Friday's Thoughts on Marriage

This is number 14 in a weekly series I began on December 21^st/13 with a post called, “Married Forever?

Christian marriage is not lacking a supernatural element. As Paul highlights and John 17 expands, a Biblical marriage is to pattern itself after the union of the Trinity; a relationship between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit who live in perpetual love and sacrifice. Jesus on the Cross, speaking words “not My own,” was an example of this loving and sacrificial relationship.

We are created in God's image. 

We were not created to live in our own glory. 

We were not created to worship ourselves. 

“Love the Lord you God with all your strength, heart, soul and mind, AND love your neighbour as yourself.”

It we fail to serve God by loving others, by serving others, we fail live out the nature with which we were created. Violating our nature leads to misery and the breakdown of relationships.

“Who ever wants to save his life must lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” If you seek life as this world understands life, seeking self-protection above all else, you will find misery. If you seek Jesus and put Him first in your life, in your relationships, in your marriage you will have a full and abundant life.

More on this next Friday

Friday's Thoughts on Marriage

This is number 12 in a weekly series I began on December 21^st/13 with a post called, “Married Forever?

Self-centredness will destroy your marriage! Does that surprise you? If it does you're in more trouble than you imagined. A self-centred spouse will always trigger resentment in the other spouse. What I mean is, the self-centred behaviours of one spouse will ultimately trigger self-centred behaviours in the other spouse. Self-centred is who we are – Unless we allow Jesus to change us.

The problem of course is that a self-centred character is blind to its own existence. What's more, our self-centred character is almost allergic to the same characteristic in others, especially one's partner. Our corrupt self-love triggers thoughts like, 'Why weren't you thinking about me? You should have been thinking about what I want. How could you not be thinking about me?' 

Only an obedient relationship with Jesus can create an other-centred focus that destroys self-pity.

The Holy Spirit Who displays a giving and serving character will bring about this type of maturity in you. Jesus' Spirit destroys pride and brings about a humility that exudes generosity and deals with the selfishness of others in a mature fashion. The Holy Spirit does not keep score. As seen by the reaction of the world to the mere word “submission,” it's easy to see that without the indwelling of the Spirit, submission is impossible.

If your only source of love is from other people, what happens when those people fail to love you? As the saying goes, “To what will you look to for help if not to that which is stronger than yourself?” The love that we need to give away in order to maintain and grow a healthy marriage must come from a source greater than ourselves.

Here is a reality of life, You will not, and cannot find happiness until you've placed your own happiness in submission to that of someone else. Not just for today but as part of a commitment, a life-long commitment to putting the well-being of at least one other person (hopefully that of your spouse) ahead of your own. 

Christian maturity does this, not in order to get in return, but simply to give. Freely we have received. Freely we are to give. This type of obedience to Jesus, because of what He has done for you, cannot fail to provide peace and contentment.

More on this next Friday.

“All I Need Is The Air That I Breath and To Love You.”

That's a line from a song from when I was young. 

"All I need is the air that I breath and to love you."

The song writer's opinion on love may change over time.

The part about his need for air?

He's bang on.

In fact, he will breath that air in and out about 20,000 times a day; most of the time without even thinking about it. We are totally dependent on the air we breath.

It's the same for followers of Jesus. Jesus' gift to us, translated as Holy Spirit, comes form the Greek and Hebrew Wind or Breath. As Christians we cannot live the Christian life with Him.

A commitment to follow Jesus is in reality a promise to do the impossible. It's means losing this life, giving away this life along with its priorities in order to see and interact with others as Jesus did. We simply cannot do that > unless we are totally dependent on Jesus' Spirit for strength, direction, correction and so on.

Doubting that reality leads to tremendous harm to the Kingdom of God. As the prophet Nathan said to King David, "You have given great opportunity to the enemies of God to despise and blaspheme Him."

How long can you hold your breath? 

Little children sometimes like to try. 

