One Person at a Time...

Next Step #13

Thirteen weeks is ¼ of a year. Can you believe it’s already been ¼ of a year since the Living in the Spirit Series was the focus of our Sunday worship? Time passes so quickly and as we seek to live EACH DAY in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the key is to keep putting God first. It’s so easy, even after a ¼ of a year to wake up and start our days with our “to do list” first, or with the frenzy of the day first, or with the latest crisis first, or with just about anything first but God. By now, hopefully, waking up and asking the Holy Spirit to fill and guide us is a habit. If it isn’t, now’s a great time to STOP and recalibrate our first step each day. Aristotle said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  As followers of Jesus Christ, Aristotle’s words are invaluable. If we examine our lives at the start and end of each day (at a minimum), then we’ll know whether we are drawing closer to God, whether He’s first in our lives, whether we are living in the Holy Spirit. It’s when we let an hour, a day, a week pass being swept along by the “river of life” without ever stopping to see which direction we’re going, or what purpose we are pursuing.

Take five minutes right now to STOP and consider how you have grown in the Holy Spirit over this last ¼ of a year. Be specific.  Is the fruit of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control more evident in your life? Are you listening more for the Spirit’s guidance in the big and small decisions of life? Is putting God first, more often than not the reality of your life. As we move into the next quarter of a year, let’s make certain that living in the Spirit is more and more the reality, because then, and only then, will we be sure that God’s kingdom will advance in our lives and in the lives of those around us!

I'm Back!

The missions trip to Louisiana reminded me once again that I am no longer 25!  22 hours of driving, stopping only for meals and "biological needs" didn't use to phase me.  It does now!  I've been back since Saturday, but only today do I feel like I've caught up on the rest that was lost with the travel, the trip and the travel.

The trip itself was so eye-opening.  Yes, I've seen the pictures of the devastation as we all have, but until actually traveling the streets, and visiting the site where the main levee broke in the "9th Ward" of St. Bernard's Parish, it was hard to imagine what it was actually like to have experienced such a natural disaster.  Two years later homes are still abandoned.  Some have been razed because they weren't able to be repaired.  Some have also been restored, and many are in that process.  Thanks God for the opportunity to be part of the restoration effort.  I'll be offering some "clips" from the trip in the days ahead.  Right now, I'm grateful to be back, and grateful for all the blessings I so often take for granted:  clean water, a clean shower, my own bed, a home that has not been submersed in water, and so much more.  Take a moment today and thank God for all the things you usually think are a "given" in your life.  As the folks of the gulf coast found out two years ago, the everyday "givens" can be taken away in an instant.  Thank God, too, that in the midst of anything He is always the same.

Next Step #12

Hi Everyone!  This week’s next step is our final look at

1 Corinthians 2

.  Today, let’s look at verses 11-16:

¹¹ No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit. ¹² And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world's spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. ¹³ When we tell you this, we do not use words of human wisdom. We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths. ¹⁴ But people who aren't Christians can't understand these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means. ¹⁵ We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can't understand us at all. ¹⁶ How could they? For, "Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give him counsel?" But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

Paul gives us an extremely important reminder in today’s Scripture:  Those who aren’t Christians can’t understand the truths we receive from God’s Spirit. In other words, sometimes we are going to sound crazy when we talk with non-believers from the Spirit! Do you remember times when you have read the Bible before you were a believer, or even after you became a believer, but you relied on YOUR wisdom instead of the Spirit to give you understanding? It doesn’t work, because God’s word was written for those who believe in Him. When we read the Bible or seek to explain it to others, it is essential that we call on the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance. That way we are leaving the interpretation to the one who AUTHORED the words. All kinds of scholars have studied the Bible as literature, or as a “holy book,” but only when we come to God’s word from God’s perspective will we understand and APPLY it as He intends!