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| Thanks Kansas City Joe... |
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Joe's blog today got me thinking....and actually got me to vent some things I have thought for some time....I went to lunch thinking about his blog and read this in Brother Yun's book Living Water during lunch...
Here are some excerpts:
It's a dreadful thing to live your life in your own strength instead of God's, and to ignore the living water he offers in favor of building your own cisterns. " 'Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror, ' declares the Lord. 'My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water' " (Jer 2:12-13)
It's time for us to stop playing religious games with God. It's time to get serious. It's no longer good enough just to "believe" in Jesus; we need to become His disciples. Churches should not be places where we come and get the water inside of us drained out. Rather, churches should be staging posts from where living water flows out into the communities and nations of the world.
Most Christians I have met in the Western world have plenty of Bible knowledge, but they do not experience the living water flowing from their lives because of their disobedience.
God doesn't want you to know everything and do nothing.
He would rather you know a little and act on that little in obedience, and then He will give you more.
We need to come to Jesus again and again for living water, but not if we plan to keep it for our won benefit and edification. God wants us to start obeying what He commanded us to do. We need to get off our backsides and "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matt. 28: 19-20)
So let me ask you something mychurch people, cause we are a church here right? Are you just leaking your water on everyone here, maybe water that is stagnant and almost rancid, or does the living water just flow from you and bring life to others around you? Are you using your water to dilute the gospel thinking your keeping the peace (while honestly keeping the body from truly knowing the power of Christ in their lives?), or are you quenching a deep thirst in the body of Christ? Is your life bringing life to others...in the body and in the world?
Now, I don't really want people to respond to this and say yes or no....these are deeply personal questions and ones that will only do you true justice if answered honestly and privately. I know for me to even pose these questions will anger some and that is OK, cause maybe if your angry it will move you to action...and I'm not talking about throwing cold gatorade on me....I'm talking about an introspective look at your foundation...is your well cracked, is God's Word rolling through you with no effect that is even measurable to the body or to the world, cause if that is the case how is your life ever going to help transform someone else's...and isn't that what we are called to do?
When I say this I mean it...GOD BLESS YOU MYCHURCH and please take Him up on what He has for you...
5:7And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 5:8 For there are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three agree in one.
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| To add a comment to "Thanks Kansas City Joe..." |
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| January 29, 2009 |
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I'm glad you poisted this Lorin because I couldn't have said it better myself. I do my best to be a channel of blessing to others and I see the impact I am having inthe lives of others. Not that there is anything good in me but that Christ lives through me. I may be a bit unorthodox in the way I approach and present the gospel but I can go to sleep with a clean conscience because I know I am the real deal and others know also.
Philippians 1:15-18; Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
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| January 29, 2009 |
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| Jay you know I love your stuff and your style...your tops in my book always have been....Lori |
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| January 30, 2009 |
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| God Bless you Lorin. Thanks for the thought provoking message. |
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| January 31, 2009 |
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BREN, thank you sweetie your so kind...
TINO, thank you too! I was talking to a friend on the phone last night and about this very thing and I gave him this scenario...I have heard women MULTIPLE times say, "I don't want my baby to grow up...I want them to stay just like they are right now, they are SO FUN for me" That statement has always turned my stomach...there to me is nothing more sad than people who don't mature or stay infantile...and we have all been around a few of those in life...I know that these Moms are not saying that and thinking about the true ramifications of their statement, but I can honestly say that the process of my children aging has been what has delighted me! I love to see them do things, and grow, and develop character even in hard situations...those are the things that as a mother TRULY delight my heart.
As Christians when we see someone struggling...and we just pat them on the head and say..."Well, bless your heart, God must be teaching you something here that we just don't understand...and we say NOTHING to help them get past it, mature, or get over it aren't we saying the same thing...basically stay young in this area, stay a baby...Here let me go get your bottle...(and let me just ask you would you buy a drug addict drugs when they are going through withdrawl or would you come up with something to help them stay sober? ALOT of christians are feeding the addiction habits of other Chirstians helping them to stay lost...)
Growing up for most of us is hard, it is PAINFUL, most of us don't like responsibility and that is the honest truth. Most of us want the paycheck without working for it, most of us want to wake up when we want, we don't want to be disciplined and go to school/work, and if we do we certainly don't want to come home to any responsibility...we don't want to obey the rules, they are for other people., BUT the truth is in the Lord we are all called to mature in Him and that for every-single one of us is work, and dying to our flesh, and taking on Gods perspective...
I don't for one minute believe Jesus wants us in poverty, sick, and living in despair...if you are then you better read those letters Paul so eloquently wrote to us and get some backbone...God is not to blame for the things we allow the devil to steal from us...WE ARE, He has given us all the tools and one of them is full body armor, which is heavy, and guess what, it means you have to WAR, you have to fight, and it is a hard thing...welcome to Christianity....there comes a time where our whining and pitifulness has to stop...God has called us to be storm troopers, giant killers, victorious, He has planned EVERY GOOD THING for our future. That does not include sickness, poverty and despair....Also, let me say I am not saying this after living a cushy life...I have learned this in my walk, and I'm not saying I'm awesome and have it all figured out either but I know this God does not want us to sit around with our thumbs in our mouth, in poopy diapers asking for our bottles, we are to go out, EVERYONE of us and teach Christ crucified...