Sadly, so too do immature Christians. They like to see how long to can live the Christian life without relying on the Holy Spirit. It takes some people a long long time to accept that life is much, much better when we have more love, more joy, more peace, more patience, more kindness, more goodness, more faithfulness, more gentleness, and more self-control.

Breathing the stale spiritual air that the world offers grows tiresome after awhile. Taking in the pure spiritual air that Jesus offers is so worth it. 

“So Long and Thanks For All The Guilt”

I can't remember who it is but there is, or at least was an atheist blogger who had that comment as part of his header. 

Guilt! 

That pesky feeling that reminds us that we've done wrong. If only we could get rid of that feeling we could convince ourselves that we're good people. Atheists have actually perfected that practice. They actually believe they are good people, certainly better than others.

But is that a good thing to do? To purposely delude yourself about a crucial piece of information regarding yourself? Should atheists lie to themselves just to support a world-view that has zero scientific support?

One of the reasons that Christians are so universally hated by atheists is that we keep harping on our sinful nature. We can't help it. The Spirit of Creator God resides within us and “when He comes, He will convict the world of sin and of the judgement to come.”

Jesus' Spirit takes all the shine off our high opinion of ourselves. He forces us to face reality - And that's a good thing. For it is only when we see clearly the alarming nature of who we are, a nature that sustains hypocrisy, deceit, anger, bigotry, coveting, and lust; an innate nature that is acutely dangerous to life on this planet, only when we can see this clearly can we appreciate what Jesus has done for us.

For it is Jesus who came to rescue us from ourselves.

It is lying to ourselves that causes us to reject this offer of salvation.

It is lying to ourselves that causes us to choose an eternity in Hell.

Fridays Thoughts on Marriage

This is number 10 in a weekly series I began on December 21^st/13 with a post called, “Married Forever?

Because the command to Submit to one another carries such huge baggage for many people (sadly many Christians seem as confused as those who live upon the earth), I'm going to continue with that subject for just a bit.

I've said that instead of concentrating on the “behaviours of love,” we are far more successful when we focus on drawing closer to, and abiding in Jesus. I've also said that when couples focus on fixing a troubled marriage, they are not nearly as successful as when they focus on fixing their troubled relationship with Jesus. It is His Spirit that changes us which in turn changes our thoughts and behaviours. The former is little more than acting as though we're followers of Jesus. The latter provides genuine evidence of a changed character. Changing behaviours on their own ends in fatigue and failure. The indwelling Spirit of the Christ does the work for us, so to speak.

Having said that, in Ephesians 5:22,25, Paul instructs women to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the Church “giving Himself up for her.” The latter requires a far greater degree of self-sacrifice or dying to self, although each partner is called to a life of self-sacrifice for the other. The Holy Spirit can work this change of focus in us. I have yet to see anyone do it on their own for emotionally / spiritually healthy reasons.

For those indwelt by God's Spirit, giving others “preferential treatment over ourselves,” comes quite naturally and easily, without losing one iota of worth or value. This is not thinking that others are always better human beings than ourselves; rather it's thinking about ourselves less often and in turn treating others with deference. When the Holy Spirit forms our character, we simply view the interests of others before we notice our own, just as Jesus, the Creator of the universe stepped down from His throne to fix what we had destroyed. Just as Jesus the Christ did not “please Himself,” but did what was best for us, to save us, to love us and to draw us into a relationship with Himself. He came to earth, not be served but to serve us and give His life for us; then He says, “Follow Me in your relationship with others.” He met our needs at the cost of His own life and that is how husbands and wives are to treat each other until the death of one or the other ends the relationship.

In a Biblical marriage, as the spiritual head of the home, the husband is to take the lead in demonstrating servant-leadership.

More on this next Friday

Friday's Thoughts on Marriage

This is number 9 in a weekly series begun on December 21^st/13 with a post called, “Married Forever?

