Category: Soul Fire

Wholehearted Committment


Deuteronomy 6: 4 , 5.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

The Israelites stood on the verge of the land God had promised to them. A land already established with large cities they had not built. Living accommodations, richly stocked with produce they had not grown and cisterns they had not dug. Verse 10 -13. They were not to forget their God in their land of plenty. They were not to allow their wealth to distract them from their God who rescued them from slavery in the land of Egypt. They were to fear Him and serve Him with wholehearted commitment. They were to commit to His commands wholeheartedly, for He alone and He only was worthy of their worship. They were to love Him with their heart, soul, mind and strength, or, their intellect, will, emotions and spiritual and physical being. They were to live, sleep, breathe and digest His commands as they talked of them, taught of them, slept on them, rose with them and wrote them over doorposts and on gates through the custom of the mezuzah attached to doorframes of houses and buildings. When passing through the doorways they were to touch the mezuzah to show respect and dependence for the Scripture. They were about to prosper at the gracious hand of their God but not without obedience to Him.

Where do you find yourself today? Some remote place where God seems distant and ungiving? Maybe a land of compromise? Maybe a land of plenty has distracted you from His gracious hand. On a scale of one to 10 where does your obedience fall? Peer through that opaque veil and catch a fresh glimpse of God once again. Try giving adoration to the only one worthy of your worship, and reestablish your priorities as you enter into your promised land to take possession of your fullness of life in the Lord.

As true believers then, Let’s be challenged to stamp God’s commandments on our hearts in wholehearted commitment to our God, the only one worthy of our praise. Let’s be challenged today, to live lives of holiness as we strive to love Him with our whole selves: our intellect, will, emotions and our spiritual and physical being. He has called us to a life of obedience, therefore, we must live, sleep, breathe, teach and digest His commands as we respect and depend on His Word for His promise of abundant life even amidst the difficulties.
~k

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His Sweet Spirit In Us


John 4: 24.

“For God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”.

John 4: 21- 24.
“Jesus answered the Samaritan woman at the well, “Believe me dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the One you worship, while we Jews know all about Him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him in that way. For God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”.
John 4: 21- 24.

“In spirit and truth” is a difficult concept to grasp. It may help to think of a woman, who is mom, a wife, and a teacher. She is one person capable of functioning in many ways. Or a man, who carries out the role of a father, a husband and a breadwinner wears many hats in order to keep a family running smoothly. On a much deeper level, in the spiritual realm and in a much more awesome way, God is Truth and He is also Spirit. Jesus goes into detail on the subject, in John Chapter 13, where He washes the disciples feet, and predicts Judas’s betrayal into the hands of the enemy. Christ’s words in Chapter 14 are words of comfort to distraught, confused disciples who just didn’t understand the strange events that were taking place and what was happening. They had many questions and in John 14: 25 – 29, Jesus speaks to them… “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.”

A comforting promise was given by Christ before His death and resurrection. Then. at His final farewell before He ascended into Heaven…He assured believers that they wouldn’t be left alone and when He was gone, they would not be spiritual orphans, but that His Father would send a helper and a comforter in the Holy Spirit to teach and guide His people in truth instilling a peace within their souls.

That part of God that is His Spirit, is His sweet, Holy Spirit, present always, in the believer’s life and since the Spirit of God dwells within, location for worship doesn’t matter. It’s not in the place, it’s in the heart, soul and mind of the believer, where Christ takes up residence because His Spirit surrounds us, maintaining God’s Spirit in the World around us, and sustaining us with His presence.

God is Spirit, and God is Truth and in Him they become one for us, much like a mom is mom and nursemaid for her child. As we enter into a holy worship before the Lord, His spirit that dwells within us communicates with us revealing His Truth and His reality! We don’t have to see Him with our eyes, or hear Him with our ears. No a relationship with Christ goes much deeper than the physical element and our five senses. It goes spiritually deep into a sense that He has saved me, redeemed me and keeps me. It’s a knowledge that all is well with my soul because Christ lives within, maintaining and sustaining. What a delight and a privilege then, to come before Him in humbleness of heart to offer ourselves as a fragrant offering of worship to this Sovereign God who holds us in the palm of His hand.

