Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

American Idol – 2 Thumbs Down

Posted in American culture, Christian, Faith, T.V. Programs on January 18, 2007| 1 Comment »

Most of you probably know that American Idol started their new season Tuesday with a two hour show, and then had another two hour show on Wednesday evening.  According to the news casts over 37 million people watched the show Tuesday night. That is almost unbelievable.  I’ve never watch Idol before so I thought I’d see what it was all about and watched some of it on both nights.  Was I ever disappointed! 

They troop people out there and let them make horrible fools of themselves before millions of people.  Hardly anyone of them could actually sing.  How in the world did they make it to the show in the first place? 

The contestants were not trying to be comics, they were deadly serious, but they came off as hilarious.  What really bothered me was the fact that I found myself laughing out loud and actually enjoying the show.  I finally realized that I was laughing at people not with them.  Is that something a Christian should be doing? 

I felt so bad when they contestants were talked to rudly and they were truly hurt.  Some of them came out of the room in tears.  You could see they actually thought they were good and then were slammed.  I wondered why didn’t someone of their family or friends tell them they were not good.  That must have been a traumatic experience for them, and I wonder if they will ever get over it.  What kind of damage will that do to their young minds. 

As a Christian I don’t think I should be watching this kind of t.v. program.  God made us in His image and we are precious in His sight.  Does He really want us to treat each other in such a barbaric way? 

So, what do you think?  Where am I going wrong here?

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Key to Prosperity

Posted in Bible Study, Christian, Faith, inspirational, Praise, Scripture on January 16, 2007| 1 Comment »

 

Ponderosa Pine3He is like a tree planted by rivers
of water, which brings forth its
fruit in season and whose leaf
does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 1:3

Here is a wonderful promise from the Word of God.  The thought is of a beautiful tree growing by a river of water.  The tree grows abundantly and never has to worry about drought as the water continuously provides all its needs to bear its fruit in due season. This sounds great but wait, there is a catch!

Yes, God does give us a great promise, but there are some strings attached.  At first glance this sounds like a very easy way to have a wonderful, prosperous life.  We just wait like the tree and God does all the rest.  But, to get the full meaning of this verse, we must go back and look at the verses proceeding this one. 

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! (Psalms 1:1)

Blessed, or happy, is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked.  Let me ask you this.  When you have problems where do you go for advice?  People are always ready to give us advice.  Have you ever thought about who is giving it?  Do you take advice from people in the workplace?  Are these people who are walking close to God?  It just seems natural to ask those around us for advice.  But, God says not to take advice from the ungodly people of the world.  Their mindset is different and they do not take in consideration the moral values God wants for us.

 When we need advice to work out some problem we have with daily living we need to go to trusted people who are walking with the Lord.  Look for a mature Christian who is strong in the Word.  He can help you discover what God says about your particular problem.  We are not to cozy up to the world. 

First, he says “walk,” in the councel of the wicked.  Then, there is a progression to “stand” in the paths of sinners, and finally, “sit,” in the seat of scoffers.  If we follow this path we are finally living just like everyone else who are not Christians. If we follow this path we will not be given the right advice.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalms 1:2)

Instead of hanging out with the worldly people the person who wants to be prosperous delights in the Word of God.  He spends time in the Word reading and studying it, and he continuously mediates on the Word.  As Christians we need to keep in the Word and we will find how God wants us to live so we can make decisions based on his morality, not the worlds.

As you can see the key to prosperity is not just sitting back doing nothing, nor is it going to worldly people for advice.  The Psalmist says that in order to be prosperous we must keep in the Word, keep close to God, and look for our help from Him.  When we do this we will be prosperous!

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The True Gospel Message

Posted in Bible Study, Christian, Faith, Gospel, inspirational, Scripture, Worship on January 9, 2007| Leave a Comment »

                      WHAT IS THE TRUE GOSPEL MESSAGE?

There are many “gospel” messages being circulated today. In some circles one would believe that if we simply say “Jesus come into my heart,” we are saved.  They do not teach the whole gospel.

