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The Spirit Language: “Tongues”

The Spirit Language: “Tongues”

Recently I’ve been reading several articles/posts on the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. And not long ago I was at a retreat and the discussion of tongues kept coming up. Crazy so much fuss over a little gift. But, this is a very important topic for people to understand because it can and is leading many astray. Here are some of my thoughts.

Speaking in tongues is a spiritual gift. When spoken in private, it edifies the speaker. 1 Corin 14:2 When spoken in public, it’s a sign to unbelievers because upon hearing it they would understand their own language like those in Acts 2. 1 Corin 14:22 This gift was necessary particularly in the days of Apostle Paul as the gospel was going out to all people, not just the Jews. Knowledge of different languages was required to communicate the message of truth.

This gift is something given and directed by the Holy Spirit. It isn’t at our will, but His. (very important point) 1 Corinthians 12:10-11 As the other gifts, it is to be used purposefully. AND, like the other gifts it takes GREAT DISCERNMENT to know if it truly is of the Holy Spirit or a spirit of deception. And with tongues, it takes even GREATER discernment, because if someone speaks a language unknown to those around him, who is to say he isn’t truly speaking in tongues? This is one reason I believe Paul said to have an interpreter; so there wouldn’t be any confusion. With the other gifts it’s easier to discern what is true and what isn’t from the outside. Because of this difference with tongues, it can be used very easily to manipulate and mislead and I think this happens a lot. It leads many astray to believing they are in God’s will when they aren’t. And as proof that someone is in the spirit, when in fact it may be another spirit altogether and not a good one. It’s a serious problem.

It leads people astray not only because of it’s nature, but also because it seems “mystical”. But it only appears mystical because of the improper use and mimicking of the true gift. When sharing the gospel to another nation and being able to share in their language isn’t so mystical and I think this was its main purpose and demonstrated in Acts 2. This misuse is why there is so much discussion and division about this gift and not the other gifts. When it is abused, then the Spirit in true believers reacts.

Manipulation and Deception with Signs and Wonders

I want to meantion two types of misuse of this gift we need to be able to discern. The first is when it isn’t of the Holy Spirit, but of our imagination. Many people LOVE signs and wonders and when acts like speaking in tongues (as it is improperly done today) occur people get hyped and discernment often flies out the window. That is incredibly dangerous, yet it is happening all around us. Revelation 13:14

Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

People are attracted to tongues because of the mystical appeal that has been created. This is why his greatest tools of deception will be of signs and wonders in the name of Jesus – but another Jesus, a false image. 2 Corin 11:4 “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted–you may well put up with it!”

Consider the girl in who Paul casted out the unclean spirit. She was speaking things that had elements of truth as any deception does, but it was not of a honest spirit in her. Acts 16:16-18 We need to be seeking and asking for discernment, and abiding in the Word of God to be able to discern what is of God and what isn’t. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10

Spirit of Conformity

The second misuse of this gift is from a spirit of conformity. How often I’ve heard of instances where people have been prodded over and over by others to ask for the gift of tongues, so they can “have all God has for them”. These prodders put tongues in a separate group from all the other gifts to be one we all should have as proof of the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon us. They get this from Acts 2, which in my opinion is a stretch. The Spirit gives what, when, where and to whom as He wills for a reason. There isn’t a formula to the gifts. When we make it as such we are playing God. It is no longer about being spirit-led but man-led. It is to be His will, not ours.

The power of suggestion is tremendous, (side note: look at the power of hypnosis, which is all about suggestion). If you tell someone, especially repeatedly, they need to speak in tongues, how spiritual it is, etc. they are going to feel less than spiritual if they don’t. Their emotional response will kick in because you are touching upon two of humankind’s greatest needs the need to be accepted and to feel valued. Our minds are very powerful. They cause our bodies to conform to our thoughts. Even for those who are “strong”, given enough prodding they will start to question, which leads to conformity. Because when they do speak in tongues then everyone treats them as spiritual and special.

For those in this group, it is an emotional release leading to babbling, not speaking in tongues. Though, they truly believe they are speaking in tongues, but it is in their head. We are great deceivers to ourselves. Most are babbling out of social acceptance, to feel “spiritual”, to be like those around them, etc. Never underestimate someone’s need to be accepted or to feel spiritual – even those we admire. The gift of tongues as it is often done today, can EASILY be mimicked, so that even those who are doing it are deceived. We can speak garbled language and with the powerful desire to conform, be part of a group, and seen as spiritual we easily convince ourselves and truly believe it was of the spirit.

