Sold Out? I’m sure you are…

Romans 12:1-2

 ¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

"Creation", a large Christian gathering of bands, speakers and those who come to see them invaded our nearby town of Enumclaw this past week. Among the performers were names that we all know and love, names that have written modern-day hymns that we all occasionally sing in church on Sundays, and groups or bands that, while they call themselves "Christian", and make you wonder why. Knowing that there were 12,000 plus Christians in the area for the event, and that the night before that many of them had gathered at the local Starbucks until they got booted out at 1:00 AM, my family and I decided to go and see what we might be able to do with regards to ministering to some of the young people as they wound down for the night. With my intent for this sharing not being a judgment of which bands fall into what categories, and what really represents Christianity and what does not, I'll let you all draw your own lines and get comfortable in them before I move on…

Sold out. That's the title. Sold out. Are you? Well, when it comes to Christianity, we are ALL sold out. Isn't that exciting?! We are ALL sold out for Jesus! Well, I said we are all sold out, but not all sold out for in the same way. Some are sold out for Jesus, on fire for his Word and love and our relationship to Him. Others, well, they just plain sold out. Sold out as in, we have sold out our morality, sense of responsibility to our faith, and decided that while we definitely need a savior in Jesus to get to heaven, that in the mean time my freedoms will be more important to me than living a Romans 12 life sold out to God.

That night we arrived at the local Starbucks at about 10:30 PM, ordered our drinks…and waited. By 11:00 while we watched the occasional customer come and go, there was only Creation attendee there at the shop. We did not have to reach out to him, he was FIRED UP! He just left the concert, was having loads of fun, was abuzz with energy (this before his coffee mind you) and his mouth was running a mile a minute! How cool to see one of our youth so excited about Jesus and his faith to take the time out of his life to come to a 4 day event to celebrate that faith with other believers and to begin to grow an even closer relationship with Jesus. He was fired up all right… but not for Jesus, just for the music.

(We'll call him Mark) The conversation went something like this:

• Mark: WOW! I'm so pumped!
  
• Tom: Is the concert over?
  
• Mark: Nope they are STILL playing – WOO-whooo!!
  
• Tom: So how's the show?
  
• Mark: GREAT! YEAH!!!!
  
• Tom: So why'd you leave?
  
• Mark: The crowd was too rowdy. It's a 'heavy' band tonight. I had to leave. People are just getting out of hand.
  
• Tom: Why do you suppose that is?
  
• Mark: Well, the music is just that way, and it kinda makes you want to do that sort of thing.
  
• Tom: Why do you suppose that is Mark? Do you think they are glorifying God when they do that?
  
• Mark: Well, it's because they want to get rowdy. That's why a lot of people come to these events, just for the concerts and to have a chance to cut loose with their friends
  
• Tom: Do you think they are glorifying God when they do that?
  
• Mark: No.
  
• Tom: Mark, is you being here glorifying God?
  
• Mark: Well I guess not.
  

Granted, this is a paraphrase of a conversation that took an hour for a geeked-up, wired-out concert goer who likes to call himself a Christian, only then to find himself acting in a way that ruins contrary to his own definitions of Christianity. He's following the desires of his flesh, and not following a path that expresses the glory of God in his life and witness. For a moment (upon self reflection) Mark, who had not been able to close his mouth for an hour… suddenly had nothing to say.

Oh, don't worry, he bounced right back. But in the mean time we had a conversation that that really caused Mark some pause. He finally had some clarity to see that his behavior was limiting if not his relationship to Jesus, at bare minimum his ability to be effective for Jesus. He could now see why he was no longer in youth ministry in his church (he was asked to not participate by the pastors). He was beginning to see why relationships in his life crumbled, and why some of the things he loved began to not satisfy him anymore. He was beginning to understand his loneliness. He was beginning to understand that when Chris Tomlin took the stage and graced the presence of this concert with his gift of music, praise and worship (a gift that God had given him, and that he returns to God in the form not just music - but modern days hymns and anthems of Christianity)… that all he could do was weep.

This devotional is not about finger pointing, being the 'barking dog' police officer of Christianity, or the judge of your walk and relationship with Jesus. Rather, it is about asking, humbly, that you take a deep look at your life, your walk, and whether you are Sold Out to Jesus, or just plain sold out to the world.

