Practical teachings from the Bible for everyday living are represented in the Light on Life podcast.
What if you had a special once in a life time encounter with Jesus? What if He came into your living room, sat down on your couch and gave you the opportunity to ask Him one question that He would answer? What question would you ask Him? What if Jesus limited the category that you could the question to lost people that are in your life, your friends, or your family what question would you ask Him?
Have you ever noticed the words ‘Holy Spirit’ and ‘power’ in the Bible? They are actually synonymous terms meaning when you have one you have the other. When the Holy Spirit comes, there is power. How did Mary, the mother of Jesus, become pregnant by herself without following the normal course of nature? By a manifestation of the anointing. The virgin birth is a ‘power’ manifestation by the Holy Spirit. Let’s look further into this anointing and look at it at work in the life of Jesus.
There are different dimensions of the anointing of God. There is the anointing within a believer, and the anointing that can come upon a believer. There is an anointing connected to spiritual gifts and an anointing connected to the Word of God. Are you hungry for the anointing and the move of God in your life? But, how does the anointing come?
In the book of Jonah, we have a tale of two hearts. We can see God’s heart of compassion for the city of Nineveh. We can also see that God’s prophet Jonah has no heart for Nineveh. What is the problem here? Jonah knows the Lord. Jonah knows His voice. Jonah was gifted spiritually, operating in the prophetic. Jonah was not a big time sinner. And yet with all of these spiritual credentials, Jonah simply has no heart for Nineveh. As it turns out, is heart was not tuned into the heart of God. So, what does the Lord do? He confronts Jonah with a situation that shows him how out of tune he is.
Following God, reading His Word and hearing His voice, will keep your life on a razors edge. He will keep you trusting Him. He will keep you leaning on Him. He is going to give you assignments that require you to give up your security blanket and come out of your comfort zone. The faith lifestyle requires a full commitment. It requires a giving of everything to Jesus.
I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half of the things you do you might as well turn them over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. I am easily managed – you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do them automatically. I am a servant of all great men; and alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a man. You may run me for profit or run me for ruin – it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am a habit! Today, we are going to talk about the habit of decisiveness.
Do Americans have a comfortable gospel, compared to the rest of the world? Lack of hunger for the things of God is an early warning signal of a Christian life that is not reaching its full potential. You should have an appetite for His things. You should have a craving for His Word. You should have a strong desire for His Presence. You should have an intensity about you to do His will. You should have a zeal to know Him better.
The issue of dependence is a difficult piece for a nation of people known for independence. The very foundation of our country was laid in the idea of independence. We fought for it. We gave our lives for it as a nation. And yet somewhere along the way, as with all things that start well, we lost our way. Independence was never meant to be an excuse to not trust God. Are you depending on God in your everyday life?
“The issue of God speaking was a major concern for me when I first came to know Jesus as my Savior. Countless times I heard people say these words “God spoke to me.” I wanted to hear God too. After month’s of wrestling with it, the first words God said in my spirit were, ‘You have not learned how to listen’. Learning how to listen is a journey. Learning to know His voice is a process. It is not a fast-food put it in the microwave for 60 seconds kind of thing. There are Bible truths that will help make the journey easier.”
Being led by the Spirit of God is both and blessing from the Lord (Rom. 8:14) and a vital part of the Christian walk Romans 8:14. In learning to be led in our everyday life, there are three areas in scripture we should take note of. Three individual words mentioned in the scriptures that allude to and give us insight into the Spirit Led Life. These words are ‘peace’, ‘conscience’ and the ‘inward witness ‘.