And My Words Abide In You

John 15:7

If I use words out of the context I become a voice of unbelief.

In spiritual warfare we are not fighting invisible ET like creatures.

We are attacked by words. These words look harmless, but they are

actually filled with seeds of unbelief, distrust and hatred.

If the words are not Spirit and Life, they are weapons of evil.

They sound right. They sound acceptable.

Words without life are often used to justify our flesh, our

unwillingness to live a supernatural, spiritual life.

“Gott mit uns” was written on the belt buckles of the Nazi soldiers.

It was not Hitler’s invention, but his tricky way of using familiar

words for his new, evil purposes.

In his prayer Christ speaks about the words that the Father had

given him. He spoke from heaven. The mankind stopped their ears

and ended up rejecting him as an enemy.

Illiteracy is a great handicap for any person. Spiritual

Illiteracy is even greater problem as it keeps believers in ignorance

of God’s involvement in today’s world. Rightly so, ignorance is

called Satan’s university.

He was and is and is to come.

It’s so far and so near in the same time.

How can a man who lived over 2000 years ago be my daily

companion and my adviser in the details of life?

If you don’t know him, you will find his role in our lives absurd.

All his claims are beyond any objective human experience,

such as

He has always existed and is the creator of all things.

He was born into a human life from a virgin.

He lived a sinless life.

He overcame death.

He is alive today, but only invisibly present in this world.

He continues to perform miracles and forgive people’s sins.

He claims to be the only Savior of the mankind.

He will come back.

He is the one whom every single person who ever lived on this earth

will meet in the future.

No wonder we speak about him all the time.

Like a Dog

Proverbs 26:11

Sin is a supernatural power. Man cannot fully control it

without help. It’s not logical. It’s much more devastating

that it seems to be. It is Satan’s playground, full of surprises

and constantly changing rules.

Sin is not first of all an intellectual problem.

It’s a will issue. It is always a lie about the true nature of God.

It is a network of lies where man, on his own can never figure it out.

Confessing our sin means more than just accepting it’s existence.

In confession we agree that it is too powerful for us to fight it

on our own. In confession we surrender our decisions to the

authority of God. Lord, hold me tide, otherwise my feet will run

faster than my faith and sidetrack me in the draining maze of sin.

The dog in me will always want to go back.

True Truth

Living in the true truth is God’s answer to our moral dilemmas.

It’s right that a lot of moral reasoning seems to lead us to

unresolved conflicts. Two , almost opposite, statements are

claimed to be true, such as “I’m dead and alive. I’m sinful and holy.”

The accuser operates mostly in this realm.

He uses truthful arguments which are true in themselves but

loose their value when connected with the greater truth.

The more we fellowship with the Savior, the more we receive

the eternal view on things. From there things look different.

Trials are a joy. Death is a victory.

Sure Foundation

When small worlds collide, 

they burst into pieces and return back to the dust.

There are no victories, just painful memories of

the ancient glory.

Our strength should not come from other people's

failures and our future should not be built on the 

ruins of others' failed ambitions.

May God reveal his grace to us today so that we 

would see beyond the easy, fast shortcuts and

continue building  on the invisible and immeasurable

foundation of God's word.

Nothing less will stand the whirlwinds

of these intimidating times.

It hasn't changed 

Luke 1:5-7

Zacharias and Elisabeth did everything right,

walking in all the commandments

and ordinances of the Lord blameless,

but they had no child.

They learned together with the rest of us that

God's favor just cannot be earned.

We are eager to believe that the gift of salvation

cannot be earned, but we struggle when it comes

to continuing dependency on him for everything 

without any own merit.

This gift never changes to a salary.

calling evil good and good evil

Isaiah 5:20

 Man's own ability to discern good from evil has become his

greatest hindrance in learning grace. His own knowledge just 

doesn't agree with grace. 

Judgment seems always more right to him.

Grace can be experienced only through trust.

If I don't trust in God's goodness, I will never give in to grace.

Grace looks often wrong. 

If grace will not be accepted as the most needed skill in human

relationships, people will end up ultimately destroying one

another in the name of justice. Nobody will be left to stand.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

 Proverbs 1:7

It sets us on the right track, but it doesn't itself define our purpose

in the details of life.The living will of God is revealed in our

interactive relationship with God.

It's an important filter for the flood of information from the worldtube.

The fear of God is not our goal, but the means to know him.

The Holy Spirit teaches us to fear God and to agree with his will and design.

One of the characteristics of the worlds political leadership today is the

absence of this fear in their vocabulary. People with power fall

constantly into this temptation, to think that they are above God's order.

It's the old, satanic "I will" syndrome.

Summer Bible School in Finland

http://www.hibi.fi/

Setting Our Minds

To think, that spiritual thinking is an alternative for our daily

life-style, is a dangerous mistake.

It's not an alternative.

It's the only way to survive in living faith.

Col.3:2 encourages us to set our minds on

those things which are above.

Setting our mind is  a chain of right decisions that require 

a lot of studying and mental efforts.

It has nothing to do with our likes or dislikes.

Once we do it we start realizing how different God's reality

is compared with all the world's attractions and noise.

Thinking with God is amazing.

It's out of this world.

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