Rules of Engagement

For these two reasons and among others, Paul tells us about how it is to be used so this confusion and misuse won’t happen! And so the body of believers can more easily discern the spirits. When someone does speak in public they need an interpreter and that interpretation needs to be in accordance with God’s truth – if not they need to keep silent. So if we have this gift; we should ask ahead of time if someone has the gift of interpretation to interpret if not we are to keep silent. If the spirit is calling us to speak, then He will provide and interpreter other than ourselves.

With this and every other gift we need DISCERNMENT. We need to be in God’s truth with a LOVE for the truth to be able to discern between the holy and the profane.

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Stir the Deep with Me: Lesson 6

Stir the Deep with Me: Lesson 6
What to Expect?

Other Related Videos
Introduction to Mentoring Program
Lesson 1: The Process of Quiet Time
Lesson 2: Coming as a Bride
Lesson 3: Holy Spirit as The Teacher
Lesson 4: Structure of the Word of God
Lesson 5: Perspectives for Being in the Word of God
Lesson 7: Review and Mentoring Others

In these videos I discuss what to expect from spending this time each day cultivating a relationship with God.

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Stir the Deep with Me: Lesson 5

Stir the Deep with Me: Lesson 5
Perspectives for Being in the Word of God

Other Related Videos
Introduction to Mentoring Program
Lesson 1: The Process of Quiet Time
Lesson 2: Coming as a Bride
Lesson 3: Holy Spirit as The Teacher
Lesson 4: Structure of the Word of God
Lesson 6: What to Expect?
Lesson 7: Review and Mentoring Others

This video is on seven different perspectives I have found from my experience that if we hold will move us deeper into the Word of God and thus in intimacy with God.

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Stir the Deep with Me: Lesson 3

Stir the Deep with Me: Lesson 3
Holy Spirit as The Teacher

Other Related Videos
Introduction to Mentoring Program
Lesson 1: The Process of Quiet Time
Lesson 2: Coming as a Bride
Lesson 4: Structure of the Word of God
Lesson 5: Perspectives for being in the Word of God
Lesson 6: What to Expect?
Lesson 7: Review and Mentoring Others

This video is on trusting the Holy Spirit to be The Teacher, your Teacher.

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The Power of Prayer

The Power of Prayer

Sophie: During the Sneezing Days

The event I describe below occurred at the beginning of last year. This experience radically altered my perspective of my prayer life. Since then, my belief continues to increase in the power of prayer. Prayer is indeed one of the most powerful things we can do.

Malcolm and Sophie are two of my cherished treasures. God uses these Ragdoll felines to teach me many lessons, but . . . I have to seek those lessons. About a month and a half after they moved in, Sophie started sneezing. When it continued to progress to mucus flying out her nose, I took her to the vet and discovered it was an upper respiratory infection. On antibiotics, she immediately started getting better. After being off them for a couple of days, it came back and continued to get worse. We went through another around of antibiotics. Again, she got better, but after a couple of days it returned. Poor thing! I hated putting all these antibiotics in her because I was sure it would have long term affects on her little immune system. Once more, back to the vet. He took some cultures so in a couple of days we would know exactly what bacteria was the culprit. The next day she was sneezing up a storm, which was common because getting the cultures irritated her little nose. But at that point I had enough! I’d been praying for God to heal her, but it dawned on me I hadn’t sought for the lesson in all this. God, what are you trying to teach me? Obviously it wasn’t a lesson for Sophie, it must be for me.

Thankfully, God quickly replied. It had to do with the power of prayer for others. Here’s what I learned. I love Sophie more than you would think a human could love a cat. God loves me and all that concerns me is His concern. He cares for Sophie but also because of my love for her. When we care deeply about someone, God not only desires to help that person for her sake but also because of His care for us. His concern is heightened because of our concern – that is the nature of love. Heart-felt prayer spoken in faith shows we believe in God’s love for us. It’s critical that we believe God loves us because it affects our prayers. This is another reason we need to understand our value, last week’s blog. We need to have a sense of value of ourselves to be able to accept and believe God’s love for us so we can pray with the conviction that our prayers matter.

