Spirit Led Living

In her classic autobiography The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom tells of the time she and her sister were forced to take off all their clothes during Nazi inspections at a death camp. Miss ten Boom stood in line feeling forsaken and defiled. Suddenly she remembered that Jesus hung naked on the cross. Struck with wonder and worship during that seemingly forsaken moment, ten Boom leaned forward and whispered to her sister, "Betsie, they took his clothes, too." Betsie gasped and said, "Oh, Corrie, and I never thanked him." Thanksgiving does not require bounty--just recognition of what our Savior has already done. When things are bad we often ask ourselves three questions: 1.      Where Was God? John 11:21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Q. We always seem to want to ask God where He was when we were being attacked, hurt, trampled on or abused.  Where was God when my husband or my chi

Mark 8:22-25 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"  24 He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." 25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. After my last posting someone asked about what we consider to be healing. This is an important question especially in an age where cessationists claim that the Gifts of the Spirit and miracles ceased with the completion of the Biblical Canon and the passing of the Apostles.  It is also important because when we talk about the here and not yet of the Kingdom of God we need to address how God heals. First let me say that I believe in physical healing. Yes, emotional healing

Luke 5:17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. As we were discussing this passage in our group the other night it suddenly occurred to me that there was something in this passage that I had not noticed before in spite of how many times I have read this passage. This is the richness and the mystery of the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit that we can read the Bible every day and still derive new insights that are ripe for our needs of the day. I looked at several commentaries to see if someone had noted what I understood for the first time and I found that it wasn’t covered in any of the six tomes that I searched. This passage in Luke is early on in the earthly ministry of Jesus and so He is keeping somewhat of a low profile as evidenced by the previous verses where He instructs the man w

Ps 42:7 Deep calls to deep Our walk with God is a walk is a progression that should lead us to a deeper walk with Him. However, there are times when we, much like the Psalmist go through our dark nights of the soul when our desperation seems to go so deep that we can never reach the bottom. It would be nice if our walk with the Lord progressed in a straight line where we moved to ever increasing heights of joy in His presence. The fact is that our lives more resemble the graph of a volatile stock with peaks and valleys along the way. David himself recalls those peaks when he, “ used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.” (Ps 42:4) If we’ve given our lives over to our Lord and Savior we have all experienced the sublime ecstasy of His grace the presence of His Spirit. We have tasted of the goodness of our God. Even the healthiest Christian is tested. Even the most stalwart is

Ps 95:6-7 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;   7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. There are times in my life when I lose focus.   The cares of the day press in on me and my thoughts turn inward. Navel gazing, I call it. It is during these times when I begin to think, “Woe is me”. Usually these times occur when I start comparing. I compare myself to my vision of myself and where I thought I would be at this stage in my life; what I should have accomplished. I compare myself to others. I see where they are and what they have accomplished with their lives.   I see the recognition that they   get for their accomplishments and I see the lack in mine. I compare myself to the way I think others view me and what they think I should have accomplished.   One of my great weaknesses is that I care what other people think of me. In any and all of these comparisons I find myself lacking. I thi

Job 1:20-21 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." Job is writing this on the heels of learning that everything he held dear had been taken away from him. I get tearing his robe and shaving his head, those are signs of grief; but bowing down in worship? I don’t know about you, but the first thing that pops into my head when I get bad news is not worshipping God. Turning to Him in prayer, yes, but not worship. And maybe that is the problem; m y first reaction is not worship.   If I say the God is my King and my Lord and that I “trust” in Him, why shouldn’t it be worship? Why shouldn’t my first reaction be “God, you’ve got this under control so I am going to worship you”? To make all of this more poignant we have to understand the concept of

2 Sam 6:16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart. Some of us may be familiar with this passage. I have written before that worship, especially exuberant worship, exposes the heart; both of the worshipper and the observer. We can see it so clearly these days where Tim Tebow, the former quarterback from Florida, is derided in public because of his clear stance regarding his relationship to Jesus Christ. While others are celebrated for the sexual exploits, any young man or woman who professes chastity and abstinence are looked at as freaks, liars and hypocrites. To be a Christian and stand by Biblical values is to be intolerant, judgmental, an oppressor and guilty of hates crimes.   Nothing new. David’s wife despised him in her heart. The Jew’s, the people Jesus came to save, crucified Him. What was David’s respo

Gen 22:5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." If you grew up in the church then you know the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham, an old man, was promised by God that he would be the father of nations and that his descendants would be as innumerable as the stars in the sky. He and Sarah, well beyond child-bearing age, conceive and Isaac is born. As a test, unknown to him at the time, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Out of obedience, Abraham set out to do just that. In the midst of all of this drama is the passage that I have quoted that often gets lost in the larger story of obedience. Lost in all of this is the first record of anyone worshipping God in the Bible.  Now, we know that God was worshipped before this, but this is the first time that the word appears in Scripture. Anyone who has been to Bible College knows the law of first occurrences. 

