Every person has a role

Friday, March 27, 2009

It has been said that "the successful expansion of any movement is in direct proportion to its ability to mobilize and involve its total membership in constant propagation of its beliefs, purposes, and philosophy."

If we look around the world today we see the validity of that statement. Political parties like the "Greens" have grown tremendously. Regardless of your political persuasion you have to agree that if you talk to any "greenie" they espouse their beliefs with great passion.

When Jesus said that "He would build his church," that was not to be without the complete co-operation of the church to further His message. The full message of the Kingdom includes signs and wonders. The problem with the church is not that we don't have a great message or the power to preach it, rather, we don't have the willingness to be totally commited to the cause. Many think they are involved and "sold out" for Jesus but the reality is, that most of this is always on their own terms and conditions.

God is looking for totally submitted people... only then will the church expand.

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Time for the church to mobilize

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Every believer and every church is to be mobilized. That is, to be in a state of readiness.

In the natural, when there is a threat of war, our troops are mobilized. When there is a natural disaster, our rescue and emergency services are mobilized. They are in a state of readiness to battle whatever confronts them. When the threat or danger passes we say these forces are "stood down". The trouble with many Christians and churches is that they lives in a "stand down" mode rather than in a "mobilized" mode.

A mobilized position does not mean that every minute of every day we are on the front line fighting. Any person doing that  would soon become exhausted. No, to be mobilized is to be ready and prepared to seize the opportunities that present themselves. It is to be the light and salt that Jesus wants us to be. This lines up with Peter when he says that we are "always to be prepared (mobilized) to give an answer to those who ask you..."

How mobilized are you?

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God is Visionary

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

One of the characteristics of the Father is that He is the ultimate visionary. Before Genesis 1:1 He had a vision of what He was going to do. This ranged from as broad as the universe to the smallest of  His creation. He also had a vision for us, His ultimate creation. His vision was that we would rule and reign, we would be people that worshipped Him and reflected His glory to creation. As we were created in his "image and likeness" we also possess the characteristic of being visionary. Having vision gives purpose to our life and purpose brings hope, for without vision we perish. We can receive vision for lifes future from God or as Jeremiah 23:16 says "visions from our own minds". The choice is ours, seeking what God wants for us or what we want for ourselves.

What is Gods vision for our future? What is His blueprint for our life? Eph. 2:10 "For we are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He created in advance for us to do." God not only has eternity in plan for us but a vision for what we would do in this life.

We fulfill that vision by:

1. Dealing with the sin in our life that will always deviate us away from His plans to our own purposes.
2. Earnestly study God's Word that we may discern His principles for life.
3. Being a person of prayer, so that we are in continuous communication with God.
4. Being commited to do the works as they present themselves in our daily walk.
5. Being people that fellowship and seek Godly counsel from others.

As we do or attempt to do these things we will see ourselves mature and fulfill the perfect vision that God has for each of His children.

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Temptation

Friday, March 06, 2009

We need to realize that temptation does not arise from an external source, but rather it comes from within. James tells us that "each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed". Dealing with temptation therefore is not so much an avoidance of external stimulus but rather a putting to death the internal lusts (the flesh) that drive us to satisfy ourselves in those areas. I was sharing with a group the thought process of temptation and mentioned the acronym of T.I.D.E. wich stands for thoughts, imagination, desire and expression.

This of course is how internal evil desires operate in our mind to move us towards sin. One of the group was sharing this with work colleagues and came up with T.I.D.E. as being temptation, imagination, desire and ...........ecstasy. 

Funny, but a truth as well, temptation does have power. Pauls' remedy to the situation is that " if we live by the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature". Wise advise indeed!

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Joy in Trials

Monday, March 02, 2009

The book of James tells us "to consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,..."  Many Christians can come under condemnation if they do not differentiate between being joyful for the nature of the trial, and being joyful in the process of the trial. This is supported by Paul when he speaks in  1 Thessalonians  of "giving thanks in all circumstances." Notice that it is "in" the circumstances and not "for" the circumstances.

We are strange people indeed if we rejoice in the tragedy of the event eg loss of a loved one or home etc.

However, as we trust in God through the process of dealing with the tragedy, we can be joyful in the knowledge that our faith in God  will be developing in us a perserverace that leads to maturity.

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