i hear some people asking about how to stay strong in the faith, and how to be stedfast, how to keep this fire burning.
well, i know im not anybody, but id like to offer some advice, and whats changed my life.
ill try to make this short, but bear with me.
1 cor 15.58
BE YE STEDFAST, UNMOVEABLE!...
praise God, God wills us to have lives that are strong, stedfast, firm, deeply rooted, that arent plucked up, choked out, blown over or cut down, he doesnt desire us to be thrown around by every wind of temptation and trial that comes our way. we can be unmoveable, we really can be.
collosians 2.6,7
as ye have therefor received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
ROOTED, AND BUILT UP IN HIM...
before you can grow tall and spread your branches spiritually, you must first have a firm foundation that is strong enough to hold you still, when the winds come.
the footings and foundation are most important.
you have to be ROOTED, before you can be BUILT UP.
like a house is built from the ground up, making sure the foundation is secure, your life is the same.
let me paint a picture to better illustrate this,
a tree, can grow tall, spread its branches, be great and beautiful and even give food for the hungry and support much life, but i guarantee you, its roots go twice as deep as the tree is tall. there is twice as much there that you dont see, than what you do.
all those great branches and those beautiful leaves, would come falling down at the smallest wind, if it did not have a very strong foundation.
thats like us, before we can be great for God, we must first grow a strong foundation that is able to hold us up during tribulations.
WE MUST COME TO THE PLACE IN OUR LIVES, THAT NOTHING CAN MOVE US, ONLY THEN CAN WE HAVE A MINISTRY, OR ELSE IT WILL CRUMBLE AND COME TOPPLING DOWN.
the way to do this not something many people know, alot of people tell you to get saved, not many tell you how to stay saved during the storms that will come against you. one man said "you will go through pure unadulterated hell..." when you get saved.
i will try to make the next part easy to understand.
remember where the trees strength came from, down on the surface of the ground and below, at the base of its trunk.
remember that, so the next part will make sense.
gen 1.2
...and the Spirit of God moved upon the FACE of the waters.
across the surface of the waters, not in the air, or in the sky, down on the surface.
just like a tree's strength is in the lower parts near the surface of the ground, and the holyspirit moved upon the surface of the waters: (these two things happen simultaniosly in the life of christians, and describe their lives)
the key to a christian being firm and stedfast in the lord is the MOVING OF THE SPIRIT.
if you didnt just get how those 2 pictures fit together, sorry, its hard to articulate it.
but,
anyway, the key to becoming firm in the lord is the holyspirit and you getting alone with him and meeting with him so he can move in your life.
you really do need those times when he speaks to you, when hes comes near, you need experiences with him that shake your life and they need to be continual.
ive sat in church for years and watched teens go away on youth retreats and god do something that radically changed their lives, but little by little, overtime, they stop singing and shouting and a sleep sets in, things change, and you can tell, sin has set back in, and they always come back to God and testify of how they had once been on fire for God, but they fell away.
becuase those experiences with God are what make us strong.
thats why we LIVE by everyword that comes out of his mouth, its those awesome experiences with God where he speakes to us that give us life.
you must be begin to set aside time everyday to worship and pray and get alone with him, and give him a time and place where he can move upon your life, he cant do that while your bustling around at work or school. the secret place is important. and when you meet him there in your secret place, all alone and still, you will be blown away at the experiences you have there with him.
and that will cause you to be strengthened grow roots, and be able to be stedfast.
the holyspirit MOVED on the water.
that word also means FLUTTER...
its those times when God shakes you, and you are overwhelmed with emotion and fall on your face before God, that change your life forever.
and in those tear filled times, its like you can listen, and in your spirit, you can almost hear the wings of the holyspirit fluttering...
its so beautiful.
but as time goes by, you stop meeting with him, you dont cry anymore, and can no longer hear the fluttering of his wings. like the old christmas movie, the young boy grew old, and could no longer hear the dinging of the bell santa had given him, because things had changed... my God....we have to go back to our prayer closets and fall on our faces and call the fire down again... we cant become stoic people that dont cry or worship anymore! im about to cry just typing this, we have to go meet with him again.
a life that is full of the moving of the holyspirit, is a life that cant be shaken.
well, i know im not anybody, but id like to offer some advice, and whats changed my life.
ill try to make this short, but bear with me.
