When We can't See God’s Work at Hand.

When the king of Edom, and the king of Moab, and the king of Ammon, and the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, and Josiah king of Judah were taken into subjugation under Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon many prophets falsely prophesied the quick restoration and the return of those in exile. But the prophet Jeremiah with a Yoke of wood he wore on his own neck until the prophet Hanniah throw it to the ground and broke it, did not receive this prophecy from God

So God spoke to Jeremiah and said that the yoke that Hanniah broke was of wood, but God had put a yoke of iron around the nations and had given Nebuchadnezzer dominion over all they had, even the beast of the field.

So Jeremiah wrote a letter to those in exile rebuking the false prophecy of the other prophets, and reminding those in exile that even in times of difficulty, God still had a better plan for them. Rather then complain because of their situation, Jeremiah suggested that they should strengthen themselves, in the present, that they may be fully able at the appointed time of God’s deliverance.

• Jeremiah 29:11-14 (KJV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Sometimes we feel that God has left us all alone that he has forgotten us or may not know the severity of our problem. But God want us to know that even when we can only see the evil, He has plans for our good. And when we get serious about finding God and want to be in his presence more than life itself. He will hear our prayers and will not forsake us.

Here is my prayer for such an occasion as this.

My Heavenly Father, in Jesus' Name I come to You in Prayer. Oh God sometimes I get confused Heavenly Father, when I’ve done everything I can and trouble and calamity still follows me. Father you said you will make me the head and not the tail in every situation, but sometimes it just don’t seem that way. Your Word says You’ll never leave me, and that Your Spirit dwells in me, but oh Jehovah Shammah, sometimes I feel all alone.

It’s hard dear God, leaning on You when all my life I have had to do things on my own, make my own way, be my own man. But calamity is all about me; and I just can’t fix what’s broken in my life, I’ve got to depend on You, and You alone to bring me out of my exile, to restore all the vessels that the King of Babylon has taken from me.

Help me God to be strong because I just can’t do this by myself. Father, if you don’t save me, I can’t be saved, if you don’t deliver me, I will not be delivered. If You don’t stretch forth Your Omnipotent hand and snatch me from the grasp of the enemies of this world. They will surely devour me like a roaring lion.

So with a sorrowful and contrite heart I call on You in prayer, hearken Your ear to my supplications; and save me; make the evil which was intended for me to be as a blessing, and let my trials and tribulations, be testimony of Your Glory

In Jesus’ Name I pray Amen

Your Brother in Christ.
T. Charves FireSpeaks

Appearance of Evil

Appearance of Evil

In 1^st Thessalonians Paul gives some very sound advice on how to walk daily as a Christian. We often forget these very sound precepts and assume that we can attain to a standard of Christianity on our own. In verse 16 though 22 the Apostle gives a seven step process whose simplicity has outlasted anything man has up to this point thought of.

If we follow these steps there will be no condemnation in those that are in Christ, from the world be they in church or on the street. Today we will address only the last one found in verse 22 “Abstain from all appearances of evil”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 Rejoice evermore. ¹⁷ Pray without ceasing. ¹⁸ In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. ¹⁹ Quench not the Spirit. ²⁰ Despise not prophesyings. ²¹ Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ²² Abstain from all appearance of evil.
When we consider this verse we must realize that Paul is not asking us to abstain from evil but even the appearance of evil. Not just that which is wrong but that which seem wrong in the eyes of others! As ambassadors of God that which we do that even appears wrong in the eyes of a non-believer, be it wrong or not it defiles God’s Name. this is why Samuel said to King David after his issue with Bathsheba “You have caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme his name” (2 Sam12:14)
Just because a thing does not appear to be wrong, in any way, and does not break any law, does not make it acceptable for God’s Ambassadors. It can still be improper for men and women of God because it is inconsistent with the respectability (Higher Standard in God) that we must attain to as Sons and Daughters of the Almighty God.
When we do not carry ourselves in a way that correctly represent God or put into question our love for God, we are putting God’s Name in judgment of the world, we have through our action allowed others to blasphemy the Name of God we have through our behaviors blasphemed the Name of God ourselves

This is why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. If our actions, or our behaviors, or if we find ourselves in places, or situations and conditions were our Christianity is questioned; if we are not doing what will openly edify God’s Glory then we are not avoiding the appearance of evil.

