Suddenly Moments

What do you do when you are having a bad day? Do you ever just worship God? Give thanks, glory or praise? Understandably being the humans that we are—this is not always our default reaction.

But I want to challenge you to step out of your normal default box and into the realm of suddenly moments—that result in God shaking our life to its very core and bringing about change.

I heard an amazing message—totally worth repeating—on Acts 16. Follow along with me as I reiterate what was happening and how God—our Knight in shining armor suddenly comes to save the day.

Paul and Silas, in the will of God—directed by Him—went to Macedonia. As they were lingering in Philippi, they met a God-fearing woman named Lydia who on hearing the Word of the Lord believed with all her heart, as a result she and her household were baptized and insisted the men stay at their home. At this point all is going well, Paul’s preaching—God’s moving and they are invited to stay and be cared for, in a rather nice place. Acts 16:6-15

One day on the way to prayer a demon possessed psychic, slave girl, started following them around, drawing attention to them by yelling out “These men are working for the Most High God. They’re laying out the road of salvation for you!”

Paul, not wanting to be in agreement with her or to be identified as being with her, ignored her for a few days then finally when too annoyed he cast the demon out of her. The slave girl was suddenly free and her owners very upset—their lucrative little business had come to an end. Consequently, Paul and Silas were dragged into the market place—they were lied about and accused, causing the crowd to turn into an angry gang. Their clothes were torn off and they were ordered to be severely beaten and thrown into prison, under high security wearing leg irons.  Acts 16:16-24

Paul and Silas—bloody and beaten, sit chained in prison. Would you say they were having a bad day? Absolutely!

What did they do? Did they accuse God of unfaithfulness by whining and complaining?

No—just the opposite! Paul and Silas were found praying and worshipping.

What would you do?

I love how Paul and Silas handled the situation! Their default heart and soul reaction was to pray and worship God—in doing so they were giving thanks.

I pray our default heart reaction would be to silence the mouth of the accuser and give thanks by worshipping God.

How? Why? Because the truth is—He is always good. We must train our heart and soul to worship and give thanks according to truth—not circumstance.

This is when the suddenly moments of God’s faithfulness rule our life.

What happens next in Acts 16:25-26 is the cry of our heart.

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake! Paul and Silas’ worship caused God to shake the very foundations and set the prisoners free—the scripture says immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

Not just our own freedom from the prisons we find ourselves in—occurs when we worship, but freedom for others as well.

I don’t know about you but I need and want God to suddenly shake the foundation of various situations in my life and in the life of those I love and care about.

This Word from the book of Acts has brought fresh understanding to the scripture in 2 Thessalonians 5:18

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Please be encouraged to grab ahold of and own this concept. Worship God, giving Him thanks in every situation—lifting our eyes from life and circumstances to the God of the impossible—the One who can suddenly shake any situation and change the landscape of impossible surroundings.

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Debilitating Fear

Have you ever been so consumed with fear that you could hardly move? Has your heart ever been so devastated and broken—so fearful of pain—you could  scarcely breathe—let alone continue on with normal life?

Fear is a thief—suspending and incapacitating life.

But that’s not all—let me let you in on a secret—fear is really a facade. That’s right as enormous and intimatading as fear may seem—in light of who Jesus is fear is very puny and ineffective!

I just read a story about how Jesus healed, restored and delivered a tortured man.  (Read Luke 8: 26-38)  After his healing this man clothed, and in his right mind, sat at the feet of Jesus—listening, loving and taking in every word He said. The man was truly restored.

The town’s people however, were terrified of the change that came to the tortured man—they were fearful of the peace that now filled the man. As a result of their fear they asked Jesus, even though He had only been there a very short while, to get back into His boat and leave.

I marvel at the ignorance of these people. Jesus does a miracle and the people are so afraid they ask Him to leave?

What would have happened in that whole town if the people instead welcomed Him? How many lives would have been changed and hearts healed if they had chosen faith in the place of fear?

How many times could our own heart and lives be helped—if we would just choose faith?

Be encouraged, by the grace of God, to stand in faith and draw near to Jesus. To live in hope and belief—not allowing debilitating fear to rule and ruin the peaceful life Jesus intends for you to have.

Please remember in the light of who Jesus is—fear is a puny, ineffective facade—therefore give it no room in your life!

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

Conviction vs. Condemnation

Godly conviction and all of its potency, has been misconstrued as condemnation.