God needed me to understand this truth so I would pray for those He laid on my heart with the confidence that my prayers made an impact. I needed to believe that my prayers influenced Him because of His love for me, which then could affect the lives of others. Otherwise, my lack of belief drained the power of my prayers. See, my belief in the power of prayer had started to wane. I had started to think my prayers didn’t have THAT much impact. This mindset crept in as I was seeking to understand His sovereignty. He is in control and His will prevails so how much impact do my prayers really have? Not much was my thought until this situation. I didn’t realize how strongly I was holding this false belief until this lesson. I knew prayer was important, but I didn’t understand how much of an impact it had, especially mine. Now I know that my concern and love enhances His concern because that is love. This is the power of prayer of God’s children in numbers. If you had one child concerned about a pet – how much that would affect your heart. What if you had five children concerned – how much more would that affect your heart?

But it isn’t just about numbers, but about the state of the heart. There is power manifested when we intercede for another out of love. This is why our love needs to be with sincerity. Love is an extremely powerful force in our lives. It changes others. It moves the heart of God. This is why it is important to seek the love of God to replace our corrupted version of it so that we can truly love others because if affects our prayers for them. If we are just saying the words and our hearts are distant, then the power of prayer is sapped. That’s why vain repetitions are a waste of time. Matthew 6:7 But if we pray with conviction because we truly care it has a considerable impact. This is why sometimes God “lays” someone on our heart. We have a strong pull to pray for them, because the heart matters.

When I realized this insight about the power of prayer wrapped in love and sincerity, Sophie stopped sneezing that night. The cultures came back revealing a certain bacterium, but she was better. Isn’t God good? Glad I asked. She was going through what she did to teach me. I never would have stopped and sought if she wasn’t sick. And my seeking brought me to a very important lesson about the significance of heart-felt prayer.

God loves His children beyond what we can imagine. His heart for us is mighty and what concerns us concerns Him. Prayer is to teach us many things and one is how much He loves us. Even if He doesn’t seem to be healing a child or delivering them from an unhealthy lifestyle or friendship – know that He cares more so for that child because He cares for their life and that is amplified because of your care for them and His care for you. We can’t see the big picture. We don’t know what they may need to go through to learn what they need to learn. But God is listening if you are rightly related to Him through Christ. Proverbs 15:29 We have certain expectations about how things should play out, but God holds everything in His hands. If I hadn’t gone through the tough times I did as a kid, ones I’m sure my mom wished I avoided, then perhaps I wouldn’t have drawn near to God like I have. From those experiences, I learned my need for Him and the extent of His love for me. In the end, her prayers were answered, but it wasn’t a path she expected, but that path I needed to travel. We need to be careful of our expectations and make sure they are in God. If we are God’s and praying with the right heart and motive about a matter, we need to trust that God is working things out as they should be. We have expectations about what the best path or answer to that prayer would be, but we haven’t a clue. We need to trust in His divine wisdom to work it out to everyone’s best.

James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But the prayer of the upright is His delight.

Needless to say, my prayer life totally changed. Our faith is everything. Our belief affects the power our prayer holds. John 14:12-13 I needed and am thankful for this lesson to increase my faith in the power of prayer. And I’m very glad Sophie is no longer sneezing!!

Sophie: Today

Other blog on Prayer Mountain Moving Prayer

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Reworking our Mindsets to be Spirit-Led

Reworking our Mindsets

to be Spirit-Led

 

For the past couple of months the Holy Spirit has been teaching me various mindsets to have in order to be able to listen and follow to Him throughout the day. When we learn to listen and follow the Spirit, our lives become truly powerful as we are consciously connected to Him, operate according to His will not ours, and act in His strength not ours.

Celebrate Each Day

The first mindset the Spirit taught me is to celebrate each day because it’s the only one we have. We will never have the opportunities we have today to love, give, learn, impact someone’s life and so on. We are to enjoy, embrace, and share what we have been given. We can’t go back and repeat a day, what we make of it is what it will forever be, and what we do today affects tomorrow. When you consider the impact and finality of a day, it’s amazing most of us live like we can repeat them. Today is what’s real, which leads me to the next lesson learned.

