What if we could have more confidence in prayer? What if we could pray with greater confidence and really see things change, rather than just praying with little expectation like too many of have a habit of doing, would you and I pray more or pray less? My belief is we would love to pray with confidence, except much of our praying seems more like wishful thinking than confidence.
I think when we consider acting in love towards others we think about what act of kindness we could demonstrate towards them or for them, but should we, or could we, be looking at only certain obvious aspects of what it means to love others? What about things we “DON”T SEE” in others that call us to extend or demonstrate God’s love to people who may appear undeserving? What if they appear to have a weakness of faith, should we love them in spite of that weakness?
Receiving Jesus into our lives is meant to be a transformative experience, not a transitory experience, nor a one-time experience. It was meant to be from now through eternity, but sadly it is often a short-lived experience, just like the many broken marriages of today.
When I look at the landscape of how people think and act these days, for both non Christians as well as Christians, there seems to be a disconnect between what a person believes or feels and what are the plain facts before them. People don’t seem to be bothered by the inconsistencies in their lives, let alone in the lives of those around them. It seems people just get entrenched in certain lines of thinking without asking themselves if the things they believe are true or false. Maybe we just hate the idea of finding out that we are wrong about something and thus don’t want to know our error.
I know this question for some people seems foreign, but the idea of spiritual children is not a new concept for the body of Christ. It is an old concept but many in the church have never heard what it means to have people look to them as a spiritual parent. Although God is the one that enables a person to be “Born Again,” others in the body of Christ should take on the responsibility and care to raise individuals in their walk with God.
This is the third article on walking in the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit. This subject has many aspects but I wanted to address what I think is lacking by many believers, especially by pastors. Walking in the Spirit is far more than walking in the gifts of the Spirit. It should also encompass the knowledge and freedom of walking without the hindrance of demonic spirits that still operate on the earth as they did in biblical times.
When we as Christians talk about walking in the spirit do we acknowledge the fact that many people walk and are led by the demonic realm and not the Holy Spirit? When watching the nightly news one has to consider the “Demonic Realm” as having a major role in the violence and hatred that is happening. The terrorist group Hamas murdered thousands of innocent civilians, including killing babies, for no more reason they they hate Jews. If one can not see evil personified then we are hopelessly ignorant and will surely suffer for it. The world denied evil in Hitler and his Nazi regime and the world experienced a world war because of it.
Everyone wants good friendships, that is unless they have been burnt or hurt by a past relationship. When relationships go bad or “South” as I like to refer to them, we can decide to give up on building new ones, put a shield around our hearts and just give up on building lasting friendships. We would rather have friendships at arms length because of the fear of being hurt again.
Receiving Jesus into our lives was always meant to be a transformative experience, not just a transitory one or a one-time experience. With that in mind, Jesus ultimately came to set the sinners free by revealing the Father’s heart for humanity. Scripture says that all of us are being ruled by the spirit of this age that is working in the world.