Now because men (people) can not see our motives, what our intentions are is of very little importance, it makes little difference if we are motivated by Godly intentions, if what we do appears to be wrong in the eyes of the world; we have blasphemed God’s Name.

It is always safe to lean to the side of virtue, therefore we don’t get so caught up on the action being right or wrong the virtue of the action should cause us to abstain, and the desire to rightly represent God reframe from any indulgence.

Because we represent God, when there is a possibility of misinterpretation of our motives, or actions we are presenting a defiled picture of God. God requires us to aim at living our life Holy, to be different form the rest of the world. Therefore how we conduct ourselves, where we find ourselves, whom we associated with will do more to bring a true believer to God then all the witnessing in the world when they do not see you living the life you are witnessing




T. Charves FireSpeaks

in season and out of season

2 Timothy 4:1-2
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; [2] Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.


God has only required us to give the gospel, at two times; the first is in season, and the second is out of season. But sometimes when it’s out of season we forget the power of the Gospel which makes the time always the right time to reveal Jesus to those that don’t know him.


We think within ourselves, “They don’t want to hear about my Jesus” they will never accept what I have to tell them” But the issue is not does he want to hear about Jesus, it is do they need to hear about Jesus? sometimes when we witness to the lost they won't receive it. that's perfectly OK we have done as Jesus required of us which is to be "good and faithful servants"  Moreover Jesus never said to anyone “You good and successful servant” did he?


Psalm 19:7 say “ The Law of the Lord is Perfect is converting souls”  that tells us is that it is not you and I that convert people’s heart to God, but God’s law which convert the heart of men to God. 


Therefore we must give God’s word both in season and out of season, taking no responsibility or accolades for getting someone to receive Jesus Christ as their savior. Jesus did not ask us to become “good and successful servants, he required us to be good and obedient servants, and that means giving the gospel in season and out season.


Take a moment to look at the video *
this is  faithfulness giving God word in season and out
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=91JM0MNU

Soli Deo Gloria

Also I would appreciate your comments

Word of Knowledge

Word of Knowledge 101

I guess I’m going to try to do the impossible, which is to address Word of Knowledge without addressing Word of Wisdom. Most of the time these two gifts of the Holy Spirit are address together. I think the reason for addressing them together is that they flow so well from one to another. In this article I will try to sever the flow at the point where Word of Knowledge ends, and Word of Wisdom begins.

So, have you ever solved a problem or gave a person right advice concerning their spiritual situation, and as you were answering them, thought to yourself “How in the world did I know that?” If so, it may very well have been the Holy Spirit working in you in the form of the spiritual gift of Word of Knowledge. Word of Knowledge is one of the less recognized of the spiritual gifts and unlike Prophecy, Word of Knowledge can sometimes be overlooked or confused with other spiritual Gifts.

For the Christian there is a real need, and even a requirement to be able to correctly discern all spiritual gifts, the Apostle Paul tells us that concerning spiritual gifts we should not be ignorant. (1Cor 12:1), Knowing not just spiritual but intellectually knowing the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit is necessary for us to be able to identify, utilize, and grow into these gifts. Therefore, that we might not be ignorant concerning this spiritual gift, let us examine just what this gift Word of Knowledge really is.

I think it’s very important to understand it is called the Word of Knowledge, not gift of knowledge, which is because we are given only a fragment of the Knowledge of the Holy Spirit concerning a specific person or specific situation. Consider this, God is All Knowledge, not God has all knowledge, or God attains to all knowledge, God is all Knowledge. And through the works of the Spirit of God, God imparts a single Word of His Omniscience into us at a specific time for a specific person or a specific situation as He desires us to impart.

What is the Word of Knowledge?

The Word of Knowledge is knowledge received from the Holy Spirit to which we would not have otherwise any access to. This spiritual knowledge enables us to more effectively minister to the Body of Christ. When the Holy Spirit gives you His Word of Knowledge you are then able to know and understand the situations, circumstances, and strategies of the enemy or whoever may come up against the Body of Christ. You can then confidently speak on situations with knowledge, which can baffle, the enemy, make known the deceptions of the principalities and powers, as well as bring healing and understanding to those that have been targets of the enemy.

John Wimber defines Word of Knowledge as a supernatural revelation or fact about a specific person or situation, which is not learned through the efforts of the natural mind, but is a fragment of knowledge freely given by the Holy Spirit disclosing the truth which He wishes to be made known concerning a particular person or situation.

