I really want to grab a hold of these things and let the lord work in me to help me become closer to him and show his light to the world. I do not want to grow with the motives of self-improvement or Godliness for gain, but to give the Glory to God. That is my prayer for today. The lord has promised us things that we cant conceive and haven't seen or heard. I desire these things and the Lord is good no matter the circumstances. What we see is not reality.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Glory of God
I have been more aware lately that a lot of things I do are usually for my glory and when you really take the time to notice it, it is everywhere. It is in our sinful nature to be selfish and only the love of Christ and a relationship with him can help us to become more unselfish and give the glory to God. When you look at the gospel there a couple things that really stand out, and are repeated over and over again. How many times does Jesus say "ye of little faith" ? I don't know the exact number, but it is several times. Faith is the essence of our relationship with the lord and then the gospel also states over and over about the denial of one's self. If we could put our pride away and focus solely on giving God the glory then we will find life. God is love and he views us as holy and blameless. Let us give him the glory because he has given us the gift of eternal life.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Nature of Sin
1 John 1:8-9
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
My immediate feeling after I sin is guilt and it is usually pretty heavy guilt. First off, I am glad that sin upsets me because if it didn't I wouldn't have a heart for the lord, but the lord Jesus does not want us to feel guilt from sin. When we have accepted Jesus Christ as our savior and begin to love the things God loves and start to hate things God hates then guilt will be a natural reaction for most of us to our sin. Christ knows that we will continue to stumble, but since our hearts are changed we will strive for righteousness. It is always humbling that our greatest works are like filthy rags to God. This is refreshing because it reminds us that our faith is not a works based religion. Our lord has more grace and mercy than we could ever imagine. Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.
Romans 8:1 : Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
When we sin the hardest thing to do sometimes is to run straight to the Lord. Usually we feel so guilty that we avoid it for awhile. Recently I have been working on coming straight to the Lord when I have sinned and letting him fill me up with his grace and love so that I experience freedom and repentance instead of guilt and condemnation. Going to the lord and letting him fill you up with freedom can help eventually break habitual sin and also help you to grow and understand even more how loving our God is. This will help us break free from guilt and condemnation. which is from the evil one. Our Lord saved us according to his mercy, and we are justified by his grace.
Another thing that has been on my mind lately is when scripture is taken out of context. Whenever I hear a message or someone quotes a bible verse for a certain situation, I need to make sure that the context is right because scripture can be taken many different ways and justify things that are not biblical. I have done it several times to justify something I do and many times it is not right. A lot of people call these out of context moments half truths and I completely agree. When we seek the Lord he will give us life. When we seek out God's word he will reveal us the truth. God's word never contradicts itself.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
My immediate feeling after I sin is guilt and it is usually pretty heavy guilt. First off, I am glad that sin upsets me because if it didn't I wouldn't have a heart for the lord, but the lord Jesus does not want us to feel guilt from sin. When we have accepted Jesus Christ as our savior and begin to love the things God loves and start to hate things God hates then guilt will be a natural reaction for most of us to our sin. Christ knows that we will continue to stumble, but since our hearts are changed we will strive for righteousness. It is always humbling that our greatest works are like filthy rags to God. This is refreshing because it reminds us that our faith is not a works based religion. Our lord has more grace and mercy than we could ever imagine. Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.
Romans 8:1 : Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
When we sin the hardest thing to do sometimes is to run straight to the Lord. Usually we feel so guilty that we avoid it for awhile. Recently I have been working on coming straight to the Lord when I have sinned and letting him fill me up with his grace and love so that I experience freedom and repentance instead of guilt and condemnation. Going to the lord and letting him fill you up with freedom can help eventually break habitual sin and also help you to grow and understand even more how loving our God is. This will help us break free from guilt and condemnation. which is from the evil one. Our Lord saved us according to his mercy, and we are justified by his grace.
