There is no safer place to be than in the arms of your Heavenly Father.
I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. (Isaiah 46:3-4)
So we can pray with confidence as the psalmist did:
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings. (Psalm 17:8)
Years ago I read Henry Blackaby’s outstanding book Experiencing God, which helped me see God’s relationship with me in a whole new light. Now Henry and Melvin Blackaby have done the same thing with the role of the Holy Spirit in a Christian’s life in Experiencing The Spirit: The Power of Pentecost Every Day.
I’m a fourth-generation Pentecostal, so I’ve grown up with a solid understanding of the Holy Spirit. But Experiencing The Spirit created in me a longing for something more. I don’t want it to just be a head-only theology, but a heart-felt relationship. In fact, this question in the book hit me right between the eyes: Do you spend more time and effort honing your skills than you do seeking the Lord and deepening your relationship with Him?
I don’t want to just know about God, I want to know Him. And a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit is what allows that to happen. The Apostle Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus, and I want to make that my prayer too…
I pray that out of His glorious riches the Father may strengthen me with power through His Holy Spirit in my innermost being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith. And I pray that as I am being rooted and established in love, I may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
For a more intimate relationship with the Spirit of God, I recommend checking out Experiencing The Spirit.
I needed this today. Maybe you do too.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. (Jeremiah 1:5)
I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. (Isaiah 45:3)
God, I know You have summoned me. You created me to bring You glory. You created me to be a part of Your story. And so I respond,
You, my friend, have also been set apart by God and summoned by Him. How will you respond?
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
No Spiritual Experts
There are no experts in spiritual matters. The spiritual expert is never so consciously because the very nature of spiritual instruction is that it is unconscious of itself; it is the life of a child…. Our Lord describes the expert in Matthew 18:4—“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
From Baffled To Fight Better
Your spiritual journey is unique to all other humans.
Your relationship and experience with God is unique to all other humans.
The Holy Spirit will make you an expert in your relationship with the Heavenly Father, if you will just listen to Him. So let God be as original with you as He is with everyone else.
Sometimes I read about this debate whether churches should be “attractional” or “missional.” The first approach says that church should attract people first, and then share the gospel with them. The second approach says that if churches simply focus on sharing the gospel they will then attract people.
Either-or. Either missional or attractional.
What about both-and?
Consider the life of Jesus. No one would ever argue that He wasn’t “on mission” all the time. In fact, numerous times He says, “I’m doing what My Father wants me to do,” or even, “It’s not time for me to do that yet.” Jesus was missional.
And yet… “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that He was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! (Luke 15:1-2). People loved being around Jesus. Jesus was attractional.
Jesus exemplified both-and missional-attractional. I think He was able to perfectly balance this because of the work of the Holy Spirit. I can aim for the both-and of missional-attractional in my life … I can give it my best shot. But the only way I can truly achieve anything is by allowing the Holy Spirit to shape and direct my life, just as He did for Jesus. Henry & Melvin Blackaby, in their book Experiencing The Holy Spirit, wrote:
“The world doesn’t need to see good people giving their best to God; they need to encounter God doing in and through us what only He can do! …Our best isn’t good enough when it comes to kingdom work; we need the Holy Spirit in our lives if we’re going to be of use to God.”
I need the Holy Spirit in my life if I’m going to be of use to God, and be of any benefit to people.
I need the Holy Spirit in my life if I’m going to balance both-and missional-attractional like Jesus.
As a fourth-generation Pentecostal, I’ve grown up in the church. I readily recognize that Christians (like any other group) develop their own vocabulary and set of “acceptable” behaviors. But can you spot them? Jon Acuff has spotted them, and puts them on display in Stuff Christians Like.
This book is funny! I know some people think every discussion about anything related to the Bible and church needs to be stone-faced serious. I don’t happen to be one of those people. I see some great comedy in Scripture, and I have certainly seen even more in the church.
Jon writes—as any comedian does—in exaggerated terms. This is what makes his topics so enjoyable to read. He comes close to being irreverent, but never quite crosses the line. But in the process, Jon helps us to see what we often miss, but what those who don’t regularly attend church see so clearly.
If you’re easily offended, or don’t think Christians should laugh at themselves, stay away from this book. But if you enjoy lighthearted comedy with an underlying purpose, you will enjoy Stuff Christians Like.
