I feel prompted to do a "series" on my blog. A lot of churches we partner with are in the ONE PRAYER (www.oneprayer.com) series for the summer and I am excited as to seeing how the Lord is moving the body toward him in deep intimacy. This intimacy brings deep repentance and extreme power from within as the Lord pours out his spirit… Joel 2:28-23, Acts 2:17-21.
These questions were developed from John Wesley's Holy Club and used to ask themselves for personal devotions. One of the churches we minister in on the mission field of Sri Lanka's east coast is a Methodist church as the 1st time I looked upon it I thought of the fire of the Holy Ghost that prompts men to give their lives to bring the gospel to others… this fire comes from deep devotion to the Lord and blind acts of obedience.
I think the next 21 days will be a great time for us to really ask God to open our hearts and let the Holy Spirit shine his illuminating light. So each day for the next 21 days I will send out a new blog with a new question... I am going to try to do this @ least. I am in Sri Lanka as I write today and have a tight schedule and will be traveling in between... this may cost me some sleep. Oh well, his KINGDOM come!
Here is today's question... look forward to your comments.
- Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am a better person than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
The Sermon on the Mount was Jesus' blueprint for us as believers to follow. If you never really understood what the first beatitude meant (Matthew 5:3), "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven". I would recommend you to ask yourself these questions daily and see how poor in spirit you really are. Every time I read them, I have a rude awakening of how truly poor in spirit I am.
One thing I am confident of is we can't fool God. He knows us on the inside and the out... most importantly it is what is on the inside. Take a look today @ the condition of your heart... what is really on the inside? When I again embraced this question a short while ago, I saw how poor I really was and in self righteousness I had deceived myself. Again I stand in need of Jesus to be Lord of every area of my heart!
It took some courage and a dose of humility to bow myself to the Lord and allow him to enter into areas of my life that only I went too. I don't want to be a hypocrite... My prayer for today is "Lord make us transparent..."
How did God speak to you with this question?
2 comments:
First let me thank you Pastor Luke for posing these challenging questions. So here goes to first feed back
Like you I am aware of the daily need to walk, depending so much on the Holy Spirit and not on my own. As for the question asked while I let the Holy Spirit show me my inadequacies I thank God that he does not let me pretend to be a better person for others to see. I have had dealings in my life where the inner struggles lead me to greater dependance on Him and the ones I open my life to. I thank God that His grace is working to receive me as I am. I also would say to all those who like me are responding to Pastor Lukes question, not be condemed by these questions or if I may say allowe yourself to come under it's weight. Be convicted and watch the Spirit of God bring out the life of Christ in us.
A hypocrite? Hmmmm. I tell those that call me a hypocrite thank you. That really throws them for a loop. They really don't understand until you expose the bare bones reality of the situation. Here it is. I say thank you because you realize I choose to live by a set of rules most don't live by. You saw me make a mistake or a gross error if I in fact choose to live by those rules and I thank you for bringing that to my attention so that I can correct myself, ask forgiveness and get back in good standing with the Lord. Here's where you hook em. When was the last time you called someone that is not a Christian a hypocrite? Probably never. Why? Because the world's culture today is if it feels good do it. If we choose to negate or do away with God's rules and live by man's collective or our own set of rules we can do no wrong. We can change them at will to suit our needs, wants, desires, etc. Hence never a hypocrite. Just food for thought.
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