They leave out the cross and resurrection.  They don’t tell us that we are sinners and that we need a Savior. They don’t tell us that we will either spend eternity in Heaven or hell and our destiny depends on what we believe about Jesus.  They don’t tell us that now is the time to make that decision and after we die it will be too late. The gospel is sometimes presented as something we do, like going forward in church, or having some kind of emotional experience, so that we can find peace, happiness, wealth, and good health. The emphasis is not on the fact of how we are all dreadful sinners and in desperate need of a Savior.The Word “gospel” means good news.

What is the good news of the Bible?

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day  according to the Scriptures,…” I Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV.

The Apostle Paul wrote this scripture as he was inspired by God.  He tells the Corinthian believers that the first and most important thing he wanted to share with them was the gospel message as follows:

  1. Christ suffered and died on the cross for our sins, according to the scriptures.
  2. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, which was then sealed and guarded.
  3. He rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. Death could not hold him.

My friends, that is the gospel message. Very short and to the point.

In order to understand the importance of these scriptures we must dig a little deeper.

Why did Christ have to die for our sins?

In the beginning God created the first man an woman, Adam and Eve.  They were made perfect. At that time there was no sin in the world. God placed them in the garden of Eden to live and populate the earth.

Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. ‘”

But, Satan came along and enticed Eve to eat of the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve picked the fruit and ate it and even gave her husband Adam some to eat too.

Sin is disobedience to God.  Adam and Eve became sinners, and they passed that heritage down to us. From then on everyone was born with a sin nature. We do not have to learn to be sinners it comes naturally to us.

God came to visit with Adam and Eve, but they hid from him.  Why? Because they were ashamed and full of fear.  Here is where the blame game got started. Adam tired to blame Eve and Eve blamed the serpent (Satan) who enticed her to eat the fruit.  But, as God is all knowing He  knew the whole story. He knew they had disobeyed Him.

Up to this time Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden, and that didn’t bother them.  After they sinned they became aware of their nakedness and tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. They became aware of themselves. This is when conscience entered the human picture.

God did not view the fig leaves as a proper cover for them so he sacrificed animals to use their skins to make Adam and Eve clothing. Have you ever wondered why God replaced the fig leaves with animal skins?

God had told Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed him they would surely die. (Genesis 2:17) You see life is in the blood. If a person gets cut bad and loses too much blood he will die. Without blood there is no life.

Leviticus 17:11 says, ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for [Heb 9:22] it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’

God could not go back on His Word. He didn’t want to end the human race so He had to make another way.  He allowed the slain animals shed blood be a substitution for their own. Blood was shed and the sins were covered or atoned for. The skins were their covering and a reminder of the shed blood.

God is love. He made mankind so that he could communicate and fellowship with them.  But, God is also just.  He requires that justice be done. That is why he had to shed the blood of animals in the place of shedding the blood of Adam and Eve. The animals paid the price, for the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

In the Old Testament times, God required the people sacrifice animals daily to cover their sins. These sacrifices were looking forward to the day that God would give the ultimate sacrifice, His only Son, to die for the sin of the world. This happened in the New Testament era when the Lamb of God, which is Jesus Christ, came to this Earth to give His live and shed his blood on the cross to cover our sins.

God also said in the book of Romans that the wages or payment for sin is death.  Because God is just this payment must be made.

Romans 6:23   “For the wages of  sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The other side of the coin is that God will give us eternal life as a free gift when we understand and accept the true gospel message.

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

So, we can plainly see from the Bible that we need a Savior because we all are sinners.  God met our need by allowing His Son to come and be a substitute our sins.

Could anyone have died for our sins?  Did it have to be Jesus Christ?

Yes, it had to be Jesus Christ, because the sacrifice for our sins had to come from a perfect person, and none of us are perfect because we are born with a sin nature. He wasn’t because he did not have an earthly father. Christ was born of a woman and the Holy Spirit.  He was perfect without sin or imperfection.  He is fully man and He is God. He is the only one who could qualify to die in our place.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not parish but have eternal life.”