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Stay in the Day

In my early twenties I tried to live by the phrase, live in the moment. Back then, it meant to enjoy each day and not get caught up in the past or future. But the Spirit’s recent instruction brought a bit of a different slant and importance to this mindset. When we are in the moment or stay in the day, as a friend calls it, we are more connected to the Spirit because that is where the Spirit is, therefore that is how we have a spirit-lead life. When our mind is elsewhere we aren’t engaged with Him and not listening to His voice and instruction, which is what we need to live by. 2 Corinthians 10:5, 1 John 2:27

The past is done and the future is unknown, but many of us live in one or both of these places mentally and emotionally. The past does affect our current moments because what we experienced and choose put us where we are today, but too often we are bounded by it. And one common way is through un-forgiveness. For years I had un-forgiveness in the form of “justified anger and pain” from things that happened in the past; it plagued my days sucking true life from them. When we don’t forgive someone and harbor ill-will against them, then that affects our current decisions, mindset and health. Un-forgiveness is a thief of life, freedom and joy. But how do we forgive truly? For many years I wanted to forgive but couldn’t. We forgive by the power of God working in us. As I cried out to God, He brought forgiveness into the depths of my soul, it was a process.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

The flip side is dwelling in the worries of an unknown future. (Blog I wrote on worry, Irrational Worry )We get caught up in worry about what might happen that we live this present moment in a future that doesn’t exist and that also is a rancid thief. There is a balance between being responsible and making good decisions that affect the future, and being consumed with worry about it. The former comes from a mindset of trust the other from fear. To overcome consuming worry requires trust in God, the One who is sovereign over everything. Trusting God is the fruit of cultivating a relationship with Him. Only by spending time getting to really know Him, can we truly trust Him. When we do the worry begins to cease and trust takes over; trust in Him, His love for us and His promises. We need to be listening to the Spirit, not worrying.

Matthew 6:24 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

When we stay in the day, then we can attune to the Spirit’s active leading. When we engage Him it changes what happens in our lives as His direction is perfect and complete for us. Take time to invite the Spirit into your thought processes.

Mindset of Praise

The third mindset is to be praise-oriented, which means to praise God throughout the day for Him, His promises, the things around us, and so on. This mindset is the ultimate worship of God, because it is real, true, heart-felt, and active.

This mindset isn’t about denial of what’s happening. It’s looking at a situation from a different perspective. For example, many are in the midst of a financial trial. This type of trial is a tremendous test and refinement of trust in God’s ways not ours, His provision, and sovereignty. We can either dwell in the mindset of being frustrated and complaining, or recognize God’s control and work, God taking care of our present needs, and seeking the Spirit’s counsel. Praise isn’t to be forced or contrived, but real. God cares about the heart. And praise without denial glorifies God. It shows we know Him, trust Him that He is faithful to do what He promises. It reveals we understand His perfect love for us and working in our lives. To gain a heart of praise comes from truly knowing Him and trusting in Him and His promises.

When God is our God there is always a reason to praise because of His love and care for us. We may not feel that in the moment, but our feelings aren’t reality. They are the sum of a whole host of things. The truth is the former.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Connecting the Three Mindsets

A praise mindset helps us to celebrate each day and to stay in the day (so that we can be spirit-lead) because we are aware and thankful for what is right before us. We are outward focused not self-absorbed and therefore more readily available to listen to and be used by God.

Considering these new mindsets, how do you change your thought patterns? Have you ever tried? It’s very difficult on our own. We don’t do it; God does it in us. When God instructs us, and we heed His instruction then He enables us. God rewires our brains. He has done it many times in me. Our part is to pray and keep these truths always before us. Acts 5:32

Through this instruction, I realized how much I’ve missed out on by living in the past or living in the future. I realized how ineffective I’ve been by being absorbed in those and not listening to the Spirit because my mind was busy somewhere else. Those are powerful motivators to drive me forward in what the Spirit has taught me. God is amazing in how perfectly He instructs and leads us to walking in the abundant life He came to give.

These are some powerful New Years resolutions to consider if you’re looking for some.

