Wednesday, September 9, 2009
His character revealed
It’s all about influence.
Who is influencing whom and how much?
When we speak about believers, we can say,
that we all make disciples, good or bad ones.
The Bible teaches that every believer is a spiritual priest.
I Pet.2:9
We have learned to honor this principle of believer priesthood
by respecting people’s privacy.
How can we make disciples, if we are not allowed
to influence them?
I believe that we should not make decisions for other people
nor let them make us run their lives. God desires to lead
people individually. But I also believe in influencing people.
That’s what relationships are all about.
This doesn’t work well without a healthy system of accountability.
Sometimes we lack this in our voluntary based operations.
Usually a volunteer is less committed to the work than the one
who is officially responsible and controlled by the payroll.
Whatever our status might be we should not deceive ourselves
into some kind of neutrality.
Neutrality is a close partner of passivity.
Their company is working day and night.
We are called to express God’s character to others.
That cannot go wrong.
God’s character can be revealed with our life-style, attitudes,
words, works, decisions, priorities and commitments,
but mostly it is revealed in our relationships.
Isn’t this what Jesus said, “By this shall all know that you are
my disciples, if you love one another as I have loved you.”
John 13:35
It’s impossible to love without influencing one another.
Who is influencing whom and how much?
When we speak about believers, we can say,
that we all make disciples, good or bad ones.
The Bible teaches that every believer is a spiritual priest.
I Pet.2:9
We have learned to honor this principle of believer priesthood
by respecting people’s privacy.
How can we make disciples, if we are not allowed
to influence them?
I believe that we should not make decisions for other people
nor let them make us run their lives. God desires to lead
people individually. But I also believe in influencing people.
That’s what relationships are all about.
This doesn’t work well without a healthy system of accountability.
Sometimes we lack this in our voluntary based operations.
Usually a volunteer is less committed to the work than the one
who is officially responsible and controlled by the payroll.
Whatever our status might be we should not deceive ourselves
into some kind of neutrality.
Neutrality is a close partner of passivity.
Their company is working day and night.
We are called to express God’s character to others.
That cannot go wrong.
God’s character can be revealed with our life-style, attitudes,
words, works, decisions, priorities and commitments,
but mostly it is revealed in our relationships.
Isn’t this what Jesus said, “By this shall all know that you are
my disciples, if you love one another as I have loved you.”
John 13:35
It’s impossible to love without influencing one another.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
it's a personal issue
When people loose their motivation in life they stop caring.
They stop caring about right and wrong.
They stop caring about themselves, the way how they look,
what they think, how they behave.
They could care less what others are thinking or what they
are in need of.
When believers loose their spiritual motivation the same
thing happens. Things don’t touch nor move them anymore.
They become nominal Christians, good people who are actually
nothing more than backsliding soldiers who are sleeping right
in the middle of the battle field.
They are good people, but they are asleep.
This kind of passivity can be traced back to a lack of motivation
which is directly related to one’s personal relationship with God.
You might be busy in running around from one religious activity
to another, but do you ever talk to God?
Do you hear from him? Do you have any questions to him?
Our spiritual motivation comes from fellowshipping with God.
Other believers can teach you and encourage you , but they cannot
hear from God for you. God wants to speak with you personally.
What good is it, if you can answer all the questions, but cannot
say, ”I prayed and God answered me?”
In order to fellowship with God we need to “Exercise ourselves
toward godliness” I Tim. 4:7
We come to him “Gumnoz” , naked, without holding anything
in our hands. Close you cell phone, turn off your computer and
lift up your empty hands.
He will fill them with a lot of motivation.
They stop caring about right and wrong.
They stop caring about themselves, the way how they look,
what they think, how they behave.
They could care less what others are thinking or what they
are in need of.
When believers loose their spiritual motivation the same
thing happens. Things don’t touch nor move them anymore.
They become nominal Christians, good people who are actually
nothing more than backsliding soldiers who are sleeping right
in the middle of the battle field.
They are good people, but they are asleep.
This kind of passivity can be traced back to a lack of motivation
which is directly related to one’s personal relationship with God.
You might be busy in running around from one religious activity
to another, but do you ever talk to God?
Do you hear from him? Do you have any questions to him?
Our spiritual motivation comes from fellowshipping with God.
Other believers can teach you and encourage you , but they cannot
hear from God for you. God wants to speak with you personally.
What good is it, if you can answer all the questions, but cannot
say, ”I prayed and God answered me?”
In order to fellowship with God we need to “Exercise ourselves
toward godliness” I Tim. 4:7
We come to him “Gumnoz” , naked, without holding anything
in our hands. Close you cell phone, turn off your computer and
lift up your empty hands.
He will fill them with a lot of motivation.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
learning new things
I heard that the Eskimos have 43 different words for snow.
That means that they know something that we don’t now.
Yes, I agree, if have a snow problem I would ask an Eskimo.
But, most of us don’t.
We continue fighting the snow with our limited understanding.
After all, the Eskimos probably don’t speak English.
And they don’t live among us.
That’s probably the reason why they have so much time to think
about snow.
Learning new things makes life interesting.
It keeps us alive.
Unfortunately many people stop learning anything new after
they get their first salary. They become non-thinkers, consuming
machines that can be stopped only by an earthquake or a
heart attack.
In the Bible School we were taught to think with God.
I’m forever thankful to those men who gave their time to teach us.
Without the thoughts of God the world is so empty.
Last night, after walking home from our humble little meeting
I said to someone, ”This was the most important event in Istanbul
tonight. We spoke the words of God.”
“This is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.
It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven
and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
Nor is it beyond the sea , that you should say, ’Who will go over
the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart,
that you may do it.” Deuteronomy 30:11-14
What a call!
What a privilege.
I can’t wait to see what God has in his curriculum for us today.
That means that they know something that we don’t now.
Yes, I agree, if have a snow problem I would ask an Eskimo.
But, most of us don’t.
We continue fighting the snow with our limited understanding.
After all, the Eskimos probably don’t speak English.
And they don’t live among us.
That’s probably the reason why they have so much time to think
about snow.
Learning new things makes life interesting.
It keeps us alive.
Unfortunately many people stop learning anything new after
they get their first salary. They become non-thinkers, consuming
machines that can be stopped only by an earthquake or a
heart attack.
In the Bible School we were taught to think with God.
I’m forever thankful to those men who gave their time to teach us.
Without the thoughts of God the world is so empty.
Last night, after walking home from our humble little meeting
I said to someone, ”This was the most important event in Istanbul
tonight. We spoke the words of God.”
“This is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.
It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven
and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
Nor is it beyond the sea , that you should say, ’Who will go over
the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart,
that you may do it.” Deuteronomy 30:11-14
What a call!
What a privilege.
I can’t wait to see what God has in his curriculum for us today.
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