What’s Your Power Source?

I found the following at a fantastic site a friend turned me on to.  It’s called YouVersion.com.  They have 18 versions available; you can join the community and more…check it out.  This was written by Sarah B. from Kansas City, MO.

 

 “I heard a message that revolutionized my life. If you want to plug something small in, you can plug it into what is called a 110 outlet; a lamp, a clock; anything ordinary really. Plug it into a 110 outlet and it will work. 

       If you want to plug something big in, like a washer or dryer or an air conditioning unit, you cannot plug it into a 110. It is too big and will blow the breaker. You have to plug big things into a 220 outlet.

Galatians 1:10: “For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.”  That’s the little outlet and too many times I try to plug something too big (my life. my strength. my joy. my hope.) into something that is far too small. I cannot plug my life into a 110 and live to please other people. It may work for a little while but sooner or later a fuse is gonna blow. As a college volleyball player, I found myself doing this so much. I would play for my name in the paper or my coach’s approval or for the fans to be chanting my name. Then I discovered I was playing for the wrong reasons. I was plugging into a 110. 

Galatians 2:19b-20: “For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Now, this is what I need to be plugged into. That I no longer live.  I no longer live for the approval of man. That I no longer live to please those around me.  That I no longer live, but that Christ lives IN me. That the life I do live is through faith in all I say and do.

When I applied this to playing volleyball the court became my sanctuary. The place where I could use the talents God has given me to worship Him. And I can say that playing at a 220 is so much more satisfying that playing at a 110. When I’m playing for Christ and not other’s approval, something special happens that cannot really be described in words. So, daily, I must ask myself am I plugged into a 110 or a 220?  Am I striving for the favor of man or God?  Am I plugging something too big into something far too small? Am I living 220?”

THANK YOU SARAH B.

THE BEST TITLE FOR A CHRISTIAN!

In the book of Galatians, Paul clearly and passionately defends the gospel and his ministry as an apostle.  The overall message of the book is LIBERTY!

In my last post we discovered that Paul spoke with so much conviction because he saw himself as a bond-servant of Christ.  Well, I wanted to clarify this point.

The Greek word for “bond-servant” is doulos.  Whenever this word is used in both the bible and in secular writing it is unequivocally used to refer to a literal SLAVE!  We use words like “servant”, “bond-servant”, “bond-slave, etc. to translate doulos, and I think this is tragic.

My dear friend if you are IN Christ, then you ARE a slave of Christ.  The bible also calls us slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:18-19.)  Therefore, when telling others about Jesus, shouldn’t we be asking, “So, do you want to be a slave of Christ?”  Or if we are talking to someone and want to find out there spiritual condition, couldn’t we ask, “So, are you a slave of Christ?”

I know it sounds funny, but I’m making a point.  I believe we’ve distorted and white-washed the truth of what it means to be a Christian. 

As a slave of Christ, my identity IS Him; my desires ARE His desires (literally); my interests ARE His interests; my will is His will.  Do you get the picture?  A slave is CONSUMED with the master, and is ready to obey…(obedience born out of love for the masterJ).

When a person who is truly born again lives like this, then and only then will they experience His life, His power, His fruit!  May we today live the Normal Christian Life by living as a slave of Jesus!!!

STOP TRYING!!!

Oh to live in “victory”!  The longer I walk with Jesus the more I realize how rare this is in the Body of Christ.  Yet, it IS the very life our Father intends for us.  Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and have it abundantly.”

    When I consider how many of true believers are not experiencing Jesus alive living in us who IS our only “hope of glory”, my heart breaks.  My heart saddens because I lived like this for sooooo long!     What is sad is that the TRUE gospel is so simple yet so profound. It is simply this: (1) the FINALITY of the cross – He reconciled us while we were His enemies and (2) the REALITY of the resurrection – He rose to give us HIS life!

    Hudson Taylor (5/21/1832 – 6/3/1905), who was a missionary and founder of China Inland Mission discovered this realty WHILE in China as a missionary.  He wrote the following in a letter:

 

“…to find your heart all taken up by Him; to be reminded of His love by His seeking communion with YOU at all times, not by your painful attempts to abide in Him.  He IS our life, our strength, our salvation; He IS our wisdom and righteousness, our sanctification and redemption; He IS our power for service and fruit-bearing, and His bosom IS our resting- place now and forever…”

 

    So, how do we then live and experience this victory?  The apostle Paul said this in Colossians 2:6, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, {so} walk in Him,” and again he says, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).