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A Gift Often Left Unopened: the Holy Spirit

A Gift Often Left Unopened:

the Holy Spirit

Thanksgiving always begs the question, what are we thankful for? One gift our Father gives us is the Holy Spirit to teach, help, guide and counsel each one of us. John 14:15-17, 1 John 2:27

For years, I felt like God forgot me on this account. There were several reasons for this, but a couple were I really didn’t ask (Luke 11:13) and I wasn’t making an effort to listen. The Spirit is given to help us, but if we aren’t seeking and listening we’ll believe He isn’t there at all.

This gift we have been given is tremendous. If you’ve never stopped to listen to His counsel you may wonder – what is it like? Here is a quote I pulled off a fellow blogger’s site, RunHoly, from a woman and her experience of this gift;

“I know when the Lord is speaking to me because literally the air around me changes. There is a stillness that settles all my raging emotions and questions and simply bids me to be silent, listen, and consider what I hear. And then it’s almost as if it comes from the center of my being–the answer, the revelation, the instruction, and it is sealed in this definite place inside of me that I can’t describe. I only know that I must do what I’ve been prompted to do. If I resist, I can’t breathe, but when I say yes and obey, the most incredible sense of knowing and peace overtakes me, and the matter is settled once and for all.” –Michelle Mckinney Hammond

To learn to listen to the Spirit’s leading in our lives is an art especially these days with all the noise around us and in our heads. Cultivating this habit of being still and hearing the Spirit’s counsel is critical for several reasons:

The Spirit’s counsel:

• Is contrary to man’s wisdom
• Brings God’s power into our actions
• Has fruitful outcomes
• Is different from man’s wisdom

The Bible is loaded with examples of these points but here are two that I recently read. In Luke 5:5, fishermen had been casting their nets all day and catching nothing. Jesus told them to cast the nets out one more time. But what would another cast do when all the previous ones turned up empty? According to the wisdom of the world, it would be stupid to waste time and energy doing exactly what you had done before and what you proved doesn’t work, right? But at Jesus’ word, they cast their nets one more time and caught so much fish that their boat started to sink. The Spirit’s counsel is contrary to the world’s and at His counsel things happen. When He tells us to do something it’s for a reason and when we act according to His instruction, we are acting in a power beyond ourselves. We accomplish what we could never do on our own.

If the Spirit tells us to do something and we don’t or we aren’t listening, we will miss out on the blessing. What if those fishermen just ignored Him? What if they listened but said – you’re crazy there aren’t any fish I’m tired and going home? Often, when we do hear His instruction, we don’t realize it was His instruction and/or we talk ourselves out of following it because it doesn’t resonate with the wisdom we know and miss out on the blessings. God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts and that is why it’s so important to develop the art of listening to the Spirit. God wants to do so much in our lives, but many aren’t listening. And we have to listen to Him because His counsel is different from most counsel we receive. Many are praying and crying out to God, but are they listening to the instruction that will be an answer to their prayer?

Another great example is Joshua who sought and listened to God’s counsel and the accomplishments in his life showed it. The time he didn’t seek God’s counsel in Joshua 9:14 and acted on his own judgment he was defeated. But when he sought God’s counsel and obeyed it, God prospered all his efforts. It was tremendous the nations he conquered and the battles he won. But look at the crazy instructions God gave him, Jericho being a great example. Walking around a city blowing trumpets in order to conquer it? Doesn’t seem like a very effective strategy by the world’s definitions of logic. However, it brought the walls down and the Israelites took over the city. What unique counsel; not something man’s wisdom would suggest. But the oddity of God’s guidance brought glory to whom glory and praise are due – God. There was no doubt it was God’s doing. Listening to His instruction is for our good and His glory. Joshua 23:10, Judges 7:2

A main point of these two scenarios in Luke and Joshua and MANY others in the Bible where we see the uniqueness, contrary nature, power and outcomes of God’s counsel is that we should seek His counsel and not our own. We need to learn to listen to the one He gave us to counsel us, the Holy Spirit. He uses different strategies and if we aren’t listening we won’t know what they are and we’ll act in our own judgment and we will live the consequences of it.

What does it mean to be lead by the Spirit? To listen to the Spirit? To seek His counsel? It means abiding in the entire Word of God to become personally aquainted with His voice to be able to discern it in our lives. It means cultivating the habit of being still in His presence, seeking His counsel, understanding confirmation and acting on it. I’m finding this practice has MANY rewards as I’m learning to listen. When we are listening to His counsel for our lives and walking in it then we are doing His will and not our own of what we think we should do. We are walking in the spirit – literally walking according to His words.