How was his burial different from others?

Jesus was buried and placed in a borrowed tomb.  He didn’t even own one of His own.  The Roman officials didn’t want anyone to steal the body and say that Christ rose from the dead. They didn’t want to stir up the people. So, they placed a huge stone in front of the tomb and even sealed it. Then they set a guard to watch it. There was no way the Lord’s disciples could pull a fast one. (Read John 19:38-42)

Why is the resurrection important?

Do you realize that the Christian religion is the only one that has a risen Savior?  All the others worship someone who is dead!  What good is a dead savior?  How could prayers be answered if our Savior was dead?

Jesus Christ rose from the grave on the third day, just as the scriptures foretold.

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40

He now sits at the right hand of God in Heaven pleading our case before our Father.

Hebrews: 10:12 “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;”

Romans 8:34  “Who is he that condemns?  Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life– is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

The resurrection of Jesus is what makes the Christian faith different. He not only died for our sins, but he beat death.  Death could not hold Him! He rose again just as predicted in a glorified new body.

Oh friends, this is what gives us so much hope.  If Jesus could die and rise again with a new body, we can too. Death doesn’t have to be the end!

Some day we who know him as our Savior will meet Him face to face in Heaven and spend eternity with Him. Those who don’t know Him in this personal way will spend eternity in hell with constant torture and suffering. He has given each of us a choice.

Would you like to accept the true gospel message?

If you have read this far you now know the true gospel message. Perhaps you are wondering if you have accepted the correct gospel message.  If you have any doubt or question about it at all, then here is your chance to know for sure!

Or, you may be one who has have never been privileged to hear the gospel message before, and you are reading it for the first time in your life.

II Corinthians 6:2b “…behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation.“

Lets again look to the Bible to see what it says about how to accept the gospel.

Romans 10: 9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:10 “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with our mouth that you confess and our saved.”

Have you ever noticed that what is deep inside us eventually comes out of our mouths?  We are ready to pray when we really believe deep down in our hearts what the Bible says about how Jesus died and rose again for us, and our hopelessly lost condition without Him. And when we are willing to count the cost of following Jesus and truly submitting to Him as Lord of our life.  Yes, then we are ready to pray.

Instead of walking an aisle and repeating some words that really mean nothing to you, like, “Yes, I accept Jesus into my heart.”  Or, just raising your hand in some church service where the pastor is asking if anyone wants to “accept Jesus.”  Instead you need to go to God on your knees, repent and confess, beg and plead with Him to accept you into His family.

Are you willing to follow Him?

II Corinthians 6:2b “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (KJV)

I could give you a sample prayer, but I’d much rather it came right from your own heart in your own words.  I pray you will submit to Jesus Christ as Lord of your life today.

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God Gave Me Security

Posted in Agoraphobia, Anxiety & Stress, Faith, inspirational, Panic Attacks, Praise, Testimonies on December 29, 2006| 1 Comment »

LakeSunset2

My name is Donna and I’m 47 years old.   Living with panic disorder and agoraphobia has been hard for me, but I know that God is with me, holding my hand, every step of the way. 

I was always nervous and insecure as a child.  I’m a victim of abuse from a older sibling.    I was abandoned by my father at an early age and even though he comes in and out of my life, I still lack the kind of security that lies deep within each person.   God has filled that insecurity up within my soul.    There are times when I go out of His will and feel that insecure feeling again, but thanks to God sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sins, I can go to Him and ask His forgiveness and feel His love inside my heart.  

I asked Jesus into my heart in 1974, but was what people call a “roller coaster” Christian.   Sometimes I would read my bible, then, even years would go by and I would think that I could do that another time.   But, the Lord always brought me back to Himself and planted my feet on solid ground.  He forgave me of my sins and made me feel secure again.    I had let the cares and worries of this world and of my affliction of panic disorder and agoraphobia almost rule my life sometimes.   I became housebound for a few years.    I’m not housebound now, but I still have to have my sister as my “safe person” when I go out.    I feel that God is healing me of this affliction but in His time.  Some people are healed instantly, while others have a resistant spirit and need more time to come to an understanding of how God works in our lives.   I’m one of those people.   But, God never gives up.  He say’s that nothing can pluck us out of His hand.  