Word of Knowledge almost always deals with the present or past, however, in a very few cases it may express itself in the future tense. Key indicators that the Word of Knowledge is being imparted are words like “have been,” or “are going through,” or “in the past” Word of Knowledge will reveal a problem, or an attack of the enemy, however the knowledge of the attack may not always be enough to form a spiritual solution.

Tools of a Prophet

The revelation gifts, Word of Knowledge, and Word of Wisdom often operates in synergy with one another, with Word of Knowledge being the raw materiel and Word of Wisdom being the application of the raw material.

Even though Word of Knowledge and Word of Wisdom are revelation gifts, they by definition of their name are vocalized or spoken since the Greek word “logo” means spoken. The fact that these two revelation gifts are spoken can cause confusion to the hearer when trying to distinguish between prophecy and the synergy of Word of Knowledge and Word of Wisdom.

When Word of Knowledge and Word of Wisdom are correctly used by a true prophet, the imparting of these two revelation gifts flow from Word of Knowledge to Word of Wisdom in a seamless application as through they were prophecy. True Prophets (those living in the office of a prophet) often operated in at least two of the revelation Gifts while simultaneously operating in the Gift of Prophecy.

To better understand this lets imagine God puts a Word of Knowledge into your spirit (You know something about a specific person or specific situation you would not otherwise be able to know) in addition to that Word of Knowledge, God gives you instruction as to what you should do to correct the problem or avoid whatever attack the Word of Knowledge has warned you of. When these two gifts are verbalized it often appears to be prophecy and more often then not the Holy Spirit uses a prophet to impart this knowledge. So it may seem as though prophecy and the synergistic working of Word of Knowledge and Word of Wisdom are the same but they are not.

Run of the Mill Prophecy

Let’s get this clear prophecy is not simply the vocalizing of the revelation gifts. Absolutely not! Prophecy, by definition is for the edification, and exhortation, and comfort of the Body of Christ;(see blog Prophecy 101) while revelation gifts almost always are for the correcting of erred spirits (Acts 10:9-17), and the revealing of deceptions, lies (Acts 5:1-3 )and the hidden intents of principalities and powers that set themselves against Jesus and the Body of Christ. Furthermore Word of Knowledge is always specific never generalized, while prophecy can be at times generalized

Here are a few biblical examples of Word of Knowledge as appear in the bible

1. John 4:15-19 (Jesus to The Samaritan women at the well)

2. Matthew 16:13-1( Simon Peter’s Revelation knowledge of who Jesus really was [is])

3. Acts 5:1-3 (Simon Peter knowledge of the sin of Ananias and his wife)

4. Acts 9:10-18 ( Ananias conversion of Saul of Tarsus)

5. Acts 10:9-17 ( breaking the bigotry against the Gentiles)

6. Acts 22:17-21 ( Paul warned to leave Jerusalem)

7. 2 Kings 8:1-2 ( Elijah’s Warning of Famine)

8. 1 Samuel 9:15-27 (Calling of Saul)

So in conclusion we can say that Word of Knowledge is a spiritual gift given by the Holy Spirit. When working with Word of Wisdom it appears to be like prophecy, accept Word of knowledge is for the revealing of lies and deceptions that may attack the body of Christ, while Prophecy is for the exhortation, edification and comfort of the Body of Christ, while Word of Knowledge is a revelation gift that is verbalized ( spoken)


Your Brother in Christ
T. Charves FireSpeaks

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Basic Christianity

Looking Away Toward Jesus

Psalm 36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

More times then not men and women who truly love God seek Holiness by their own hands. They say to themselves “Because I love God I must stop (whatever sin they have) and give my life totally to God.” And this is a very honorable desire to give your life for God totally. The problem arise in the misconception that we can consecrate ourselves to God.
 in our own strength. Anyone that has tried to rightly and failed know the frustration of self consecration.

One step of self-consecration is called introspective. With introspective we survey all the events of our day keeping what we think is of God and letting go of the things which are not, vowing to repent from the sins of that day.

The problem with this method is that we leave the knowledge of good and bad to be discerned by our own heart and mind. But Psalm 19:12 asks “Who can discern his errors” not one of us, because even if it is our will to do the right thing our heart will not allow us to, it will lie to us, and confuse us into believing we are holy in action when in fact we have become hypocrites in our attempt to be close to God.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

More importantly when we seek to judge our actions through introspective we are looking inward toward ourselves for answers, and we have shut the door to the light of Jesus Christ. This is what the enemy desire of us, that we should question our actions, our walk with God, and even our salvation!  Satan is the accuser of the brethern and the mind is his playground.