God gave the Spirit to reside with us always to teach, counsel and guide. But if we never stop and listen, what’s the point of this incredible gift? It is like having a present that you never open and use. He has given us the Spirit for our good, to help us and lead us where we need to go, and to fill our lives with actions done in God’s power not ours.

This holiday season take time to consider this awesome gift and show true gratitude by cultivating the art of seeking and listening to His counsel. You never know what will happen – perhaps your nets will break or you’ll conquer those seemingly impossible giants. Whatever it is you’ll be acting in His power that is bound to blow your socks off.

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One Bible, So Many “Truths”

One Bible, So Many “Truths”

 

I wrote this while ago . . . but it is worth reposting with a few additions . . .

The other night, I was talking with my husband about a teaching I heard on end times, one area where there seems to be more theories than mosquitoes on a summer night in the Deep South; all fighting for life. Okay maybe not that many, but sometimes it feels like it.

Christians seem to disagree more than agree about the various aspects of our faith. What gives us our name, Christ, we agree on but outside of Him most beliefs are up for discovery; end times, hell, salvation by election, prosperity, authority, role of women, and state of church to name a few. The array of denominations and new ones popping up testify to the extent of our dissentions, but that isn’t how it should be. 1 Corinthians 3:3-7

In this life, disagreement will always be there because we are all in the process of learning but it shouldn’t divide us but unite. Dissensions can be beneficial in that they remind us not to put our trust in man’s words, doctrines or interpretations but to rely on God. The thoughts of man are futile, but God’s Word is perfect pure truth. Psalm 94:11, 12:6

But if we are all reading the same Bible how can we have so many different theories?

For several reasons, but I think one is about trust. If we depend on God to be our Teacher of His Word and not humans we move closer to truth and not farther away. There is one truth and He wants us to know it. The problem is many believers trust people instead of God. Therefore you get a multitude of philosophies and interpretations. How many are learning from God verses from highly esteemed teachers who are just passing along their limited understanding? That system gets us further and further from the truth. It’s like the game of whispering a secret from ear to ear around a circle. In the end it is quite humorous because the statement is much different than how it started. You have to go back to the source to know what was really said. Dwelling in the Source, the Word, you’ll start to see the multitude of lies out there being taught and believed by many.

Many believers aren’t sitting alone with God and diving into the Word with the Spirit as their teacher. There is often the accompaniment of a teacher, commentary or study guide. Not that anything is wrong with these at certain times, but if we rely on them to show us the truth, we aren’t relying on God and probably will be misled. It’s necessary to be with God alone on a regular basis and spend significantly more time with Him listening to His pure words without man’s interpretation than any other source to establish Him as the source of truth in our lives.

In Matthew 23:8, 10 the titles teacher and Rabbi denote authority in the area of instruction. The Rabbi held an honorable place in the synagogues and he was seen as the authority and expert in spiritual matters. When Jesus came, He took the place of the teachers who held that superiority as noted in the verse. Christ alone became The Teacher having preeminence in instruction about Him and His kingdom. He gave each one of us the Holy Spirit to teach us. 1 John 2:27 The Spirit gives us understanding of passages, applies them to our lives, prompts us to dig deeper, and takes us into the depth of God’s Words. If we trust Him to teach, ask for understanding and wait on His instruction, then He is faithful to teach us what we need to know when we need it know it. No one can teach us like He can because He knows exactly where we are at, how to build our understanding, write it on our hearts, and how to explain it so we understand. Jesus came and made everything personal including instruction. Galatians 1:11-12

In contrast, Paul tells us that God appointed teachers in the church. 1 Corinthians 12:28 However, this role doesn’t contain the authority of what Jesus spoke about in the previous verse. If so the verses would be contradictory. Teachers among the brethren are simply that, our brethren. All they say is secondary to our Teacher’s words. Growing up I had two brothers. No doubt in certain areas they were knowledgeable and I could learn from them, but they didn’t hold the authority, wisdom and overall instruction that my father did. Though they had points of enlightenment, they were young and immature like me and often lead me down the wrong path. It is the same within God’s family. For a healthy family, our Father, God, should hold the role as the utmost Teacher in each one of our lives. Both can’t hold first place. We need discernment in listening to others and that comes from spending time in the Word with the Spirit as our Teacher. It’s critical for the strength of His body, the true church, that each one of us builds our foundations on Him and not each other. 2 Timothy 4:3

