to love, faith and purity. Paul asked Timothy to take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for doing this thous shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.(1 Tim 4:16)
Although the Spirit lives in us and urges us into holiness, it is also necessary for us to have a working knowledge of the Scriptures. The problems of our daily life give us the opportunity to trust the Lord for a spiritual solution. The understanding of Biblical principles which we have assimilated during our Christian walk, is the foundation the Spirit builds upon. Looking back on a problem's solution usually gives a better understanding of the power contained in the scriptures.
The process of setting a person apart from the world to be a child of God is called "sanctification". Perfect sanctification is to care only about the desires of God and abandoning all our own natural ways. Peter refers to this process and mentions the Trinities involvement, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:2) This verse tells us that sanctification is brought to us by the Spirit just as everything else is our spiritual life is through Him.
You will observe in this address of Peter's that obedience is the one word of instruction that is directed to us. This word is always our part in a relationship with God, and it reveals how necessary it is to have the Holy Spirit in us to help us understand what God wants us to do. Holiness does not come to us naturally, therefore it is essential that we obey God and learn to walk with His help. The Old Testament speaks of the beauty of holiness and we should desire to have this beauty in our lives.
Some church people find that they do not really desire the holiness of God in their life. If we do not long for the Holiness of God; why do we believe He is our Father? The world today has a strong pull into its downward spiral and the children of the world enjoy drifting into its pleasures. It is different with Christians because we have spiritual bread to eat which gives us strength to go against the current each day. This bread is Jesus and he was broken to provide the food we need for spiritual victories.
We must be serious about living for our Creator and never abandon the truth which the Lord has revealed to us. Christians must use the discipline they find in their love of Jesus to train themselves in a life of Godliness. Each of us should be devoted to love, faith and purity. Paul asked Timothy to take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for doing this thous shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.(1 Tim 4:16)
Although the Spirit lives in us and urges us into holiness, it is also necessary for us to have a working knowledge of the Scriptures. The problems of our daily life give us the opportunity to trust the Lord for a spiritual solution. The understanding of Biblical principles which we have assimilated during our Christian walk, is the foundation the Spirit builds upon. Looking back on a problem's solution usually gives a better understanding of the power contained in the scriptures.
The process of setting a person apart from the world to be a child of God is called "sanctification". Perfect sanctification is to care only about the desires of God and abandoning all our own natural ways. Peter refers to this process and mentions the Trinities involvement, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:2) This verse tells us that sanctification is brought to us by the Spirit just as everything else is our spiritual life is through Him.
You will observe in this address of Peter's that obedience is the one word of instruction that is directed to us. This word is always our part in a relationship with God, and it reveals how necessary it is to have the Holy Spirit in us to help us understand what God wants us to do. Holiness does not come to us naturally, therefore it is essential that we obey God and learn to walk with His help. The Old Testament speaks of the beauty of holiness and we should desire to have this beauty in our lives.
Some church people find that they do not really desire the holiness of God in their life. If we do not long for the Holiness of God; why do we believe He is our Father? The world today has a strong pull into its downward spiral and the children of the world enjoy drifting into its pleasures. It is different with Christians because we have spiritual bread to eat which gives us strength to go against the current each day. This bread is Jesus and he was broken to provide the food we need for spiritual victories.
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