But Hebrews 12:2 says “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” the Amplified Bible give a much better understanding of this simple yet ever so powerful verse it says “Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus” Here is the power in this verse looking away from self to Jesus.

Here is a very quick fable that may better illuminate what I'm trying to say.


There was a centipede and a frog talking, when the frog asked “which of your one hundred feet moves first when you walk? How do you know which to move next?” the centipede realized that he did not know which foot moved first and when he tried he could not even move just one foot so he became angry and left. “I’m leaving he said,” but when he tried to leave his mind was on his feet and he was stuck right where he was unable to move forward at all.

The centipede loved to bath in the sunlight on his favorite leaf so when the noon sun came without thinking he ran over to his favorite leaf to rest, completely forgetting to analyze which foot to move first.Releasing himself from the paralyzing power of his own mind.

This is true of us saints when we look toward our situation, circumstances, even try to introspectively analyze the events of the day we get stuck, our mind and heart becomes deceitful beyond cure and we can no longer grow in our walk with Christ. we see our imperfection and open the door to our mind so that Satan may have a play date in our heads. Accusing us not so much before God as befor our own limited piety of whom we think we are in Christ.

Oh but when we take our mind off ourselves, and fix our eye on Jesus, wholly blotting out all distractions, then by his light we have freedom to move forward. Then by His (Jesus') light we have light in the circumstances and situation that had been previously darkened.

Psalms 36:9 (KJV) For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

Setting our mind to do anything to attain holiness is foolish; it is our vanity, piety, egotism, haughtiness, and hate will deceive us into believing that we are doing what is right, or what we are doing is God’s will. Even if we could attain holiness by our own hands how would God get the Glory?

It is the Holy Ghost which lights up the darkest recesses of our heart's ungodliness. If we would but fix our eyes on Christ Jesus then we would, (if it pleases God) obtain one ray of light from the throne of God, which is better than the noonday splendor of illumination created by the wisdom of our own deceitful heart and carnal mind.

Our life is like an 8 ounce cup filled with 8 ounces of all our failures, sin, lust, hidden pains, unforgiveness,  addictions, sexual perversions, egotism and everything other thing about us that is not of God.  But even if there is a faucet of our transgressions pouring directly into that cup (the world) When we drop a 2 ounce stone of Jesus into the cup, there is an expulsive power toward sin. The cup that held 8 ounces of our transgression and sin, can now only hold 6 ounces of our sin. and the more we look toward Jesus the less sin the cup can hold.

This is not to say that we ignore our failures, or sin. But that we seek first the kingdom of God and His Holiness and everything else (even our sanctification) God will add to it



Your Brother in Christ
T. Charves FireSpeaks
 

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Tears of Intercession

By Soli Deo Gloria

I've never been a person to ask anyone to pray for me, I've always felt if a Christian's faith is truly rooted deep into the soil of scripture, prayer, meditation and fasting that when the burning sun of life's trials and tribulation come up against the believer he will not be moved.

In the last four years I can say without doubt that I have not had 2 days whereby life's situation and circumstances has weighed me down so much that I had to ask someone to pray for me. I can say this because my faith is firmly rooted and my knowledge and understanding of God's Grace and Mercy toward me is able to sustain me. Now this does not mean I don't want others to pray for me, it means I am confident that my prayers are sufficient to move God for my deliverance. 

With all this said you can imagine how surprised I was to have my pastor pray for me last Sunday, not that he does pray for others, its that when he asks "Does anyone need prayer?" I never come for prayer. But last Sunday was different, my mother who is a member of another church decided to visit our church and she witnessed my pastor praying for me.

"When Tony (my pastor and cousin ) prayed for you Sunday" My mother began, "I could tell he really meant what he was praying, it was as if he was begging God if you would only do this for me God" she continued. "I thought of Tony as a mother eagle wrapping her wing around her chicks to protect them from the pouring rain. I could feel it in his voice, I could see it in his eyes, and I know God heard his prayers also"

When my mother said this I thought of a post I wrote about 2 years ago called "Praying to the Point of Tears" This post highlighted the relationship between tears, and truly contrite and fervent prayer. My thought was if praying for yourself to the point of tears was good, how much greater is the intercessor that could pray to the point of tears for someone else? How profound was this prayer for me?