What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever . So says the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Rev 4:11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." I love to worship. Worship makes time and space fold and I find myself immediately before the throne of God and I am transfixed by His presence. When others think about what they will do when they get to heaven, they talk about exploring the streets of gold, checking out their mansions or talking to some of the greats of the faith. Not me, I want to make a bee-line for the throne and I want to spend the first couple of millennia on my face before the Father worshipping Him. However, as much as I know that worship is all about Him, the truth is that I come into worship with certain expectations. In talking about worship, John Wimber used to say, "

The word “power” appears in the New Testament 121 times in the NIV. I learned in Bible College that if a word is used that many times it is because it was important enough to use over and over again and we should pay attention to it. There are two root words in the Greek that are translated “power” in English. The first is exousia which means ability, force or delegated authority. This is the word that is used when the Bible talks of Satan’s power. It is a limited power. It is a power that God allows. It is the power of the kingdom of this earth. The second word is dunamis which means miraculous, supernatural power. This is the power that Jesus used while He was walking the earth to establish the beachhead of His heavenly kingdom. It is also that power which flows through the Holy Spirit and is available to the saints for the furthering of His kingdom. Acts 4:33 “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,” All of t

Last Sunday in church a passage came up known as Paul’s doxology.  It reads like this: Eph 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. While this passage is not one that would be commonly used to explain the Trinity, nevertheless it alludes to the roles of all three persons of the Trinity. The Father is ever at the ready to do, not only what we ask, but far and beyond that because it gives Him pleasure and also because it brings Him glory. He is not a stingy God giving to His children through a dropper but as it is translated in the King James Version,  “exceeding abundantly”. The Son is the instrument through whom He made all of this possible for all the generations to come. It is His atoning grace that allows us sinners to be called sons and daughters of the Most High God

I can remember studying ethics in college and discovering the difference between ethical principles and cultural norms. Ethical principles are timeless. They apply to all humanity regardless of time and place. They are not situational. They reflect “veritas”. The Word of God is full of such principles. Cultural norms, however, are specific to time and place. They fall in and out of favor. They are situational in that their application depends on what popular perception. When principals clash with cultural norms they are attacked as outdated and hypocritical. Throughout history, the more in decline a civilization becomes, the more “liberal” their norms become. Our current cultural situation is one of “anything goes” between consenting adults. Wrong is right and right is a moving target. The media and special interest groups are the ones that are the arbiters of what is “politically correct”. The Word of God is timeless and it’s principles immutable. Those of us that beli

We have all heard of things that happen in the blink of an eye. Tragic stories where people diverted their attention for just a moment and the results were catastrophic. Parents who were distracted in a public area while with their children and suddenly that child is nowhere to be found. Most of the time it only results in a few minutes of panic on both sides until they find each other again, but sometimes the momentary distraction ends up in child abduction. Other parents have gone through the agony of finding their child floating in their pool because the phone rang and they stepped away to answer for just a minute or so. In our modern age of mobile phones and texting, it is becoming more and more common where people take their eyes off the road only for an instant to look at a text or worse to answer a text and by the time they look back up their world has come to an end All it takes is the blink of an eye and our world has changed forever. We blink, we get distracte

Diversity of Teaching on Spiritual Gifts A.    Cessationism (Dispensationalism): Teaches that the gifts ceased with the Apostles and the completion of the Biblical cannon.   Once the Church was firmly established and the writings of the N.T. complete, these signs and wonders were no longer needed.   They don’t believe that God can’t or won’t work through gifts, merely that He has withdrawn them since the purpose for them has passed. This is primarily a Southern Baptist view though not all Baptists adhere to this view. (Thus what have been come to be know as Bapticostals) B.    Possessionism: This view teaches that God gives us Spiritual Gifts and they become our possessions for life.   Every Christian has at least one Gift.   It becomes the responsibility of each Christian to discover their gift set and to grow in effectiveness in operating in those areas. This was common during the 50's and 50's with people like Oral Roberts and other faith healers C.    Distribut

Roles, Gifts, Ministries, and Offices A.    Roles:   There are things that one does as part of being a member of the Body of Christ that operate completely within the realm of natural (God-given) abilities.   We give, we pray, we give time to the church, we tell others about Jesus.   These things require nothing more than obedience and at times risk taking. B.    Gifts:   At times while we perform our roles God gives us a gift to help us at a specific time, in a specific situation, and for a specific reason.   John Wimber called these times, when God shows up in power while we are exercising our roles within the Body, “Gracelets”.   A Gracelet is a manifestation of a Spiritual Gift. C.    Ministry:   A person will tend to operate more in some areas of gifting than others do.   For example, I may find that God works more often when I am in an evangelism situation, but less often when I pray for healing.   If this is happening, and I start to operate in this area more and more

Gifts in Corinthians Fall into 3 natural divisions: A.    Gifts of Revelation (The mind gifts) a) Words of Wisdom : It is supernatural revelation, or insight into the divine will and purpose, showing how to solve any problem that may arise.   This is the special ability that the Holy Spirit gives to see beyond individual facts and understand how they fit together in the “big picture”, to “fathom all mysteries and all knowledge.” (1 Corinthians 13:2) James 3:17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. b) Words of Knowledge : This is a special ability to perceive knowledge revealed directly by the Holy Spirit.   It is knowledge that could not have been perceived by natural means.   This is supernatural revelation of divine knowledge, or insight into the mind, will or plans of God or of others that man could not know of himself. Col 2:2-3 My purpose