I KNOW this is hard to hear but body it is time...I NEED your gifts, I NEED your insight, I NEED your uniqueness, I NEED to hear your experience when you have come face-to-face with Jesus and His heart in your life, if the elbow, knees, ankles and hands, and spine don't work then the body is crippled PLEASE church do your part...Find Christ crucified in your life and tell everyone...stop preaching Satan's work and start proclaiming the Lords from the rooftops...
Said in Love...truly, In Him, Lori |
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| February 11, 2009 |
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Lorin, It is late and I'm not sure I fully understand what you are trying to say. Here is my paraphrasing of your message: you want us to grow up and stop feeding each other milk, to stop whining and learn to walk in victory. Part of that is understanding that life for a Christian is painful because not only will God prune us (as branches of his vine) but He purify us through the fire of our trials until we are perfected and learn to walk in victory over our battles using the tools God has given us (the weapons of spiritual warfare and the whole armour of God). Have I got you right so far? If so, these scriptures seem to bear out what you are saying: 1 Peter 1:6-7
"Now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. James 1:2-4
"Count it all joy, my brethren when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. " Hebrews 12:5-10,14
"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord . . . for the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives . . . If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children . . . he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. . . Pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord." If I have it right so far, I get confused by the statement "I don't for one minute believe Jesus wants us in poverty, sick, and living in despair". I guess my thought is that without us living at least in some degree is poverty, sickness or despair, we will not get an opportunity to be refined...we will not go through many valleys in order to reach for the goal of the mountaintop (and the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus). So in that sense, doesn't God allow us to experience everything we are experiencing so that we can be trained, molded, discipled and shaped in His perfect image?
I ask this in love and without judgement as I really don't have the answer on this and would like your further views on this. Also, I wonder what we can do in practise to help someone become more mature, especially over the internet where we often don't know one another and most people like to "teach" rather than "learn" (though we should all have a teachable spirit). I tend to venture then on the side of "encouragement" rather than discipline as who am I to rebuke someone I don't really know...In terms of this site, I take to heart the message to "encourage one another, and build each other up". But if there is more I could do, I'd dearly love to hear what. God bless. In Christ, Penny |
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| February 15, 2009 |
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Penny,
I already commented to this once and lost it all when I went to post it...I hate it when that happens...so here it goes again....
What I would like to see is people in the body coming off of the milk they are on, and many are still on milk multiple years after being saved. Many of the doctrines we all discuss are milk doctrines. Penny, I realize I need the body BUT I need a mature body, when we don't grow in Christ and the truth then we rob others in the body from the gifts God has given each of us....I find a lot of frustration in that. See, I don't have all the right answers in all situations, but others would if they developed the way they should in their spiritual walk. I find a quite profound loss in the body today because we are not maturing as we should.
In the scriptures you speak of, each one of them took place in a time where the Christian church/individuals were being persecuted to death, literally being thrown into the coliseum with lions and being eaten to death. Now, that is persecution! Those letters were written to the church to encourage them in the literal trials they were suffering....The trials of those days were nothing compared to the trials we suffer here in the US. Discipline is also very different to me than suffering, discipline is about aligning our flesh with Gods way vs. our own...It is choosing His way over ours...sometimes that hurts...
Penny, I believe in fact I'm coming into even a deeper understanding of Gods love for us...He does not use disease, poverty, depression/despair to teach us anything...BUT Satan will give us anything he can esp if we call it the Lords work! See the Lord wants the best for us. I don't need to use heroine to know it is bad for me, I KNOW, God never gave anyone a drug addiction to teach them anything...the devil did though in order to destroy them, can God redeem any situation YES, no doubt but that is NOT His best or His will... Living in Christ should be about going from glory to glory...it is about learning to be victorious IN HIM because we can not do things on our own, it is about emptying our-self into Him and trusting His guidance, sometimes that is painful, but He HAS ALREADY set us free...and most people don't understand that good news right there..
We can't help others to mature if we are not already mature ourselves, a baby never does help an adult grow up, but adults teach babies. What can we do, even over the Internet, is speak the truth and Christ crucified. That should be the best encouragement there is...Christs message was challenging to those around Him, some NEVER believed in Him that were exposed to Him personally...the law was easier for them...
Let me just give you this example....We all have heard of mothers who breastfeed their kids once they get off the school bus...something about that makes all of our stomachs turn, we also know kids who never gain bowel control around those ages....Now, let me ask you, would you say in those situations...go ahead breast feed your 8 year old...or go ahead right in the classroom around all your peers let your load go....No, I think not we all know in those situations those kids/parents need to grow up...their flesh needs to be crucified a bit, the best advice here is the truth, but too many times we back away from challenging situations, trying not to get involved so we pacify those people so they don't get angry...but is that what is best for them NO, the TRUTH is...The Lord tells us to speak the truth in love, but even when you do that some are going to take offense at your words alone forgetting your tone or your heart....I can't help that, neither could Jesus, but it also didn't keep Him from speaking the truth...and one of the truths is this right here....WE ALL as Christians HAVE been given the POWER that raised Christ Jesus from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of the Father...How many people do you see with that power truly operating in their lives....? Well we are CALLED to that and if we don't have evidence of that then we are missing it somewhere....that POWER does away with poverty, sickness, disease, and despair...because if you think about it if that power put Christ in Heaven, then how on Earth would that power keep us in a living hell which is how many Christians describe their life...just something to ponder....I truly say this in love and in no way attacking you Penny, you have such a dear heart, and my heart is that others really find out WHO Christ is and WHAT He did so they can be set free....In Him, Lori |
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