The Word says that each one of us should be able to teach. 2 Timothy 2:24 That skill is a hint to how we should be spending our time. Students learn from the Master teacher not other students. From our fellow comrades, we share an insight, see another side of an issue, or get confirmation, but we have One, who is our Teacher. Learning from others and disagreement can be healthy, enriching, and a wonderful experience as long as our trust is in God for the source of truth and not man.

Without God’s Word no one can know the truth. There is one truth. The only way to gain truth is by spending time with Him alone one-on-one. I believe He designed it this way to draw us near to Him because He loves us. The one-on-one time builds trust and intimacy which lead us to fulfilling the first commandment and our ultimate eternal purpose – to abide with God in a unity of truth and love.

God isn’t limited by our educational backgrounds. He is able to teach each one of us one-on-one. He is God after all. Yet, if we don’t believe we won’t find. Our minds will be closed off and we won’t seek. We can’t get frustrated by the diversity or throw our hands up and think, how can I know? That mindset is counter to God’s will for us. We will never have the full picture but we can get continually closer. He wants us to know. He wants us to seek and to learn from Him. We have been given the Spirit to teach us and we need learn to hear His voice and to trust Him to do His job.

3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

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Lesson in Love from My Cats

Lesson in Love from My Cats

Malcolm & Sophie

The other day during my quiet time – I gained yet another insight from my cats, a lesson in love.

For over 13 years, it was me and my husband – no children, no pets. Then last October we got Malcolm and Sophie. Their addition has brought so much to our home – much more than I ever imagined. I’m surprised at the amount of love and care I feel for them. It was unexpected. I mean they are just cats.

As I was sitting there doing my quiet time with one lying on one side on my notebook and the other on the side next to my Bible, a certain characteristic of love came to mind that I hadn’t really considered before. With that insight, the Spirit took me into a deeper understanding of our purpose and why we were created.

When Malcolm and Sophie came into our home my love expanded. This is what I learned. Our love is like a land mass and as others come into our lives, and as we grow to love them the territory expands. In addition, the love dynamic between me and someone else is unique to us because we are unique. So with each new addition, our love grows in a unique way, just like no plot of land is exactly like another. It’s an incredible phenomenon that I’m finding my words don’t justify in sharing.

This expansion idea of love as well as the uniqueness of love between individuals taught me the deeper truth of our purpose. I’ve believed for several years now that we were created with the purpose to abide with God in love. It is our purpose now and for eternity. 1 Corin 13:8, 1 Corin 13:13 But what I realized is God made us to expand His expression of love. Love is only love when there are different parties involved – ones to give love and ones to receive the love. The more giving and receiving, the more love abounds. So He created us; souls with the ability to embrace His love and love Him in return that the territory of love might be vast and rich with each unique dynamic of love. And not only is the love expressed between Him and us, but us and others. Eternity will be incredible. Consider the most powerful experience of love you have had – then multiply that a hundred fold – that’s eternity with God. Why would you ever want to miss out on it?

Because each one of us has a unique love dynamic with God because we are each unique, we are infinitely valuable and one can’t replace the other. Sophie could never replace Malcolm and vice versa. This distinctive value puts a tremendous value on each one of us not only to each other, but to our Heavenly Father. This individual value is why there is so much rejoicing in heaven over one soul who enters the kingdom of God. Luke 15:3-10 We are irreplaceable. We can’t compare ourselves to others; we are all unique as our creator made us to be. Now if that doesn’t do anything for your self-esteem – nothing will.