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21

Ah submission the dirtiest word in secular relationships. That's okay. Let them fight for their own rights. Let them demand change in their partners while demanding that their spouses accept them as they are. How functional atheists live their lives has nothing to do with us. On the other hand, I hope I'm getting the point across that our behaviours don't determine our character. Rather, our character determines our behaviours. When the Holy Spirit indwells us, when we abide in Jesus, our character becomes like that of Jesus. Humility and submission were two strong, strong characteristics of Jesus.

The fact is the ability to submit, the power and strength to submit our will to another is a sign that the Holy Spirit resides within. Submission to one another is a sign that you are being guided by the will and the wishes of Creator God. Humility (which the world wrongly associates with humiliation) along with the absence of pride (which the world sees as some sort of affliction) and a lack of self-will (which the world associates with social and economic suicide), is what allows couples in a Biblical marriage to show love to one another. In fact, the behaviours of love are actually the duties of husbands and wives in a Biblical marriage. It is only through a Holy Spirit guided ability to serve your spouse that you will be able to meet and overcome the hurdles that so often trip up marriages run by what passes for human wisdom.

Characteristics of those guided by the Holy Spirit are well known among those indwelt by Him: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. These are the characteristics of Jesus and if you think about these for a moment, you will quickly see how each one is indispensable to a strong and stable marriage. We must allow ourselves to be transformed into the character of Jesus if we are to live out and model marriage as God intends for us. Anything less makes a mockery of stating that we are followers of Jesus.

Even though the circumstances of life change, the character of Jesus does not. That is what creates the ever present stability in a Biblical marriage. With these characteristics present in each partner, it's easy to see that these are not two needy people looking to someone else to solve their own insecurities or to give them value and worth. That's because they already possess these things because of their relationship with and the indwelling Spirit of Jesus. 

We function at our best on the indwelling strength and power of God's Spirit. 

We do not draw life from our partner. Unlike secular lives which produce songs claiming to “need you,” “I can't live without you,” etc., a follower of Jesus has learned that the worship of our Creator produces a human who is fully alive. That is what allows us to be the kind of people that our spouse deserves. To not draw our strength from God causes us to demand from our spouses something that is impossible for them to give.

More on this next Friday.

The Good Atheist

I haven't read any atheist blogs for a long time. However, when I left that part of the internet, there was a HUGE push for atheists to start being good people, demonstrably good, publicly good. After thousands of years of mocking and jeering those who attempt to follow God, derisively calling them do-gooders, modern atheists have declared, “For the survival and growth of atheism we have to start acting more like Christians. We have to do more for others.” The old atheist tendency, found in the comment of one atheist blogger, “Can't I just fuck around and watch tv if I want to?” is no longer acceptable to organized atheism. There are now rules to follow.

That's why atheists do good for non kin relationships. But the question then arises, what about Christians? Why are they such – well – such do-gooders?

I think the reason is, it's not the Christian who's doing it. When you see true Holiness taking place it's because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. In fact, where there is no Holiness, there is no Holy Spirit.

For those in a healed and forgiven relationship with Jesus, it is His Spirit who directs and guides them toward the things that interest Him. To put it crudely, 

Christians are possessed. 

And as long as they obey Jesus' command to, “Abide in Me,” Christians will do what the Holy Spirit leads, directs and guides them to do. Jesus said, “Where I Am, there My servants will be also.” And where is Jesus? He's with the poor, the sick and the down-trodden and with those on the fringes of society. Jesus is serving and by extension, so are His servants. 

How Do You Know?

One of the things you'll notice right off, in someone who has experienced the regeneration, or the born again experience, is a clear self-awareness and conviction of one's sinful nature. In fact, Jesus is a light that shines in the darkness; the closer one gets to God the greater one's awareness is of just how unworthy we are of God's love and forgiveness.

This is what the Spirit of God does. He convicts the world of sin. Those who are saved are forever grateful for this new awareness. Those who are lost express bitterness, hatefulness and rage at the very suggestion that forgiveness is needed.

