Archive for September, 2010

Spiritual Growth #21

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

We can be deceived by religion into believing we are spiritual. Many people in the world believe they are spiritual when they are not.

There are some people that are spiritual and are not religious. However, they are not involved with the Holy Spirit but deceiving spirits and are not aware of it. We are called upon to test every spirit!

I don’t think anyone will deliberately go to a deceiving spirit.  It seems that this religious, spiritual thing can be very confusing.  Am I to be religious or spiritual? I think the answer is simple. We are to be both!

Jesus said that we must be born again of the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God. He also said that pure and undefiled religion was to take care of the orphans and the widows. We are to be spiritual and religious!

There are times when religion brings us to spirituality and times when spirituality brings us to care for our fellow man, to be religious. It appears that spirituality has to do with my relationship with God and religion has to do with my caring for man.

For the most part, we’d rather be a little religious, pay our tribute to God and go about our daily lives not worrying too much about spiritual things. The problem is, spiritual things are here in this world.  They affect our lives, our circumstances, and our families in some powerful ways.  The only way to deal with these spirit’s is to be spiritual; not only that but we must use spiritual authority and power. That only comes from God.  By receiving Jesus Christ in our life and receiving spiritual power and authority through the Holy Spirit. There is no other way without being deceived and misled by some other spirit or religion that leaves you powerless with only an outward appearance of being religious and spiritual.

I am always telling people “We need Jesus in our lives for salvation because of the sin issue.  Man has sinned and needs the redeeming work of the cross.  We need the Holy Spirit and the authority that comes with Him if we are to become spiritually mature!”

Without the work of Jesus and the cross and the work of the Holy Spirit and His authority in our daily lives, we can never become the spiritually mature authority on this earth that He wants us to become.

We often get calls from Christian people that are telling us of problems in their homes. We pray on the phone and take authority over the spiritual attack. We often get a call back the next day; that everything has changed. When are Christian people going to wake up that we are in a spiritual battle with spiritual things on this earth?

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Doing Great Things!

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

I am sure that all of you would like to do some great thing to be remembered by. For a time Pauline and I shot archery, if I remember correctly at one of the New England tournaments Pauline came in pretty close to the best. I practiced a lot, but in spite of that I never became more than average. I also liked fishing and so Pauline took up fishing too, she always managed to catch the biggest fish.  I still go fishing but I gave up trying to catch the biggest one.

Regarding writing, it would be wonderful if I could write a book that would touch millions of people all over the earth and would be remembered as one of the great books for years to come. I don’t expect it to happen. For some of you it might be a great painting or a song, for others it might be just to build the most beautiful building in the world.

What is the great thing you want to do? Maybe you have never given it much thought! Are there some people around you that are doing great things? Who are they and what are they doing? I guess I have never given it much thought until now; when we were eating lunch I asked Pauline what great thing she wanted to do? Her answer was; “That is a good question!”

I asked myself the question; “do I know anyone that has done some great things?” As I thought about this, I realized there are people that have done some great things and there are people that are great! My question is what is their motivation? Which one are you after? Do you want to do great things or be a great person?

My dear children I don’t care if you ever do great things. I pray that you will be a great person. I am reminded of a lady that used to run a restaurant in this town, I would have to describe her as somewhat crude in her actions and language, but most everyone really liked her. She had a big loud voice and boisterous.  She reminded me of Tug-boat Anne.

I believe she did go to church some and now and then we would talk about the Lord Jesus. She said: “Oh yes I believe in Jesus and pray, but I am not religious or spiritual at all I’m not a very good person.”

In my eyes she was a great person! Pauline and I were doing some music and speaking at some of the meal sites.  She was the site manger and got to know all these old people that were coming for food. She would come to us and tell us the needs of the different people that needed prayer and made sure that we prayed for them before we left.

This lady would check up on any of these folks that would not show up for food. This lady would go to their home and bring them food and make sure they were ok.

My dear children, this was a great lady doing great things. She is more of a Christian then most of us are. I hope that you do great things like she did.

Sometimes when we are trying to do great things, we become small. And when we are doing small things, we become great.

My dear children you are in my thoughts and prayers every day.

Your  Dad

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Spiritual Growth #20

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

Emotions and Feelings

What a wonderful blessing emotions and feelings are. Can you imagine what it would be like if you did not have any? Emotions and feeling go hand in hand. You must have days when you say: “I feel good today!” And other times when you hear of a good report about someone else, you feel good and happy, your emotions rise up and you feel joyous.

Not everyone can feel emotions. For one reason or another, they have stopped working, they are blocked or shut down. I believe that when Adam and Eve fell and were put out of the garden it had a very bad affect on man’s emotional condition. As a result, our emotional being and ability to feel has to be restored. How many of you know that at times you do not function well emotionally? I expect that most of you do.

How many of you notice that at times your spouse and children do not function well emotionally. I expect you would all would say; “Yes that is true!”
Have you noticed that our emotions bear fruit – sometimes good, sometimes bad. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. Notice how many of these things have something to do with our emotional well being and our feelings.

We are to walk in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit. Why?

When we allow the Holy Spirit and our spirit, to be one in the spirit, then we are able to use our emotions and feeling to send and receive in a positive way, instead of a destructive way. Did you ever notice in a home filled with peace that people’s emotions are under control. In the home filled with chaos everybody’s emotions are all stirred up most of the time, their feeling are all in turmoil. What a playground for the enemy spirit.

Jesus said; “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

What we need to see is the truth that we are not always doing very well emotionally. If we see that we need help and our family members need help, then we can go to the Lord for help and healing. The healthier we are, the more health we bring to people around us.

Emotions and feeling can be positive or negative. It seems to be up to us which way I keep them. I affect others either in a positive or negative way. How is your emotional condition affecting your family?

If we show no emotions or feelings that’s not good. If we are too emotional that is not good either. Each one of us must find that place where we function best. The Holy Spirit will help us to become stable in all our ways and have a very positive influence on the people around us.

A spiritual mature person is one that has learned to control their emotions and feeling, and how to use them in a proper way. How blessed is the person that has stability in their emotions and feelings.

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