A Purpose Driven Life
I have been taking a class with Shane
Spannagel and reflecting on my own past experiences about sharing the good news that God loves people and wants to help people experience wholeness and fullness of life as He originally created it to be. It is not God's desire that people suffer without hope and die physically to experience an eternity of torment in a place of darkness apart from Him outside of heaven. This reality of being
separated from God is what our ancestors chose for us when they rejected a relationship with God and we experience this
separation from God because of the human condition of self-
centeredness (sin) that we inherit.
Read here for what God desires for people.
I have been processing the passive tendency I have observed in some who wait for God to "speak to them" about sharing about Christ's love. Do we need to sit around and wait for God to tell us to go teach people about who He is or has God already told us and doesn't need to repeat the command? Matthew 28:18-20. What we need to ask is who do you want us to help today and go with a listening ear for God to direct us in the going?
Whenever I have sought the Lord for opportunities to share the good news, He has always provided them. Why? Because God loves people and it is his will for us to "seek and save the lost" just like Jesus did. Jesus lives in us through the Spirit of God and Jesus is intentional about reaching out to those who need God. We also need to be intentional and plan for time to share God's love with people through words of hope and actions of helping meet genuine needs.
What you plan for, you will do. We plan to make time to pray and read the Bible, why don’t we plan to share the
message of hope. Is it less spiritual to plan to share with people than to plan to have time to meet with God or to serve others in ministry? We plan to teach every Sunday and ask that the Spirit of God will lead us in what to teach, therefore we should also plan to reach out and help people who need the hope and help that Jesus is offering them asking God to direct us to those who most need that today.
Faith equals action. If you
believe something you will do it. If you truly
believe Jesus is continuing his work to rescue the lost world through his body, the church, then you will start acting in ways that anticipate that will happen. It has always been my experience that God give opportunities and saves people when I actively seek the opportunities to share the gospel. Why? Because god loves people and wants them to go to heaven.
That's why he sent his Son to die on a cross in
order to take away the sins of the world.
Labels: Jesus, Priorities
Counting the Cost
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
I have been reflecting on the beginning of Romans 5:3-5 this week. I have been taking a Spiritual Leadership class with Richard
Blackaby and he made the following observation. Success often develops pride in our lives whereas failure and trials drive us to our knees and humble us. If God wants to keep us walking closely with him, which would he send into our lives?
We want God to do great things in our lives and take us to the next level, yet whenever God brings a cross of adversity into our lives the first thing we cry out is, “God take this out of my life!” We have to decide if we want to be more like Christ or be comfortable.
Richards comment was that it is not safe to follow Jesus. The world needs courageous men and women, who are willing to die to do what is right, not legions of complacent followers asking for God to bless them and keep them safe. When followers of Jesus actively do things that establish justice (or righteousness; making things right), peace, and joy in our world … many self-serving agendas will be threatened. People who pursue their own desires for power, pleasure, and riches often do so at the expense of those they oppress, abuse, and steal from. People who are on fire with God’s passion for justice will be attacked in order to protect the status
quo. Consider Martin Luther King, Jr. as one of the most recent martyrs for opposing the status
quo of racial oppression and injustice.
This brings me to my reflections on Romans 5 over the past few days. Paul starts out saying Jesus Christ brought us peace with God. I did a study on the Hebrew term for peace; shalom. It’s meaning is far deeper than simply an absence of conflict or some inner tranquility. It has the meaning of completeness of life, experiencing the fullness of life, or wholeness (like a stone that never has been marred or cut… it is perfectly whole). This is God’s desire for us. We have lost the full and abundant life He originally intended for us. Sin has entered our experience and now we experience pain and suffering as people oppress, steal, deceive, abuse, use, hurt and attack each other. Jesus came as a King to reestablish a world order where selfish living is overthrown and people begin to obey God’s commands to love others and do what’s right. As people follow Jesus Christ as
their King, obeying his commands and doing his work will bring them in to conflict with the established social order. Suffering is
inevitable even for those committed to peaceful reform.
Affliction and suffering produces the opportunity to either give up or turn to God to call out for help. God has a long documented track record of delivering people who call on him for help. When people persevere into doing what is right when the pressure of affliction comes, it develops a strong character. A weak character gives up when pain comes because all that person wants is personal comfort and gratification. So they retreat from the suffering until the pain goes away. But the person of conviction will endure pain and loss to stand for what is right. They will also call on God in the midst of suffering and trust that God will help them to have strength to get through the suffering or to deliver them from the suffering.
I have noticed in my own life that when persistent afflictions come, it often initially
causes me to be angry at God because he does not seem to be answering my initial prayers. But then I remember the faithfulness of God through the past eighteen years and all that I know of Gods love and desire for our good. So I do not stay angry, instead the fire of my anger moves me to seek God with a fiercer sense of urgency. It is in those times that I meet with God in a deeper way than I would have in times of comfort and ease.
Labels: character, God, Jesus, Revival, suffering
Simplicity of Revival
Revival (a genuine encounter with God) is simple. We can draw closer to God at any time if we will humble ourselves (admit we have done wrong and are transparent) and pray and seek Gods face (with hunger and sincere desire) and turn from
our wicked ways (repent). 2
Chron. 7:14
God invites people to enter into a deeper relationship with Him. God wants to be a father to us as His children. He wants to guide us, provide for us, and protect us. He sends his Spirit to live in us to convict, teach, and draw us to Himself.
This is how the Spirit of God revives us:
- The Spirit convicts you of sin.
(The Spirit guides you in to the truth and reveals what is hindering you from having a close relationship with God.)
- You confess your sin.
1 John 1:9 - If you confess your sin, God is faithful and it is right for God to forgive us (because Jesus died to pay the death penalty sentence for everyones sin) and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- Repent
You turn from the sin and choose to obey God. Turning back to God and being renewed in your relationship with Him is this simple. The hard part for many is making the choice to love God more than the thing that has turned them away from God.
- You are forgiven by God and cleansed of all unrighteousness.
If you admit you are wrong in the current matter that God is convicting you of, God will cleanse you not only of that sin but will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. When God forgives you, he cleans the slate. He keeps no record of wrongs (1 Cor 13:5) and removes your sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Once you are forgiven, you are completely clean before God and can approach God with confidence because you are now made righteous in Christ.
- You are filled with the Spirit
God is concerned with the choices you are making right now; once you confess a sin and repent, God no longer remembers it (keeps a record of it). Once you confess and repent, you are restored to a right relationship with God enjoying full access to His presence and being filled with the Spirit of God... until the next time you choose to sin.
- Be accountable to not return to your sin and be enslaved again.
Once you have returned to a whole hearted relationship, the key is continuing in that relationship and not falling back into sin (selfishness). Many Christians experience times of closeness with God, but then soon fall back into long periods of living for themselves. When God has guided you into the truth and you see a pattern of sin (selfishness) in your life that keeps pulling you away from God, it is critical to ask others to help you keep from returning to that habit.
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13
It is this willingness to humble yourself to admit your struggles to others that marks revival. When we come to the place where we are more concerned about doing whatever it takes to be right with God that we nolonger care that we may look bad to people around us, then we are in the place God can set our lives on fire with His Spirit.
Labels: accountability, God, Revival, Spirit-filled
