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God’s Way With every New Year people make resolutions to change things in their lives. As with every part of the Christian’s life these resolves need to be in accordance with the will of God by the leading of the Holy Spirit. There is much to be done in the kingdom of God and Christians need to remember that distractions are some of the enemy’s greatest strategies. God is not well pleased with a people that just carry on religious activities; He is interested in a people that move according to His bidding as the living body of Christ. (Isa 58:1-7 KJV) “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?” Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” The emphasis is whether or not God is the author of the fasting that is going on with His people. In essence He is saying, “Church, grow up enough to realize that you are saturated with self-concern.” Striving in the flesh, and with fellow Christians, is a sure sign that the old life has not been crucified and put in the ground. Let us beware of going through the new man motions but still serving the old man motives. This correction in our methods is a part of the sanctification process that will bring forth worship in Truth. Worshiping God in truth is living out His desires. He desires to see those who are trapped by bands of wickedness released into righteousness. He desires to use His body, the people that follow Him, to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of those in their realm of influence. The focus of the intercession and fasting that God is calling His people to is for the sake of others, not for themselves. (Isa 58:8-12 KJV) “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” This year the people who are willing to handle God’s things according to His way of doing them will not only increase His kingdom in the earth, but will as well increase His kingdom within their own lives. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the needs that are presented as ministry opportunities for you. Remember that there are big blessings in store when we handle God’s things Gods way. -Kurt Thurston February Newsletter 2002 | Good and Evil part 1 of 2 | The Golden Rule Pastor's Journal February 2001 | God's Way | God-Appointed Boundaries |
Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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