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Wilderness Wanderers


Forty years of wilderness wandering plagued the Israelites because they listened to the report of 10 spies instead of God’s promise to give them the promised land. They had experienced God’s miraculous works for their deliverance, yet still, rather than believing God’s promise and facing their enemies with faith they were caught up in human deception and discouragement. The giants occupying their land were huge and the enemies were strong, the challenge too dangerous, the risk too great. They refused to move out and take possession for fear of their lives.

They wept and wailed through their night with bitterness! They complained and grumbled about their plight! Why did we leave Egypt? We’ll die in this forlorn land! Shouldn’t we just go back? Wouldn’t it be better? Be safer? Wouldn’t it just be easier back in captivity? Those unfaithful, unbelieving, grumbling Israelites twenty years and older never made it into the land of promise because God saw to it that their unbelief would not be honored.

Oh the wilderness wanderings we face when we focus on deception instead of truth. When we focus on the giants instead of the promises; when we rebel instead of trust! You know it don’t you? The wilderness of rebellion, unbelief, deception and despair? Does your old slavery and bondage to sin just seem more comfortable, easier and safer than trusting God for deliverance? We need to move on out and take what God has promised through trust, while He still gives opportunity. Courage is found when we take God at His word and trust him even though the giants are many and the tasks impossible.
~k

1 Corinthians 10:11
“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

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Keep An Eye On You


Galatians 6:1

” Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”

This one goes deep and should capture some very interesting comments. Oh don’t we love to tell others where they’re wrong and where they’ve failed and how they’ve hurt us or offended us? Don’t we love to ‘set them straight’ and tell them they’ve missed the mark? We get so caught up in the wrong that others have done, that we fail to identify the pride in our own lives.

Definitely pride has to dissipate before we reach the point of correcting or admonishing someone we believe is wrong. I love how Christ knelt down before pride and guilt when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery, before him. He knelt and scribbled in the dirt. We don’t know what He wrote but I can’t help think it was more of an act of humility before pride, than it was anything else. Can we kneel or bend down before our offenders or is it more likely that we use words or revenge to set them straight and weigh the balance of the scales. Admonishing is a gentle correction done in humility, not a harsh judgment call of condemnation. When admonishing, there is danger of becoming ensnared in sin, namely pride. Perhaps becoming entangled in argumentative spirit, which again, is pride. Admonishing requires preparation time. It requires prayer and  godly wisdom.  That wisdom God gives us if we ask. We dare not admonish another unless we’ve been bathed in prayer, and have grown in wisdom. It’s only true humility that’s wise enough and strong enough to help another up.

David, was a man after God’s own heart. A shepherd boy chosen by God to become King and be used mightily for God’s glory. Yet, he rose to pride and fell far into sin. He covered it up in denial, and thought all was well, until God broke the silence, opened the curtain and sent Nathan the prophet to take centre stage. Nathan knew the story of what happened and wisely grabbed David’s attention with a story close to David’s heart…that of a sheep story and of the rich stealing from the poor. David was angered and grace was absent as he quickly called judgement of death upon the thief. It was then, Nathan’s words hit like a bullet. “You are the man!” David had been caught off guard in his condemnation. He was guilty in the first degree. He had no defence and uttered no response. The truth was out and he had nothing to say. The lesson for us? Let’s be challenged to be on guard and watch the pride in our lives, lest we fall into hidden sin and the sin of self righteousness. Self righteousness will call bitter judgement upon someone else, but, as it did with David, it may return like a boomerang as we fall into the hands of God’s judgement ourselves. How are we living? Has the huge plank been removed out of our own eye? Let’s make sure that it is, before we consider ourselves, spiritually fit enough to set someone else straight. Let’s take care to bathe our minds and our hearts in prayer and saturate our souls with God’s word. Ask for His wisdom and guidance. Perhaps a true, honest, self evaluation is all that’s needed to see the faults of others dissipate and pale in comparison to what we see portrayed in ourselves.

~k
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