Our comforter, the Holy Spirit, makes the insecurity go away from me and keeps me safe.   “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”   John 14:26   KJV  

It seems in this world today that people are so lost and do not want to be found, but for those who care enough about their lives and eternity, I encourage you to ask Jesus into your heart, to forgive you of your past sins and then go and live a life worthy to be called a child of God.   Ask yourself, where will I spend eternity?    “The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”    1 Corinthians 15:52   KJV

Blessings to all,

Donna Summerlin

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God Is Concerned About What We Do!

Posted in Anxiety & Stress, Bible Study, Christian, Faith, inspirational, Praise, Scripture on November 30, 2006| 1 Comment »

In recent lessons we learned that God gives us help in our thought lives and cares about what we say. God also is very concerned about what we do.These three things are connected. Have you ever stopped to realize what we think about usually ends up coming out in our speech, and later leads to our actions? Here is one example:

An action starts in our minds. For instance, we think we’d like a new car. We start dwelling on that and pretty soon come up with all kinds of reasons why we need one. Finally, after thinking about it a couple of days we might just mention it to our spouse. Then we both dream about having a bright shinny new car. We talk it over and eventually stop by the car dealer to just look around. The salesman gets us to sign a contract and we have a new car.

This is the way God has made us and how we work. It is not necessarily bad but can be detrimental if our thoughts, speech and actions do not line up with the Word and will of God.

Here is another example which is not good. You and your spouse have an argument. Finally, one of you says, “Oh, let’s just get a divorce.” Whoops! That should not have been said out loud even if one of you thought it. What happens next is that thought of divorce is entertained by both of you. Eventually it comes out in speech again and seems like a real possibility when it never had before. You wind up in divorce court. This example is where our thoughts, speech and actions work against us and God’s will for us. We need to be careful of how we think, speak and act.

Here is a good verse that tells us how God wants us to act.

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. (James 1:22 NASB)

People who merely hear the Word and think they are saved are actually kidding themselves. This kind of person might go to church every Sunday and even be involved with the inner workings of the church. They might look like a Christian on Sunday, but the rest of the week you can’t tell them from anyone else. Their actions and speech do not measure up. We must prove ourselves as we continue to do the Word of God.

The best way I know of being a doer of the Word is to have a daily personal Bible study where pray, read the Word and actually take time to think about what it says and how it applies to you. The Holy Spirit will guide you if you ask Him. If we actually obey what God tells us in the Bible, then we will be doers of the Word.

As a Christian we are new creations in Christ. We need to manifest the attributes of Christ in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. It is important to know we can not do anything on our own. We need to pray and ask for His help.

We are to put off the old and put on the new. Here are a few scriptures that help us see how God wants us to act.

But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. (Colossians 3:8 NASB)

Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, (Colossians 3:9 NASB)

and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him. Colossians 3:10 NASB)

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32 NASB)

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; Colossians 3:12 NASB)

bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. (Colossians 3:13 NASB)

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 0″>(Colossians 3:14 NASB)

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. (Colossians 3:17 NASB)

You can make a list from the above scriptures. On one side of the page write down the negative things mentioned and on the other side write down the positive things mentioned. You can then easily see how you can “put off” certain habits and replace them by “putting on” another better habit.

If you slip and do one of those things God tells us to put off, then go to God in prayer and ask Him to forgive you.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NASB)

When we do this we will walk with Christ and grow into a mature Christian. Be a doer of the Word!

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Kick Out Fred!

Posted in Anxiety & Stress, Bible Study, Christian, Faith, inspirational, Panic Disorder Support, Scripture on November 24, 2006| Leave a Comment »

Have you ever had a run in with Fred? When Fear and Dread join forces they become Fred.  Fred is a bully,  He is a liar.  He is a sneak, and He is a thief. 

