A fellow Believer and close friend of mine asked me the other day, "Tommy, do you often experience swings in your spirituality?" He described to me times when he is really "on the mark" with his prayerlife and Bible study, and also times for him when he just can't seem to get it together, when prayer, praise and Bible study come hard to focus on.
"Jim," I answered him, "I think us humans are just that way. Sometimes things come easy and sometimes they just don't." I told him, in other words, not to worry about it, unless he just stays at a low point for maybe weeks at a time.
.........
I guess I am asking you to think about what you hear and see around you, and how things can often affect you or not, AND YOU AREN'T EVEN AWARE OF IT.
As an example, let's take the next horoscope reading you run across in the newspaper or on-line, OK? Try to picture in your mind where people's heads are at, these folk who actually believe and follow such things. Can you? Or are such things basically "harmless" to you, just words that others write for entertainment? Or how about t.v. shows celebrating "channeling" and communication with the dead or their ghosts? And is Ouiji board-use also quite "harmless" entertainment? And just what about those who actually believe in forces which they think control such things as tarot cards or other divining techniques? Also harmless?
..........
The point of this post is the question, "What can kill personal and community worship activities?" What I want to stress is, spiritual uplifting and spiritual disaster aren't always that far away from each other, actually. Why I say this, is that I have read again and again about how even the most "seasoned of Believers" can oftentime really get into ruts, with regards to their spiritual life. In other words, spiritual success can sometimes EASILY lead to spiritual complacency.
And what I really think a person needs to do in this type of situation is to occasionally ask themselves, through some serious introspection, whether or not they are letting their ordinary Sunday worship routine cause them to marginalize what might be going on right within their own community of thoughts. What I mean is, Believers who limit their "worship time" to just within the four walls of their church sanctuary, often forget to question what's going on in their minds on other hours and days of the week, when they're NOT in church or Bible study. Yes, how often do we stop to think how often we might just be harboring a "tongue in cheek" attitude to what we let into our minds, mostly in very unconscious ways.
I'm talking about daily mental habits, and how they can easily open the door to spiritual strongholds, OK?
.........
Lord, please help us not to thwart our sensitivity to what is in the world around us and how these things filter into our ways of thinking and worshiping. Show us when we are letting our thinking habits turn into patterns of neglect, if they are habits which are desensitizing us to what YOU want us to think and do in this life which You have so Graciously gifted us with. In Jesus Name, I pray for us all, Father. Amen.
..........
I think that oftentimes I make things too complicated. My wife OFTEN tells me that I think too much.
But aren't we often seeing things, in our lives of mental and social community, which are called "normal" or "just play", which are actually some people's first steps toward idolatry or even blasphemy? As critical as I may be beginning to sound here, when and where do we put our foot down, at least in our own lives, as to what we call important or even righteous in GOD'S Eyes? Is it, "what's O.K.", or is it "what God has commanded" us to do or not to do? Yes, when do we begin to take heed of the seemingly "harmless" items of society which can, if done in many different ways, actually have us unconsciously take our focus away from God-created thoughts and desires, and even activities?
So, what, may you ask, is all this about which I write? Could I be addressing the conflictive ways of the human mind? Yes, the way we think in church and the way we think after we get home again on Sunday afternoon or Wednesday evening? I ask you, "What does Jesus think of our HABITS of reading the Bible one day and then checking our horoscope or watching some ghost-whisperer the next night?" I am addressing, my friends here, the prevailing and often-fluctuating tides of Christian culture versus secular culture in our everyday life. I am just trying to get you to think about what you allow yourself to call "O.K.", as going into your head. Yes, there SHOULD BE a mighty war going on right within our very consciousness and awareness EVERY moment!
.........
Heavenly God, please help us be more and more aware of the often gentle yet continuous movement we make from how we show our faith practice to ourselves and others, and how YOU have taught us and commanded us to be. Please open our eyes Lord, through Your Holy Spirit, how our nation is changing right now RIGHT within our hearts, this day, this generation, and what each of us can do about it. Thank You, my Father.
