What kind of a Christian are you?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
God is the absolute source of righteousness, but there is an
absolute source of unrighteousness – the devil. All human activity derives from
one or the other of these two origins.
That is why the bible says, “Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin” (Rom 18:23). Whatever does not derive from your attitude of total dependence
of God, whatever does not release God’s activity through your life, is sin. It is sin
because it stems from an attitude of independence that makes you open to any
and all of Satan’s deceptions in his long history of usurping God’s authority.
Every step you take, every attitude that you adopt, every
decision you make, everything you do and all you hope to be, is either in dependence
upon the God who created you as His own dwelling place, or else the byproduct
of the demon spirit of this world, “who now works in the sons of disobedience”
(Eph 2:2), and who perpetuates his lies through a mindset of self-reliance in
fallen humanity.
The bible calls this attitude of independence a “carnal mind”
(Rom 8:7). It is a mindset that is set “on the things of the flesh” rather than
on the “things of the Spirit” (Rom 8:5). It means exercising the faculties of
your personality in ways that are not dependant on the God whose presence alone
imparts to you the quality of true humanity that He always intended for you.
It means thinking godlessly. In other words, thinking
lightlessly, with a mind still in darkness. You take a step, you make a
decision, you conceive your plans, you assume responsibility, all without
relating the situation to God and to His light and to all that He is within
you.
This carnal mind can be in the believer just as much as in
the unbeliever. Carnal or fleshly Christians have been regenerated by the restoration
of the Holy Spirit to their human spirit, but in certain ways, they still
repudiate the Spirit’s legitimate right to reestablish the rule of Christ in
their minds, in their emotions, and in their wills. Although they profess
Christ as redeemer, their actions and decisions are typically taken for the sake
of their own interests and for who they are in themselves, rather than for God’s
interests and for who He is. Their minds are still the plaything and the
workshop of the devil, for the devil is smart enough and cunning enough that he
can always persuade countless numbers of professing Christians to try and be
Christians without Christ. They are willing to do anything for Jesus’ sake, but
they fail to understand that His Presence
is absolutely imperative to do it, that without Him we are nothing, have nothing,
and can do nothing.
To be a carnal Christian is to still claim the right to
exercise your own jurisdiction, make your own decision and plans, choose your
own pathway. But you will be useless to God, and you will make it into heaven “as
through the fire” (1 Cor 3:15)
What kind of a Christian do you want to be? To choose to be
a carnal Christian is to choose spiritual oblivion. But if you decide genuinely
that Christ must be everything and have everything in your life, if you say in
your heart, “I want nothing less than to be all that for which the blood of God’s
dear Son was shed,” then He is ready to lead you into discoveries that can
completely revolutionize you whole humanity for time and eternity.
Here’s a verse to ponder upon: “He who sins is of the devil”
(1 John 3:8)
Taken from The Indwelling Life of Christ by Major Ian W Thomas.
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You serve a Loving Father!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
I have often thought that if God could forgive my sins
(past, present and future) and deal with sin completely on the cross once and
for all, if He could take this huge unbearable sin on Him, and gave me
His life, then how hard is it for God to supply my needs which are so tiny in
His eyes. After all He is my father and He owns everything in this world. So I
can say that I have a rich Father and I don’t have to worry about my needs. I
just thank Him in advance because He who knows my needs will come through for
me.
How about my needs other than financial? Could He who
reconciled me back to Himself because of my inability to reconcile
myself back to God, could He not take care of those issues in our lives that
our concerning us. Remember He cares even for the smallest things that bother
us because a loving Father always does. He is intimately acquainted with us and
numbers even the the very hairs on my head (LK 12:7).
Once I am so convinced of His love and goodness toward me
and my inability to do anything by myself without Him, then its easy to have
faith! Wouldn't a little child who knows that his or her dad loves them
so much and would never ever hurt them trust Him completely? So now faith is
nothing so mystical or something we have to muster up, but just a response of
knowing He is a loving Father who promised NEVER to leave us or NEVER to let
the righteous be moved. That is why I read the Word, not to get this
mystical faith as many have said...but I read the word to really get to know
how good and gracious He is and as I meditate on that....my heart out of
responds in faith!
So why worry when we have a loving gracious rich Father who
knows us intimately. He who promised is faithful and He is not a man who should change His words. None of us should ever think that its because of what we do
(our obedience etc) that God decides to meet our needs..No, on the contrary its
because of who He is and HE IS LOVE!
IF we can accept that He is our savior by faith and immediately our debt gets wiped out (remember all by faith and trusting Him wholly to be our savior) then why is it so hard to accept the fact that He is also or provider.
Think about the following verse for
sometime:
Romans 8:32 (Amplified Bible)
32He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him
up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all
[other] things?
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