John Bunyan's Quotes

1. Therefore, I bind these lies and slanderous accusations to my person as an ornament; it belongs to my Christian profession to be vilified, slandered, reproached and reviled, and since all this is nothing but that, as God and my conscience testify, I rejoice in being reproached for Christ's sake.

2.  Afflictions make the heart more deep, more experimental, more knowing and profound, and so, more able to hold, to contain, and beat more.

3. There hath not one tear dropped from thy tender eye against thy lusts, the love of this world, or for more communion with Jesus Christ, but as it is now in the bottle of God; so then it shall bring forth such plenty of reward, that it shall return upon thee with abundance of increase

4. He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day

5. In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God

6.  Take heed that the misdeeds for which thou correctest thy children be not learned them by thee. Many children learn that wickedness of their parents for which they beat and chastise them.

7. Christ is the desire of nations, the joy of angels, the delight of the Father. What solace then must that soul be filled with, that has the possession of Him to all eternity!

8. If we have not quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a glass slipper on a gouty foot.

9.  [Faith] doth not, as doth unbelief and ignorance, show us all things out of order; putting darkness for light, and bitter for sweet; but will set every thing in its proper place before our eyes; God and Christ shall be with it, the chiefest good, the most lovely and amiable; a heavenly life shall be of greater esteem, and more desirable, than all the treasures of Egypt! Righteousness and sanctification will be the thing after which it will most vehemently press; because it seeth not only death and damnation as the fruits of sin, but sin also in itself, distinct from the punishment belonging to it, a detestable, horrible, and odious thing

10 . Look how fears have presented themselves, so have supports and encouragements; yea, when I have started, even as it were at nothing else but my shadow, yet God, as being very tender of me, hath not suffered me to be molested, but would with one Scripture or another, strengthen me against all; insomuch that I have often said, Were it lawful, I could pray for greater trouble, for the greater comfort's sake

11.  The people of the Lord in humility are to lay themselves and their prayers, and all that they have, at the foot of their God, to be disposed of by him as he in his heavenly wisdom seeth best. Yet not doubting but God will answer the desire of his people that way that shall be most for their advantage and his glory. When the saints therefore do pray with submission to the will of God, it doth not argue that they are to doubt or question God's love and kindness to them. But because they at all times are not so wise, but that sometimes Satan may get that advantage of them, as to tempt them to pray for that which, if they had it, would neither prove to God's glory nor his people's good

12.  Zeal without knowledge is like a mettled horse without eyes, or like a sword in a madman's hand; and there is no knowledge where there is not the word: for if they reject the word of the Lord, and act not by that, 'What wisdom is in them?' saith the prophet (Jer 8:9; Isa 8:20)

13.  If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the Man Christ without, and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the word of God.

14.  Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God. and a scourge for Satan.

15.  The truths that I know best I have learned on my knees. I never know a thing well, till it is burned into my heart by prayer.

16.  It is not the mouth that is the main thing to be looked at in prayer, but whether the heart is so full of affection and earnestness in prayer with God, that it is impossible to express their sense and desire; for then a man desires indeed, when his desires are so strong, many, and mighty, that all the words, tears, and groans that can come from the heart, cannot utter them.

17.  It could be a sign of pride in your life if a word of reproof or admonition is not able to be received with the same grace, whether it be given by the poorest of saints or the most educated person.

18.  Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love.

19. It gave me no pleasure to see people drink in my opinions if they seemed ignorant of Jesus Christ and the value of being saved by Him. Sound conviction for sin, especially the sin of unbelief, and a heart set on fire to be saved by Christ, with a strong yearning for a truly sanctified soul-this was what delighted me; those were the souls I considered blessed.

20. The house of the formalist is as empty of religion as the white of an egg is of savor.

Life Is a Story

Life, you'll notice, is a story.

Life doesn't come to us like a math problem. It comes to us the way that a story does, scene by scene. You wake up. What will happen next? You don't get to know—you have to enter in, take the journey as it comes. The sun might be shining. There might be a tornado outside. Your friends might call and invite you to go sailing. You might lose your job.