Trust me; we all need improvement in our walks. I allow things to affect my countenance that in turn affect my relationship with my wife and children. I allow things to come between myself and God because my flesh wins out from time to time. But, I do not set up my life to feed my flesh over my spirit, and that I think is the key. What I mean by that is we need to examine what drives us. Is it time with the Lord in quiet reading or meditation, or is it time on our boat, or on the mountain skiing, or hiking or whatever. Ask yourself this right now: if you could be anywhere other than where you are right now, where would that be? If that place is a place that feeds your flesh over your spirit, you have some tweaking to do in your life.

Self examination is what I'm talking about. Romans 12 is what I'm talking about. Are you conforming to the world, or are you being renewed by Christ? Ask that question of yourself to the Lord today. I'll let Him decide. Sold Out for Jesus, or just plain sold out…

Doom & Gloom / Ripe For Revival

We all love the characters made famous by author A. A. Milne in his book revolving around the 100 Acre wood and the leader of the pack, Winnie the Pooh. While Winnie can make a great metaphoric parallel to the average American Christian; one who is hungry for spiritual food, but often gets into trouble trying to get it, and makes plenty of mistake along the way as he matures, we must take notice. Eeyore is always close by.

While the A. A. Milne/Winnie the Pooh character of Eeyore is certainly a loveable individual, if his attitude were the prevailing one in the 100 Acre Wood, there'd be a lot more trouble there than they already seem to have.

When faced with hard times, we have a choice. We can look back through history to those before us who have suffered similarly, or even more so than us, and say, "hey, they made it through this, we are going to get through this as well" and work our hardest to make that happen. Or, we can do nothing, sit on our laurels, expecting someone else to foot the bill for our personal financial recovery, languish in self pity and wait for relief or Armageddon. Whichever comes first. In short, there is no time for Eeyore mentality when we need to be working towards, and praying for revival.

If we do take the time to look at history, when the world has been faced with crisis, their natural tendency is to turn to God. Some of the hardest and most troubled times in the past have produced great outpourings of the Holy Spirit and the working of God in the form of revival. We recently saw that here in America following the 9/11 terrorist attacks supplanted on an innocent public by Muslims. In the face of such violence and loss, as well as the very real scare of not knowing what might next come from up the sleeves of these terrorists, church attendance rose dramatically all across America. The trouble is, this revival only lasted about as long as the attention span of a kindergartener whose water based paint ran out and the Play-Doh® got hard (a child whom apparently shares a spiritual IQ with the average American).

Names like Luther, Whitfield, John and Charles Wesley, Wilberforce and Newton, and later on Finney, Spurgeon and Moody - all became household names. Why? Not because they recovered the national or local economy, but because they revived the heart of nations!

There are a lot of choices out there for people of 'faith'. But Christianity beings with it hope. And not only hope, but a historical pattern of revived hearts and nations because of it, and puts forth into the souls of men a reason to live and an undying hope in the awesome future that lies ahead. History shows that Christian revival brings with it prosperity and a blessing from God. This nation has reveled in that prosperity for more than 200 years. As we look around us, we now see a nation where 75% of its people claim Christianity as their faith, but yet we still struggle with whether abortion right or wrong, whether or not it should be funded with public tax money and a divorce rate as high in the church as out. Surprisingly, we wonder why it seems like that time of blessing is over.

Jesus said in John 4:35, "Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!" Such a time is now.

When the woes that encompass our country, or even our own 100 Acre Wood seem to be closing in more tightly than ever – with all due respect, it's time to tell Eeyore to get with the program because the fields are white for harvest. There is no time for doom and gloom, we must be found at the Lord's work. We must work as hard at home and on the job to do our part to turn this economy around that has caused so much pain for so many people, while at the same time PRAYING like never before for God to bring revival to the hearts of the people of Bonney Lake, Sumner and all the world. With the populations of our towns, there is no reason why each church in our towns should not be packed to standing room only each and every week.

God tells us that if we turn our eyes to Him and lift up our prayers, He WILL hear us. Forgive us Lord. May God richly bless America once again.

