Seen the Holy Spirit, Lately?

I participate in a Bible study at work each Wednesday at noon.  It’s a diverse group and one of our newer members with little church background has asked for a study on the Holy Spirit.  He’s confused why he heard little about the Holy Spirit growing up in a conservative church and why one of his friends describes the Spirit using much talk about charismatic activities related to the Spirit in his life.  The new guy wants to know how to connect and what the Spirit is going to do within him and through him when he does connect.

He may be asking the wrong question.

I have heard so many questions about what the Holy Spirit does and how he does it.  Usually these questions relate more to some grand things the people asking the question want to experience.  Speaking in tongues, healing and whatever else they can come up with and it most often trends to something that is very visible and very powerful.

I suggested to my friend that the answer might be much simpler and easier to find than he thinks and can be found much quicker than the three weeks we have invested in laying a foundation for the study.  Mimic Jesus.  Live like Jesus.  Do what Jesus did.  

While everyone else wants to know about speaking in tongues, healing what ails you and much more, I suggest that to really know the Holy Spirit, all I have to do is live a life of a disciple by simply opening my eyes to see people who need to know love, who need to experience love, who need someone to believe in them and endure the mess with them.  I propose all I and others need to do to experience the power of the Spirit is to simply live each day dedicated to loving others the way Christ loves me.  It may not be glamorous and it might even be hard and very ugly but Jesus didn’t come to heal and to speak in tongues.  He came to save a lost and dying world, every day, in the trenches, hanging out with the wounded and the hurting and the hungry and the naked and the homeless, both physically and spiritually.

As each day passes, I grow more and more convinced I won’t come to know the Holy Spirit in the comfort of my padded seat in the climate controlled comfort of the beautiful sanctuary I call the church building.  Instead, I will meet the Spirit in the streets, in the gutters, in homes and in hearts of people who are struggling and hurting and grasping for a handhold to pull out of the hole they are in.  

I’ll really know and understand the Holy Spirit when I mimic, live like and do what Jesus did.  I believe this is true because I know Jesus was full of the Spirit.  The Bible says so.

Can it be that simple?

Grace and  peace.

Jeff Jones

Decatur, Texas

The Incredible Journey

The Disney Corporation has made over 330 movies since Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs in 1939.  In 1963 with a remake in 1993, Disney made a movie called Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.  It is the story of three pets (two dogs and a cat) that make an incredible cross-country journey to be reunited with their family.  Their journey takes them across mountains and rivers, encountering wild animals and many adventures until they are finally reunited with their family.

The Gospel writers tell us about an even more INCREDIBLE journey.  Paul describes it in Philippians 2.  ‘Christ Jesus did not count equality with God something to be grasped, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!  Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place.’

One of the reasons the journey of Jesus is so incredible is because Jesus willingly, voluntarily came from heaven to earth, knowing His ultimate end.  As an old hymn says, ‘He left the splendors of heaven, knowing His destiny was the lonely hill of Golgotha, there to lay down Hid life for me.’  Jesus knew what awaited Him in Jerusalem, but He  was determined to go there and drink the cup of suffering that awaited Him there.  Luke 9:51 says, ‘As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.’  One translation says that ‘He set His face toward Jerusalem.’

The Gospel writers devote major sections of their gospel accounts to describing what transpired during the last week of Jesus on this earth.  Let me encourage all of us to take time to reread the final accounts of the Gospels frequently.  As Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John recount for us the story of Jesus as He makes His journey to Golgotha, it is a great reminder of Paul’s words in Romans 5: ‘When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  God demonstrates His own love for us in this:  while we were sinners, Christ died for us.  When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son.’

Prayer:  Thank you, God, for letting Your Son make the incredible journey from heaven into our world—sacrificing Himself for us so that we can be in a relationship with You.

Terry Brown

Abilene, Texas

By His Power, For His Glory

It seems when I am striving my hardest to live Christ-minded and share with others, my adversary, Satan, afflicts me with a thorn in my flesh.  As I mature, only through and by the grace of God, I have come to realize that Satan’s desperate attempts to make us stumble by pressure, discouragement, distress, and persecution are deliberately timed.  