Below is an excerpt of the post "Praying to the Point of Tears" dated November 16, 2007. I hope you enjoy this post and I hope this advice given will elevate your prayers to the next level. Follow this link (here) to read the original post.

Not until God sees the hopelessness in our life, and we experience the realization our personal situation is solely dependent on God, It's not until we realize we can do nothing but break down in tears crying out to God, in hopeless, that we can be sure that God hears our prayers. Therefore if we want God to hear our prayers then when we pray, we need to pray in a state of desperation.

Hebrews 5:5-7 (KJV)
So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

OK,  I'm going to say it. Sometimes prayer is ineffectual just because there are no tears. This does not mean that tears make a prayer effectual. However if your prayer can not move you to sorrow, and you are doing the praying, how much less is it moving God to want to see that prayer fulfilled? Hebrews 5:7-8 tells us that even Jesus Christ prayed to the point of tears, and when he did the bible tells us that God heard him. But not until we read psalms 56:8 do we get any idea as to why.

Psalms 56:8 (TNIV)
Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll are they not in your record? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me

Every one of ancient times cried out in prayer to the Lord. I would go as far as to say that it appears to be those that cried the hardest are the ones that did the greatest works in God. Issac cried unto God in prayer, King Hezekiah cried unto God in prayer, King David cried unto God in prayer, Even our Savior cried unto God in prayer, and their prayers were contrite, and their prayers were sorrowful and God heard them.

We must ask ourselves, can we afford to not pray with the same fervor?

First in the series ;   Praying to the Point of Tears     Return To Home Page;     Back to Series Page




Your Brother in Christ

Soli Deo Gloria

Worshipping in Spirit and Truth?

Worshipping in Truth
(Part 3 of 3)
 

I'm Sorry as I began to write the second part of the two part series on worhippping, I realized that I had not covered the most important part. What is worship and how do we do it? Today we will cover worshipping in Truth which is actually part 3 of the series even though I wrote it first. please bear with me. Part 2 ( Worshipping in Spirit) and Part 1 How should we Worship are coming soon.

I have had a lot of difficulty comprehending what it meant to worship in Spirit and Truth. Whenever I asked someone they either had no real idea or they gave me rehearsed scriptural propaganda, having no clue themselves. This is especially problematic when you consider I go to a Church called “Spirit and Truth” As you may have guessed I had a passion to know what it mean to worship in spirit and truth.

What I’m writing right now is God revelation to me concerning worshipping in Truth I think before I go any further it’s important to understand that I separate Worship in Truth from Worship in Spirit. I’ve been to too many website whereas the author intertwined the two to such a level that the reader did not know where one started and the other ended. To avoid that I have made very distinct lines that separate the two. If an important factor is not addressed in truth I very well may be in spirit.

Romans 7:7 (KJV)
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Second thing I define worshiping in truth as almost entirely intellectual and worshiping in Spirit as fully spiritual.

Worshipping in Truth is worship which is founded in the word of God (bible) the New Testament is especially true for Christians. Because Worshipping in Truth is intellectual it is done in a conscious effort, a physical expression of an intellectual knowledge that is obtained through the reading of the bible. John 17:17 says “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” a physical expression (to sanctify) by way of Truth (knowledge of God’s Word.) Psalms 119:160 says “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”

To worship God in Truth we must understand who He is, and what He has done, and the only place He has fully revealed Himself is in the Bible. Worship in Truth is a conscience intellectual effort to express our gratitude toward God who is understood through His Word. If we do not have the truth of the Bible, we do not know God and we cannot Worship Him in Truth.

John 4:23-24 (KJV)
²³ But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. ²⁴ Godis a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

“They that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth!” For every Christian this is his/her goal to correctly worship God and the above verses give us a hint of what it is that God requires from us, simply, that we be True Worshippers, and that as True Worshippers we worship God is Spirit and Truth.

What is Worshipping in Truth?

Romans 12:1-2 (KJV)
¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12 gives us and understanding of what worshipping in truth is. Because of space I won’t add it here, I would suggest that you take the time to read it and understand it and assimilate it into your spirit.

Ok now lets try to get some truth out of this, in verse 1 chapter 12 of Romans it says “by the Mercies of God” this is our reason for worshipping. Because God has given us all that we have, it is because of His Grace and Mercy that we are alive today, it is because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his blood spilled for the remission of our sins that we worship God, It is because of God Mercies toward us that we are motivated to worship.