Life unfolds like a drama. Doesn't it? Each day has a beginning and an end. There are all sorts of characters, all sorts of settings. A year goes by like a chapter from a novel. Sometimes it seems like a tragedy. Sometimes like a comedy. Most of it feels like a soap opera. Whatever happens, it's a story through and through.

"All of life is a story," Madeleine L'Engle reminds us.

This is helpful to know. When it comes to figuring out this life you're living, you'd do well to know the rest of the story.

You come home one night to find that your car has been totaled. Now, all you know is that you loaned it for a couple of hours to your teenage daughter, and now here it is, all smashed up. Isn't the first thing out of your mouth, "What happened? " In other words, "Tell me the story."

Somebody has some explaining to do, and that can be done only in hearing the tale they have to tell. Careful now—you might jump to the wrong conclusion. Doesn't it make a difference to know that she wasn't speeding, that in fact the other car ran a red light? It changes the way you feel about the whole thing. Thank God, she's all right.

Truth be told, you need to know the rest of the story if you want to understand just about anything in life. Love affairs, layoffs, the collapse of empires, your child's day at school—none of it makes sense without a story.
COURTESY OF: http://randomedheart.com

Genuine Goodness is Captivating - Ransomed Heart!

You can tell a lot about a person by his effect on others. What is he like to be around? What is the aftertaste he leaves in your mouth? Is this someone you’d want to take a long car ride with? We saw Zacchaeus’ reaction. Here are two more, from people quite different from each other and from Zacchaeus:

One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. (Luke 7:36–38 TM)

No comment of mine could add to the beauty of this moment. Nor to this one:

Two others, both criminals, were taken along with him for execution. [...] One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed him: “Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!” But the other one made him shut up: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.” He said, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.” (Luke 23:32–43 TM)

What is stunning to see in these brief accounts is that people who knew themselves to be anything but holy found the holiness of Jesus winsome, open-armed, and utterly compelling.

Is this how you have understood holiness?

It changes everything when you do.

We Have No Idea Who We Really Are

We have no idea who we really are. Whatever glory was bestowed, whatever glory is being restored, we thought this whole Christian thing was about . . . something else. Trying not to sin. Going to church. Being nice. Jesus says it is about healing your heart, setting it free, restoring your glory. A religious fog has tried to veil all that, put us under some sort of spell or amnesia, to keep us from coming alive. As Blaise Pascal said, "It is a monstrous thing . . . an incomprehensible enchantment, and a supernatural slumber." And, Paul said, it is time to take that veil away.

When anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:16-18)

A veil removed, bringing freedom, transformation, glory. Do you see it? I am not making this up—though I have been accused of making the gospel better than it is. The charge is laughable. Could anyone be more generous than God? Could any of us come up with a story that beats the one God has come up with?

Courtesy of Ransomed Heart Devotions

Abraham’s Life of Faith — Faith Always Bring with it Radical Changes!

He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8

Oswald Chambers said  "Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason—a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world."

God has been keeping me on this holding and waiting pattern for so long that it is truly discouraging for any human being. If God has not put your whole life on hold to the point where you can see that your life is literally passing away right in front of your eyes, yet nothing, I mean absolutely nothing that you do works, then you have no idea what it means to wait on, upon and for God. For the past 15 years that I have been a Christian, any normal person would let go of Christianity. For me Christianity has been a synonym for being a “looser” big time. Sometimes, I feel I can’t even find the strength to think that God has not forgotten me. Sometimes I console myself with the idea that He put me on a fast track mode for a reason, because I cannot justify the lost, and the unending holding pattern. But, even when He shuts me out after I obey Him, I keep going forward with Him because I know too much to go back. When nothing makes sense and I feel like the biggest loser who has walked this earth, I keep going. When all my life is screaming that He has abandoned me, I keep going, knowing in His time, He will make everything right.

I have gone through phases with Him where He increased my faith more than I can imagine. You see, God has a pattern where He tests you and if you pass the test which means you make use of the amount of faith He allocates you, then He increases your faith. But lately, I have been asking Him, how come you stopped increasing my faith? Have I reached a plateau where I am not in your will or not trusting you enough? He did not answer me, however, a while after I inquired about my faith, He kept giving me a vision which I truly enjoy because it is so soothing to my soul. Today, as I read the devotional, I realized that He actually did answer my question. The visions that I have been getting are my answer to the question. The only thing is, through the vision, what I have been living in my soul is similar to some sort of higher sanctification stage. It is soothing because I can see how I am mellowing in His hands like I am disappearing slowly as He is increasing tenfold.  I can feel that the increase portion is His character being worked in me and I talked about that in my most recent posts.

Today, God opened my eyes to see that Oswald Chambers used the words that express all that I have been experiencing. I did not know this was the final stage of faith. I had tears of joy in my heart because as I reflect back, I know without the shadow of a doubt, that even when everyone told me that my situation could not be of God.  Even when I was told by leaders that I should take matters in my hands and make things happens, I always run things through God’s process and what I knew in my heart was right with the Holy Spirit. So today, I understand with a heart full of excitement, joy and gratitude what it means to walk a steadfast walk.

 True faith will always take us to a place where God calls us friend. This will not be a vague idea that you read about in the Bible or glibly repeat in a song. But the Holy Spirit will take pleasure to witness to your heart that you are now a friend of His. God, will not stop there, He will find an opportunity to share things with you that He would only share with a friend and when He does that, He will tell you that it is the privilege of being a friend of His.

True faith will lead you to a place where you know that it is not up to you to apply the characteristics of Christ within, but up to the Holy Spirit to do it. True faith will bring a radical change in your life and your heart. If it is not working out this radical change, then it is okay for you to question to what extend do you believe in God. A life of radical obedience will always lead you to a place where you can understand through your bones, every word of Christ’s crucifixion. True faith will always take you to a place where you stop imagining what God’s word means because you have become a living protagonist is the play. Until you become a protagonist, you have no idea what true faith means. Faith in God cannot be a vague idea and it cannot be our idea of what faith means. It has to be alive and leading your life because this faith we are called to live out in Him, is not our faith but Christ’s faith in us. Hence why, true faith will always take you through the same process that Christ went through and the same road. Anything short of that, then we can be sure that our faith is a blind faith. If it is a blind faith, it is not anchored in Christ.  Abraham started as a coward, yet he became the father of faith. TRUE FAITH WILL ALWAYS BRING WITH IT A RADICAL TRANSFORMATION.

OSWALD CHAMBERS "The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day—in and day—out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith—a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God. . .” (Romans 4:3)."

Will I Bring Myself Up To This Level? – Self–Gratification or Dealing With Our Sexual Urges

In today’s devotion, most of what we need to know about how to be holy and continue on perfecting holiness, Oswald Chambers combined them all neatly on one small page of his devotion book “My Utmost For His Highest.” I could easily take each suggestion the writer made and write a lengthy post on each of them.  But, today I want to talk about how God has led me to understand where He stands vis a vis dealing with sex while being single and the popular, controversial, and “don’t go there”  subject self-gratification. 

When I was first brought into the Baptist Church I heard my married pastor preaching about self-gratification. Throughout the whole message that lasted about 45 minutes, I was told “don’t do it because it is a sin.” There wasn’t one word about how to deal with it, or when it will end, or what to do about it. It seems that it was all up to me not to please myself, or given into satisfying my sexual urges.  While I knew nothing about God or the Bible, I decided if I were to remain in the Church and did not want to be a hypocrite I needed to walk like I am told to. So, I made the decision to listen to my pastor’s voice. It is easier said than done of course. Even today I am talking about the subject, I still do not understand God fully. It is easy for someone who is married to judge others or stand in front of the pulpit and tell those in the pews: “DON’T” 

Being someone who has gone through a bad marriage, I know too well what it means to have a truly lousy sex life. But, even someone living out a lousy sex life can never understand how hard it is to be single while God is sitting there watching you twitching, hurting and dying slowly inside with the pain of living out this life with all your faculties and heighten sexual desires, intact.