.........
I, personally, look first at my own heart and how I have changed since receiving Jesus Christ these 36 months ago (just 2 days from now!). When you think of YOUR new life in Him, do you flashback only to the day you received Him? What of the days and months and years in between then and now? Where has your heart and mind been? Where have you gone since those first steps to Freedom in Jesus Christ? And how far have you gone since your first steps away from Him?
Our Righteousness, my Friends, is found in our hearts, our minds, our actions and DIRECTLY in the Word of God.
Near the end of Jeremiah 31:33, our Lord tells the world of then and now, "I WILL put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be My people." THIS is the "prophesy come true" for EACH of us. God has told us how to act and think. We KNOW better, don't we?
..........
Help us, Father, open our eyes to the fact that our righteousness comes from the bottom of our hearts. It is YOUR Word which we need to let penetrate us, and not what we allow ourselves to experience in this world. Help us to CONSCIOUSLY soak up your Word as we forsake these seemingly "harmless" first steps in which satan draws us to him. Through the Holy Spirit, Lord, let us declare to our minds what we see in YOUR Words and NOT the words of the world! And, Dear Father, please help us be so much more aware of what we DO let into our minds and hearts. Thank You, God, for ALL of our blessings.
..........
Ask God to help you thirst after Righteousness, and to help you remember what happened in that Upper Room when Jesus raised that Wonderful Cup of His and OUR New Covenant. Yes, THAT covenant which now fulfills ALL our dreams.
..........
And then He walked out into the night air of that Garden of His actual arrest, and took that Cup of His Fathers' and drank ALL of it for us. Only then did He finally and fully invite us to His Cross and Resurrection! THIS is how He put His Self in us. THIS is why we praise Him and turn our minds and eyes from such foolish things, such "harmless" things which can SURELY build those strongholds in us, IF they are left to themselves in our awareness. Do you see this, my Friends here? Be urgent to watch what you choose to keep in your minds. THIS is what you need to ask yourself to question each time you call yourself a Christian.
.........
Dear Father, help me fill my life with Your Holy Spirit so that there just isn't room for anything else. Tommy
"Jim," I answered him, "I think us humans are just that way. Sometimes things come easy and sometimes they just don't." I told him, in other words, not to worry about it, unless he just stays at a low point for maybe weeks at a time.
.........
I guess I am asking you to think about what you hear and see around you, and how things can often affect you or not, AND YOU AREN'T EVEN AWARE OF IT.
As an example, let's take the next horoscope reading you run across in the newspaper or on-line, OK? Try to picture in your mind where people's heads are at, these folk who actually believe and follow such things. Can you? Or are such things basically "harmless" to you, just words that others write for entertainment? Or how about t.v. shows celebrating "channeling" and communication with the dead or their ghosts? And is Ouiji board-use also quite "harmless" entertainment? And just what about those who actually believe in forces which they think control such things as tarot cards or other divining techniques? Also harmless?
..........
The point of this post is the question, "What can kill personal and community worship activities?" What I want to stress is, spiritual uplifting and spiritual disaster aren't always that far away from each other, actually. Why I say this, is that I have read again and again about how even the most "seasoned of Believers" can oftentime really get into ruts, with regards to their spiritual life. In other words, spiritual success can sometimes EASILY lead to spiritual complacency.
And what I really think a person needs to do in this type of situation is to occasionally ask themselves, through some serious introspection, whether or not they are letting their ordinary Sunday worship routine cause them to marginalize what might be going on right within their own community of thoughts. What I mean is, Believers who limit their "worship time" to just within the four walls of their church sanctuary, often forget to question what's going on in their minds on other hours and days of the week, when they're NOT in church or Bible study. Yes, how often do we stop to think how often we might just be harboring a "tongue in cheek" attitude to what we let into our minds, mostly in very unconscious ways.
I'm talking about daily mental habits, and how they can easily open the door to spiritual strongholds, OK?
.........