#3: Renewing/Transforming

Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

`Having seen (by the Grace of God) a pattern in a biblical method of becoming more in-focus or in-tune with Jesus in our relationship with Him, we have been looking at a step-by-step process to do just that. First we looked at a refreshing. How not to allow the world to lead you by its inherent distractions on your flesh, but to stop and get the spiritual rest you need to have a functionally appropriate look at things to come. Secondly, we realize that a refreshing is not refreshing for long if we delve right back into that pattern and lifestyle that we had been following, and that saw us getting of His track and running full-bore on our own. If we do not refocus on Jesus, and I mean everything on Jesus, than we stand firmly set in a pattern that comes with a 100% failure rate.

So what comes next? Our over-doing it physically and spiritually finds us in need of refreshing. In our moment of refreshing we are able to see (through prayer and meditation) and actually listening to that still small voice - that in fact we really do need to refocus our lives on Jesus, then what? Prepare for a total renewing.

Scripture speaks of a renewing at least 6 times by name in the NT. I used this verse in a sermon this past Sunday. The Focus on the Family series called The Truth Project mentioned it as well; and that is the fact that we cannot be renewed, truly renewed except by our minds. If we have achieved Christian burn-out and turned ourselves to the Lord in a time of refreshing, this refreshing will be at best physical and emotional, and will not last unless the renewal comes by the Spirit in our mind.

We are told that through the mouth speaks the heart, and this is true. Our inmost self is revealed by the actions of our hearts. James makes a special point of this to say in his book that our faith proves itself by our works. We are also told that our heart will deceive us. The book of Deuteronomy, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, and the brother of Jesus warns us that we can easily be deceived by our hearts – through pride or outright rejection of righteousness in favor of self. But we are also shown great examples that through (most often) times of prayer and a close refreshing of Spirit by God through meditation and His Word that we can control and overcome the desire of our hearts, as is our acceptable service.

We must be renewed! If our focus on Jesus is to be consistent, and life changing , it must be a renewing that begins in our minds so that it truly effects our hearts, and allows us to use a Spirit driven intellect to make a conscious AND sub-conscious decision to die to self, and destroy every effect of the world and our flesh that still permeates our lives.

2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Ephesians 4:20-23
²⁰ But you have not so learned Christ, ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²² that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:8-11
⁸ But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, ¹⁰ and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, ¹¹ where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Renewing cannot be accomplished without a total refocusing on Jesus, and allowing our minds, our intellect to be ruled by Him and His ways. We must stop reasoning by our own thought, and reason by His. This cannot be accomplished however if we do not know what they are, therefore making our time in scripture studying God's word paramount in our lives.

Look at what some of these verses tell us: If we truly have put off the old man, we SHOULD be leaving these things of the world behind us. Things that remind us of our old man and old worldly ways need to be lost to our history to become part of our testimony of conversion. That even though we fear sickness, illnesses and getting old, that despite the fact that my right should is a wreck, and that my left knee no longer functions like a knee join but more like a swivel, that inside we can gain on God daily! Becoming more like him all the time because we are being renewed inside.

But all of this is done through the work of the Holy Spirit in our minds; by Godly knowledge. This must be our refocus: That our new focus is Jesus and Jesus only, and that we allow our thoughts and minds to be totally controlled and ruled by Christ and His understanding and will. As a man, even Jesus had to pray to realign His will with that of the Father. What makes us think that we can do well in our lives without doing the same?

My prayer is that we all seek this total renewing; a total transformation into what GOD wants us to be. In so doing, we are surly to go through a painful process of dying to self, and killing our old man – willfully. It may not be easy, but it is promised to be REWARDING.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#2: Refocusing

Yes, sometimes we need to be refreshed. Of this there is no doubt. Not only is it desirable, it is biblical. But for it to remain biblical, our refreshing must come from God, and nowhere else. Once we seek, and have received our refreshing from the Lord, yes, there is still more to do.

"There is more to do" is a line that threatens people. The first thing some will think is, "legalism!", "works-based faith and redemption!" And while these phrases should rightly so make our spiritual spider-sense tingle, it is a sure sign of an under-fed, immature Christian to stop there and look (or listen) no further. When I say there is more to do, what I am meaning in this is simply that once we have become a Christian and have begun growing in the spirit, a sure sign of a maturing Christian is an unfettered desire to grow all the more. As we are made new creatures in Christ, these new creatures will have habits and desires that the old creature, now supposedly dead, never had: to become more and more like Christ with each day. Not wanting growth, not seeking growth, is a sure sign that spiritual maturity is lacking.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's refocus on 'refocusing'.