Earlier in my walk with God, He finally gave me the gift of celibacy. I had no idea that such gift even existed until the Holy Spirit told me about it. The gift of celibacy is such an awesome gift and it would solve these nasty sex scandals we have in the Church. It would stop a brother or a sister from running around to find relief while waiting for a godly partner. So, after God gave me the gift of celibacy, He was also working in my heart to bring me to the place where I would devote my life to Him.

Then, all of the sudden in 2007 I was knee deep into the wilderness with God. To my surprise, I was lying in bed by myself (as usual) meditating on my walk with God and how bad life was, in the wilderness, when suddenly, I felt that I had sexual urges. I was shocked because I took for granted that God will give me the gift of celibacy, indefinitely.

 Before I even had time to ask myself what this was about, the Holy Spirit told me that I no longer had the gift of intimacy. The only thing I could answer was “great, just what I needed.” I still remember vividly when the Holy Spirit told me self-gratification was not an option, then to make things worse He said, you are now sharing this body with me. While He was saying that to me, it was as if He stepped out of my body in the same shape that I was laying on the bed, and He looked like a vapour and the colour of the vapour was so white that there is nothing like this whiteness down here on earth.

I knew my body was the temple of God, I knew self-gratification was a sin. I knew I needed to keep myself cleaned from all filthiness of the flesh. I knew everything that I needed to know, yet, I could not understand one thing “why does it have to hurt so much?” Especially when you know you are serving God so deeply, and you are doing your best to be faithful and obedient to His word.

I find that when I am on that mode where I am living a passionate relationship with God, it is easier to fight the sexual urges. Like Oswald Chambers said in March 18 devotion, “I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit.  And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived”  So when the relationship is at its best, there is no striving to be in agreement with Him and everything is perfect.

I know Oswald Chambers is right and only Christ can get us to a place where we are no longer slaves and bound by our sexual urges. The problem is that, in our relationship to God, like in any relationship, the passion does not burn 24/7, which means you go through times where the emotion of this intense closeness is not there. This does not mean that you are not living a passionate life with Him. But, the emotions subside as life takes over. This is the nature of the Christian life and if we were to live out the Christian life always running on those emotional times when we are in love with Him, we would be like someone on drugs all the time. Then, this life would be way too easy and we would choose God at every turn. 

But, when life gets in the way, things are tedious, and hard. When you have to deal with challenges and hardships, how do you deal with those painful sexual urges?  For most of us I suspect we find solace in responding to those sexual urges right away, so they can at least be taken care of and out of the way. I know, because I have been there and it was one of my biggest challenges to refrain from dealing with my urges in this way. I had to learn to view them like any challenge and temptation that I encounter in the Christian walk.  

I went through a few years where God needed me to learn these things. I learned that I have no control over these urges. I definitely did not go out of my way to be exposed to anything that would have got me there. Yet, those sexual urges came without announcement and without an invitation. I learned to cry myself to sleep because the pain could be so intense. However, I also know what it is like when you fight with everything you have, but your flesh can only take so much before you succumb and sin.

When I failed, I could not go to Him because I did not know how to repent, since I knew if I had to go through these intense periods of pain again, I would do the same thing. By the same token, I learned that I rather go to Him without knowing how to repent and continue my walk with Him. Because when your sin causes you to stay away from God, you will find that it does not take long before your heart starts growing cold toward Him. Therefore, I knew staying away from Him was not the best option, even if I did not know how to repent. Make no mistake, I knew how to ask Him to forgive me, I also had remorse in my heart, but there was no repentance for my sin since I could not understand things for myself. There were times where I was angry at Him for not taking this pain away when it is in His power. There were times I felt if He was not going to take the pain and urges away, then, I did not have to feel guilty. There were times where I felt like a hypocrite because I knew God had already declared me holy in 2008, so why couldn’t I live a holy life? You name the emotion, I am sure I have gone through it. 