Whenever we have sin in our lives, Satan will pounce on the opportunity to turn a possible sin like fear or anger into greater evil. His purpose is to make it as difficult as possible for you and I to reach out to others in a Christ-like manner.  What better time to challenge us than when we are facing our own struggles.  

God tells us that our troubles are meant to show His glory which molds us into the likeness of Christ as a direct result of ministering to the lives and needs of others during our own sufferings just like our brother, Paul.  In Corinthians, Paul shares ways to change our discouragement into peace and joy.  “There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me three times.  I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong. (II Cor. 12: 7-10)

If we proclaim to have faith in God then why is it so difficult for us to demonstrate faith during our most vulnerable times? Why do we tend to rely on earthly resources before putting our reliance in a God that is so great that He surpasses all knowledge… a God with infinite attributes who allows us to draw on his resources?

Everyone can look back in the past or possibly the present to a time when you didn’t know how you were going to feed your family their next meal, pay the rent or electricity, buy your children shoes, pay medical bills, etc., but yet somehow your needs were met.

I Kings 17 is an example of how Elijah demonstrated his faith and put complete reliance in the Lord and he was fed by the ravens or the poor widow at Zarephath that was preparing her last meal for she and her son. By faith she was blessed by relying on the word of God and never ran out of food. Yet, like some of us, it was not enough. When her son became ill and died, she questioned God as to why she was being punished for her past sins.  It took another miracle of raising her son from dead for her to have complete faith in God.

God works through our weaknesses (II Cor. 11:28 - 12:6) and strengthens us when we are weak and tired. (I Cor. 1: 8, 9) He provides us not with weapons of the world, but weapons of divine power to demolish strongholds. (II Cor. 10:4) We are not alone in facing our troubles. God is faithful. He has proved that over and over in the bible and in our lives.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us hope through our struggles each and every day.  Everything we do by His Power and for His Glory will last to eternity.  Commit to being preoccupied with being holy in all matters of life and demonstrating your faith by total reliance in God.

For this reason, I kneel before the Father. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. To Him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

Carla Henson

Tuscola, Texas

Prayer Comes in All Sizes

I used to try to pray BIG.  By that I mean I didn’t want to bother God with too many of my small personal requests. I knew I should pray for things such as forgiveness, faith, spiritual growth, and wisdom; for the sick, for the hungry, the missionaries, world peace.  But somehow I had the impression that praying for my own earthly dreams and desires was selfish prayer. In fact, I remember hearing someone say that those who pray such self-centered prayers have a shallow view of God as some kind of divine genie to grant their every wish. And that for me to ask Him to intervene in my life for my own selfish purposes is to attempt to manipulate Him.  

I didn’t want to do that, and it didn’t sound like it would do much good anyway. So I tried to pray big prayers. But I didn’t get to know God very well that way. I didn’t really get to know Him until I started praying small.

I’m thankful for the people in my life who have helped me to have a better understanding of prayer and a closer relationship with the Father. From their example and from studies of the Word about prayer, I decided that I can and should pray about everything.

Philippians 4:6 is a scripture I think of often,

“Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Does God care about our small needs and requests? Of course he does; He’s our Father.
Is it Ok to pray for God to help you find your car keys when you’ve looked everywhere and you’re late for something really important? Or to pray that the washing machine won’t break down today because you had to buy a new oven just last month; or to pray for your child to have a good day at school today or to do well on an important test?  I think it is.

Whenever I pray for small things, whenever I express to God my daily anxieties and inabilities, I feel much closer to Him.  He becomes part of my daily life. And the more I ask of Him, the more he answers.  The more I talk to Him, the more I want to know Him.  And my faith grows, and I become more bold and confident to pray about the bigger things.  And as my intimacy with God grows, I find it easier to know if I am praying in humility and in His will.