• So by right, I am not worthy of any good thing that God has given to me (none of us are) and it is this Truth of my unworthiness and my contrite state of gratitude toward God for what He has given me that moves me to worship God.
• It is all of God’s daily blessings and eternal life, that unction me to praise and worship God.
• It is the Truth that without the Father I am nothing.
• It is this Truth that gives me confidence in saying that anyone that is not moved with passion to praise God, is not overwhelmed with desire to give testimony of God, is not bursting at their bellies like new wineskins to sing unto the Father, anyone that is not compelled by the Holy Spirit to Worship God; is not saved.

Now also in the first verse is a requirement to how we should worship God. “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” This is much more than just a requirement to take care of our bodies. To present our bodies means, to give of ourselves completely, whole, withholding nothing from God, it is to give our minds, body, souls, attitudes, opinions, thoughts, and even hopes over to God. When we present our bodies a living sacrifice to God, we are saying that Jesus is Lord over all our life, We are saying that the wisdom of this world shall not have dominion over my life, that only Godly wisdom which comes from renewing our mind daily can have dominion over me.

Renewing of Our Mind

The renewing of our mind is that thing that happens when we have knowledge of what God expects from us, and then having this knowledge we submit ourselves to those expectations of God. We renew our minds when we release the behaviors, the thoughts, pride and expectation, and wisdom of the world. And replace it with God’s wisdom. This is so much more than saying we love God passionately, that we would die for Christ, our faith or our religion. Renewing our mind is not an emotional change, not a spiritual change, it is a conscious and intellectual effort to accept God’s written Word (the bible) weather we like it or not.

There are many religions that have an emotional zeal for their faith. Extremist that strap bombs to their back, murder innocent women and children, some which even believe that by killing or dying they have an inside track to salvation and eternity. However even in this passion for what they think is God’s desires they are unable to worship. They have not come to the realization that God does not want you to die for your faith (in Christ), death would be the easy way out. No, the renewing of the mind is the realization that God requires us to live for Christ. God requires us to live for Christ no matter what the world has thrown at you.

It is impossible to worship God in Truth without reading our bible, because through our bible we find out what is the Truth of God’s will weather we like it or not. It is impossible to worship God in Truth without a renewed mind because the carnal mind is enmity against God. We can not know God with the wisdom and knowledge of this world. Philippians 2:5 (KJV) tells us“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” because our worldly mind will lead us only to worldly destruction. It is impossible to worship God with the mind of this world.

Finally to Worship God in Truth is continual, not limited to a place (like only church) or initiated by external stimuli (like a favorite Gospel song) or motivated by a received blessing in the time of distress. Worshiping God in Truth is God-Centered, it’s not about you in any way; TrueWorship is not for the cause of a healing, a blessing, or anything in return, True Worshipping is not a bargaining chip in which we barter with God for something in return, but the realization that God alone is worthy to be worship, no saint, angel, prophet, not even Mary the mother of our Lord is worthy to be worshiped. Oh if God would but hold his breath that every one of us that walk upon this earth would die; it; it is the revelation of the power of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which causes you to live in a continual state of gratitude toward God. True worship is about glorifying God in all things, true worship is showing our loyalty, our admiration, our aw of His Awesome Terribleness, this is true worship, this is worshipping God in Truth

I spent the entire blog teaching the physical part of worshipping in truth and now I’m going to tell you that how you physical express your worshipping in truth is unimportant. This is not a contradiction but an understanding that, by the knowledge of God through the reading of His word you will express God in the way that you have been led by the Truth. There is no rule regarding whether we should sit, stand, fall down, be quiet, or sing praises loudly while in personal or corporate worship. The most important thing is that we worship God in Truth of the knowledge of him and that knowledge is obtained through the reading of the bible

If I have written something that is antagonistic to what you know about God tell me I’ve lost my mind, require of me to show you scriptural where I got that thought. But if you simply read and do nothing than I can be wrong and go to hell and if you’ve accepted what I’ve written you are going to hell with me. Ask yourself how important is your life?

Bottom line comments!

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Your Brother In Christ

Firespeaks

Meekness of Wisdom

What leaders should do to avoid hurting church memebers

James 3:13-17 (Amplified Bible) Who is there among you who is wise and intelligent? Then let him by his noble living show forth his [good] works with the [unobtrusive] humility [which is the proper attribute] of true wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry, selfish ambition) in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on it and thus be in defiance of and false to the Truth.
This [superficial] wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual (animal), even devilish (demoniacal). For wherever there is jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry and selfish ambition), there will also be confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil and vile practices.