In my defense, God asked me to remain celibate; I expected it to come with some sort of special self-control gift, at least, curb my appetite.  I also made sure that I never seek to gratify myself, just because I knew it would feel good. I did not spend time just thinking about sex and entertain the idea in mind. If anything I got deeper into the word of God while in pain. I was serious about my commitment to Him and He came first always, even when the pain was intolerable.

I remember asking God, how Paul did it since he was writing about it. As I read Paul’s advise I felt that he had some sort of self-control, so, I was more upset at myself because I did not have his self control. I kept thinking that Paul advise meant that he did not have sexual urges. “But if they can't control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It's better to marry than to burn with lust.” (1 Corinthians 7:9) One day the Holy Spirit said to me, “where did you get the idea that Paul did not have urges?” He then made me understand the key is found in learning to be tempted and not succumb because I have learned to co-habite with my sexual urges. I think I felt worse, because I had some idea that these urges would go away at one point simply because God would take care of them. Another reason I felt worse is because the Holy Spirit did not tell me more when clearly I needed to know more. 

Over the years, I found out the key to learning to co-habite with our sexual urges is found exactly in perfecting holiness. The past few years I am finding out, the more you are disappearing in Him through this oneness with Him, the more your life is being absorbed by Him, then you learn to co-habite with those urges along with the pain.  It is as if you get a handle on leaving with being tempted like Christ. You have been so subdued by His life in you, that even when you are tempted for weeks and the pain is constantly there, it becomes part of you and part of your life. But, I cannot say I have anything to do with it because I am watching it happening in me. In the same way I have explained in some of my newest posts that I feel I have reached a much higher level of sanctification with God where I am disappearing slowly while He is increasing big time. If you ask me to explain how I am able to live with my sexual urges, I would say exactly what Oswald said “THE HOLY SPIRIT IS KEEPING ME IN AGREEMENT WITH HIS SPIRIT.”  

Through His grace, I have not had sex since 1999. Yes, I went through rough times, but self-gratification was always my last resort. I am now in my fifties, with all my faculties intact, and I can count on my two hands how many times I have given in to temptation. Through His grace in the past couple of years, He is maintaining me. It’s funny to see how I am constantly aware of the urges because after so long from abstaining from sex, these urges come automatically with pain. And God has never answered as to why the flesh has to hurt so much.

Since I am very candid about my life, I talked to almost everyone that I could talk to who are living the single life. It seems whether you are male or female, after a while the flesh hurts big time. The morale of the story is that learning to co-habitate with those painful urges is not easy and it is a lengthy process. Through it all, I learned to remain close to God, even in those moments when I failed Him. I knew He loved me just the same.

MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST
Oswald Chambers March 18th Devotion

Perfection Isn't the Goal- Jesus Is!

This is such a short and sweet post from the Ransomed Heart Devotion book.

Here is why I love it. The writer knows exactly what true Salvation is about.

His grace keeps filling you up while you are changing from glory to glory.

You are more merciful because you are acquiring slowly but surely those melting affections and well-matured gentleness and will, which are also Christ’s characters.

You are no longer bound to sin: Of my Lord, this is so good. Here the freedom from sin fills your soul. You have been crucified with Him and nothing else lives in you, but your redeemer. One of the beauties of being freed from sin, is that “you do not have to sin” – This is why I said in one my post this year, that when you sin, you can tell it is no longer coming from the same place when you were slave to sins

When we can see the work the Holy Spirit is doing within, Christianity truly becomes exciting. There is joy to contemplate the mystery of this life as He work out His life in us. 

FROM: http://ransomedheart.com

Jesus is inviting us to relax into the beauty he has bestowed upon us and cease striving to attain a level of smooth perfection that looks wonderful on a doll or on a magazine cover but is not attainable in the living, breathing realm of humanity. God does not tell us that the goal is perfection. Perfection in any vital area of our life is not going to happen. There, I said it. Now, we can improve. We can grow. We can become more loving, more grace filled, more merciful. We are no longer bound to sin, slaves to its din of temptation. We are still going to sin. But we don’t have to. The secret is Jesus.