C.H. Spurgeon preached 130 sermons on Prayer.  In one of them he says,

“A little thing may often touch the heart more than a great

thing. Now, how often have we, if we have acted rightly, taken little things

before the Lord. I believe it is the Christian’s privilege to take all his

sorrows to his God, be they little or be they great. I have often prayed to

God about a matter at which you would laugh if I should mention it. In

looking back I can only say it was a little thing, but it seemed great at the

time. It was like a little thorn in the finger, it caused much pain, and might

have brought forth, at last, a great wound. I learned to lay my little troubles

at the feet of Jesus. Why should we not? Are not our great ones little? and

is there, after all, much difference between great troubles and little ones in

the sight of God? My gratitude compels me to say, “I love the Lord, because he has heard those little prayers, and answered my little supplications, and made me blessed, even in little things which, after all, make up the life of man.”

http://www.prayermeetings.org/C_H_Spurgeon_Sermons_on_Prayer.html

Father, help me to grow into a more intimate relationship with You so that I may be anxious for nothing, bringing before you the Small things as well as the Big ones. Show me the things in my life that might hinder my prayers.Thank you for Christ who intercedes for me  now and every time I come before you. Amen

Lynn Anne Hughes

Stephenville, Texas

Theme: James 3

Wisdom and Community:  Seen it Lately?

A few weeks ago, I had lunch with a couple of college students and our conversation caused me to pause and reflect.  While we discussed their daily routines and college life in general, the memories of my walk through the halls of academe resurfaced.  At one point, they asked me what I did during lunch each day which brought back even better memories. 

During my college years, I lived at home and commuted back and forth to school.  This was partly because we had a dairy farm on which I worked but mainly due to the expense of getting my own place (news flash – most college students are broke).  Because we lived several miles from the university and the fact that I was a stereotypical college student (dead-broke), driving back home each day for lunch was not an option.  So, I either took my lunch, attended free lunches, or on some Thursdays I would eat with my grandmother who lived in town.

Now Granny could cook.  Man, could she cook!  Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas were just a sampling of her repertoire that could cause the most heated family political debate to be put on hold until after supper.  Even her tuna salad could make you dance.  However, I think it was the conversation during these Thursday noon-time meals that fed me the most. 

Granny and Pa were farmers as well.  They had a dairy and raised, hay, cotton, and peanuts as did many of their neighbors.  My ears really tuned in when she described harvest-time back in those days.  She would tell of how one neighbor may own a thrasher and someone else have a hay baler or tractor and how they would all come together when the crops were ready, moving from one family farm to the next, harvesting field after field for several weeks until the harvest was completed.  She would talk about the huge meals they would prepare each day for those working in the fields and how everyone (man, woman, and child) shared a role in some aspect of the harvest.  As she talks, I can see folks working with one another through good times and bad.  I can see their struggles but also feel their comfort knowing they are shared struggles.  I can sense the sincerity of their labor and feel the joy they share for one another.    What a beautiful picture of individuals within community with a common purpose.    

Times are a bit different now.  Today, it seems that there is more emphasis placed individual pursuits.  One doesn’t have to look very far to find the prevalence of the “Do-It-Yourself” (DIY) mentality in our culture.  We have businesses and television channels dedicated to it.  You can even find a television show depicting the plight of individuals clawing, backstabbing, and maliciously fighting their way through a series of “group projects” in an effort to become the next “Apprentice” of a millionaire.  Not too long ago there was a special television show created by a basketball star (referred to as “King”) that depicted his selection process for which team would be afforded the opportunity to award him his next big contract.  A somewhat different picture than the one Granny painted.

Please don’t misunderstand me.  It is necessary for us to develop our talents and skills and be able to take care of ourselves.  It is important for us to be able to do some things on our own.  But, I think it is of greater importance to look at why we are equipping ourselves and for what purpose.  When I survey the picture painted in the previous paragraph it becomes apparent to me that, if we allow culture and “self” to become the informant that directs our journey, then greed, envy, and selfish-ambition will ultimately become our wisdom.  Our path then becomes twisted and fraught with danger.  Furthermore and contrary to popular thought, this state of being affects not only the individual but the community as well.  

