Monday, June 12, 2017

Spiritual Change Requires Spiritual Power And An Accepting Heart



They said to Him, "Rabbi…where are You staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." —John 1:38-39

{CHAMBERS}  “We stay with Him a short time, only to wake up to our own realities of life. Our self-interest rises up and our abiding with Him is past. Yet there is no circumstance of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus.  “You are Simon….You shall be called Cephas” (John 1:42). God writes our new name only on those places in our lives where He has erased our pride, self-sufficiency, and self-interest. […] When we are in our best spiritual mood, you would think we were the highest quality saints. But don’t dare look at us when we are not in that mood. A true disciple is one who has his new name written all over him— self-interest, pride, and self-sufficiency have been completely erased. Pride is the sin of making “self” our god. And some of us today do this, not like the Pharisee, but like the tax collector (see Luke 18:9-14). […]  You defy God to make you a saint, as if to say, “I am too weak and hopeless and outside the reach of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.” Why aren’t you a saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do not believe that God can make you into one. […] Put no conditions on your life— let Jesus be everything to you….”

{ELGIN}  If Oswald Chambers is describing you, there is nothing I can do for you.  Well, like him, I can tell you what the right is, but my words have no power to cause you to change your thinking or your ways.  That is the job of the Holy Spirit, to bring spiritual understanding to your spiritual-you, to bring conviction and enlightenment.  At that point, you must step out in faith.  There are so many people, family, even that agree with the words that I say, but do nothing in response to them.  It is only when my words are coupled with the Spirit of God and He pierces the heart of the hearer, does what I say make an eternal difference in the life of the hearer.  But the hearer must receive the truth, repent, and follow Jesus.  The parable of the seeds is probably the best explanation of this spiritual phenomenon. (Matthew 13:18-23) “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”” 



I cannot see the heart of a person, to know what kind of “soil” I am casting the seed, but that is not my “job”.  My job is to cast the seed.  Where I have trouble is when I think my job is more than that.  That it is somehow my fault that the soil is hard, rocky, or thorny.  It’s not.  Each person is individually accountable to God.  A hard fact to accept, especially when you are talking to a family member who you want desperately to hear and understand.  They must have a heart ready to accept the Truth.

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