Our hope doesn’t rest on our finally getting it together. Our hope rests in Jesus. Jesus in us. It’s Christ in us, the hope of glory. Paul says, “To them God chose to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). We won’t be perfect on this side of heaven. But Jesus is perfect. Always. We are becoming more holy and true. Jesus already is. His name isn’t “Becoming.” It is “I AM.” Perfection isn’t the goal. Jesus is.

Church Is Not A Building

Church is not a building. Church is not an event that takes place on Sundays. I know, it's how we think of it. "I go to First Baptist." "We are members of St. Luke's." "Is it time to go to church?" Much to our surprise, that is not how the Bible uses the term. Not at all. When the Scripture talks about church, it means community. The little fellowships of the heart that are outposts of the kingdom. A shared life. They worship together, eat together, pray for one another, go on quests together. They hang out together, in each other's homes. When Peter is sprung from prison, "he went to the house of Mary the mother of John…where many people had gathered and were praying" (Acts 12:12).

Anytime an army goes to war or an expedition takes to the field, it breaks down into little platoons and squads. And every chronicle of war or quest will tell you that the men and women who fought so bravely fought for each other. That's where the acts of heroism and sacrifice take place, because that's where the devotion is. You simply can't be devoted to a mass of people; devotion takes place in small units, just like a family.

We have stopped short of being an organization; we are an organism instead, a living and spontaneous association of individuals who know one another intimately, care for each other deeply, and feel a kind of respect for one another that makes rules and bylaws unnecessary. A group is the right size, I would guess, when each member can pray for every other member, individually and by name.

This is the wisdom of Brother Andrew, who smuggled Bibles into communist countries for decades. It's the model, frankly, of the church in nearly every country but the U.S. Now, I'm not suggesting you don't do whatever it is you do on Sunday mornings. I'm simply helping you accept reality—that whatever else you do, you must have a small fellowship to walk with you and fight with you and bandage your wounds. This is essential.

Courtesy of: http://RansomedHeart.com

The Person With The Spirit Makes Judgments About All Things

1 Corinthians 2:15

“The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,”

1 Cor. 2:14-16…”But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.  But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.  For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Most Christians who are not led by the Spirit cringe when they realize that your words are somewhat judging them. They find solace and hang on to comments like this one: “Didn't Jesus say not to judge others?”  Or they would say things like, “who are you to judge?” Like a dog with a bone they cannot let go of this verse in the Bible and their stand in their self-righteousness without the Spirit. IT IS SO SAD TO WATCH AND READ SUCH PEOPLE.  

I have to admit that when I first came to know the Lord, I found solace in knowing that Christ Himself said in Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Because I was sealed with the spirit, He led me to stop hanging onto a simple verse and build my life on it. As I let go, I started seeing other verses that I read about but never truly paid attention to them, as if they never entered my mind. I first noticed that God wants us to judge with the Spirit. Then, I was floored when I realized how much Christ judged the people of His time. In fact, I found Him very harsh at times.

Later, I learned it was not because Christ was trying to hurt others, it was the Spirit of God calling things exactly what they were. I could also see how I was thinking like someone with no spiritual understanding looking for Christ to sympathize with them instead of judging them rightly. I had a need for Christ to say things like other human being would, which means you have to downplay what you see to avoid telling the blunt truth to someone. As human being we do not like being told a blunt truth and we do not like facing ourselves, hence why we constantly wear masks in order to protect our fragile ego.

I also understood much later, after God equipped me with the truth and boldness to share His word, when you speak, live and walk in Spirit you cannot control the Holy Spirit. In fact, trying to control the Holy Spirit calling things the way He sees things through you, is a sin. If we try to sympathize with people instead of holding them accountable, we condemn them to hell and we nullify Christ’s work on the cross. Most of the time, we Christians use sympathy instead of the Agape love of Christ.  We also do things as we walk with common sense and self-righteousness, all to avoid righteous judgement and our desperate need to please man.  When we cultivate this state of mind, there is no question about it that we are not living or walking in the Spirit, let alone living a spirit filled life.

