THE FIRST SECRET OF GOD'S POWER
We can look at the behavior and attitudes of those who made up the first church in the book of Acts to find the reasons for God's strong response to their worship and prayer.
While there are several things that are a part of that kind of powerful response from the Father there are only a few things that point to true relationship. The first starts with the conditions of heart in seeking God. Among the first of those heart conditions is the burning hunger and thirst for God to be our Master and the Lord of our lives. If we look around us today it isn't hard to see the lack of any real commitment of most people who claim to be Children of God. That truth comes out in the various ways that fruit of the Spirit is allowed to be either seen or squelched within the lives of people within the church.
Our heart comes first in our relationship with God. The heart is the first thing that God reads when dealing with men, and for a very good reason...it is the only part of our make up that cannot lie to God. As God reads the intent of our heart He can see the hidden agendas within our still sinful and worldly nature that do battle within us to control the Spiritual growth and development that God so desperately wants from us. It ends up being God's Lordship over our hearts that starts the process of a powerful relationship for the Christian, and for the true beginning of unity and security in this age.
We always find that any true unity with our fellow Christians begins with our unity with Christ in the Father. The next question is of course what does it take for us to get to the point of surrender to God's power in life. That looks different for each of us because our hearts are different from one another. We are forced then to look deeper within us to find the things that tend to stand in the way of our relationship with God. In order to find out what will help us open up in our relationship with God we need to first uncover what the lies are that we are telling both God and ourselves about our true intent of heart. If we are gut level honest we must admit that from the very start almost everyone of us tend to hold back things...either commissions or omissions of sin that we just don't want to admit in our spiritual lives. It is ultimately these things that initially stand between us and God that create a wall and a sort of barrier that prevents a pure trust, and loving relationship between us and the Father. It is because of this that we need to deal first of all with our personal business with God before dealing with trying to build unity with one another. As Jesus has warned us...we must first take the plank ouy of our own eye before we can help our brother wiyh the speck of dust we may see in his eye. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
While there are several things that are a part of that kind of powerful response from the Father there are only a few things that point to true relationship. The first starts with the conditions of heart in seeking God. Among the first of those heart conditions is the burning hunger and thirst for God to be our Master and the Lord of our lives. If we look around us today it isn't hard to see the lack of any real commitment of most people who claim to be Children of God. That truth comes out in the various ways that fruit of the Spirit is allowed to be either seen or squelched within the lives of people within the church.
Our heart comes first in our relationship with God. The heart is the first thing that God reads when dealing with men, and for a very good reason...it is the only part of our make up that cannot lie to God. As God reads the intent of our heart He can see the hidden agendas within our still sinful and worldly nature that do battle within us to control the Spiritual growth and development that God so desperately wants from us. It ends up being God's Lordship over our hearts that starts the process of a powerful relationship for the Christian, and for the true beginning of unity and security in this age.
We always find that any true unity with our fellow Christians begins with our unity with Christ in the Father. The next question is of course what does it take for us to get to the point of surrender to God's power in life. That looks different for each of us because our hearts are different from one another. We are forced then to look deeper within us to find the things that tend to stand in the way of our relationship with God. In order to find out what will help us open up in our relationship with God we need to first uncover what the lies are that we are telling both God and ourselves about our true intent of heart. If we are gut level honest we must admit that from the very start almost everyone of us tend to hold back things...either commissions or omissions of sin that we just don't want to admit in our spiritual lives. It is ultimately these things that initially stand between us and God that create a wall and a sort of barrier that prevents a pure trust, and loving relationship between us and the Father. It is because of this that we need to deal first of all with our personal business with God before dealing with trying to build unity with one another. As Jesus has warned us...we must first take the plank ouy of our own eye before we can help our brother wiyh the speck of dust we may see in his eye. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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