He comes in like a dark, ugly storm cloud. He drips with garbage and trash. He wants to overpower the playground of our mind.   He visits often and can become a habit.  He will become a squatter and stay as long as we let him.

Joy plays merrily on the swing and Fred barges right in and throws Joy to the ground and takes over.  When he tires of the swing he turns on Peace.  He lands a right and Peace turns to vapor.  He tosses Contentment over the fence, and Patience flees in fear.  Soon Fred has control of the whole playground.  Fred is mean and wants nothing more than to ruin our joy in the Lord.

We need to call for help from our big brother.  Jeremiah 33:3  “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (KJV) says the Lord.

God will send the Holy Spirit whose power is unlimited.  His power actually raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him his resurrected body.  THAT IS POWER!  Fred hasn’t a chance against the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit can even bring in his backup crew with all the meridians of angels that God has available just for such battles.

The Holy Spirit grabs Fred and tosses him right out of playground. Then he opens the gate and ushers Joy, Peace and Contentment back in. Patience follows.  Fred is gone, at least for the time being.  Oh, he will try to come back.  Most likely sooner than later, but again we need to call out for help.  You see, we are puny and powerless in ourselves.  Fred looks and feels like a giant to us, but to the Holy Spirit he is no bigger than an ant.  He can just flick him away with one finger.

The next time Fred comes to the playground of your mind KICK HIM OUT!

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God Cares About What We Say!

Posted in Anxiety & Stress, Bible Study, Christian, Faith, inspirational, Praise, Scripture on November 17, 2006| Leave a Comment »

Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear. Ephesians 4:29 ASV

Earlier we talked about how God can help us control our thought life. He is also interested in our speech.

When we become Christians our talk should change. I know after I became a Christian it started to bother me to be around my old friends who talked rough. When anyone would take the name of Jesus in vain it smarted. I wasn’t really aware of it as much before, but after finding the Lord bad language jumped out at me and made me uneasy. Have you ever felt that way? I’ve discovered the reason is because the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us when we are converted and He causes that uneasiness inside us. The bad language is offensive to Him.

Throughout the years we acquire a lot of habits that we carrying along with us, but we need to recognize them and make a conscious effort to put them off. It is kind of like changing a dirty set of clothing. We take off the old dirty ones and put on nice clean fresh ones.

Here is what God says:

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice: (Ephesians 4:31 ASV)

We are to peal all that old junk off and put on the following:

and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32 ASV)

We need to be careful with our speech and make sure it is graceful and kind.

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer each one. (Colossians 4:6 ASV)

Did you know our tongue can be our worse enemy? It can literally destroy us. God knows this and warns us in the book of James.

And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body,… (James 3:6 ASV)

We need to learn to control our tongues. Have you ever stopped to analyze what you talk about when with your friends and family? Our talk can actually do us harm as well as others. God is not in favor of idol talk, gossip, slander, or swearing and cussing. How do your friends talk?

On the other hand those who learn to control what they say are much better off and keep out of trouble. God will judge us on what we have said.

“Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue Keepeth his soul from troubles.” (Proverbs 21:23 ASV)

God tells us that we are fools if we allow our tongues to rule us.

A fool’s mouth is his destruction, And his lips are the snare of his soul. (Proverbs 18:7 ASV)

Here are Jesus’ own words. He tells us that we have a heart problem. Have you ever said something and thought, “why did I say that?” Or, “that didn’t sound very nice.” The Lord says what we say comes from our heart. It reveals what is on the inside of us and shows us what we need to change. That is a scary thought. I don’t like to think the ugly things that come out of my mouth actually reveal the real me. Ouch!

Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (Matthew 12:34 ASV)

We need to clean up our speech. We need to build each other up and not tear each other down. We are to minister to others in love and kindness. It is so easy to fall into the trap of talking about others. We need to be on constant guard of our mouths. This isn’t a hopeless situation. There are several things we can do. We can pray and ask God to forgive us when we misspeak or when we fall into the trap of gossip. He will forgive us and give us another chance to get it right. We can ask God to put a guard on our mouth and alert us when things are getting out of control. If we are with others who are not speaking in a God honoring way, we can avoid joining into the conversation and sometimes we even have to stop being around certain people. I’ve had to do that too.