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure (undefiled); then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate, gentle). [It is willing to] yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity)

I get calls from church members quite often, sometimes they just want someone to pray with them, and sometimes in their voice I can tell they just need someone to encourage them in God’s Word, occasionally they call to tell me about someone in the church that hurt them.

Whenever I get that last type of call I wait on God to give me the right word for them, even while my ear is still on the phone listening to their dilemma, I am in prayer, asking God to use me as a conduit so that they may receive the message that He has for them.

Today we find members of the Body of Christ in constant conflict with one another, someone can’t get alone with Miss Green “Because she is just too bossy” or the praise and worship leader thinks he is the only one that can sing the lead for that hymn. Even though this is a problem it is not the intentions of this blog.

The intention of this blog is to address what a leader should do to avoid him or her being the origin of member’s conflict. There is nothing more unsettling then to have to apologize for another leader’s carnal handling of a member. And most of the time it is with those members that are new in their walk with Christ, those members that we should handle with the most care and love.

No one is going to be without conflict, but as leaders we are more responsible to carry the banner of Christ in all parts of our life, not just on Sunday. So when I hear things like Deacon So-in-so did this, or Elder What-cha-ma-call-it always does that, I am often at lost for words, as I wait on the spirit to lead me.

When a leader is the origin of the complaint we must take this cry for help very seriously, we have at jeopardy the character of the leader and the salvation of the member, neither of which should be fractured because of carnal thinking on the part of one or both or them. God has given leaders that they may guide those that are not quite mature in their spiritual walk with Christ. A leader is tasked with giving the Word of God in its purest form while still encouraging and being non-judgmental in the way he ministers to the flock. When ministering to the flock, the main goal of the leader should not be the correction of an individual’s problem, nor to point finger as to who’s the blame, nor should the leader use his position to pass judgment, but instead wait on the Spirit of God to lead him in what he should say. With spiritual discernment of what is the deeper problem the individual is dealing with, and spiritual knowledge of the scriptures 

(Romans 15:14) And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. 

A leader can provide the encouragement that the individual needs to move beyond his/her problem.It makes no difference how much a leader desires to give the member what he or she needs in their time of despair, if these two ingredients are not the foundation of Spiritual Advice ( given from the Holy spirit of God) than it is just that leader’s opinion. When the leader is not spiritually led to the correct scripture, and have not properly discern the problem, and then the leader can be confounded as to what to say to a member. Many times out of pride that leader may give them what they think in their head is needed.

Moreover when the leader is not led by the Spirit of God, he can not allow his/her knowledge of the individual or their situation skews sound judgment. And any advice not grounded in the Holy Spirit is carnal and evil, be they are done with good intentions or not.

(James 3:15) This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

“I did this out of Love” is never the right answer when dealing with the fragile heart of a member in need. We should never have to apologies for our actions or the way we speak to a member, because our actions and the way we speak to them must be godly, peaceable, loving, easily intreated (received) and full of mercy. 

(James 3:17) But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Too often I have seen members leave the church (my own family included) and some eventually their walk with Christ because they were hurt either emotionally, physically or spiritually by a leader in the Church. Some leaders justify members leaving by saying the God is weeding out the wheat from the tarries, but this is the propaganda of the devil and a reflection of the leader’s irresponsible and prideful behavior. 

(James 3:14) But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

If we are speaking harshly to our member we lack love, and are lying when we say we love them. If we spoke it with our mouths we thought it with our hearts, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh 

(Matthew 12:34) O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Leaders must always be alert to the seed that they allow to root in their heart, because every seed planted willalways produce fruit of some kind (sometimes a pear sometimes a prickly pear). The leader must constantly ask himself do I have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, humility, and self-control (Galatians 5:22) especially when dealing with difficult and new members. If the leader lacks any of these, then he must make corrections in his life immediately! Because the leader is accountable to God not just for his salvation but also the perfection of the saints God has appointed to him.

Yout brother in Christ

FireSpeaks

• Doctrine of Devils
• Dealing with the Pain of Betrayal
• Offenses Will Come
• Accepting Whatever Comes from the Pulpit
• Dealing with the Pain of Betrayal