Here is my typical method of operating as a Christian:
When making decisions (do I get involved in this ministry or not, do I work here, or not, do I etc, etc,) I tend to go through the following steps:
1. Is it allowed by the bible?
2. I pray about it. Not long winded prayers, but simple, short prayers.
3. Do I want to do it real bad?
4. I do it and sit back to see if the lightning comes.
any suggestions.
Have you considered what George Mueller has written about waiting on God?1) Be slow to take new steps in the Lord's service, or in your business, or in your families: weigh everything well; weigh all in the light of the Holy Scriptures and in the fear of God.
2) Seek to have no will of your own, in order to ascertain the mind of God, regarding any steps you propose taking, so that you can honestly say you are willing to do the will of God, if only He will please to instruct you.
3) But when you have found out what the will of God is, seek for His help, and seek it earnestly, perseveringly, patiently, believingly, and expectantly: and you will surely in His own time and way obtain it.
In Christ,
Ron
Honestly, it's much better than the usual Christian mysticism of our day.
I would suggest consulting with trusted Christians as an additional step in some decisions.
The Bible is enough, brother, it is sufficient.
Grace to you,
Taylor
Conscience live by what it tells you.
Conscience is a group of laws in your heart. Mankind has demonstrated that they know God's principles. No matter if we know the Bible or not, we know we should not murder, steal, be jealous of other people, and generally not do the things that displease our creator.
Our conscience bears witness to the laws that are written in our heart by God our Creator. Our conscience convicts us when we break these laws that are written in our heart
(Romans 2:14-15, "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;").
Know having been regenerated you should be more aware of what is right and wrong as the Holy Spirit will aid you in your walk with God.
Doing something and waiting until the lighting strikes is a suicidal way of living your christian life. As you won't get struck by ligting when you are doing wrong. What will happen is that you'll wake up one morning years from know and realise that you have blown it.
Did God strike you with lighting when you didn't know him no. So why should he do it know that you know him.
God starts his work on the inside fo you that work in you will bear fruit as it shows up on the outside and will be evident to all. This is why Jesus says "we will know them by there fruit" Whatever is going on in the inside will bear fruit in your life and will tell you what that person is like on the inside.
I would like to add coming on this forum and posting on here regarding this matter shows me that God has started that work in you and is challenging you in the matter of what we are discussing on this post but please get rid of lighting theroy as it just won't work.
Hope that helps you.
Thank you all. I agree, mostly, with all of you. My heart is to do exactly what God wants. At least, I pray that God make this true in my life. I'm sure the flesh finds its way into my thoughts on a daily basis. In fact, I know it does.
I am someone who needs to see in order to learn. I guess you could call me a kinesthetic learner. I can hear something, but until I experience it, I don't really GET IT.
So in the past, when trying to be "super" spiritual and just waiting and waiting on God. Nothing happened. But going ahead and doing what appeared to be:
1. biblical
2. my gifting
3. my heart's desire
Has never backfired.
So I'm in a period of re-adjusting my M.O. to something a little "less spiritual" to something more practical. I guess I figure that God is big enough to be able to gently bodycheck me in the direction He wants me to be.
Lord Bless
Leonard Ravenhill on the christian witness;
'It was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great,
a terrible butcher. A man who could be linked up with Pharaoh that
liquidated all the Israeli babies in Egypt—an ancient Hitler.
Jeremiah had more conflict than any other prophet of old. Immediately when he was raised up he was in conflict. He was in conflict when he was dying. What was the secret of his power? It is very obvious; he states it: "Thy fire burned within my heart. While I mused the fire burned." Do you know that forty one times he mentions fire? They put him in a pit, but it didn’t burn the fire out of him.
There is a hymn with a verse that says:
Waters cannot quench it, floods can never drown
Substance cannot buy it, love’s a priceless crown.
Oh, the wondrous story, mystery divine
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
The fire is unquenchable.
The fire of hell is unquenchable.
The fire of the Holy Ghost is unquenchable.
I know there is a lot of opposition against the second blessing. I challenge you to find a man that has made history in God’s kingdom who somewhere didn’t have a second crisis after he was born again in the Spirit of God.
One of the Quakers said he found something in him that wouldn’t keep peace. He wanted to get rid of the thing in him that was always troubling him.
William Booth said, "I found that I ebbed and flowed until one day the Holy Ghost came in his fullness." Then he wrote that marvelous battle hymn that today’s church doesn’t know.
The Salvation Army was a penniless organization that went into seventy countries in ninety years. Not seventy cities, but seventy countries! Men and women left their castles in England. Professors left their professions. Why? Because they could see that fire as clearly as Israel could see that pillar of fire at night. The Holy Ghost was there! And old William had them going down the streets at night marching and singing:
Thou Christ, the burning cleansing flame, send the fire!