When the Holy Spirit impresses Himself upon a person, all and every inkling of self-worth, self-righteousness and pride withers and hides itself from the Truth. 

Look What I Did!”

Sadly, some people who call themselves Christians think like that in terms of salvation.

“Except that a person be born again, s/he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

“No one comes to Jesus unless Father God draws that person to Jesus.”

If the Holy Spirit does not make of us New Creations, we are not capable of seeing our need for forgiveness for our sinful and rebellious human nature.

Unless God uses the same power that created the universe, and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, to create in us a new heart so to speak, nothing and no one can change us from self-worshipping, self-adoring, self-obsessed creatures of rebellion, to those who worship and obey our Creator.

We must be born again from above or all hope is lost.

She Knew How Babies Are Made

Sceptics and atheists, laugh at the very thought of a virgin (specifically Jesus' mother Mary) becoming pregnant by the Holy Spirit. This would be impossible for the Creator of the universe to bring about, they say, even though your run-of-the-mill gynaecologist could make it happen, practically in h/her office.

Mary knew that virgins don't get pregnant. That's why she asked the angel, “How can this be, for I am a virgin?” People of the day knew that people aren't healed, storms aren't calmed and the dead aren't raised by the spoken word. They knew this, but the events happened before their very eyes. What could they do? They weren't so stupid as to say, as is true of atheists, "Because it doesn't agree with my world-view, It didn't happen.”

This leads to one more reason why the miracles listed in the Bible are believable. You see, the fact that the pregnancy occurred, or that Jesus was walking on water or that the storm was calmed is not argued by the enemies of Jesus. What these hostile witnesses do instead is come up with alternate explanations for what obviously happened. They don't even attempt to say that people weren't healed, for they obviously were healed. Instead, Jesus was accused of healing (doing work) people on the Sabbath.

In the face of reality, atheists are left with helpless pleas that, “It didn't happen.” They do it in multiple areas:

When an intelligent person wilfully abandons reason and begins to posit finite infinities, causeless beginnings and beginningless beginnings, I know that I’m dealing with someone involved in a desperate attempt to avoid a philosophically unacceptable conclusion: Creator God exists.

When an intelligent person wilfully abandons classical historical scholarship and begins to deny known and knowable facts of history, but only as they apply to the person of Jesus, I know that I’m dealing with someone who is confronted with a philosophically unacceptable conclusion: Creator God exists.

When an intelligent person claims to follow whatever ethical standard is currently in vogue and calls that a reasonable way to live, I know that I’m dealing with someone involved in a desperate, fearful attempt to avoid a philosophically unacceptable conclusion: Creator God exists.

When someone ignores Occam’s Razor and goes in search of ever more complicated solutions, abandoning one after another, after another, after another, not because of new evidence but because of a need to avoid the conclusion indicated by current evidence, and when that person never returns to a simple solution that coincides with current knowledge and common sense, I know that I’ve encountered an individual who has been confronted with a philosophically unacceptable conclusion: Creator God exists. 

Seeking to Please

Polite is good – right? 

Rude is bad – yes? 

People like Rob Bell know how to make sinners feel good – no doubt. For even if you have to go to hell – if it exists at all – it won't be for long.

That's what the Christian Leader Rob Bell says.

In fact, your time in hell will be just long enough to make you change your mind. It'll be just long enough for you to decide that when you said, “I'd rather stand in hell, than kneel in heaven,” you spoke in haste.

I wonder how many people he's convinced.

It's strange how we Christians will talk among ourselves about being saved by God. We were lost but Jesus chose us for salvation. And we'll shudder at verses like Romans 9:23 and think, “It could have been me.” But when we stand with non believers, it's like God's love will secure the salvation of everyone.

No rocking the boat please.

The desire to have the praise of people is a powerful thing.

The approval of God? Mmm not so much. Apparently.

We'll acknowledge among ourselves how great a gift is the gift of Grace. But let us get among the heathen and their attempts to describe their goodness and worthiness, and it's all head nodding and hmmm, maybe.

