Being Filled And Led By The Spirit

And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” This was done three times.  (Acts10: 13-16a)

Receiving the Holy Spirit is a great thing, but it’s only the beginning of the story. Peter had been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and now God was teaching him to walk in the Spirit. The Lord Jesus was asking him to do something he would otherwise never do – go preach to the dreaded Gentiles. Jews of the day didn’t even speak to Gentiles. What a difficult thing it must have been for Peter to obey when he had no understanding of what the Lord was after!    

One of the earmarks of a Spirit-filled believer is God working through him or her in ways never imagined. If we are truly Spirit-filled, we are responding to God’s call to go where we would not have gone, love those we once felt nothing for, forgive those who hurt us most, and give what we would have kept. That’s when the Holy Spirit is having His way with us. God sent Peter, a Jew, to a place he would never have gone, to minister the Gospel to people he didn’t think God even cared about. Peter’s obedience would make a way for those lost in ignorance and sin to enter into the Kingdom of God, because he allowed the Spirit Who filled him to also direct him.

I encourage you to trust God more than your feelings or experiences, like Peter did. Peter simply obeyed God. You, too, must obey Him - even when He takes you through new and uncomfortable challenges. He is an exceedingly good God who will perfect and prepare you to do all He asks of you, through the Spirit Who fills you. Learn the lesson Peter learned – if you will let God change your mind, He will use you to change your world.

Love and peace,

Pastor Eric

The Power of Paying Attention

Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend 

to your herds . . .                     Proverbs 27:23

One of the greatest weapons a disciple will ever employ is his attention to detail. We tend to believe that loving Jesus is the end all, but it is truly just the beginning. Nothing is more frustrating to a teacher than a student who is smart but inattentive – and we frustrate the Lord when we declare our love for Him and remain emotionally immature and undependable. There is no spiritual maturity without dragging our daily attitudes before the Lord for His painful and honest inspection, and be sure that He will inspect every millimeter of our character because He loves us.

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?               Psalms 139:7

Most of us turn inward and get surly with God when He first corrects us, and that tells us we are walking in the flesh. Yet, the Lord does not relent, for He knows He will have to judge us wherever we do not humble ourselves and repent. His mercy dictates His patience and His fierce determination to present us to Himself without spot or wrinkle. Our duty is to respond immediately when we are rebuked or corrected by His Holy Spirit, and in doing so we prove we are sons and servants of the Most High God. All this demands an open heart and a steely-eyed focus on our relationship with Him and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Be sure that we will give an account for every word, every deed, and to Himself without spot or wrinkle. Our duty is to respond immediately when we are rebuked or corrected by His Holy Spirit, and in doing so we prove we are sons and servants of the Most High God. All this demands an open heart and a steely-eyed focus on our relationship with Him and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Be sure that we will give an account for every word, every deed, and every gift we receive from above. So, let the Lord find us fully engaged in dialogue with Him, abiding in Him, and attentive to Him. It is a matter of life and death!

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ and see if there is               any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  Psalms 139:23-24

Love and Peace beyond understanding,

Pastor Eric

What It Means to be a New Creature

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

******************************

Let me suggest to you that nothing in the Kingdom of God is as it seems to be. Everything is counter-intuitive, and it takes us a while to understand and accept this new reality. When we are saved, there is a new creation, and we are members of a new family where God is our Father, holiness is the standard, and nothing is impossible. The Lord will instruct us, discipline us, challenge us, and change us into the image of Christ – but only as much as our faith and obedience will allow. We will remain virtually unchanged anywhere we dig in our heals and refuse to let Him lead. If we are too busy, too set in our ways, or too proud, the Lord cannot teach us anything. However, if we allow, He will take us places we could never go without Him. Is your heart open to Jesus like that?

The first thing God must change in us is a judgmental attitude toward others. Are we more interested in being right than glorifying God? Our words become abrasive and harsh when we judge those He sent us to love and show grace. We can even convince ourselves we are glorifying Him, when we are only grieving Him by demanding our rights and defending our point of view. Truthfully, we only hear God clearly when we humble ourselves and stop insisting on winning the argument and having things go our way. Forgive us, Lord!

The second thing the Lord desires in us is a willingness to receive correction, because He is after something in particular – oneness. He wants us to be one with Him and one in Him (John 17:20-26), and this can only be achieved when we are fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit and attentive to His slightest promptings and corrections. We should not think this type of intimacy only belongs to a precious few, but only a precious few seem to desire it. Let us be counted among those few!

Before God can use us, He has to change us. So much Christian work stems from the restless energy of saints who desperately want to change the world before being changed ourselves.

James 1:4 says,

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

********************

God is doing a new thing in you, and “new” means something that has never been done before. The life of a new creature is not learned overnight. It is a beautiful and difficult work that only He can accomplish in us, and He does that work according to His will, His expertise, and His timing. So, be still and trust in Him. Let Him have His way with you. He knows what He doing.

Love and peace,

Pastor Eric

Keep the Faith

And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." Luke 17:5

Beware of a romanticized view of faith.  Faith is not a tool to get what we want from God, but a means for God to get what He wants from us!  Faith teaches us to wait, pray, and obey, while never imaginig that God is anything but completely trustworthy, and He will keep us and His promises to us.  It is a partnership, where we team up with God, believing and walking with Him toward things we can't yet see and what we don't yet have (Hebrews 11:1).  

Faith simply believes God.  It believes He cares even though we experience distressing times, it believes He heals even when we are sick, that He saves though our loved ones are lost in sin, and that He is with us even when we feel so alone.  Faith won't give up due to any of these circumstances, because it is rooted in our eternal God, not in our temporary plight.  Faith looks at Jesus and refuses to look for another answer, another Savior.  That's why nothing but faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).  

Not long ago, after a time of prayer, the Lord told me to act as if I had already received everything I'd just asked of Him.  "Just believe Me."  God was increasing my faith.   What visions, dreams, breakthroughs, and victories are you trusting God for?  Be sure your requests are rooted in the faith that lets you rest confidently in our Lord, because He never fails to hear us and help us when we pray.  God will be sure to keep His Word.  We must be sure to keep the faith!  

Love you,

Pastor