Thy blood-bought gift today we claim, send the fire!
Look down and see this waiting host
Give us the promised Holy Ghost
We want another Pentecost.
I’m not sure we want it. We need it! You see, the thing between where you are now and this baptism of fire is a "cup."
Leonard Ravenhill again;
'But notice they came worshipping Him.
Yet in their worship there was begging.
It wasn’t pure. They had an ulterior motive.
They were trying to bargain with Him.
But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? (v 22)
Now, in Luke 12:49 He said, "I am come to send fire on the earth." What hindered Him from giving them the fire at that moment?
A baptism.
A baptism of sorrow.
A baptism of anguish.
A baptism that we call Gethsemane.
You see, there is no place in the whole wide world where you can put the Upper Room before the Cross. The Cross comes before the Upper Room, but we try to turn that around.
Very often we’re asking people to tarry in the Upper Room who have never knelt at the Cross. They get a false experience and it evaporates. We shun the Cross.
"I have a baptism to be baptized with. But I want you to receive a fire that will change that degraded will of yours.
It will endue you with power.
It will give you energy.
It will give you life."
He says, "I want to do that, but I am straitened. I wish it could be accomplished, but it cannot be done yet."
There are people who think that God is only around to help us. We have a great utility God, they think. You pray, and He does this! You pray, and He does that! You pray, and He sends you money. You pray, and He gets you out of a jam. He’s not somebody you worship in speechless adoration, but He’s a utility God! And some on TV are exploiting that to the maximum.
Let’s go back to Matthew 20.
What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. (v 21,22)
So, He took them at their word.
"I want my sons to enter thy kingdom, sitting on thy right hand and on thy left." There is only one way to enter the kingdom: through death.
You know not what ye ask. Are ye able...? Yea, we can drink the cup.
All right, lady— I wonder if she was living when her son was brutally put to death? And James, the brother of John, was killed with the sword. (Acts 12:2)
I would have to say that the "second" baptism is consistent with my experience as a Christian. Yet, I can also say I've had a few epiphanies throughout my growth. Yet, I can say there was an Isaiah 6 moment for me after listening to Paul Washer's "Shocking Youth Message."
BTW, I've re-edited that message into a 7 minute version for my ministry:
Pslams1
Can I ask why did you post what you posted. What Pslam1 posted about is something completly different than you have experienced and I am not trying to discourage you in anyway.
William Booth said, "I found that I ebbed and flowed until one day the Holy Ghost came in his fullness." Then he wrote that marvelous battle hymn that today’s church doesn’t know.
Do you still ebb and flow in your walk with God, in todays talk it would be, do you have high tides and low tides in your walk with God. Then you have not experienced the Second Blessing. Some other names for it is Entire sanctification or Christian Perfection, The Exchanged Life as well Holiness.
I do not claim to have it but God has been speaking to me for 2 years on this subject. I woke last Sunday and as soon as my eyes opened I started thinking of Gethsemane and how Jesus was obedient. He asks for the cup to be taken away but the Father still gives him the Cup. Jesus submits and says not my will be done but yours.
Jesus took the cup and drank the cup. Why is that relevant to me. I to have been given a cup to drink. I will explain God wants me to do something, I know what it is but there is a reluctance to drink the cup.
I know a little of what awaits at the other side of the cup the second blessing. So you could say I am in the crisis that Ravenhill also spoke about. But at the moment there is a reluctance on my behalf to drink the cup.
"Can I ask why did you post what you posted."
To direct the brother to two great men of God for edification.
I hope he and I might receive a greater revelation that Jesus might be magnified.
I posted it because I know of two basic Christian decision making styles:
1) painfully slow, paralyzed, anxious, almost obsessively detailed
2) run n' gun
When I say run and gun, I don't mean right off the top of your head. I mean A) it's biblical, B) feel an unction to do it, and C) you are gifted at it.
In these situations, I "Just Do It." Overwhelmingly, these times are fruitful.
The second filling or Christian Perfection or whatever seems unbiblical to me. Not entirely, but somewhat. I do believe in a post conversion explosion of the Holy Spirit. But I'm not sure it is always in strict, repetitive fashion, similar across all walks of Christians. I believe it is varied. The same way conversion is varied.
For a great overview of Biblical decision making, check out http://www.gfriesen.net/sections/willofgod_principles.php
This article takes the view that the believer has freedom within the moral will of God, without the need to wait on some "word from the Lord". The sufficiency of Scripture is enough for us, flock.
Grace to you,
Taylor
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