Saturday, April 16, 2016

When The Spirit Says Go This Way, And We Go Our Own Way

My Utmost For His Highest
 
While you have the light, believe in the light… —John 12:36
 
“If, during a prayer meeting, God shows you something to do, don’t say, “I’ll do it”— just do it! Pick yourself up by the back of the neck and shake off your fleshly laziness. […] Don’t give up because you have been blocked and confused once— go after it again. Burn your bridges behind you, and stand committed to God by an act of your own will.”  CHAMBERS
 
There are a couple of problems with taking spiritual action.  First, we must know that we are being prompted by the spirit and not by our emotions.  An acquaintance of mine once told me that he does not attend “religious” conferences because they are nothing more than a mass manipulation of people emotions.  Motivating people to do things not because God wants them to, but because they are being emotionally charged into believing God wants them to.  And he will not allow himself to be manipulated.  I have attended a number of conferences and I must admit that there are some, if not many who are influenced on the emotional level.  However, I can say, emphatically, that God has spoken to me, many times, during those meetings.  How we respond to what we hear, often times depends upon our spiritual condition.  I didn’t hear God in the thunder of the thousands of voices singing, or the magnified voice of a particular speaker … but in the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.  As for the acquaintance I mentioned? In my estimation, he is afraid.  He is afraid of losing control.  He is afraid of hearing God’s voice.  He is afraid that his life will be interrupted and redirected.  Just like many of us are.
 
(James 4:17) “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Hmmm.  So if God tells me I should do something, and I don’t do it, I am sinning.  Seems a little strong doesn’t it?  Trying to refute this truth reveals an immature understanding of your new nature.  You are not your own.  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)  “… do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  Think about what started this “sin” mess.  God told Adam and Eve to not do something.  They chose to ignore God and do what they wanted instead.  They knew the good and did not do it. So it is with us.  We trivialize our disobedience … I mean, come on!  My ignoring what God has told me to do is not on the same scale as what Adam and Eve did.  Is it?  You tell me.  ELGIN
 
Charley Elgin

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