I will share a secret with you and you can take it to the bank.  When you find yourself fighting with everything that you are, the idea of being judged, you can bank on it that you are in the flesh. Why? Because the Holy Spirit could care less that someone is making wrong judgment about Him. Furthermore, when you know you are living and walking in the Spirit and all your judgments are flowing through Him, anyone who dares judge you will deal with God. Why? Because once again it is not about you, it is about the Spirit of God in you. In fact, as you mature spiritually in the faith and you are living the Spirit filled life, the Holy Spirit in you, shares the fact this natural person talking about you or with you is simply a fool. And instead of feeling pain for yourself, you take pity on them for their ignorance. What’s more sad is that you are watching someone calling himself or herself a Christian and who’s so devoid of spiritual understanding and complete absence of the Holy Spirit activities, yet they are no wiser of their own situation.

Years ago, I used to be upset at people for lying to my pastors so that they can be promoted or just so they can be held in high esteem by them. One of my pastors made a big mistake that was costly to the Church and his life with God just by listening to people he thought were good Christians. In reality, these people were not. One of them God revealed it to me through a dream and made me confront this person. I used to be so mad when I knew people lied to my pastor. I felt, by lying to a pastor you cause him to make the wrong decision and jeopardize the Church. Later on when God moves to heal my heart because I was mad at these people for lying, He taught me that while it is true these people were wrong, but the onus was on my pastor to be living and walking in the Spirit so that these people would not have prevailed. My pastor would have been led by the Spirit and the actions taken through the Church would have been different.  

The moral of the story is, if you find yourself like a dog with a bone hanging onto Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” If you find yourself putting much more weight on this verse to demand your rights be respected. If you are a pastor and you find ample materials to preach about how we should not judge others, then you have a much bigger problem and you need the Holy Spirit big time.

This is also one of the reasons you see the internet is filled with Christian sites devoted to denounce real Christians, talking about much deeper Christianity. Yet they, in their self-righteousness have felt the need to blast these people’s names all over the internet, denouncing them as false teachers. When in reality, the person who has the site devoted to this so called “unmasking the false prophets” is the one doing Satan’s deed.

It is strange to see that I am not a minister, God has taught me there are many out there with mega ministry without His blessings and some with those mega ministries are saved by the skin of their teeth. He taught me to identify those who are truly false prophets, yet He also taught me to keep these things for myself. If those with internet programs devoted to blast God’s true messengers as being false prophets knew how badly God will judge them, they would shudder right now. While God does not want me to turn what I know into a ministry to unmask anyone, but, He wants me to use it on a one to one basis with people that I know for sure are following the wrong ministers on television.

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him" (Psalm 25:14). Let the Spirit of God takes you to a higher ground and you will see human being has nothing on you.

MATHEW HENRY’S CONCIZE COMMENTARY

”1Cor.2:10-16 God has revealed true wisdom to us by his Spirit. Here is a proof of the Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, 2Pe 1:21. In proof of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, observe that he knows all things, and he searches all things, even the deep things of God. No one can know the things of God, but his Holy Spirit, who is one with the Father and the Son, and who makes known Divine mysteries to his church. This is most clear testimony, both to the real Godhead and the distinct person of the Holy Spirit. The apostles were not guided by worldly principles. They had the revelation of these things from the Spirit of God, and the saving impression of them from the same Spirit. These things they declared in plain, simple language, taught by the Holy Spirit, totally different from the affected oratory or enticing words of man's wisdom. The natural man, the wise man of the world, receives not the things of the Spirit of God. The pride of carnal reasoning is really as much opposed to spirituality, as the basest sensuality. The sanctified mind discerns the real beauties of holiness, but the power of discerning and judging about common and natural things is not lost. But the carnal man is a stranger to the principles, and pleasures, and actings of the Divine life. The spiritual man only, is the person to whom God gives the knowledge of his will. How little have any known of the mind of God by natural power! And the apostles were enabled by his Spirit to make known his mind. In the Holy Scriptures, the mind of Christ, and the mind of God in Christ, are fully made known to us. It is the great privilege of Christians, that they have the mind of Christ revealed to them by his Spirit. They experience his sanctifying power in their hearts, and bring forth good fruits in their lives.”

