Skip to main content


We come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and begin to experience what it means to live in the Kingdom of God by the work and power of God’s grace alone. I believe all of us come into the Kingdom of God on the arm of a trusted friend through whom the Lord Jesus has been revealing Himself to us SO THAT His Word and His ways begin to shed light into a heart and mind that once were profoundly dark and dead.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to renew our minds and we cooperate with Him as we read, memorize and meditate on the Word of God written, the Bible. It is the Holy Spirit Who makes that Word come alive and begin to transform the way we think about everything. Jesus made it very clear that, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” It is not my “right thinking” that attracts God to me so that I might know Him and His ways. A dead man is not a decisive man. I must be given a new life, a new heart and a new Spirit indwelt by and filled by the Holy Spirit.

IF the Lord is my Shepherd, then it is HE who teaches me, enlightens me and moves upon me to set my mind on Who He is. “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is set on You, because he trusts in You.” I will set my mind and heart on the Lord Jesus BECAUSE I trust in Him. Why else would someone do such a thing? Why would I have someone as the fixed point of my thoughts, and actions flowing from those thoughts, IF I didn’t trust that one! He is the Author and Perfector of my faith; meaning that my faith depends upon Him from start to finish.

Right thinking does not save, redeem, restore or heal me. Salvation, restoration, healing and life-transformation come from the Lord as His gifts of grace. He even enables me to respond and cooperate with Him. My “mind can be fixed” upon the Lord because He makes it possible. IF the Lord IS my Shepherd, then it’s not my “right thinking” that makes it so. I learn to hear His voice because He speaks to me. I learn to recognize His voice by the Holy Spirit making the written Word alive within my mind, my will, my emotions and even my body. The Word of God and the Love and faithfulness of God impact the whole of who I am as a human being.

Because I belong to Him, my true Home, Heaven, is a given, and the Kingdom of God (the rule of God in, over and through a follower of Jesus Christ) can begin to be lived into BECAUSE He is faithful to finish in me that which He has begun. Am I called to be diligent? Is a sheep called to follow its Shepherd? YES! I am to trust Him BECAUSE in every commandment there is embedded His own covenant faithfulness and promise to empower and enable my obedience and faithfulness.

Jesus Christ said specifically that those who would live their lives following Him would be DOING the very things He had been doing. As the Father showed Jesus what He was doing so that the Son might be doing just that, the Holy Spirit reveals and empowers Jesus’ followers to see and do what Jesus continues to do. It wasn’t due to “right-thinking”, but by Holy Spirit-renewed minds to think and act in the power of Jesus’ resurrection that we see in the Book of Acts Jesus still at work.

The longer I have been following Jesus Christ and seeking Him, the more I am aware that it has been Him seeking me, calling me and empowering me by the Holy Spirit to follow Him all along.




  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  PRAYER Jesus Christ NEVER taught on what we call "unanswered prayer." James wrote that a divided loyalty between trusting the Lord God for life and at the same time relying on the world's systems to get what you want will result in you not getting anything from God you may have prayed about. God will never reinforce the unbelief that flows from divided loyalty. THAT is not unanswered prayer. That is God saying, "No." to your request. God saying, "No." to your requests is not unanswered prayer. It is His grace. His "No" is just what I would want if I knew what He knows. The Lord also answers with, "Not now; not yet." because we are not yet prepared to receive what we think we need. God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. If I am praying for something God wants to do in me and the Holy Spirit is working in me preparing me to receive what God has in store, His "Not yet." is NOT unanswered prayer. As we see...
Post a Comment
Read more
 HEBREWS 10:1-2, 10-18 "The sacrifices under that system ( the Old Covenant) were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.   If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.   For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.  Under the Old Covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.   But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.   There He waits until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool under His feet.   For by that one offering He forever m...
Post a Comment
Read more
  From Oswald Chambers today: "If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child of the darkness will say, “Oh, I can explain that.” When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it. If, however, you try to vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of the darkness. What is the proof that carnality has gone? Never deceive yourself; when carnality is gone you will know it— it is the most real thing you can imagine. And God will see to it that you have a number of opportunities to prove to yourself the miracle of His grace. The proof is in a very practical test. You will find yourself saying, “If this had happened before, I would have had the spirit of resentment!”...
Post a Comment
Read more