We know, in like company, that it's the Holy Spirit Who guides, counsels, comforts and corrects. But you don't hear so much about the greatest gift to our lives when we're out and about.

Sad.

Who Can Understand It?

There’s a line by the apostle Paul, where he says that he “rejoices” in his infirmities, his weakness, his failures etc.

In my unsaved days, as I was looking for ways to discount what the Bible says, that was one of the lines that was in my ammo pack. It looked like Christianity made people insane. It looked like Christianity turned people into sadomasochists.

Today, I get it.

Pride is our worst enemy and God takes those whom He has called and uses the hardships of life to pound the pride out of us. He uses the same events to increase the pride of those who are destined for hell. It causes them to believe they don't need God. 

Even when bestowing great mercies upon us, God often follows that up with loss or tragedy just to keep us from thinking that it was we, by our strength who brought that flake of goodness into our lives.

It sounds stupid but our human nature makes it a necessity. For example, I would never admit that I “do good things” to get something from God or to manipulate God into protecting me from something bad. And I believe that’s true. HOWEVER when something pleasant comes my way and I’m thanking God for that perfect gift, the thought always comes into my mind as I’m praying, just a reminder of the “good things I’ve done so of course God would reward me.”

Barf!

The fact is, our greatest spiritual triumphs come most often in our weakest moments. I’m at my worst spiritually when I have a little bit of control over the situation. I’m at my best when the situation is beyond my control and I can just say, “Lord, take this.”

For when I am weak, by the grace of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit, that’s when I’m at my strongest.

Christians and Circular Reasoning

This is a charge that is often levelled at Christians who support the Bible’s claim to being God’s Word. The supposed circular reasoning goes,

 ‘The Bible is God’s Word because the Bible says it’s God’s Word.'  

In fact there is a self consistency in this Christian claim. Yes, God Himself, in the Bible claims for the Bible divine inspiration. There is no getting around this fact. For those who believe this we can claim, 

“What the Bible says, I say.” 

 In fact, it is only those who possess the indwelling Spirit of God who can make this claim. 

 In fact, those who do NOT possess the indwelling Spirit of God deny this claim. 

Christians testify to the “inner witness” to the Bible’s claim of inspiration.

. No doubt there is an element of subjectivity present. However if we are talking about God revealing Himself to “me” then it makes sense that the Spirit of God would direct us away from ourselves and toward the intuitions of God Himself.

. This is an experience common to over two billion people. This in fact acts as a check to the normative experience.

. This experience is common across thousands of years across hundreds, indeed across every culture. This experience has not be relegated to scholars or theologians. The Bible’s authority has been the experience of every Christian everywhere.

. The historical writings of Acts 1:3, 2:32, 4:20; 1 Cor. 15:3-11; 1 Peter 3:15 form a base for the continuation of this belief in authority.

. For any Christian, any accusation of subjectivism absolutely pales before the persuasive experience of God’s Holy Spirit, i.e., it doesn’t matter what fools think, God Himself is proof of His reality in Word and materially. Those who possess the Spirit of God naturally and without complaint desire to obey His word. This is not a human manipulation or desire. It is, rather the prodding of our Lord’s Spirit. Those in whom the Spirit of God resides have no choice but to believe what He tells them about the authority of the Bible. We simply KNOW the truth that God is God.

You don’t believe this to be true. Then so be it. Go your own way. 

Sanctification is a work of Grace

Many make the mistake of thinking that we are saved by grace, but that we then become "holy" by our own efforts. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We are justified by grace and we are sanctified by grace as well. Grace is necessary in both cases, and it is unmerited in both cases. The key difference is that in justification we are passive, but in sanctification we actively cooperate with the Holy Spirit in receiving and responding to God’s grace.

What Does He Do?