Some believe that God created us to worship Him. Worship is a state of the heart. It is the natural response when we are rightly related to Him, including abiding in His love. Therefore it gladdens God’s heart, because it’s the fruit that we know Him and He is first in our lives. But that is only a reflection of our purpose which is to abide with Him in love. Because, I believe we were created for this purpose, it’s our part to foster a relationship of love with Him – love which consists of intimacy, knowing, trusting – for that’s why we are here. If we neglect that engagement we neglect our purpose and His will for us. John 17:23-26

Mark 12:30-31 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

One more point about all this. There is a HUGE difference between loving others and God with our corrupted version of love and the pure love of God. Though our love won’t be as pure as God’s because of the influence of the world’s perverse idea of love, as new creations in Christ we grow more and more in the love of God. One of the many gifts of being His child is that you receive His love to know and to give. As I seek for His love to consume my life, I am finding it’s incredibly more pure and perfect than any rendition of love I previously had or gave. It often amazes me what I feel for others and how deeply I feel it – things I never had before. They aren’t fleeting emotions, but substantive land masses because they are fruit of a new heart created in His likeness.

We settle far too easily for corrupted, perverted, and destructive emotions that we call love. God is offering us a true, deep and real love that is of Him so why settle? We all want love. We all want His love whether we realize it or not. It’s a driving force in our lives. But until we seek and know the love of God as our own, we will experience a great lack in this area. God is offering us the love we deeply desire because He put that desire in us to draw us to Him and to be filled by Him. And only by being deeply connected to Him do we truly know this love to experience and to give others and are able to truly expand our territory of love including to our cats.

“I love my God, but with no love of mine for I have none to give;
I love Thee, Lord, but all that love is Thine, for by Thy life I live.
I am as nothing, and rejoice to be
emptied and lost and swallowed up in Thee” (Madame Guyon).

1 Thessalonians 3:12 “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,”

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All All All Always

All All All Always

 

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

This verse is perhaps one of the most encouraging in all the New Testament when you are up against something outside your comfort zone.

As children of God, the limits of this physical world no longer apply to us, yet often in the midst of a physical trial we forget this truth. Fear starts to creep in and our minds and emotions succumb to the world’s wisdom. We become defeated by the things that in truth have no more control over us.

As a young child, in my room was a door to the attic. My mind concocted all kinds of things that filled that attic and that would creep out in the middle of the night to get me. My imagination often sent me running into my parents’ bedroom.

Our childhood monsters filled our young minds with terrifying encounters that brought sleepless hours hidden under the covers, and often made us flee into the haven of our parents’ bedrooms. In reality they didn’t exist, but our minds gave them power and we responded to them. We weren’t mature enough to realize they weren’t real.

Our minds are powerful tools. What we believe and what we give power to creates our reality. Childhood monsters were very real and we reacted to them. In the same way if we believe a circumstance, person or weakness has dominion over us we will react accordingly. We will fear, cower, give up, and run away. However, once a child of God and no longer living without God in this world, our trying situations become powerless childhood monsters. Only our unbelief of who God is and who we are in Him makes them real stealing our freedom, peace, and life.

Two beliefs are essential to overcoming our monsters and moving outside our comfort zones; God is always by our side and who is with us is mightier than anything we will ever face. There isn’t a circumstance, person, or personal weakness that can defeat us because God works through us to overcome all – if we trust Him.

Trust is the key to unlocking the power of these beliefs in our lives. We trust God when we know Him. In all our relationships in order to trust someone we have to know them. The same is true with God. When we personally know God, then we trust and the natural result is faith, trust in action. We don’t have to grunt out a faithful response, it is what we do as we draw near to Him.

Psalm 9:10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You.

How do we know God? By the combination of His Word and Spirit working in us. He gives us His Spirit and our part is to put His Word in our minds. If we neglect our part we will be defeated. Without knowledge of Him we aren’t able to trust to the extent that is required for victorious living. God wants to be known by us. This truth was His desire throughout the Old and New Testament because knowing Him leads to everything else. He is our portion, but how can we trust in what we don’t know?

When you know that the monsters aren’t real then you move ahead out of your comfort zone following God’s lead in your life. When we know God then anything we face holds victory. Knowing takes time but it is a journey that brings freedom and peace into our lives. If we seek Him, He will reveal Himself.

We all start out as babes in God’s presence with irrational fears, anxieties and discomforts. It is normal. If we deeply knew who was by our side nothing would shake us. We have much to learn, and it is to our travesty if we stay spiritual babes when we should be maturing into adults enjoying abundant life. In maturity we know, trust and act on the truth that we have all, all, all always.

Realize the monsters aren’t real and they are only powerful because you forgot who is by your side. Take what you know of Him today and believe it and continue to learn of Him that the victory may be yours.

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