Taking Every Thought Captive

Well, I hesitate about this post from Ransomed Hearts because of two reasons.

1)     First, it seems like it is geared toward women only. But, in reality any child of Christ males or females experience spiritual warfare.

2)     The second reason I hesitate is because while the author did not say it, but this idea of struggling through spiritual warfare with Satan because he is trying so hard to create doubt in our mind about Christ, purchasing you and I through His blood, works to a certain extend.

Satan can play this kind of game with us when we are babe in the faith because we do not know who we are in Him, quite yet.

If you have passed the stage of being a babe in the faith, because you have been a Christian for a while now, yet Satan can still make you doubt your Sonship and the price that was paid for you and me, then this means you need to get on your knees and find out what has been happening with you in terms of your salvation. The only proof that you have been sealed as a born again Christian is that the Holy Spirit is working in your life. It is His job to witness to your soul that you are a child of God. So if this has not been drilled down within to a place where Satan has lost the power to play this basic game with you, then you are failing somehow or the Holy Spirit is failing. Take your pick

When you are a true child of God and you are maturing in the faith no matter how bad and how big your sin is, like David when he was confronted about his sins of adultery and murder, he was able to fall down to his face and call upon his father for forgiveness. Why was it so easy for Him to do? Simply because he knew no matter how he messed up, God would not stop being his father. When we mess up with our human father, there are always consequences, but the love does not go away. If we as human being we can love in spite of the offenses and imperfections of our children, then what about God?

By the same token, I have people in my family, friends and acquaintances who claim to be Christians, they are involved in Church activities, mission, and leadership and so on, yet nothing about them seems to show they have been born again. Yet, they sound good because intellect, education and common sense are at work. They have this kind of twisted frame of mind where they put all their stocks and bet on God’s love to fix everything for them. Some of them actually believe the more you sin, the more grace abounds so they act as if God’s grace is a license to sin. Most of these people fall under this verse you find in Matthew 23:15 “"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” This is a very big accusation on Christ’s part and some people would tell us that this verse is for those under the law.

What some of us do not realize is that Satan has a very big ministry right inside the Church. There is nothing new under the sun. This ministry of his is to keep people from truly turning to God while they remain busy living some form of godliness. Satan is very well aware when we are selling this kind of diluted Salvation and he steps in big time with these “Christians.”  Sadly, we might not know where we are with God, but Satan knows it. So, with these kinds of Christians, he does not bother whispering to them that they have failed, rather, he does the reverse and keep them thinking they are alright with God while he helps them minimize sin and believe God’s word backwards.

I hope you can see the difference. Know that there is a balance in the Christian faith. It is found only in Him as we allow Him to live this life through us. 

HERE IS YOUR POST FROM RANSOMED HEART

In order for us to live in freedom and become the women we are to become, we need to receive God’s love even in our lowest places. Spiritual warfare is designed to separate you from the love of God. Its goal is to keep you from living in the freedom that Jesus has purchased for you. Satan whispers to us when we have failed or sinned or are feeling horrid that we are nothing and no one. He is a liar. And our fight for our freedom involves exposing him for who he is even when the lies feel completely true. The battle is waged and won in our thought life: in our minds and in our hearts.So what are you thinking? (Yeah, right now.) Descartes famously wrote, “I think, therefore I am.” I would add a fill-in-the-blank in each phrase. I think I am ______, therefore I am __________. I think I am kind, therefore I am kind. I think I am chosen, therefore I am chosen. I think I am becoming more loving, therefore I am becoming more loving. I think I am forever bound to sin, therefore I am forever bound to sin. What we think about ourselves, others, or a circumstance informs how we perceive it, which informs the way we experience it. Our thoughts play out in our lives."We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Cor. 10:5)What do you think about God? What do you think about yourself? Who are you? What do you think life is about? What do you think is true? Because what you think informs your reality and has a direct effect on how you live your life. What we focus on, we move toward. What we look at, esteem, molds us in its direction. What we think is true plays out in our moment-by-moment existence