Monday, August 18, 2003

Something I am praying
Read 1 Chronicles 29:13-14 & 18-19, go ahead and turn it into your own spiritual incense.
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Are you a Sheep or a goat?
Based on Matthew 26 would I be a sheep or a goat?
I know a lot of people that seem to smell like a goat...
I know that sounds judgmental but based on this scripture, there's a lot of goats on the farm.
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Your needs or His Purposes?
"Any time we begin with our needs as the focus, instead of God's purpose, we will end up disappointed by the results."
By Wayne Jacobsen
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Are you Free or Rebellious?
The free person in Christ and the rebellious will always look the same to those who labor under religious obligation, because both ignore the conventions that govern men.
But there is a major difference between the two.
The rebel does it to serve himself and his passions, always harming others in the process and leaving a wake of anarchy behind him.

The free person in Christ, however, does so because they no longer have a need to serve themselves.
Having embraced God's love at a far deeper level than any method of behavioral conformity will touch, they will guard that freedom even if it means others will misunderstand their pursuits.
They reject the conventions of control not to please themselves, but Father Himself.
By Wayne Jacobsen
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Do we need a model or a guide to follow?
Jesus did not leave us with a model to build, but a guide to follow.
We experience the life of the church not because we meet a certain way or in a certain place, but because we learn to listen to God together and let him teach us how to share his life.

If we substitute any method or design for that process, we will end up following it instead of him and building a counterfeit instead of the real deal. I know of no greater distraction to the depth of relationships God wants us to share, than when we give our best efforts to doing something great for God. He didn't ask us to work for him, but with him. Beware of any model or would-be leader who wants to tell you what to do, rather than help you hear him Jesus. Are there real leaders in the Body of Christ today?

Of course! But they are not heading up movements or devising models, they are helping people know who Jesus really is and learn how to follow him. Religion results when men and women, with their best intentions, best activities and best programs try to accomplish God's working. It always leads to well-intentioned programs that will do some good, but never rise to bear the great fruits that God intends and only he can accomplish.

By Wayne Jacobsen
http://www.lifestream.org/LSBL.Feb02.html

2 comments:

Mel said...

Thank God for hyperlinks. :)

Mel said...

I just looked up that passage in Chronicles. Hallelujah! It's breathtaking! The entire passage, 13-19, is excellent. I shared it with a friend today.