Lord, please help us not to thwart our sensitivity to what is in the world around us and how these things filter into our ways of thinking and worshiping. Show us when we are letting our thinking habits turn into patterns of neglect, if they are habits which are desensitizing us to what YOU want us to think and do in this life which You have so Graciously gifted us with. In Jesus Name, I pray for us all, Father. Amen.
..........
I think that oftentimes I make things too complicated. My wife OFTEN tells me that I think too much.
But aren't we often seeing things, in our lives of mental and social community, which are called "normal" or "just play", which are actually some people's first steps toward idolatry or even blasphemy? As critical as I may be beginning to sound here, when and where do we put our foot down, at least in our own lives, as to what we call important or even righteous in GOD'S Eyes? Is it, "what's O.K.", or is it "what God has commanded" us to do or not to do? Yes, when do we begin to take heed of the seemingly "harmless" items of society which can, if done in many different ways, actually have us unconsciously take our focus away from God-created thoughts and desires, and even activities?So, what, may you ask, is all this about which I write? Could I be addressing the conflictive ways of the human mind? Yes, the way we think in church and the way we think after we get home again on Sunday afternoon or Wednesday evening? I ask you, "What does Jesus think of our HABITS of reading the Bible one day and then checking our horoscope or watching some ghost-whisperer the next night?" I am addressing, my friends here, the prevailing and often-fluctuating tides of Christian culture versus secular culture in our everyday life. I am just trying to get you to think about what you allow yourself to call "O.K.", as going into your head. Yes, there SHOULD BE a mighty war going on right within our very consciousness and awareness EVERY moment!
.........
Heavenly God, please help us be more and more aware of the often gentle yet continuous movement we make from how we show our faith practice to ourselves and others, and how YOU have taught us and commanded us to be. Please open our eyes Lord, through Your Holy Spirit, how our nation is changing right now RIGHT within our hearts, this day, this generation, and what each of us can do about it. Thank You, my Father.
.........
I, personally, look first at my own heart and how I have changed since receiving Jesus Christ these 36 months ago (just 2 days from now!). When you think of YOUR new life in Him, do you flashback only to the day you received Him? What of the days and months and years in between then and now? Where has your heart and mind been? Where have you gone since those first steps to Freedom in Jesus Christ? And how far have you gone since your first steps away from Him?
Our Righteousness, my Friends, is found in our hearts, our minds, our actions and DIRECTLY in the Word of God.
Near the end of Jeremiah 31:33, our Lord tells the world of then and now, "I WILL put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be My people." THIS is the "prophesy come true" for EACH of us. God has told us how to act and think. We KNOW better, don't we?
..........
Help us, Father, open our eyes to the fact that our righteousness comes from the bottom of our hearts. It is YOUR Word which we need to let penetrate us, and not what we allow ourselves to experience in this world. Help us to CONSCIOUSLY soak up your Word as we forsake these seemingly "harmless" first steps in which satan draws us to him. Through the Holy Spirit, Lord, let us declare to our minds what we see in YOUR Words and NOT the words of the world! And, Dear Father, please help us be so much more aware of what we DO let into our minds and hearts. Thank You, God, for ALL of our blessings.
..........
Ask God to help you thirst after Righteousness, and to help you remember what happened in that Upper Room when Jesus raised that Wonderful Cup of His and OUR New Covenant. Yes, THAT covenant which now fulfills ALL our dreams.
..........
And then He walked out into the night air of that Garden of His actual arrest, and took that Cup of His Fathers' and drank ALL of it for us. Only then did He finally and fully invite us to His Cross and Resurrection! THIS is how He put His Self in us. THIS is why we praise Him and turn our minds and eyes from such foolish things, such "harmless" things which can SURELY build those strongholds in us, IF they are left to themselves in our awareness. Do you see this, my Friends here? Be urgent to watch what you choose to keep in your minds. THIS is what you need to ask yourself to question each time you call yourself a Christian.
.........
Dear Father, help me fill my life with Your Holy Spirit so that there just isn't room for anything else. Tommy
