Thursday, April 15, 2010

My Friend

On May 4, 1980 God invaded my life. Since that time I have heard one consistent non-stop message from the Holy Spirit: He wants to be my friend!

Now He is not the kind of friend you disrespect. He demands respect, but not because He is demanding, rather, He commands respect just because of Who He Is! He is just worthy of honor.

And yet, I diss Him. I turn my back on Him. I ignore Him. I go do my own thing, even when He tells me I am going to regret it. He is always right and He always forgives me. He corrects me when necessary, but it is always with such love and graciousness that I can hardly believe His patience and grace.

So here is God, the One who revealed Himself in Jesus, the creator of the universe, the Spirit of wisdom and grace, and He wants to be my friend. He is not concerned with offerings. He is not surprised by anything. He is holy and He makes me holy. He does not stand for sin in me, yet he is gracious. It is beyond understanding. He tells me to be perfect like He is perfect, yet He knows that I am deeply flawed.

Over and over again I try to understand Him. I try to walk worthy of His calling to me. When I am doing well He reminds me that it is not by my righteousness that I am made holy, but by His. When I am doing poorly He reminds me that it is not my goodness that draws Him to me, it is His goodness that draws me to Him. I am accepted by Him no matter how I am doing! He reminds me again and again, He wants to be my friend!

It is not about how much of the Bible I read (though the Bible contains the full revelation of who He is). It is not about how many books I read. Or how much time I spend in prayer, fasting, or doing good deeds in the community. It is much more than all of that. He is just looking for a relationship with me. All that stuff is part of it, but He just likes to talk!

I am learning more and more that He just wants us to love one another in the same way that He loves us. He just wants us to have relationship too. To respect one another, to care about each other and to love one another with grace because we all stumble in many ways. He wants us to be friends, with Him and with one another. He wants us to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, and kind to one another. He cherishes goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. I am learning to be that because He is that way towards me. He is my friend. He keeps telling me that over and over. Slowly I am getting it!

Friday, March 12, 2010

I certainly know my heart, and that it is deceitfully wicked beyond all else. And yet the Holy Spirit has seemed to find it appropriate enough to tell me on at least three separate occasions, from different servants, that I in fact do have a good heart, a heart after Him. Of course we both know that in me, in my flesh, dwells no good thing, and that the heart that the Holy Spirit is referring to is the heart of Jesus, since He dwells within. Christ is our hope of glory and our only righteousness. The only reflection of good that we may see on the external that is not phony, is the glory that comes from the Son of God alone. All power, praise and glory go to Him for the kind things the Holy Spirit speaks over our lives. We are simply His vessels to bring His blessing to others.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

"I have brought you through the wilderness says the Lord, and I am bringing you into the promised land. Look for the land is before you. You see it from a distance, but every place that your foot treads I have given to you. Do not be afraid. You have little faith, but as you look only to Me, the God of the universe will certainly increase your faith. Look only to me, for otherwise you will see giants in the land. For there are giants in the land, but I have created you for this purpose-to slay the giants and to walk victoriously in their place. You are a giant when you walk by faith and not by sight. So go in the faith that you have. Follow Me now says the Lord, for I have given you the land as your possession."

Saturday, February 20, 2010

I was not looking for God before I encountered Him. As a matter of fact I was looking to get a way from Him! I had turned my back on Him, but He kept relentlessly pursuing me.

After running for years, I finally gave in! I turned to Him and invited Him into my heart. Oh how He overwhelmed me with His love! He changed my heart of stone into a heart of flesh. I instantly became a new creation in Christ. Oh what glory, grace and mercy He has for us!

This is how we come to Christ. Let Him come to you. He always takes the initiative. Let Him choose the sin in you that He wants to set you free from. (You know what it is!) He will pursue you, bring revelation to you, ask you for surrender, and fill you with glory. He will mature you.
It is not up to you. Can you trust Him with your life? Can you trust that He will identify the next area of your life that He wants to reveal more of Himself in you.

Where are you struggling? What issue is causing discomfort in your soul? Think back to your salvation experience. How did it occur? Jesus came to you, and you surrendered. You let Him have His way in you. Let go of what you are hanging onto and let God set you free. Trust Him. Obey Him. Jesus said that the decisive issue is wether we obey the Father in heaven.

Baba

Monday, January 25, 2010

The Naked Truth

My Chat session with Ryan Powers...this guy knows the TRUTH
(His Name is Jesus)

Yes...the Naked Truth Looks very Good

8:35pmRyan
I meant to say, The Naked Truth looks very good!

8:35pmChris
when the revelation of the free gift of God hits your spirit...that your flesh is dead, the old things have passed away...our natural mind almost can't comprehend the grace

8:35pmRyan
We have to let go of our mind too don't we?

8:36pmChris
It has actually led to a real spiritual battle...but God is ultimately the victor because He has already won the victory.

Incomprehencible!!!

Extraordinary!

OH what joy!

8:38pmChris
I am really trying to change my view of God...He is doing it actually, like you said earlier He is working out the details

8:39pmChris
My view of Him IS changing. He is free, He is fun, he is joy, He is peace, He is a blast to be with...I always saw Him as so sober, somber, uptight.

8:40pmRyan
It is a painful place when we realize that the best of all of our efforts and thoughts all need to be thrown away, as the truth sinks in that we have been far away from Him,

8:40pmChris
My mind is having a hard time embracing a fun God!

I am feeling joy arise as I type

8:42pmRyan
Some things are better to cut off and throw away. I have lost many parts of me that would not bend to God's victory in my life. I have lost many hopes and dreams, but by letting go of them have been able to go through the eye of the needle.