1 cor 15.58
BE YE STEDFAST, UNMOVEABLE!...
praise God, God wills us to have lives that are strong, stedfast, firm, deeply rooted, that arent plucked up, choked out, blown over or cut down, he doesnt desire us to be thrown around by every wind of temptation and trial that comes our way. we can be unmoveable, we really can be.
collosians 2.6,7
as ye have therefor received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
ROOTED, AND BUILT UP IN HIM...
before you can grow tall and spread your branches spiritually, you must first have a firm foundation that is strong enough to hold you still, when the winds come.
the footings and foundation are most important.
you have to be ROOTED, before you can be BUILT UP.
like a house is built from the ground up, making sure the foundation is secure, your life is the same.
let me paint a picture to better illustrate this,
a tree, can grow tall, spread its branches, be great and beautiful and even give food for the hungry and support much life, but i guarantee you, its roots go twice as deep as the tree is tall. there is twice as much there that you dont see, than what you do.
all those great branches and those beautiful leaves, would come falling down at the smallest wind, if it did not have a very strong foundation.
thats like us, before we can be great for God, we must first grow a strong foundation that is able to hold us up during tribulations.
WE MUST COME TO THE PLACE IN OUR LIVES, THAT NOTHING CAN MOVE US, ONLY THEN CAN WE HAVE A MINISTRY, OR ELSE IT WILL CRUMBLE AND COME TOPPLING DOWN.
the way to do this not something many people know, alot of people tell you to get saved, not many tell you how to stay saved during the storms that will come against you. one man said "you will go through pure unadulterated hell..." when you get saved.
i will try to make the next part easy to understand.
remember where the trees strength came from, down on the surface of the ground and below, at the base of its trunk.
remember that, so the next part will make sense.
gen 1.2
...and the Spirit of God moved upon the FACE of the waters.
across the surface of the waters, not in the air, or in the sky, down on the surface.
just like a tree's strength is in the lower parts near the surface of the ground, and the holyspirit moved upon the surface of the waters: (these two things happen simultaniosly in the life of christians, and describe their lives)
the key to a christian being firm and stedfast in the lord is the MOVING OF THE SPIRIT.
if you didnt just get how those 2 pictures fit together, sorry, its hard to articulate it.
but,
anyway, the key to becoming firm in the lord is the holyspirit and you getting alone with him and meeting with him so he can move in your life.
you really do need those times when he speaks to you, when hes comes near, you need experiences with him that shake your life and they need to be continual.
ive sat in church for years and watched teens go away on youth retreats and god do something that radically changed their lives, but little by little, overtime, they stop singing and shouting and a sleep sets in, things change, and you can tell, sin has set back in, and they always come back to God and testify of how they had once been on fire for God, but they fell away.
becuase those experiences with God are what make us strong.
thats why we LIVE by everyword that comes out of his mouth, its those awesome experiences with God where he speakes to us that give us life.
you must be begin to set aside time everyday to worship and pray and get alone with him, and give him a time and place where he can move upon your life, he cant do that while your bustling around at work or school. the secret place is important. and when you meet him there in your secret place, all alone and still, you will be blown away at the experiences you have there with him.
and that will cause you to be strengthened grow roots, and be able to be stedfast.
the holyspirit MOVED on the water.
that word also means FLUTTER...
its those times when God shakes you, and you are overwhelmed with emotion and fall on your face before God, that change your life forever.
and in those tear filled times, its like you can listen, and in your spirit, you can almost hear the wings of the holyspirit fluttering...
its so beautiful.
but as time goes by, you stop meeting with him, you dont cry anymore, and can no longer hear the fluttering of his wings. like the old christmas movie, the young boy grew old, and could no longer hear the dinging of the bell santa had given him, because things had changed... my God....we have to go back to our prayer closets and fall on our faces and call the fire down again... we cant become stoic people that dont cry or worship anymore! im about to cry just typing this, we have to go meet with him again.
a life that is full of the moving of the holyspirit, is a life that cant be shaken.