    We walk (live) just like we got saved…by grace through faith… period!!!

    Again here is what Hudson Taylor had to say about this:

 

“How then, is this faith increased?  Only by thinking of all that Jesus is and all that He is for us: His life, His death, His work, Himself, as revealed to us in His Word, to be the subject of our constant thoughts.  Not a striving to have faith, or to increase our faith, but a looking off to the Faithful One seems all we need – a resting in the Loved One entirely for time and eternity.  It does not appear to me anything new – only formerly misapprehended.”

 

May we REST in Him today!

Is MY Experience the Normal Christian Life?

I stumbled upon this on the internet and had to pass it on.  It is from Dr. Bill Gillham’s book What God Wishes Christians Knew About Christianity, pp 3-4.  The chapter is entitled: THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN’S EXPERIENCE IS NOT THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE.  I pray the Lord encourages your heart…blessings!

“…yet many have no knowledge of how Jesus Christ holds the secret to their victory over the flesh.

     The Spirit of Christ living through them can overcome their flesh.  There is nothing quite so sad as the tale of an effective Christian whose ministry was launched with the spiritual equivalent of a Super Bowl half-time show only to blow its fuses and leave the “spectators” choking on the smoke. Gang, moment-by-moment victory over evil is not a reality for many sincere Christians with a heart to glorify Christ. Their actions fall far short of their desires due to having no knowledge of how to let Christ express His overcoming life through them.

     Although this is the normal experience of many Christians, it’s a far cry from the normal Christian life that the Bible describes. I would guess that most Christians believe it’s inevitable for us to sin hundreds of times per day (when you include the sins of the thought-life), and they’ve settled into this fatalistic mode until they die or Jesus comes. The Bible does not teach that our physical death is God’s provision for our freedom. It teaches that Jesus Christ’s death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit is God’s provision for our freedom. Since that is so, then why is the body of Christ not enjoying this freedom?  What’s the problem? Did some significant truth that is able to empower us to victory either fall on deaf ears or fall instead through the cracks and leave many of us crippling along with dirty spark plugs? This was certainly my case. I never dreamed that God had a solution already installed in me. Perhaps this is the case with you as well. If so, let’s open God’s love letter to us and trust the only One who can teach us the mind of the Lord-the Holy Spirit-to give understanding of how to appropriate the victory that is ours in Christ.”

What IS normal Christian Living?

[This is the intro from my message yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you]

“That’s not normal!”  Have you ever said that?  Usually, when something’s not normal you know it.  If you are physically not feeling normal, what does that mean?  When someone is acting weird we say, “Dude he’s not normal!”  Or how about when someone you know real well does something out of the ordinary, you say, “Wow that’s weird.  That was abnormal for him to act that way.”  We might even have a “normal” dinnertime.  We have normal temperatures…normal behaviors…normal activities.

But, when it comes to being a Christian, what does the “Normal” Christian life really look like?  Your answer to this is actually your true belief of how the Christian life is lived.  It will also explain and determine the condition of our lives and why we behave the way we do.

There are many views of what normal Christianity is.  There is the Puritanical belief where the Christian must alter his behavior.  Then there’s the Legalist who believes obedience to a set of “do’s & don’ts” is the answer.  Or maybe a Christian may embrace the belief that the Christian life is really lived by “Abstaining” – don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t dance; don’t go into certain places, etc.

I truly believe the most accurate & concise description of the normal Christian life is found in Phil 1:21… “For to me to live is Christ…”.  AND the best illustration of this Normal Christian life is a baby in the womb.  The baby is the only one who can truly say, “For me to live is mom!”  This is a picture of absolute & complete dependency. Mom is totally sufficient for the baby’s needs for life & growth.

          I want us to learn the Lessons of the baby in the womb.  Specifically that the normal Christian life is living in a state of absolute & helpless dependency on Jesus…PTL!