8:43pmChris
~`

That is you going thru

8:43pmRyan
lol....that's rich

Did you ever read
Where the Red Fern Grows"?

8:44pmChris
I don't think so.

8:45pmRyan
The point was great, but the book is long, more of a kids story.

8:47pmRyan
They would trap racoons by drilling a hole in a log, driving 3 nails in from 3 angles, then put a piece of shiny metal in the bottom of the hole...the racoons would be watching, and once the trappers left would come and try to grab the shiny metal out of the hole.

8:47pmChris
go on

8:48pmRyan
Their hands could get in past the angled nails, but once they made a fist, they could not pull their hand, (ha ha, their paw) out due to the fact that they would not let go.

Trappers would walk up to them and shoot them.

8:49pmRyan
For me, one of my biggest shiny metals that I had a grip on was this "I will be like Jesus"

But in the end, I only met with ongoing proof that my heart was not willing to be like Jesus

But my pride would not let go of trying

8:50pmChris
owww. Dude you are just nailing it!

the more we try the more we fail

8:51pmRyan
until I collapsed and said to God, "I can't do it"

He replied "Good, I've been waiting a long time for you to say this.

8:52pmChris
The end of self...Is the beginning of God!

8:53pmRyan
Since then, He must have "gotten in my face several times, making sure that I understand that His plan is to put an end to what I was, that my new life is Christ in me.

Yesssssss. The end of self is God's victory over that which was departed....then will come to pass the saying, death has been swallowed up in victory, o death, where is your sting?

What if it is not you who is struggling?

Text ColorWhat if it is darkness in you who is struggling?

8:56pmChris
keep it coming...

8:57pmRyan
God spoke into the darkness, creating the light. Then, He seperated the darkness from the light.

If we were dead, we were darkness.

Like Mary, we had a special seed placed in us.

A seed that has His DNA

Once the light is born, He seperates it from the darkness.

The darkness does not understand the light, but the light understands the darkness.

And has authority over it.

Submit to whatever the light tells you, go limp, like a drowning man being saved by another swimmer.

Allow Him to place His thoughts in you, they are better than ours.

He would have died on that cross a hundred times to be with you.

He has crossed a great divide, waiting for this time to become one with you, to become your light.

Every tear you have ever shed has rolled down His cheek, for He has been in you all this time.

He has suffered every thing, and not left. He will never let you fall.

9:03pmChris
OK you got me to speechless

9:06pmRyan
Such a warmth flooding my heart for you. I gotta go to sleep now. I hope I haven't flooded you with too much weirdness. This is a time of letting go of what the world is holding on to. Salvation is not achieving the heights of the world, but is freedom from the world.

A leaving of the world and entering into an entirely different set of motivations and realities.

No more rules to follow, we learn to love Him as we see Him as being our life for us....we follow Him, not rules.

I should go, so He can take it from here. Good Night brother.

9:08pmChris
Amen my friend.

Can I post our conversation on my blog if I can copy it?

9:10pmRyan
Yes, with blessings.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Overcoming Sin

Though Christ has set us free from the sin that so easily besets us, we are still beset by sin. How can this be? I just want to clarify one thing. When we have allowed sin to reign in our flesh, we often feel guilt and/or shame and are afraid to come before God. We want to do something to make amends for our sin. We want to work our way back to God. We want to get cleaned up BEFORE we come to God. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus!
The way to overcome sin is NOT to do something to become worthy in His sight. The way to overcome sin is to come to God. Just as I am. A filthy disgusting sinner. Acknowledge your sin to the King of Kings. It is His goodness and kindness that draw us to His throne of grace. It is His kindness that leads to repentance. Open your heart to Him. Worship Him. Tell Him what you have done-He already knows. Thank Him for His gift of forgiveness, the forgiveness that came when He died upon the cross. It was proven when Jesus rose from the grave that He has the power to forgive. When we worship God he strengthens us to overcome. If we walk by the Spirit we will not carry out the desires of the flesh. Oh how loud or flesh screams at times to get its own way! It is at these times that we MUST run into the presence of God. Seek His face. Worship Him.
Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who brings into existence what did not exist before. He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything He promised. And because of that faith God declared him to be righteous.
God has promised that He will forgive us. When we believe Him and come to Him by faith, He declares us righteous. That is very cool. How could we not do anything but worship such an awesome God as that. He has given us such a cool free gift: Himself!
This is how we overcome sin.

Morning Worship

Father I am so happy to be alive today. I love that I get to know you. My future is bright because you sent your son to set me free from the sin that held me captive. Now your Spirit lives in me. Oh what an awesome God we serve!

The Spirit of the Living God is doing amazing things in the earth today. The planet has come into a new time, a new season, and our changeless God is doing a new thing. When I became a christian 30 years ago, speaking in tounges was the hot topic. Many embraced it and many fought against it. Today for the most part, in the circles I live my life in, the gift of tongues is generally accepted as a given, a gift available from God that we can appropriate at will. But there was much misunderstanding way back when. Today, God seems to be moving in a new way on human flesh, overwhelming people with His Spirit and we are seeing manifestations that blow our natural mind. Many of us are uncomfortable watching these manifestations in others, but are also experiencing them in ourselves. How do we reconcile this quandry? We must embrace what the Spirit is doing! We must search the Word for confirmation of truth. The enemy will counterfeit what God is doing to bring disruption, confusion, and disgrace. God can handle all that. He took the fall for our sin, and he also takes the blame for all the lame things the people who call on His Name do in His Name even if they blow it! Trust God. Fall in love with Him every day. The love of God is so great. He will have His way in the earth. You can choose to move with Him or resist Him. Choose to obey and move with the Spirit of God today!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

My new blog

I have started a blog. sometimes I will post here.
Chris