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Showing posts from June, 2012

Compelled by Love - obeying God's Commands

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Obedience. The word conjures up thoughts and memories of experiences that are either good (my brother was better at complying) or bad (I was very acquainted with the “strap”). We all have an independent streak, a desire to assert our own will but obedience is part of the living in covenant and in relationship with others. Even though we live by the grace of God, we are not without commands. There are three levels to obedience, which one are you? As a child, I was terrified of hell (h-e-double hockey sticks – it’s so terrible, it’s a curse word). I didn’t know a lot about it but I knew it was hot and the worst place to be. I was afraid and I didn’t want to go there. I turned to Jesus, not because I was in love with Him, but because I was afraid of being sentenced to eternity in hell. If I’m honest, Jesus had nothing to do with it. Fear is the first level of obedience. We obey but barely. The motivation is negative – to obey so as to not receive punishment but the heart is

Lovers Do More

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Lovers accomplish more than workers. Recently I was chatting with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. We used to attend the same church. We both left and she began attending the fastest growing church on the peninsula. The church is fresh and edgy and pastor “says it straight”. She loves her church and I’m really pleased for her and celebrated her recent testimonies with her, but one thing she said stuck in my head. She said, “I like to leave church on Sunday and know where I need to change.” Really? Most of us already know what’s wrong. Knowing what I need to do or where I need to change doesn’t help me change or increase my desire to do it. Knowledge points out what needs to be different and the places where I fall short. It’s a yucky feeling, and it needs to be fixed so we scour the Bible in hopes of finding the formula to know how to change or what to do but the Bible is dismally disappointing on the 1-2-3 step method. Instead, we find parables and stories that are seeming

Left Defenceless?

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Paul didn’t present the gospel only with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power ( 1 Corinthians 4:2 ). For too long the church has watered down this verse to read, “a demonstration of power,” and by power, we mean with a loud and authoritative voice. By and large, the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit (dunamis) has left the church. I grew up in a church where there were little to no physical effects or demonstrations of the Holy Spirit’s power. We loved God, preached and taught about Jesus but the Holy Spirit was like a 3 rd wheel – no one knew what to do with Him, so he was pushed into a corner like crazy Uncle Bob at Thanksgiving. Smile and be polite but nobody engage him. I don’t recall many firsthand encounters with manifestations but even though I didn’t see it, I understood it largely to be demonic when and if it happened in a church meeting. The early church needed miracles but regular demonstrations of power through miracles ceased

Are Pyschics Phony?

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I live life naturally in the supernatural. I’m being trained to understand the supernatural realm and especially to understand the new supernatural nature we have through Jesus Christ. It’s awesome to learn what I’ve been learning but remember the original Karate Kid movie? Wax on, wax off? Eventually we understand the exercises and training are only to improve our party tricks but there is opposition we’ll encounter and the muscle memory learned in training will keep us in peace because it becomes part of our DNA. There are two erroneous ways to deal with the supernatural – both are common in the North American church. Today we’ll talk about the first error and on Friday’s post, I write about the other. First, we’ve been taught psychics , mediums and the black arts are phony. Are some of the practising psychics phony? Absolutely, but not all of them and to discredit them in one fell-swoop denies us the ability to protect, fight and advance against the dark spiritual forc

Jesus Isn't Concerned by Your Bad Behaviour

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Jesus isn’t concerned or anxious by homosexuality or mothers who abort their babies or by drug users. He isn’t bothered by our behaviours. Jesus didn’t live and die so our behaviour is maintained and controlled, he lived and died so our heart would be changed. When our heart (heart = mind, will & emotions) is changed, the behaviour is also changed. The difference between each is law and grace. The law can only affect the outward behaviour but it doesn’t change inward rebellion. The province of BC where I live is pro-union. I don’t know what it’s like where you live but every year at least one union is threatening strike action. Some public services are deemed essential service, such as healthcare or education. They cannot legally strike so they opt to move to work-to-rule. Basically it means they will only perform their outlined job duties and nothing more. While it doesn’t halt the operations of the service, it does handicap the ability to serve well or fully. This p

Do You Despise the Word of God?

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Hearing the word is not enough. This past weekend, a national clothing store gave away a pair of men’s underwear. We saw the advertisement on TV. I told my Man he should go to the store and try them out. Coincidently, we had just had a conversation about his underwear; he wasn’t happy with his usual brand any longer and needed to find another brand. (Yes, I know, the complexity of our relationship is inspiring and shocking.) The weekend has passed and my Man didn’t go to the store. Hearing the word wasn’t enough; he needed to act on it to receive it. Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians to earnestly desire the greater [spiritual] gifts ( 1 Corinthians 12:31 ). For more than a decade I desired the gift of tongues – a heavenly language. I prayed for the gift, hoping and wishing my desire would be granted. It wasn’t. Several weeks after being baptized by the Spirit, I was at a prophetic conference and a woman stood up during the worship and prophesied she saw h