James reminds us that “…the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”  (James 3:17)

As I reflect on the words pure, peace-loving, considerate, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere, the picture that Granny painted keeps popping into my mind.  Of the two pictures I’ve presented, this one seems more Christ-like…more humble.

Have you thought about who your “King” is?  What are you an “Apprentice” of?  What you are harvesting and for whom?

Father, bless me with the strength and courage to put my knowledge of you and your will into action.  May I advance your purposes.  Thank you for community as I can’t do it alone.  Thank you for sending Jesus to save me from myself.

In His name I pray,

Amen

Todd Adams – Dublin, TX

Theme: James 3

Wisdom:  Two Choices

“You are the king!  What is wrong, why are you not eating?  Arise, eat and be happy, for I will give you the plot of land you so desire.  You are the king, no one refuses the will of the king!”
Jezebel devised a wicked plan to acquire the vineyard of Naboth.  In the name of king Ahab, she wrote letters to the elders and nobles living in the city with Naboth.  They were to proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people.  Two evil men were to testify against him declaring, he had cursed God and the king.  It happened just as Jezebel had planned; the people stoned Naboth upon hearing the false testimony of two witnesses.

Evil Jezebel instructed her husband, Ahab, to go take the vineyard because Naboth was dead.  He did.   Elijah was given a word from the LORD concerning Ahab and Jezebel.  Elijah shared with Ahab the curse the LORD would bring upon him.  (taken from I Kings 21)

¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing ( James 3:14-16).

Tabitha lived in Joppa, she was a believer.  Doing good and helping poor people was her mission (See Acts 9:36)

¹³ Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom (James 3:13).

Which wisdom will you and I choose?
An earthly wisdom, governed by jealousy and selfish ambition?
A wisdom governed by good behavior and gentleness?


Loving, Merciful Father,
Impart to us a desire to seek and follow Your wisdom, to deny the desires of this world.  To serve those in need as Your hands and feet.  Thank You, Father, for the wisdom Christ modeled as He walked upon this earth.  In His beautiful name, Amen.

Mischelle Oiver, Stephenville

Theme: James 3

Examine the Evidence

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers, this should not be.  Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?  My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?  Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

James 3:9-12

James uses the first 8 verses of chapter 3 to illustrate and emphasize the significant influence our words have on our life.  Beginning in verse 9, James contrasts the good and evil ways we use our tongue.  The idea that we can praise God in one breath and curse our brother with the next isn’t acceptable, “This should not be.”  He reasons that this behavior does not make sense for a disciple of Jesus Christ.  In fact, this type of behavior is impossible for a true disciple.  He concludes his argument with emphatic comparisons about fresh or salt water and types of trees.  

James’ logic is comparable to Jesus’ teaching in Luke 6:43-45.  Jesus drew upon an age-old axiom, “Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.”  What we see and hear and touch provides evidence for identification.  We humans not only understand this concept, we embrace the allure of an investigation.  For example, criminal investigation scripts have for decades been a popular genre for movies and television.  Yet, in our own lives, we tend to fail to see evidence (or ignore the evidence if it is known) which might reveal faults within us.  Jesus continues his cautionary comments, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

An additional and related matter is that God asked us to follow Jesus’ example of love.  We are commanded to love one another (John 13:34).  John later makes the argument that loving God and loving our brother are joint commands, not optional choices (1 John 4:19-21).

If praising and cursing are evident in your speech, is it possible you have a blind eye to the truth? Maybe some cleansing needs to take place in your heart.  God has amazing power to produce fresh water.

Dear Father, please help me to have the self-control to use my words wisely.  I want to demonstrate my love for you by praising you.  I also want to demonstrate my love for you by loving my brother.  This should be evident in the way I speak to my brother.  Please cleanse my heart and strengthen my resolve.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Carl Smith
Stephenville, TX