Have you ever felt like you're supposed to do something but you don't know exactly what? And that fear of the uncertainty in the decision drives you to postpone any future action?
Well, that's where I am personally. Sadly, I have been in this state for far too long.
Thankfully, after many sleepless nights spent dreaming possible outcomes of my decisions and many afternoons spent twiddling my thumbs just... waiting...
I feel that I have finally found the light and the reason to make that first step. And that first step indeed is that hardest because it requires so much courage and F.A.I.T.H.
I am leading Bible Study tonight with the Old Fat Dogs where we are going through the book of Ephesians. I am teaching on chapter 3:1-21... "The Mystery of Christ's body." As I was studying this, God lead me to John Piper's preaching. What he said on obedience was so perfectly fit for this stage in my life I wanted to share.
Let me preface what I'm about to paste with a little background on what he was talking about.
This part of Paul's prayer tells us that God gives a special power, an extraordinary power, for his witnesses. This extraordinary power is for extraordinary challenges of an expanding witness of Christ. This power was first given after the Pentecost (Acts 2:4). The great thing is that this power, that is from the Holy Spirit, can do far more than we we can think or imagine because it is the very fulness of God. The power is in accordance with the riches of God's glory.
4 ways for us to Seek and Receive this Power of the Holy Spirit:
1) Immerse yourself in the world of God (aka the Bible)2) Believe the Word of God
- Romans 15:13
- Put your confidence and trust in God's word so fully that joy and peace abound and the Holy Spirit is released in your life with extraordinary power and hope.
3) Pray Earnestly while Fasting
- Luke 4:14; Acts 4:24-31
4) Obey the Holy Spirit
- Obey sometimes before you even feel his power
- Sometimes when pleading with God what his will is, ask yourself this
Have I resisted the offer of the Spirit's power for witnessing so often that it is now being withheld from me?
Has the voice of the Spirit in the past prompted me to write a letter or make a phone call or pay a visit or say a word, with the readiness to give me all the power I would need, only to find my heart resistant and unbelieving, so that now he will not (and probably dare not) give me the tokens of this power until I am on the brink of some special act of witnessing obedience?
Piper says this best so I'm not even gonna attempt to paraphrase or say it in my own words. But I thought that his explanation here as to our call and inner-struggle to obey is easily understood here:
"I believe this is where many of us are. We have resisted the Holy Spirit so often when he was calling us to bear witness to Christ that we are unfit for the flow of his power. The channels have become so clogged with fear and self-consciousness and doubt and rationalization and worldly preoccupation that what we allow through is a barely discernible trickle of God's love.
And I believe that once we have begun to immerse ourselves in God's Word and battle the unbelief of our hearts and pray and fast for his power, we may have to simply step out with very little power felt in advance and do what we know what we ought to do. And I believe that in this doing, little by little the old clogged channels are cleared and we begin to feel the power flow again."
Full article found here
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