Have Initiative

I was reading 2 Cor 6:1
"And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain--"
"Mark 16:20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.. . . ."
NASB

We work together with Christ. Is it possible that Christ will work with us as well as us working with Him? I am thinking that doing things for God will have Him working along with us. As we are in union with Christ we can take the initiative.

It is important for people to have initiative in doing things for God. Otherwise you are stuck.

Updates

I found an explanation of the Full Gospel at Cho's website.

I have put some mp3 sermons on my website Water From the Rock.

Always Be Ready to Witness

1 Peter 3:15
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

Here is the verse that shows me God wants us to always be ready to share the gospel. It can be done alone or with groups, planned or unplanned. 1 Peter 3:15 talks about responding to a question but I will present other Scriptures that discuss other ways of witnessing.

What does it mean to sanctify Christ as Lord? To put His purposes first and to give up in things in your life which get in the way of making Christ Lord.


Jude 3
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

Now that we are always to be ready to share the hope, we are also to contend earnestly for the faith. Now this verse does not ask us to do it all the time but it does imply we use the information we have learned and experienced to contend for the faith. Contending for the faith implies that we reason with others that disagree. Yes we are to do it in love and gentleness, but love does not ignore the glaring blindness the non-Christian is arguing with.

2 Timothy 4:2
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

Preach the word in season and out of season. What is out of season? It is when people don't want to hear the topic. To preach something to someone that does not want to hear is hard. But it is what is commanded by God in this verse. One of the needs for Christian workers is to be prayed up. To have our heart pliable and humble. Then as we speak for Him we have that sweet spirit that will increase the chance that people will be able to listen to us.

Be ready and willing to preach out of season. I am reminded of Luke 12 which states to be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps alight. Being dressed in readiness and being ready to preach go hand in hand. We need a heart to listening for God.

Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

There is power in the gospel of Christ. It is not just intellectual ideas. God's spirit can break through a heart with His light. Being not ashamed has 2 elements. One we know that it has power and will penetrate the heart of a sinner to bring them to repentance. And 2 we have consecrated our hearts to serve God and not ourself. So what others think of us is no problem.

A note on consecration: for me this comes at times through fasting and prayer. I am not easily persuaded in the goodness of sharing the gospel. My choice is to hike in the park not to talk to people. So I need to spend time on my knees before I go out and share the gospel. This is good because I don't have any ability in myself to trust in myself. I must trust the spirit in my heart.

Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. “

One of the ways of sharing the gospel is to do good works before the world and they will see your love and be willing to listen to what you have to say. This ties in with James 3 that also says we should not spout out wisdom but show it by our works.

That is not to say we are not to share the gospel with others without works but works many times will open a door that would be closed otherwise.

Prov 11:30
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And he who is wise wins souls.

One of the proofs of wisdom is winning souls. People talk a good talk but do they walk the walk that the Bible explains. Witnessing is a seeking for wisdom. If we have knowledge without love we are arrogant. To know the Bible without winning souls I would say is moving towards arrogance especially if we are not on our knees for the softening of our heart to find the move of the spirit to lead people on the road to an everlasting hell to the way of salvation. Why do I say this so strongly? Because if someone is on the way to hell and we don't attempt to share the way of life with them we do not have any love for them. Without love we become arrogant. 1 Cor 8:1

If we are not arrogant we are asleep. If we are asleep spiritually then we are open to attack from the enemy. An on fire Christian will have winning souls as a priority.

Lord I don't want to be arrogant or asleep. Let me be awake in you and seeking you for the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Pray Without Ceasing #2

Whether we are weak or strong we need to pray.

We need to pray until peace comes. Phil 4:6-9

We need to pray till the answer comes Luke 18:1f

We need to pray till Jesus comes. John 6:21 - The answer to our life
is Jesus being with us.

We need to pray till the Holy Spirit comes. Acts 1:8

We need to pray Luke 6:29 - We are only being religious if what we do
is not based on belief in Jesus.

Prayer is the expression of reliance on God and not our self.

To ignore prayer is to ignore God.

We need to pray till the rain of the Spirit comes - Elijah

We need to pray till the light comes to see in the spirit. Elisha and
the armies surrounding him.

We need to pray for the right attitude. Phil 2:5

Believing prayer is the life blood of the Spirit.

God is a creator and He wants us to be creators by His direction.
Romans 4:17,18 God calls into being that which does not exist.
Abraham praying for a son.

Christ backs up our believing prayers in heaven. Heb 3:1

Believing prayer must have action. - Moses before the Red sea and the
hordes of the Egyptians coming from behind. Ex 14:15 "Then the LORD
said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel
to go forward."