Another thing that has been on my mind lately is when scripture is taken out of context. Whenever I hear a message or someone quotes a bible verse for a certain situation, I need to make sure that the context is right because scripture can be taken many different ways and justify things that are not biblical. I have done it several times to justify something I do and many times it is not right. A lot of people call these out of context moments half truths and I completely agree. When we seek the Lord he will give us life. When we seek out God's word he will reveal us the truth. God's word never contradicts itself.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Tasting the Lord
For the last several weeks I have been walking with a hardened heart and had moments of freedom but really didn't know how to make that more accessible and I really felt lost for awhile. Sometimes I really forget the heart of the Christian faith and get too consumed with knowledge instead of growing in my intimate relationship with the Lord. I understand things because of my knowledge consumption, but I don't experience it enough, and I feel like that is what the lord has been trying to show me. I have had a religious spirit over me for awhile, but I really feel like this past weekend freed me from this mindset and stagnant and unfulfilling walk.
I went to a church this weekend in Norman and the way the spirit moved there really freed me up from a lot of heaviness that has been on me. When I walked in I saw people dancing to worship music and crying out to the lord and experiencing him intimately. This was so amazing to see and I started getting pumped up. It was so amazing to see my brothers and sisters in Christ just enjoying God and really experiencing real freedom in the Lord. This freedom is what the lord wants us to experience. He wants us to lay our burdens and worries down and feel free in his spirit and be filled with the joy that it brings. He wants us to see that this is not reality and there is obviously more that he has in store. The moments the spirit fills you up is where you get a taste of what truth is and I want more of this in my walk. I am desperately wanting to seek the presence of the holy spirit more.
I know a lot of times in the past when I have attended churches I don't feel the freedom that God wants us to experience and I feel constricted. This is the religious spirit that is taking over me and our churches and I truly pray that the church sees the religious spirit that is overtaking it and tries to come back to the heart and enjoy God instead of letting too much structure take over. Some structure is not a bad thing, but too much takes away from what the Lord has for us. We all want more than just a overly-structured sunday morning and it is available through the joy of the spirit and its presence. I pray today that me and the rest of believers really strive to be more intimate with the Lord. I want it and I know everyone else does, so lets be filled with the joy of the spirit and let it take us over.
The Christian walk is so much more than what we have made it and I am excited to see more believers really persevere to become intimate with him and follow his will with everything in them in the assurance that the heavenly rewards are what matters and everything here will turn to dust.
There is More Than This
I went to a church this weekend in Norman and the way the spirit moved there really freed me up from a lot of heaviness that has been on me. When I walked in I saw people dancing to worship music and crying out to the lord and experiencing him intimately. This was so amazing to see and I started getting pumped up. It was so amazing to see my brothers and sisters in Christ just enjoying God and really experiencing real freedom in the Lord. This freedom is what the lord wants us to experience. He wants us to lay our burdens and worries down and feel free in his spirit and be filled with the joy that it brings. He wants us to see that this is not reality and there is obviously more that he has in store. The moments the spirit fills you up is where you get a taste of what truth is and I want more of this in my walk. I am desperately wanting to seek the presence of the holy spirit more.
I know a lot of times in the past when I have attended churches I don't feel the freedom that God wants us to experience and I feel constricted. This is the religious spirit that is taking over me and our churches and I truly pray that the church sees the religious spirit that is overtaking it and tries to come back to the heart and enjoy God instead of letting too much structure take over. Some structure is not a bad thing, but too much takes away from what the Lord has for us. We all want more than just a overly-structured sunday morning and it is available through the joy of the spirit and its presence. I pray today that me and the rest of believers really strive to be more intimate with the Lord. I want it and I know everyone else does, so lets be filled with the joy of the spirit and let it take us over.
The Christian walk is so much more than what we have made it and I am excited to see more believers really persevere to become intimate with him and follow his will with everything in them in the assurance that the heavenly rewards are what matters and everything here will turn to dust.
There is More Than This
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