We have just come out of our period of refreshing. We are filled to overflowing with the joys of the Lord and our faith. What next? First thing: we must make sure that our focus remains on Christ and on our growth in Him of we ever hope to continue on in our refreshing. How do we do that? WE MUST make a firm decision in our life to take control of our will, and die to the flesh. We must seek to leave behind permanently, those things that caused us to seek after the things of the flesh. We must refocus everything on Christ and nothing on self. This is the 'more to do' that I talked about. You may call this work, and it may be, but it is also our only hope to keeping our refreshing.

The world wants you to have more focus on 'self'. How do I look, how do I smell, do I have the right jewelry or accessory with me today. Does my body have the right shape or color? Do I have enough 'credentials' to be taken seriously? As if a college degree makes one more spiritual. The world (ruled by the enemy) will be well satisfied to see you focused on anything other than Jesus, but the BEST way for Satan to derail you, rob you of your peace and newfound refreshing, is to have you focused on 'self'.

We must examine everything in our lives, and make sure that each 'thing' is focused on Jesus. Our pride, joy, love, energy, time…everything is His, why do we keep it to serve ourselves? He created it, He owns it, why not give everything back. In doing this, our refreshing comes full circle through our refocusing to become… RENEWING.

Step #1: Refreshing

God really spoke to me earlier this month at the Calvary Chapel annual Sr. Pastor's Conference. Since then, His word and Holy Spirit have been working in really cools ways, and changing people's lives and faith. I really look forward to more of the same as we move forward in our growth as individual believers, and as God grows our church. This devotional is the first in a series of three that are designed to offer a God ordained path towards getting yourself and your walk with God back where you want it, and where it ought to be. This three-step process is something the Lord clearly placed on my heart that I want to share with you as a means to look anew at our relationship with our loving Father and Savior. _______________________________________________

There are times when we all must stop. Too much in our lives happens too quickly, and we just don't give ourselves time to react in a Godly way; a way that has been balanced and checked against scripture, and that has been prayed over and through. Decisions are made without devoting due effort in prayer and in time of waiting on the Lord, and then we are surprised, often devastated when the results are not what we had hoped. "Life" happens at such a quickened pace that ultimately drives us to 'self' and away from 'God'.

When we allow life to control us, instead of allowing Jesus to guide us and control us, we have not only lost our focus, but we have lost our ability to witness for Christ, and our relationship with Jesus is in serious jeopardy.

When we are not spending the quality time we need in the Spirit, getting away from the pull of the world's ways and desires on our lives, we become driven to do so much: for ourselves, for our family, for others, for the church, even for God, that when we finally slow down to catch our breath the first thing out of our minds and mouths is, something like, "WHEW! – I need some ME time!" we begin to think, that we need more time for ourselves, more time for our hobbies, more time for our likes, and our wants. Vacations, man or woman toys, boats, or technology are the things that come to mind. When this happens we have to train ourselves to STOP. And STOP IMMEDIATELY.

When we allow ourselves to get so exhausted from the things we allow to dominate our lives, we are standing on the precipice of serving God, or serving our flesh. We are just so caught up in the moment of our exhaustion and stress that we do not recognize the seriousness of our position.

Yes, it is no surprise that we need time for refreshing. As a matter of fact, it was during a time of great refreshing that God has given me this word to share. But our refreshing must come from God. Not from a vacation or a toy, or a boat or the latest piece of cool technology. It needs to come from God and God alone.

If when you think of refreshing the first thing it means to you is a weekend in Las Vegas with "the girls" or without the spouse, or if it means an evening at the pub with 'the guys' or feeding your mind with electronic gadgetry, if refreshing is designed to feed your flesh before it is designed to feed your Spirit, than we have lost our first love (Revelation 2:4-5). From here we must remember from where we have fallen. Where did our burning desire to know more of, and get closer to Jesus fall away? At this moment, and especially if you find yourself their right now, you must repent, or see your lampstand removed.

A.W. Tozer said it this way: "Christian churches have come to the dangerous time predicted long ago. It is a time when we can pat one another on the back, congratulate ourselves and join in the glad refrain, "We are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing!" It certainly is true that hardly anything is missing from our churches these days--except the most important thing. We are
missing the genuine and sacred offering of ourselves and our worship to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...."