The Spirit’s major role lies with His being the absolutely essential constituent of the whole of Christian life, from beginning to end. The Spirit thus empowers ethical life in all of its dimensions - personal, corporate, and in the world. Believers in Christ who are Spirit People first and foremost, are variously described as living by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, bearing the fruit fo the Spirit, and sowing the Spirit, the Spirit conforms the believer into the likeness of Christ to the glory of God. The Spirit is therefore the empowering presence of God for living the life of God in the present.
Gordon Fee

The purpose of this experience is spiritual empowerment, both to stimulate consistent growth in Godliness and to enable the believer to bear witness concerning the gospel and to serve the Lord with spiritual power.

Hugo is STILL Wrong

“Perhaps you disagree, but saying that I am wrong... really?”

Yes - Really. You think opinions can’t be wrong?

There is nothing about who I am today, at least re: character improvements that I’ve set out to create. And it has nothing to do with "believing" as strongly as I can believe. It has everything to do with Jesus - who He is and His plan for our lives.

I’ve put no effort into changing, no plan, no goal. All I’ve done is hang out with Jesus and any change in character, such as it is, has been completely and totally His doing. Like I say, if someone just met me today and observed who I am, s/he might think, “Eh, what’s the big deal? He seems like a jerk to me.” But if that person compared the today me with the Rod in his pre Jesus days, I think a lot of people would say, “I want some of whatever made that guy change.” At least they’d say that until they found out it was Jesus and then most of those people would decide to stay as is.
======

“So you mean you actually have a way to convince me that something in this quote was wrong:”

It is wrong. I don’t need to convince you or anyone else. I know that I have nothing to be proud of; at least not as I understand pride. I’m pleased with what God has done, and so are those who must spend time with me, but proud of what “I” have accomplished? Not a chance. That would be like me being proud that I caused myself to be born in Canada.
=====

“I sincerely believe that you should be proud of the changes you made to your life. It's just an opinion.

It’s a belief / opinion that is wrong because pride is something that is far more dangerous than it is good. Pride has no interest in being “as good as.” Pride makes people want to be better than. That’s what makes proud atheists so obnoxious.

I’m a better mother, a better teacher, a better student, a better bowler, a better person and on and on. I'm a bright and you're not! Pride has no interest in being as good as - only better than, and that leads to a crappy attitude. Our school is better than your school. My race is better than your race. My political party is better than your party. My religion is better than your religion. Pride is a horrible scourge on society. That’s why “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
=====

“You can claim that it's because some supernatural agent helped you, but you need to prove that,”

Says who? I know the things that I’m capable of and character transformation is not one of them. I’m not saying that no one is capable of self-improvement. I saying that I am not. I’ve never even been interested in self-improvement. I’m a high functioning sociopath with little or no inherent love for others. Like the moon, without the Son I’m a cold hard stone.
=====

“insult my intelligence and label me as slow of thought.”

When the spiritual self is strangled or ignored, a person is less than half alive, dull of mind and slow of thought. That’s not an insult. It’s just a fact.
=====

“the only thing I can be wrong about is whether you were helped by the Holy Spirit or not.”

Exactly! And that changes everything. “To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:29.
That is exactly what you’re wrong about.
=====

“We see religious people all around the world doing good things in the name of their gods.”

Yes, but not BECAUSE of their “gods.” They are straining to complete “the wheel of rebirth and suffering” in an attempt to APPEASE their gods. That is not Christianity. See the June 14th post “Walk by the Spirit” http://thesauros-store.blogspot.com/2011/06/walk-by-spirit.html

In Christianity I work OUT my salvation. In all other religions, including Roman Catholic, one works FOR one’s salvation.
=====

“Yet, the way you act is exactly the way anybody would act if they truly believe their religion.”

I disagree. As Buddhism says, “The tears of another man are just water.” In Christianity, the tears of another man are a window into his soul, and that compels us, out of love, to do something to help.
=====

“So either you are a slave of God, deciding nothing . . .,”

There you go - Hugo, you’re getting it!

