Well we have been moving slowly through this first book as I was giving people time to order/buy there books. But slow is good when the topic is as important as this one. We will finish up this book with one last post this Friday. I Would really like to hear more from each of you as to what impacted you in Chapters 3 & 4. So please comment away!
With April only a week away, it is time for everyone to order our next book. It is titled "The Plan of Your Life" by Dr. Chris Stephens and can ONLY be ordered through his website and cannot be bought in stores so please order yours as soon as possible so you can be ready for next week.
http://drchrisstephens.com/books/
I have really enjoyed the discipline of reading through a book. Blaine was surprised and encouraging when he saw how far I had gotten in the book after owning it for a couple of weeks. I am really pleased since I don't really stick with a book or read it this quickly. I knew it would be a discipline and that is my goal this year- to be disciplined. Basically, I underline things that stick out to me in the book. Page 69 When will we simply respond to the truth we have heard and then work through our questions from there? That is so good. So many times I feel like I will sound stupid, arrogant, or wierd if I ask questions especially on spiritual matters. I know I CAN ask and so I do, but deep down I worry my thoughts will be rejected. Early on in my spiritual walk, I had no one to disciple me. So I was truly walking like a little child clinging to the only thing I truly believed which was God can do ANYTHING! and I meant ANYTHING. But I had my spirtiual friends tell me that it's not right to have faith for certain things and that God wasn't interested in my needs. That was hard to swollow since I looked up to these people (since they had been saved longer than me). I have always believed in the baptizm of the Holy Spirit, but because of those experiences, I have never outright talked about it until recently. Now those friends have eventually come to a greater knowledge of Holy Spirit, but I know that we can't really talk about it the way Francis Chan does. Chapter 3 was really good in that he explains the Person called Holy Spirit. I got to know him all over again. When I teach my children about God, I can explain better what I mean when I say Jesus is with God and Holy Spirit is with us. They had always had questions about that. I love that Holy Spirit knows OUR hearts AND the will of God and he intercedes for us.
ReplyDeleteChapter 4 opening statement, last sentence- "So apart from him, not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers and no congregations at all." This is a strong statement. I have to see this for what it is. I have experienced this before in my early walk with God. I was obedient to God when he planted me in church where the filling of the Holy Spirit was blatantly ignored. I couldn't understand why we weren't being blessed and why there was so much discension and yuckiness. I didn't really understand. Except for the truth that All Glory belongs to God not man. I have dealt with this and die to it often. Page 93 The Spirit is here with us to accomplish God's purposes, not ours. OUCH! This week, I have had dreams about this LOL. I need to submit to this fully. It's hard to swollow because sometimes it is the dream that God has allowed you to have that you have to die to- because it's always about who HE is and what HE is doing in and through you. So, it's been an on-going thing with me to die to my wants and dreams and to allow God to be glorified. This book was right on time. Thanks Brianna!
Flat out-
ReplyDeleteWe NEED Holy Spirit.