If you seek more strongly, and arrange your doctrine to defend and feed your flesh and the things of the world in the name of 'freedom in Christ', before you defend the perfect righteous of Jesus that we have been called to emulate, and before you feed your soul with the rich Words of God, than a refreshing will not help you.

You need a refocusing…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Spirit; Come.

We have probably all sung a hymn or worship song at church, or have prayed a prayer, or have heard a pastor or church leaders pray for the working of the Holy Spirit in your church or in your person. We do this because we have been asked to do so. We know that the Holy Spirit is god, and is currently not just with us, but IN us as a gift from the Father because of the work of Jesus on the cross. As mature believers, we crave the Holy Spirit working, and seeing Him perform in big or small ways. Even when the work is not in us as individuals, our Spirits are encouraged, and God is glorified just because we see Him work.
I wrote not too long ago about expectancy. It seems that in the Christian church today, at least from an American perspective, we have lost the expectation that the Holy Spirit will work in our lives and churches. As stated then and I'll reiterate now; much of this lack of expectancy is due to lack of maturity and lack of faith. We do not expect the Holy Spirit to work, because we do not know what the Holy Spirit does, or what He is supposed to be doing in our lives and churches.
Part of that falls at the feet of today's pastors. Their flocks are not taught exegetically (work foe word through the scriptures, expounding on each word or verse to better explain its meaning in context, as well as in the big picture), but rather topically, and that often allows the pastor to set the Spiritual agenda for the church, and not God Himself. Therefore, the congregation, not being well versed in the Holy Spirit, His gifts (that yes, are still alive and for today), and His purpose, they do not see the Holy Spirit working, even though He already is. But another reason that we touched on as well, and that was a lack of individual faith. While I did explain that in some detail, this lack of faith often comes from lack of maturity as a believer. We must combine these two areas, and never lay the bulk of the blame on one side or the other.
Today, I just wanted to share on one more thing regarding the Holy Spirit and Him working in us and the church before I move on. Holy Spirit finger pointing.
As Spirit-filled believers, we must remember the old adage of, 'when you point a finger at someone else, there are always at least three pointing at you.' You're probably doing it right now; pointing your finger in the direction of something near you just so you can see those other three little digits pointing back at you. Yes, it's still true, when you point one finger at someone, three point back at you. Don't be a Holy Spirit finger pointer. It makes you look bad.
I have had people visit the church where I am blessed to pastor and leave because the Spirit "wasn't there". My reply: "Than you must not be a believer because the Holy Spirit lives in us as individuals, not in buildings". Cold hearted, perhaps. Unloving? Let's just call it a 'scared straight' tactic. I make such a comment in love, but in extreme to show people how wrong they are about the Holy Spirit in the way that think that He must work.
Because you have not been personally moved by something, does not mean that the Holy Spirit is lacking. On the flip-side of that same token, just because you are personally moved, does not mean the Holy Spirit WAS working. For way too many of us, we lack in spiritual encouragement because the Holy Spirit is trying to work, but we push Him away with a hard heart.
Someone commented recently that it is nice to see the Holy Spirit softening hearts. And it is. But it would be a lot nicer if we would simply let Him! We get so frustrated with life, and busy with work, or upset with other people that these 'things' build up a Holy Spirit repellant in our lives. Our hearts become to God like bad breath is to close friends: They'll still talk to you, they still love you, but they just don't want to get that close. God tries desperately to work in us and with us, and we reject that work because we are 'too busy', or because 'that person doesn't or would never understand', or because 'it doesn't work that way'. Three words of advice: Get over yourself! We all need to get to the point where we live, realizing that our life is not our own! As a born again believers, we have been purchase by Jesus, so why not act like we are sold out for Christ? After all, we are.
Here's my main point in all this: if you do not see the workings of the Holy Spirit in your life and in your church, don't be a Holy Spirit finger pointer. The first place you need to look is in your heart! Are you open to God coming in there and cleaning things up a bit? Are you open to allowing god full access to change whatever herbage may be in that heart? Are you going to allow God to totally break your fleshly heart, smash it to small pieces and re-arrange them in the Spirit? Cause of not, remember, there are three fingers still pointing at you!
The Holy Spirit is alive in you. Let Him work through you, in your life and in your church. If each of us as individuals lived with this sort of expectation, imagine what our churches would look like? They'd look like houses where people live that actually LOVE ONE ANOTHER! And that my friends, could change the world. But is has to start with YOU. Open your heart, and allow the Spirit to lead, guide and provide. God doesn't need you to be valuable to be used, He just needs you to be available and willing to be used!