To be continued in the next post.

Looks Who’s Watching!

The Arizona Atheist is convinced that cameras are watching him. The "Man" is out to get him, or so he thinks. As he drives down the street, this atheist is certain that he’s seen cameras move for no other reason than to find out where he’s going. The guy even blames Red Light Cameras for rear end collisions.

Chris Hitchens has a similar issue but this time it really is The MAN upstairs who’s bugging him. Chris can’t stand it that God sees everything that he does.

Personally? It makes me chuckle.

“He’s watching you poo Mr. Hitchens!”

Who cares if the police are watching? Really - who cares? Ya, you know who cares. It’s those who are doing or who would like to do something wrong. They’re the same ones who hit the brakes every time they see a speed trap ahead. They need to do that because without being watched they can’t make themselves do the right thing.

I say, “Let em watch." The only time that the law will have an interest in me is when being a Christian becomes a crime. And if that happens in my lifetime they can come and get me. I want to live my life so transparently, so consistently that it will be impossible to not convict me.

The following is a copy of a note found written in the office of a young Pastor in Zimbabwe, following his martyrdom for his faith in Jesus Christ.

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made - I’m a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed
My present makes sense
My future is secure.

I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colourless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, fake friendships, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean in His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labour with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my Guide reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitated in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me.

And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me - my banner will be clear!

So What’s He Do?

A lot of people, Christians even, aren’t sure what God’s Spirit does in a person’s life. Well, for one thing, the Holy Spirit allows us to communicate, spirit to Spirit with our Creator. God’s Spirit guides us, comforts us, counsels us and corrects us.

The Spirit of the living God opens our eyes to see the true horror of sin and eventually make us hate sin almost as much as does God Himself. God’s Spirit makes us long for holiness and loathe the evil still left in us. God in Spirit form takes our cold, cold hearts and creates a human being who is able to love. The Holy Spirit is the source and finishers of our sanctification. If you desire to do what’s right, it is the Holy Spirit that is working in you to want what’s right and it is the Holy Spirit Who gives you the strength and courage to do what’s right.

So what does He do? He makes a person ready for heaven.

Faith and Works

Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup — where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
James 2:14-18

So What Does Infallible Mean?

Atheists, those bastions of rationality and logic will tell you that we can’t believe what the Bible says because those who wrote the Bible believed what they were writing. Pftt!

As applied to the Bible, infallible means that the Bible is not misleading. It is true in what it teaches and is worthy of our trust. To say that the Bible is infallible means that its message, as a whole, is trustworthy and true. It means that verses must not be taken out of context. It means that Scripture itself must be used to interpret Scripture. It means that any given verse can mean “this” only if the rest of Scripture concurs.

Intent, or the mind of the author is important in understanding infallibility. For example, Genesis chapter one, in describing what appears to be six twenty-four hour days for the creation of the world is true, IF that is what the author was intending to mean. If that was not his intention, if his intention remains a mystery, then we cannot and must not press the fallibility presumption. This can also be said of Jesus’ parables. From our vantage point, a knowledge of literary form and genre is absolutely essential.

In other words, Scripture is infallible only as correctly interpreted.

This type of qualification has led fools to assert that the Scripture cannot be known; that in fact it is clearly man-made and unreliable. This is patently false. The Bible is in fact inerrant or free from error, as it was originally given. We can confidently base our lives, thoughts and behaviours upon what it says. This applies only to those who possess the Holy Spirit of the living God. As the saying goes, “Reading the Bible without the Holy Spirit is like reading a Sun Dial by the light of a quarter moon.”

Again, we must remember that any particular text is inerrant to the degree that we know what the author intended to say or teach, and the kind of literature in which the text was written. When Jesus said that He is the “door,” that does not mean that on His back or side we’ll find a latch of some type.

If a passage of Scripture is interpreted correctly, in harmony with the intention of the writer and in agreement with the rest of Biblical passages the truth of its inerrancy will be clearly seen.