Another thing is that God wants us to be ready to tell others about our hope in Christ.

(Psalms 119:11 ASV) but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear: (1 Peter 3:15 ASV)

We have clearly seen from the Bible how God is concerned not only about what we think, but also about what we say. Even though I’ve been a Christian for over 30 years I haven’t arrive at perfection.  I pray you will examine yourself along with me and try to speak in a way that is always pleasing to our precious Savior.

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Trust and Obey

Posted in Bible Study, Christian, Faith, inspirational, Praise, Scripture, Worship on November 14, 2006| 1 Comment »

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB)

Before we became Christians we were in rebellion to God and were powerless.  After we become Christians we are still powerless in ourselves.  In order to be victorious we need to yield ourselves to God so that He can live His life through us.  He wants us to be His servants here on this earth to lead others to a saving knowledge of Christ.

So many time I’ve heard messages about letting Christ live through us. But, how do we actually do that?   Is it following a bunch of rules?  No, that’s not it.  That is legalism.  Is it trying our best?  I’ve heard many people say, “Oh, she is doing her best.”  Or, “He is a hard worker and trying.”  No, that’s not the answer either.  How about this one? “I’m going to do better!  That’s not it either.  You can’t do better on your own.  We have to actually die to ourselves and let the Holy Spirit live through us. 

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (NIV)

You see it isn’t about us.  It is about what the Lord wants us to do.

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

We are to present ourselves to God as living sacrifices.  God now owns us and we are his possession.  How wonderful it is to know that He even wants us. 

The answer then to the question of how do we live this Christian life in power is to obey Christ.  We must do what He says.  The only way we can know what will please Him is to read and study the Bible and pray.  Do you have a time each day that you spend with Him?  If you don’t why not give it a try.  You will find that somehow God gives that time back to you and you still get just as much done.  You will be truly blessed.  You will discover how God wants you to live as you communicate with Him. 

As we walk the Christian life we will sin.  Everyone does.  Sin is disobedience to God.  When this happens it breaks our fellowship with the Lord.  At that instance we are back walking in the flesh, even though we are still a Christian.  That is called being carnal.  Many people who you see in church every week are actually carnal Christians.  That means they are Christians and on their way to Heaven, but they are out of fellowship with the Lord.  They are powerless.  I don’t think most of them even know of their sad condition.  They are spiritually ill.  Oh they still are busy as beavers.  They sing in the choir, lead Bible studies, participate in the music ministry, and are even leaders in the church.  A person can by busy for the Lord and still out of fellowship with Him.  However, their ministry and life will not be productive.  And, if they stay out of fellowship with God they will be disciplined. 

God has a solution to this illness. It is found in  I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  (NIV)  We must agree with God that what we did was wrong and He will wash us clean again and restore our fellowship with Himself.  Then we will be walking in the Spirit again and have His power to serve Him effectively.  That is why communication with God is so important.  He will keep us on track and we will know when we sin.

One way to think about how walking with God in obedience and power works is to compare it to a lamp.  God would be the power source.  The lamp is plugged in and then it can be effective and give off light.  Suppose you turn off the switch on the lamp.  The light goes out.  Well, that is what happens when we sin.  It is like turning the off switch.

When we are saved we are  plugged into God our power source.  The power that flows out from God to us is the Holy Spirit power.  When we are in fellowship the power flows and we can give out light to the world.  However, when we sin, the power goes off.  It is like turning the off switch on the lamp.  We cannot please the Lord when we are out of fellowship and we lose our power. When we confess our sins God turns the power back on for us.  We never lose our salvation, but we do lose our power.

I remember an old Christian Hymn, “Trust and Obey.” that speaks to this truth.

When we walk with the Lord
In the Light of His Word
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.

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