To be a Christian is, in a sense, to be a man without a country. If you truly are obedient to Christ-if you take the scriptures to heart and attempt to live them-you will inevitably come into conflict with the world. You belong to no one but Christ, while those in the world give themselves to people, possessions, institutions, and idols other than to Christ. To be a Christian is to stand apart yet to remain within-to dare to be different. You look at everything through the prism of Scripture, and things look different when viewed biblically.
Success in the world means power, influence, money, prestige. But in the Christian world, it means pleasing God. This quest for obedience may lead you to do things that are wholly contrary to what the world wants and rewards...
Obeying his commandments means reading and understanding Scripture, then determining that you are going to live exactly as Scripture teaches. I don't believe anybody can do that, because it is almost impossible not to be caught up every day in the ways of the world. But you can make an effort to live biblically. That is how the process of sanctification works- learning how to obey God, how to listen for his commands in your life. It is reading the Scripture and allowing it to soak into you. It is understanding the requirements of God's commandments and then gradually, day by day, in large ways and small, allowing that understanding to control the actions of your life...
If i had to pick the one thing... that has caused the most failure in obeying God, it would be that we figure God's time is our bible study, our prayer time, the meeting with our prayer group, and Sunday morning church service. That's just not true. God's time is every moment of our lives. Bible study and church simply prepare us for the moments of our lives... If we would "wear" him all day long, we would discover obedience becoming a reflex reaction.
(From "The Quest for Obedience" by Charles Colson in Practical Christianity)
Let every moment of our lives be filled with Abba's presence and love.
I got a question that my brother asked. "If God speaks to Pastor Prince about the gospel and everything, how come he doesn't speak to the other pastors?" or its cox they are not listening?
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4 comments:
Hey sheryl :)
Pastor Prince is someone who really spends ALOT of time with the scriptures and listening to God. That's why he has such a deep understanding and revelation of the things of God. Think it takes boldness also, to go against many teachings that your traditional pastor will teach. I mean, most of us would just blindly take what the person with authority tells us... I think that when he was at the end of himself, God revealed who He was to him.. It must be none of us, zero self effort, that we see Jesus :)
Many other pastor still think that people ought to earn and do to be right with God... Naturally, they won't get the kind of revelations that Pastor do. Although it is not to say that God doesnt speak to them.
ooh. ya,i see. that's true, God does speak to everyone, but only if we believe n have a hearing heart, will we trust in him. ya, other pastors dun really believe in grace gospel.
Its quite tough to have zero self effort actually. but i guess, juz noe dat everything of us belongs to Jesus, even our lives. haha. God is always so patient with us. thanks, Charles! i agree with u. =)
haha.. yeah i think zero is quite a strong word... :) hehe..
Think you brother is very discerning... He knows that God speaks thru Pastor Prince. Although i think his question is trying to suggest that other pastors also preach God's word and so why people only want to listen to Ps Prince?
But there is a difference, as the Bible is about D-O-N-E and not do, do, do... :) And Pastor Prince always point to Jesus' finished work! Praise God!
haha. not really. coz pastor always emphasize on no self-effort also. lol
ya, dat might be wat he meant. but I also feel he asked my dad dat qn coz he probably dun want him to be blindly following, but to grow n learn in christ also.as in like think bout things. n my dad gave a similar opinion with u. dat wat's most impt is Jesus' finished work. =)yay
so cool.
I've got sth to share also, I will post it up. haha. so fun
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