Gleanings — 1
God encouraged me with entries from my old journals this week. Many thoughts are from sermons I heard in the 1990’s. I copied them and organized them loosely like a string of separate sayings. I don’t know which words are mine and which were borrowed or changed in transcription. Some are like nuggets of gold. May they encourage you too.
Christianity
Christianity is not a concept to sell; it is a consuming fire.
Christianity is not a philosophy to discuss, a religion to persuade others to accept. Christianity is a relationship with the living God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Christianity is a love affair with the Divine Other. Christianity is allowing the Holy flame of God, at work in man, to consume all that disagrees with a Holy God and to impart His holy nature into our humanity.
God is not a reformer. He did not come to make bad people good but to bring the dead people to life.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. Ephesians 2: 4-5
Living with God
God wants us to be as children, to live each moment in simple dependence upon Him.
God commands us to love all men. Jesus said, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. Matthew 5:44
Faith in God is impossible without a tender heart.
Faith in God is impossible without love.
True love is impossible without holiness.
Holiness is separation from all but God. It’s getting rid of (repenting of) all the hard- hearted junk, the self interest, the unforgiveness, fear and yuck.
The only way to holiness is to ask God’s forgiveness for all that falls short of His goodness and turn to Him in faith that the blood Jesus shed on the cross cleanses us from sin and allows His Holy Spirit to come into us and live out His holy life inside of us.
Backsliding, feeding a hard heart and moving away from Jesus and His love, can end in apostasy. Backsliding begins in the heart, with falling away from intimacy with the Lord.
Heaviness and condemnation over our backsliding and failures don’t help anyone. They curse. Relax. Confess all. Jesus is redemptive. He speaks to bless, to deliver, to cleanse, to encourage, and to help.
The only sins we can be sure God forgives are those we confess and turn away from.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Choice by choice, as we decide for Christ, He transforms us in Christ.
God has planned our lives in detail. If we live as we want to and limit our choices to what we fully understand, we will miss Him and all His gifts, rewards and happy surprises for us.
We take God, His love and His forgiveness for granted. Jesus didn’t. When He offered prayers with tears and great cries, he was heard because of the fear of God that was in Him. Hebrews 5:7
Knowing God’s Will
When you know God, the question, “What is God’s will?” fades away. The closer you get to God, the clearer His will becomes.
God talks to His friends. Knowing His will is all a matter of relationship with Him. Knowing God is born in faith, sustained by faith, grows in faith and is kept by faith
The Holy Spirit
Go after the Holy Spirit with silence, in quiet listening.
Train yourself not to listen to other voices. The house of the Spirit will be bigger then. Your words will reflect God’s will as you speak from what you’ve heard in the quiet place.
Don’t run when the wind comes. Face into it. Let the Spirit of God take you where He will.
You can’t work up or force the Holy Spirit. The wind blows where it will.
He comes down to fill hearts that are cleansed from sin and surrendered to Him.
Only the Holy Spirit’s own fruit can survive the Holy Spirit’s fire. He burns everything not born of Him—all of our own achievements, all our own results and efforts are chaff for His unquenchable fire.
Ask, “Is this born of the Holy Spirit or is it a product of my own brain? My understanding? Ask God, “Is this Your idea or is it mine?” Surrender all.
Ministry
Telling others about Jesus, fulfilling His great commission, is all about relationship. When you know Him, it’s no trouble for Him to give you the words He wants you to say; He helps you to do what He asks you to do. It’s no trouble for Him to send you where He wants you to go. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28: 19
Trust the grace of God for today. If we go where God sends us, do as He leads us, speak as He gives us words, then His grace covers our lives.
Be flexible. Agree with God to allow Him to do things beyond your understanding and imagination. Works He has prepared from before the beginning of time.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
Don’t be too busy working for the Lord to listen to the Lord.
Why presume to serve God without His direction and Spirit. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. Truly I tell you, the son can do nothing by Himself; He can only do what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. John 5:19
Would you rather be proud of a successful, recognized ministry, full of all the gifts of God and be God’s enemy or would you rather be a humbly invisible friend of God? God opposes the proud but gives favor and grace to the humble. James 4:6
Darkness
Don’t invite darkness; don’t entertain darkness. Flee from it.
Don’t assume darkness will go away just because you are aware of it. Repent of engaging with it; then command it away in the name of Jesus.
Oppose darkness with the light of life in God’s word. His light overcomes it.
Don’t ever make a major decision in darkness or in fear. Deal with the darkness and then make your major life decisions in the light.
God’s ways can be tough, inexplicable, and unpleasant. Trust Him. He’s been found in foxholes, hospital rooms, psych wards, and prisons. Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
Don’t forget that campfire song, “He’s got the whole world, in His hands.”Another verse says, “He’s got you and me, in His hands.” It’s true.
