Take Responsibility. Perfect Your Walk. (Part 1)
Christians often struggle with knowing what is or is not of God. Events happen in our world and we make every effort to determine if the event is a God thing or not. Too often we rely on our feelings to give a event credibility or deny its credibility.
I’ve recently started back to college at age 51. In the prologue of one of my textbooks, there is some good stuff about critical thinking. First off, critical thinking has nothing to do with criticism. It’s defined as: to question, to make sense of and to be able to analyze. Having a better understanding of the reasoning process helps me realize that to often we expect goose bumps, cold chills or some other experience to know truth from fiction or right from wrong. As an example, we sometimes hear the term “I felt a check in my spirit.” I’m not certain that the “check in the spirit” is a spiritually legitimate way to discern what is and what is not of the Lord. The Lord has given us this incredible ability to reason and to use critical thinking. He has given us His perfect Word to read and study. One place scripture affirms this is in the book of 2nd Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Paul also wrote, “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Note any place about feelings in these verses. I believe it’s our lack of understanding of the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit works that leads to lean to heavily on feelings and experiences. Not that I understand everything about the Holy Spirit. But, I know the “Providential Will” of the Lord (that which is going to happen no matter what) and I know the “Moral Will” of the Lord (that which is written in scripture). If our feelings and experiences do not fall between those two, then they are false. For many followers of Christ, this concept is either unknown or it has been compromised so severely that the “check in spirit” goes unheard or (just as bad) is unreliable.(Go to LifeChurch.TV and look for a series called “What’s God’s Will, for a excellent teaching on God’s will.)
Take the time to read the entire Bible. This is the only way you will know and understand the boundaries of what is and what is not of the Lord. Reading your Bible will sharpen you instincts. Sharp instincts will aid, but never replace your scriptural knowledge.
Be knowledgeable. Be holy. Be relevant. Steve
Greetings in the Awesome Name Of God!
It is an amazing privilege to be called “the children of the living God.” I am thoroughly blessed to realize thatGod has given me the control of my thought-life. Along with control He has given me RESPONSIBILITY to control my thought life. This requires “discipline” ~
which is inseperable from being a disciple.
Jesus told us that we are enslaved to whatever has mastered us. I choose not to be ruled by fear; Jesus’ perfect love conqers fear! I can fill my mind with God’s Word on a daily basis and effectively fill the spaces in my psyche and prevent false teachings (including “urban legends”) from influencing my thoughts and actions.
How wonderful it is to be a child of God!
Hi,
I agree that we must know the word of God to know God and to know why he thinks and acts the way he does. In my reading of scripture it has become apparant that the desire or one of the desires, of God’s heart is that we see HIS heart and carry out in our lives what is on his heart and mind. See Jeremiah 9:24, Ist Samuel 2:35, 1st Samuel 13:14, .
Jesus also tells us to guard our hearts which I constantly fail to do. To me the article above and also part two and three clearly tackle certain issues within our walk that have a profound influence on Christians. To me the biggest conundrum to face and deal with in my walk without a shadow of a doubt is the idea when it comes to sin that ” ah you cannot do it in your own strength”. This meaning that if I face temptation and sin and say no constantly especially with a besetting sin, that I am doing it in my own strength and not in the spirit.
It’s as if people are saying that if I use my own mind and will to make decisions not to sin that I am following the law and being legalist. The issue seems to be to people that if I think that by fighting sin in my life the Lord will love me more is continuing the race in the flesh. but I see from scripture in hebrews that you can make the Lord angry. I also see that there are scriptures that tell us that WE are clearly to take responsibility for our own lives once we know the truth about Jesus. Is this not so?
On the Phrase ” Check in my spirit” I have used that several times and still do. I understand the subjective connotation that can be attached to it but I usually see it as coming from observing something or hearing something that does not line up with what I have read in scripture or what I believe goes against the nature and character of God from what I have studied in the word. The mind works very fast at times and information can be processed very quickly.
Greg.