All posts tagged: HolySpirit

Day #1: I am created in the image of God

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What does it mean to be human? It means we are created in the image of God for the glorious reality of being in permanent fellowship with Him. Ravi Zacharias Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Welcome to day number 1 and thanks for joining me on this 21-day journey of discovering who we are in Christ. If you do not have an image problem or struggle with issues concerning your self-esteem or confidence, then you are one of the most fortunate people on planet earth. But the fact remains that every one of us struggles with some kind of complex. That is why it is important that we are reminded that we are created in the very image of God. What that means is – I am defined not by what my culture, others, or even myself think about me. I am defined by who God says I am. Psalm 139:14: I am fearfully and …

3 Signs of a Revived Christian Life

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Jesus Christ came so that we can have life and have to the full. To be truly alive to Christ means, we must have his life flowing within our hearts. If you are like me, you’ll admit, that life leaks. Sometimes I am truly on fire and full of spiritual vitality, but other times I experience seasons of dryness. The question is how do I get my spiritual life revived again? An Abiding Presence The first sign of a revived christian life is a life that enjoys the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. He possesses a fullness that is ever-increasing – from glory to glory. In the words of a famous preacher, it is “something that you don’t have to stir up, crank up, work up.” Too often, revival is about how loud and emotional people can get in a meeting. Don’t get me wrong, I think, when God shows in our meetings it is going to get loud. But too often, people try to reproduce something God did before and act as if …

Weird Things on the ‘Bible Set’

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Jesus says, ‘The Holy Spirit is like the wind.’ At that moment, a wind, like as if a 747 was taking off, blew his hair, almost blew the set over and sustained for 20 seconds across the desert, and the actors didn’t break — they kept going. And everything stopped. Everyone just looked at everyone like, ‘What just happened?’”

The Prayer of Impartation

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The book of Numbers has a very short but powerful prayer that was used to bestow blessings upon the people of God. Moses and Aaron were commanded by God to bestow blessings upon His people, but they were to do it according to the formula detailed in the verses below. Unless the Lord gives me a different way to close my Sunday morning worship service, I always close with that prayer. I call it A Prayer of Impartation. It is important to note here that it was God himself who put the words in the mouth of the priest. What that means is that there should be room for the movement of God’s Spirit in that moment of impartation. You don’t necessarily have to read the verse word for word, but you will need to tap into the spirit of the words. Another thing worth mentioning is that they were to put the name of the Lord upon the people. Nothing else could bring about the blessing from the Lord. To be blessed by God is to …

The formula hasn’t changed: Your first step to next step ventures

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While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Acts 13:2 So, you are sitting there and asking yourself – What’s my next move? What does God have in store for me? Should I do this, should I do that? Let me share with you a very simple advice. Jesus’ disciples understood a very important principle in determining next step ventures. It wasn’t coming up with the best ideas about what they needed to do with their lives. It wasn’t seeking out counsel from mentors and spiritual giants. There is a time and place for those. It was about being with God, waiting on God and listening for the Spirit to Speak. Your first step to next step ventures is taking time – short or extended times of worship and fasting and waiting on the Holy Spirit to speak. I am afraid too many have missed this all important step and have ended up wasting their lives simply …

Are you willing to Risk being liked for being Extraordinary?

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A few hours ago I wrote a post entitled 7 things self-absorbed super-spiritual pastors say in the pulpit. The post was about the Unfortunate behavior of some preachers who relentlessly use their teaching to cut and hurt people. My purpose was to argue that sometimes sensitivity,  tact and cleverness in the way we communicate pays off greatly as we seek to deliver a difficult to swallow kind of message, convey a rebuke, or bring correction to a person who really needs it. For me, sometime our so-called speaking truth to power can come across as vicious, rude and simply disrespectful. However, if not careful, balanced and in tune with the Holy Spirit, we can find ourselves slipping into that place where we are only concern about making people feel comfortable and doing everything not to get them offended. Unfortunately, some churches, preachers and writers have fallen into the trap of being politically correct because of fear that somebody is going to get offended. This is spiritually dangerous not only for the leader, the membership, but also the …

10 things self-absorbed, super-spiritual preachers say in the pulpit

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My purpose here is to argue that sometimes sensitivity, tact and cleverness in the way we communicate pays off greatly as we seek to deliver a difficult to swallow kind of message, convey a rebuke, or bring correction to a person who really needs it. For me, sometime our so-called speaking truth to power or motivating others for a greater good can come across as vicious, rude and simply disrespectful. Here are some of those things I think could be better, if not, more effectively communicated: 1. We would like to welcome all of you C&E Folks to our Special Easter/Christmas Service. All our C&E folks? It means those who only show up in church for an Easter or Christmas service. In some circles they are called Christers or Onecers. 2. Back in the day we used to go for hours way past the time for us to dismiss service when the Holy Ghost began to move 3. God is not impress with the one hour you give to him at the Sunday morning service 4. …

Holy Spirit Fall

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Sometimes I wonder why Acts of the Apostles is actually called – Acts of the Apostles. From my understanding of the entire book, there is just one person fueling, empowering and anointing these apostles to work miracles, signs and wonders – the Holy Spirit. So, why is the book not called – The Acts of the Holy Spirit? What I mean to say is: If we are to wait for, seek the power the Spirit, that should tell us that we can do nothing without him… Acts 1:8 – you shall receive power… If we are to walk by the Spirit to be victorious over the flesh, that should cause us to rely on him more… Gal. 5:16-18 – live by the Spirit… If the only way we can belong to Christ or be a part of Him is through His Spirit, that should speak volumes of how desperately we need him… Rom. 8:9 – we don’t belong to him… If apart from Him we can do nothing – that we should do everything in our power …

Don’t let it get to your head!

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Mark 1:4-8 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” When your birth was foretold by angels, your first encounter with Jesus came while you were still in your mama’s womb, and your dad’s mouth was locked for many months so that he could not speak until you were born, that can call for some real arrogance and self importance if you let it het to your head. Today many fall prey to the spirit of pride because they allow …

Selah: Pause and think about it!

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I love to hear the word “advantage” in a tennis match. At this time the server has the advantage to win the match after deuce. I get excited, especially if the one I am rooting for has the advantage. Advantage means everything is in your favor. It means you have the edge over the other player. It means you have the power now to win a set or win the match. Psalm 84 give me that same feeling. The psalm is a description of the advantages we have with the Lord being there with us. The psalm divides very simply into three parts and marked off by the little word Selah. Selah means to pause and think of what has just been said. Let me simply share these verses and have you pause and think about what you just read: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout …