Dead Fruit

The Holy Spirit says, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works” (Hebrews 6:1), and so on, “But let us go on unto perfection.

Right now I see across the Christian culture those who are having a really hard time, the enemy of our soul is attacking us from every direction. The onslaught is strategic by the Lord to propel us into all HE has for us. If we look at Israel we will see that when they got stuck and started to coast and maybe decline the Lord sent a nation to put pressure on them and rile them up. This would cause them to go back to the Lord and renew their commitment to God. We are stuck in many ways in the church. All of our lectures are about elementary things and we are happy to learn them, but God has called us into deeper things in Him. What I see happening is that the things we have always lived in that are not mature God is attacking with a vengeance to cause us to mature in them. For me at one time it was anger, people would say that I was always angry even though I didn’t feel that way. But the problem was that I had become so comfortable with the way I reacted to events it blinded me to really see what was a angry response. I had to take the scripture to see what God thought of my reaction to things. Boy I found so many things that I did were a result from anger that I didn’t see it. After that God helped to deliver me and I started to change the way I reacted to show more of the fruit of the Spirit. The same is true of manipulation, control, criticality, lust, greed, pride…. We can’t go by what we think, we have to take our life and hold it in the light of scripture and allow the Lord to reveal what our fruit really is. When we are just happy with who we are and just expect others to deal with it and accept us then we are living in elementary teachings and this is dead fruit. It keeps us from growing into maturity. We do not want the true light of Christ to reveal who we are and accept His grace to change it. We are comfortable and do not want to change well without change there is no growth. Growth is necessary in all things and we have to become like Jesus and allow the things that are not Godly to fall off and allow the things that are Godly to grow in us.  We have to allow His grace in our lives and allow the fruit of it to change us.

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Read this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 22nd

The burning heart



Did not our heart burn within us? Luke 24:32.

We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, the fires are kindled, we have wonderful visions; then we have to learn to keep the secret of the burning heart that will go through anything. It is the dull, bald, dreary, commonplace day, with commonplace duties and people, that kills the burning heart unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.
Much of our distress as Christians comes not because of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test as to whether we ought to allow an emotion to have its way is to see what the outcome of the emotion will be. Push it to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something God would condemn, allow it no more way. But if it is an emotion kindled by the Spirit of God and you do not let that emotion have its right issue in your life, it will react on a lower level. That is the way sentimentalists are made. The higher the emotion is, the deeper the degradation will be if it is not worked out on its proper level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many things inevitable as possible, let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay on the mount of transfiguration, but we must obey the light we received there; we must act it out. When God gives a vision, transact business on that line, no matter what it costs.

‘We cannot kindle when we will
The fire which in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides;
But tasks in hours or insight will’d
Can be through hours of gloom fulfill’d.’


Chambers, O. (1993). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year. Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.

Theology

Many people hate this word. It brings an idea of something old that is not relevant or needed today. Little do they know that they have theology in their minds, heart and actions. Since you show your theology by how you live. We can see what you believe about God and yourself in the way you live. So it is not old thing but something powerful and relevant for today. So do not be afraid to know what you believe and be able to thoughtfully articulate it to someone else. This is the begging of wisdom to know who God is not only in experience but in your intellect also. Because one day you may have to defend your faith.

Justified

By impugning God for His evasiveness, Job had committed the same offense against God that the friends had committed. They justified God at Job’s expense, whereas Job justified himself at God’s expense (40:8).

Bullock, C. H. (1988). An introduction to the Old Testament poetic books (Rev. and expanded.) (109). Chicago: Moody Press.

Are we justifying ourselves like the pharisee's at God's expense? This last year that is the place I have been in and I have put it into my families DNA. It is wrong . We do not need to be justified in why we do things. We need to simple obey the Lord and do what he is telling us to do. Realizing that He has a reason for everything He does. God is our maker and creator how can we hold Him accountable for the things He has promised us. That makes us god and that we are not. It puts us in a place of judgment holding God accountable. It then becomes a lens we read the scripture through. We are justified by faith believing till the end that God will do His part, doubt demands that He does it.

Reset

Is God just your reset button to a quick fix? Do you not understand that he wants to fix your brokenness? He doesn't want to just reset you and wait to hit the button again. God gave His son Jesus to fix the things the world and what we ourselves has broken in us. His plan is to make us just like we would be in the garden of Eden without sin and brokenness. Let Jesus heal your heart, mind and soul.

Contending

Many people believe that now that Jesus has come that we should have peace, prosperity, and fruit. Little do they want to talk about the other things that Jesus said we would have as His disciples, suffering, lack and persecution. We have both instances in our lives in different seasons. As we tackle these times in our lives what is in our hearts and minds. As Christians we should see ourselves as kings and priest. We are over comers in Jesus Christ because of His death on the cross. We are now walking in His authority through the Power of the Holy Spirit to stand and contend. We should be full of joy all seasons of our lives. Why because of Jesus Christ. Job say with his friends and mourned in sack cloth and ash seeking God. I am not being critical of Job but the difference between him and us is we have Jesus Christ in our lives living in us. So as we may go through the same things as Job we can walk in joy. We can stand and contend to accomplish all the things that God has asked us to do. DO NOT GIVE UP CONTEND!!

Growth

    My friend has a new garden concept he has invested in. The idea is that there is no dirt, the plants stick out of a pipe. The roots are inserted into the plant and the nourishment flows over the roots. There are no contaminates just organic nourishment. I wonder what would happen if we pushed away from the contamination's of culture both Christian and Secular. We just got our nourishment straight from the Lord.
    The other part of this new system is that the seeds used were from original stock and had not been manipulated to make them better by man. They had not been changed in any way which changes the nutrient  values of the fruit every time we mess with them. It is kinda like processed food that we have learned has caused our obesity and health issues of today.
    In our culture are we doing the same things, manipulating spiritual truths like processed food and seeds are for instant gratification. We see quick growth and joy in the people but there is no long term value in it. As soon as trials come they cannot stand in the storm and are blown over. Lets get back to personal study of God's word and get a steady diet of un-manipulated spiritual food.