A Life Lived in the Presence of God

This is my 8th post on things we should always be doing. All of them are impossible without the anointing of the Holy Spirit. For years I would consider it ridiculous to attempt to live according to these instructions. Yet God does not put these instructions in the Bible to be ignored. I don't consider failure to be discouraging. I just refocus and move forward.

Now I have to be honest here. I sometimes am discouraged. But 1 John 1:9 is put there for spiritual life to be restarted. If I am only going to live according to what is possible than why would I pray for God to change things? God wants us to look for His supernatural intervention in this fallen world.

“Psalm 16:8 “I have set the LORD continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

Psalm 25:15 “My eyes are continually toward the Lord,
for He will pluck my feet out of the net.”

Set the Lord continually before me.
I see this as a life lived in the presence of God.

Here is an example that the Lord brought to my attention a while back. I had a job where the leader did not come around often to see what I was doing. So I became lax and did not do my work as I should have. It was a counseling job. One day as I was chatting with my coworkers it occurred to me, how would I be acting if Jesus showed up? I knew I would be more diligent in doing my work if Jesus was there.

In reality Jesus was there, I was just not conscious of it. Jesus is with us now, whether we are aware of it or not. He sees our heart and our attitude as well as our actions.

What is the value of knowing this? Yes it will keep us on our toes, but with the proper attitude being awake spiritually is a much more fulfilling way to live than being naive or ignoring God. I can be aware of what is going on around me not just in the 3 dimensions, but also spiritually.

Colossians 3:4
“When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

This could be referring to the 2nd coming or in our spiritual understanding in the present. Using the meaning in the present:
Keeping Jesus before us, as we walk through the day, we will be with Him (spiritually) in heaven in glory. The glory is the place of God's power. The power flows from the glory of the Father. Romans 6:4 So when we are with Jesus in glory we are with Him in power.

As we sit with Jesus at the right hand of the Father we rule with Jesus.
Psalm 110:2 “The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
Jesus rules and now He asks us to rule. Matt 28:18,19 All authority has been given to Jesus therefore go and make disciples.

Be awake.
Listen to the voice of the Spirit constantly.
Also be aware that Satan will try to knock us off course.
Jesus is our friend and will guide us as we look to Him for help.

The book “The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence is a good book on this discipline.

Always Abounding In the Work of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:58
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in (B)the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

The work of the Lord is the result of faith hopefully, not just doing good to been see by others.

Love is the foundation of Christianity. God is love and we are to love God and others. Love is not primarily a feeling but is practical. And our works flow from the love we have for God and others.

Our prayers and the answers we request from God are based on our works . John 15:16 says that our works (fruit) are to remain as a condition for answered prayer.

Our learning is not just for knowledge but also to pass on this vital knowledge to others.

Learning is not only intellectual but is also learned through example. Again love is the basis and to learn is not to understand but to love with deeds.

Do we study to learn or do we study to love. Our purpose is love and what we do always should be evaluated in the end product of love for God and others.

We can't love God if we don't love other's for how can we love a God who we can't see if we don't love those who we do see?

Love is the basis to understanding. If we do not love we can't see because we are blinded by our unchristian behavior. There is no ability to understand Christian principles when there is no love. 1 John 2:10,11

Jesus led by example not just by lecture. Our works come from following the examples of those who have gone before us in faith. We are taught love by doing things for others as our leaders show us by example how they love others.

Paul said, we are to follow his example as we see the outcome of his faith.

Our works are not in vain!!!

What we do for Jesus is what will last. What we do for ourselves will perish. There is a testing of our life. The things that come through the fire will pass the things that are burned will be lost. What will pass the test? It is what is done for Jesus not for show.

We do things for Jesus as we are led in the Spirit. This is faith. Faith produces strength. And will pass through the fire unharmed.

Our works for Jesus, our works of faith are not just busy work.

Take Every Thought Captive to the Obedience of Christ

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

"For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God,
and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."

Destroying fortresses by:
No speculation about what will happen.
All thoughts are captive to Jesus.
Reject what the world says against God.
Obedience.

We are not our own and our thoughts are not our own either. If I am going to war in the spirit I need to watch what I think and say at all times.

When there comes a desire to complain, I must reject that complaint and speak what Christ has me to speak not what I want to speak.

I have no right to speculate on what will happen especially according to my experience or others. I am to hold fast to the promise of God. If I confess the promise of God instead of my experience or others, there is the hope of fruit in the spirit.

When the world laughs at me when I hope in Christ I am to not pay attention to the world but pay attention to the Word of God.

My purpose is not to go along to get along, but to live by faith in Christ Jesus.

I am not to walk the road of least resistance but on the highway of holiness.