Wise words from G. Morgan Campbell:
“The Christian is to seek the upper things, setting his mind upon them, and everywhere and everywhen he is to be hoping for, and endeavoring after, the ultimate. That is the simple meaning of prayer: reaching forward, wishing forward, desiring forward, seeking the upper, the higher, the nobler.”
The Bible is clear, too, about us praying everywhere and everywhen for the very best:
Someone needs your prayers today.
Will you keep on praying for a friend that he or she will be able to
…reach forward
…wish forward
…desire forward
…seek the upper, the higher, the nobler!
General Douglas MacArthur was popularly called “America’s General,” and Mitchell Yockelson’s biography—MacArthur: America’s General—does an admirable job in telling us how he earned this well-deserved moniker.
(As an aside: I have really enjoyed all of the books in the Thomas Nelson Generals series. You can read my reviews of George S. Patton here, and Robert E. Lee here.)
MacArthur’s influence is still being felt at West Point as we train our future military officers, and around the world, where General MacArthur had a prominent role in three wars. And, if his advice about Vietnam had been heeded, perhaps his influence would have extended through four wars.
How did he achieve such prominence? It’s the classic debate: are great leaders born or made? In Douglas MacArthur’s case the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Yes, he was born into a family with a strong military heritage. MacArthur certainly benefited from the influence of his grandfather (a judge), his father (a decorated, combat veteran and general), and his mother (who used her charm to sway many influential people). But these family members could only open doors; it was up to MacArthur to march through them.
And, yes, march through them he did! At every opportunity he pressed forward. Sometimes with unconventional tactics, sometimes in opposition to his leadership, and sometimes through sheer willpower. But the results speak for themselves: Without a General Douglas MacArthur to lead our troops in perilous times, the outcome in three wars could have been disastrously different.
The United States of America is viewed as the world’s superpower (and rightly so). It is very likely that without MacArthur’s influence we would not be the prominent power that we are now. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to God for blessing us with the MacArthur family.
A lively and informative read for military buffs and students of leadership. Highly recommended!
I am a Thomas Nelson book reviewer.
Can you relate to this?
I know the right things I’m supposed to do, and I also know the wrong things I’m not supposed to do. I try my very best to do the right and avoid the wrong, but far too many times I find myself not doing the right things, and (even worse) discover I’m doing the wrong thing.
I say, “Enough of this!” and I vow (again!) to stop doing the wrong things, and I redouble my efforts (again!) to begin doing the right things. It seems like this is working, but only for a little while. Then I’m right back into the same old habit of doing those wrong things again.
It shouldn’t be this hard! After all, it’s so easy to tell right from wrong. So why do I keep on doing the wrong things?! Why can’t I keep on doing the right things?!
Is there any hope for me? (my paraphrase of Romans 8:17-24)
If you’ve ever felt like that, you’re in good company because that’s just how the Apostle Paul said he struggled with right and wrong. But keep on reading, because he also shared how he overcame this struggle. He said, “Those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”
The Holy Spirit can help you do right, and avoid wrong. But you have to yield to Him.
I love what A.J. Gordon wrote—
“It costs much to obtain the power of the Spirit: It costs self-surrender and humiliation and a yielding up of our most precious things to God; it costs the perseverance of long waiting, and the faith of strong trust. But when we are really in that power, we shall find this difference, that whereas before, it was hard for us to do the easiest things, now it is easy for us to do the hard things.”
How would you rather live: finding it hard to do the easiest things … or finding it easy to do the hardest things?
I know firsthand the difference the Holy Spirit has made in my life. Which is why I’m so excited to kick off a brand new series this Sunday called Out Of The Box: Unleashing The Power of the Holy Spirit.
…the Holy Spirit makes the Father’s love more real
…the Holy Spirit makes the Christ-like life more livable
…the Holy Spirit makes the Bible more readable
…the Holy Spirit makes extraordinary living more attainable!
And this Out Of The Box life is for everyone. A.W. Tozer wrote:
“For the Holy Spirit is not a luxury, not something added now and again to produce a deluxe type of Christian once in a generation. No, He is for every child of God a vital necessity, and that He fill and indwell His people is more than a languid hope. It is rather an inescapable imperative.” (emphasis mine)
I hope you can join us at Calvary Assembly of God this Sunday at 10:30am.
Craig T. Owens 