The Bible says in Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Condemnation is not of God, but is a way for the devil to keep people under his thumb—where they never feel worthy to know and love God, or never feel good enough to be loved by Him.

Conviction by God’s Holy Spirit on the other hand is not only needed but should be welcomed. I love the way Oswald Chambers describes it.

Conviction of sin is best described in the words:
“My sins, my sins, my Savior, How sad on Thee they fall.”
Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin (see John 16:8). And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person’s relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God— “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight . . .” (Psalm 51:4). The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy.

Justification happens when we accept Christ as Savior. By the mercy of God, we are free from the penalty of our former sin—justification, by faith in Jesus we are declared righteous. The process/life of a Christian does not stop at justification, but begins there. What follows is sanctification. By the grace of God we become holy and learn to live righteously. The work of sanctification is ongoing victory over sin.

Conviction is part of the Christian life—it’s interlaced in the work of sanctification—it is vital for the transformation process of holiness.

The Bible says “Be holy for I am holy” (1 peter 1:16 and Leviticus 11:44). We won’t be holy as God is holy without the recognition of our un-holiness!

1 John 1:8-10

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

If we were perfect and never crossed the lines of holiness, then we would not need godly conviction.

Where conviction and condemnation get all mixed-up, is when one’s own heart and soul confuse and complicate the two.

Whenever we hear or read, the powerful, Word of God, it should cause us to examine our life and behavior—therefore align ourselves to His Word. The confusion comes when our heart, mind, will and emotions don’t want to get aligned.

A heart that is hard or judgmental will hear God’s Word and feel condemnation. A person who lives with a spirit of offence will be offended at the Word and blame the preacher/messenger for being condemning or too harsh. A prideful rebellious heart will rebel against the Holy Spirit’s conviction and manipulate the words to be condemning. A religious person will turn the prompting of the Holy Spirit into another reason to complain.

The sad thing about this, is that the person with the twisted perception never progresses in their relationship with God. Whereas one whose heart is tender will realize when their life, behavior, heart and soul don’t necessarily line up to God’s Word and will repent. Thus—such humility will lead one into God’s presence, where we can know Him personally.

The Christian life is not about being perfect but about relationship with Christ and if that relationship comes by way of Holy Spirit conviction—urging me to become more like Christ and drawing me closer to Him—then I’m all in!

What about you?

Please be encouraged to soften your heart and embrace godly conviction.

Coming up in the next blog—the counterpart to godly conviction: True Repentance

John 16:8
And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

Living in the Spirit vs. the Soul

Do you ever desire to do good, but then just don’t? You want to make the right choices, nonetheless you make the wrong ones. I have a very important question for you: who or what decides what the right choices are for you? Be honest with yourself, is it God and the Bible, or you and culture?

As people who call God their Lord, there are only two ways to live: being led by the Spirit of God or led by the god of self.

Personally, I have lived my Christian life both ways. In previous years I regarded God and His Word, but picked and chose what I wanted to do and what part of the Bible I would obey.

This was not the deliberate way I had decided to live, but more the quiet unspoken choice I made. I figured that it was all good and God would understand; after all, being a Christian and following God’s way was hard. Not. In reality I was double-mined and lived according to my own desires.

After years of living that makeshift sort of Christianity, God in His mercy got a hold of me. The truth came to the light; my life was not about me and I was not free to pick and choose what part of Gods ways I would follow. God showed me it was a matter of living in the Spirit versus the soul.

The soul consists of the mind, will and emotions. Mainly, when we think about living in the soul we are talking about the will—stubborn self-will.

Another way to look at it is living in the flesh or in the sinful nature. The flesh is not the soul, but living according to the flesh is equal to living governed by a stubborn self-will.

The Bible tells us the Spirit and the sinful nature are always at war. Galatians 5:16-18 says it this way…

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

So what’s the answer? How do we win this never-ending battle?

It’s a matter of harnessing the will. That’s done by crucifying the flesh and its passions, and believing that the cross and the blood of Jesus are powerful enough to transform us, therefore giving us the ability to overcome in every situation.

Galatians 5:19-23, gives us a list of the evidence of living in the soul and the fruit of living in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:24-26 articulates,

“And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Be encouraged, you do not have to live in the soul! By the power of the cross you can live in the Spirit and fulfill the desires of the Spirit!