Expectancy

Acts 1:8
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

I've been away for a week at the Calvary Chapel Sr. Pastor's Conference (CC-SPC). It is always an encouraging time of feeding on the word and encouragement. I have been looking through my notes, and my head is still reeling! It's so nice as a pastor to just go and get pastored to by other pastors. Encouraging and humbling just the same.

The theme of this conference was "Continuing in Grace". The idea is that we (Calvary Chapel) as a church movement need to continue on in what has made the CC movement so effective; the leading of the Holy Spirit. I joyfully sat through roughly 9.25 hours of worship, prayer, teaching and encouragement each day. Yes, the Spirit was willing, but 9 hours of sitting each day did in fact cause the flesh to grow weak, and sore (in the area of the back-side…).

For the next few Devotionals, I'll be sharing some of the things that the Lord spoke to me while at the conference. To go to these conferences and be refreshed is so wonderful! But to not share that refilling of the Holy Spirit, and the inspiration and encouragement that comes from them with others is downright sinful!
I wanted today to just share the one theme that came to me, and was shared by Sean Hollen (my travel and bunk buddy on these trips, as well as Sr. Pastor at Harbor Calvary Chapel in Aberdeen, WA). There was one word that was shared on day one that stood out to us both. AS it was said, and then explained in context, this one word became the sounding board for the rest of the week for us. We both heard it, and immediately began writing on our note pads. It related to the Holy Spirit and His work in our lives and churches. And it has to do more with our faith relationship (thank you Jesus!) than with our understanding of it or 'knowledge'.

That one word: EXPECTANCY.

My life was changed when the Holy Spirit revealed to me while studying through the Gospel of John chapter 16. There in verse 7, Jesus tells us that it is far better that He go away so that the Holy Spirit can be not just with us, but IN US! He goes on to explain in detail later on in this same chapter. In the same manner that John 16 explains the importance of the Holy Spirit to us as individuals, Acts chapter does the same in explaining the importance of the Holy Spirit in the church.

There in Acts 1, Jesus is answering a question about the restoration of the Kingdom on earth. In dealing with the disciples He tells them that this will be accomplished by the Holy Spirit empowering the individuals. The church is thus created as Jesus ascends into heaven awaiting the empowerment of the Spirit to do so.

Since that day at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been working in the lives of His church. As we read through the actions of the first century church, the church that we all try to model after so much, all the believers, and not just the disciples, saw the Holy Spirit work in the lives of individuals and in the church.

Protection, healing, revelation, restoration, wisdom, knowledge, tongues and interpretations of tongues and more, were regular occurrences. What is better yet, when the Holy Spirit worked, they were not surprised. They EXPECTED Him to work in their lives, and in the life of the church.

For believers, we can agree that we are saved by Grace through Faith, so that none might boast (and because there is no other way to get saved). But we need to also all agree that the expectation of the work of the Holy Spirit is also by faith.

I do not write this as a 'name it and claim it' kind of guy who preaches that if you just have enough faith that you can get God to do your bidding. As a matter of fact, I find the 'Word/Faith' doctrine one of the most vile heresies that the church faces today as it feeds on people's flesh and hope, leaving them empty and with a broken heart and broken faith when things do not happen according to their manner and time table. What I am saying is that the Holy Spirit is already working in our lives and in our churches, but because our faith is weak, we do not recognize it!

Our expectancy for the Holy Spirit to do miracles in our lives and in the lives of our churches has fallen away. We have been lied to by denominations that say these things do not happen in this dispensation; that the Gifts of the Spirit (read: work of the Holy Spirit in and through believers) died with the Apostles. Satan has jumped all over this, and loves the fact that we do not see the Holy Spirit work by faith. Even more so, he's doing dances because we no longer expect Him to.

Let us by faith, gain back our expectancy in the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit continues His work, but that our faith in Him and relationship with Him so that when He does work in and through us, that we recognize it and praise Him!

God, forgive us for not expecting you to work in our lives and in our churches. Forgive us for complacency in our relationship with you, and weakness of faith in you. Restore us unto the joy of our salvation, and set our minds on you.