Friday, July 17, 2009

Up Front and Personal





Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God।

Living in our past with past relationships and experiences will not get us into the place we have been called to by God!
For those seeds of greatness are within us all। There is no comparison one to another. Those seeds are divine and are ready to produce His fruit. Today we come together in Christ Jesus, seeking Him in a deeper way. In that seeking we realize it has nothing to do with attending a church, Bible studies, or any other religious function.

Today we come hungry, even eager, anticipating God to express Himself in us and through us. We are awaiting a new touch in our minds, souls, and bodies. This personal touch will change us for life setting us free from all glitches in our lives and bondages of our past.
Galatians 5:1 tells us that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free। So then, we stand firm and do not let ourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (those glitches/bondages of sin in our lives)

We want to get up front and personal with our Lord and Savior and today I shall call Him our groom! We want an intimate experience to bring us to new revelation, a new dimension, and a fresh new divine purpose।

Let us not be confused with the definitions of relationships and intimacy। The world calls us a connected society with many relationships. Technology has warped our understanding of communication and relationship. We are a connected yet disconnected society believing relationship means email, text message, twittering, or face book. I recall those old adages like "We are only a jingle away" and "Reach out and touch someone" by telephone, or today using Web technology with Skype or Vonage.

My understanding is that these technologies do help enhance our relationships but they are not a substitute for the personal embrace, pat on the shoulder, loving embrace, or that face to face contact you do not get with Facebook। Gazing into ones eyes over lunch or a cup of coffee or stroll in the park is intimate.

Today we come for one on one with Christ himself and with one another। Even our "church" life, our traditional religious upbringing, has twisted the meaning of relationship with Christ and with His Church. Scriptures we spout should reflect the life they brought to and into our lives and not merely be a measure of our place in an intellectual community.

Romans 8:2-16 (NIV)
Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death। For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering। And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit।

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires। The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you। And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it। For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

Romans 8 tells us who we are in Christ and how we no longer are the same "and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in US he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to US mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in US।"

Therefore we have an obligation--but it is not to live according to the sinful nature। If we live according to the sinful nature, we will die. But if we live by the Spirit we put to death the misdeeds of the body and we shall live, because those of us led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

That scripture (paraphrased by me!) did it all in my life. My DNA comes from my heavenly Father and not my natural father. My inheritance has changed and so has my gene pool. Therefore all of heaven has opened up a new bright life for me! And for YOU.

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