What's Discernment?

"Discernment can refer to both a posture and a process.

As a spiritual posture, discernment entails fostering a contemplative attitude that helps spot the presence of God in the concrete events and experiences of ordinary life. To live with a discerning heart is to believe that ... God is to be found everywhere in the holy ground of our existence.

As a process, discernment is decision making that invites God into the process and relies on God to be the telling influence in the choices we make. It is a deliberate attempt to become attuned to the guidance of God in important life choices.

The goal of discernment is to refine the acoustics of the heart so that we can be more closely united to God in obedient faith ...

Discernment is both an art and a gift.

It is an art because we can, with practice, develop our ability to be more and more sensitive to the Spirit's movement in the whirl of our lives.

Yet, ultimately, it is a gift because to be aware of and moved by God's presence depends totally on grace."

- Au -

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that come through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God"

- Philippians 1:9-11.

Linda

What God Wants to Do For You

Isaiah 57:18,19 "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near."

God will do these five things for you:

1) Heal you - if you are hurt, in pain, or in distress.
2) Guide you - if you are confused or need direction.
3) Restore you - bring change that refreshes and renews you when you feel helpless.
4) Comfort you - bring comfort to those who mourn or feel misunderstood.
5) Give Peace - bring peace to those who are worried.

Allow Him to do that for you today ~ Bob

Overcoming Guilt

Many are plagued with guilt which causes them to stay stuck where they are. Guilt heightens low self worth, prevents success, stops constructive confrontation, destroys confidence and damages relationships. Guilt originates from the evil one.

On the other hand, conviction by the Holy Spirit brings godly sorrow that can be forgiven. How do we move from guilt to godly sorrow? Take these ten steps:

1) Take a personal inventory. - Psalm 139: 23-24, "Search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if here is any offensive way in me"
2) Confess what the Holy Spirit points out. I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
3) Accept Responsibility for my faults. Proverbs 20:27 "The Lord's light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive."
4) Ask for forgiveness. Isaiah 1:18, "'Come now, let's settle this,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.'"
5) Admit my faults to a safe person. James 5:16, "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed."'
6)Learn to receive love. Ephesians 2:4 "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions."
7)Receive forgiveness. John 3:17 "For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
8) Forgive yourself. Romans 8:33 "Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one - for God himself has given us right standing with himself."
9)Think on what is pure. Philippians 4:8 "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."
10) Immerse yourself in God's Word. I Timothy 1:15 "This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it; 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners' -and I am the worst of them all."

Psalm 32:1 "Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight."

Follow these ten steps and enjoy the freedom of intimacy with the lover of your soul.

Forgiven over and over ~ Bob

Christ in Colossians

Colossians is all about Jesus Christ. I have found an easy-to-remember outline for the book that captures it's theme. Watch the verse numbers and the words.

Colossians 1:18 - Pre-eminence - "He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the first born from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy." Jesus is first - He is above all, the most important, the greatest.

Colossians 2:9 -Deity - "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form." Jesus is God. He has all of God's attributes. He is co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent with The Father and the Holy Spirit.

Colossians 3:11 -Sufficiency - "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all." Jesus is all - everything; He is all we need for salvation, life, and godliness. No add-ons required!

Colossians 4:1 - Mastery - "Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven." Christ is our Master - we are not our own - we have been bought with a price. Every time we go our own way, we make a mess of it. We submit to His mastery as He directs and leads us in paths of righteousness.

(Did you catch the references? 1:18 and then 2:9 - one 18 is 2 x 9; 3:11 and then 4:1 - 3+1 = 4 then add 1 = 4:1. This may sound like a goofy system but it works for me.)

As you focus on the truths about Jesus today, I trust that He will fill your heart and refresh your soul.

Enamored with Jesus ~ Bob

What Really Matters?

What really matters to us is played out in how we spend our time, our money, and the people we relate to. For some, what matters most is power, position, and prosperity. Jesus, however, had a different perspective. He said that what matters is You!

"You are the salt of the earth." (Matthew 5:13) Salt was highly valued in Jesus' culture. Salt matters because it:
1) Enhances the flavor - You bring out the flavor in people and in the culture. You make life palatable with humor, joy, purpose, hope, direction.
2) Exhibits purity - It is glistening white and was used as an offering (Leviticus 2:13). Honesty, no hidden agendas, sexual and moral purity, when you give your word, you keep it.
3) Encourages thirst - You make people hungry for a relationship with Christ.
4) Exercises preservation - In the warm climate without refrigerators in Jesus' day, salt kept meat from decaying. You keep the society from destructing ; from moral and spiritual decay. The safety of a nation is not calculated by it's weaponry but by the character and godliness of its people.
5) Expresses humility - Salt does not draw attention to itself; it enhances what already exists.

However, to be effective salt must:
A) Be in touch with the thing it flavors or preserves.
B) Retain its distinctiveness. If we lose our closeness with Christ and our Christian qualities, we will make no impact for Him in our world as we preserve our world from all-out evil.

You matter to Jesus and to the world. As you pour out your life today like salt, you will find your true value.


Out of the salt shaker ~ Bob

Gender or Giftedness?

In these troubled times the church appears as an eight cylinder engine that is running on only four cylinders - no spiritual power, ability to maneuver in traffic, or inner strength to do the task Jesus has given us.

Have many abandoned God's spiritual gifting of individuals in deference to gender? Are only men allowed to take certain responsibilities, not because of their spiritual gifting but because of their gender? Have women been pushed into roles where their giftedness can not be utilized or where it is largely ignored?

We are all aware of the ministry roles of men in the New Testament. However, just to site a few examples: Paul spoke of Junias (a woman) as an apostle (Romans 16:7); both "sons and daughters will prophesy" (Acts 2:16); Priscilla was the primary teacher of Appolos (Acts 18:26); and Phoebe was a deacon (Romans 16:1).

Could it be that the other four cylinders have not been allowed to use their God-given spiritual giftedness today as they did in New Testament days? It is time for the church to be an organism of people who use their spiritual gifts rather than being an organization with only men taking the responsibilities that appear to be "leader" oriented. Since all gifts are necessary for the body to be healthy, shouldn't we be identifying our spiritual gifts and encouraging everyone to use them, regardless of gender? Using all eight cylinders would give the church the necessary health to be functional instead of fractured.

Asking the tough questions ~ Bob

Confidence

Three truths are critical to believers as "citizens of heaven." Paul was persuaded (confident) that "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6

1) God initiated our relationship in Him and the moral and spiritual changes that occur in our lives since we came to Christ ("He who began"). We are not the author of the life of Christ which is being lived out daily in us. We are not the initiators of finding joy amidst the challenges and problems of life - God is the One who has begun the changes in us that bring us fulfillment and that bring Him pleasure. We cannot change to be like Christ on our own - He is our power and strength.

2) God continues to transform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ ("will carry it on to completion"). He does not give birth to us as His children and then leave us to struggle alone with how to live this new-found freedom in Christ. He gives His Holy Spirit, His Word, and fellow believers to help us and encourage us when we are tempted to focus on the problems of today rather than His transforming power.

3) He makes us people of the future. "Until the day" speaks of Christ's coming again. Our glorious future has begun already in the present. To lose our future orientation - "straining toward what is ahead, toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward" (Philippians 3:13-14) is to lose joy, hope, and motivation.

Paul reminds us that even in the midst of present difficulties, God in Christ both guarantees our future and blesses us in our present - whatever it is.

Focused on the future in the present ~ Bob

Healthy Choices Bring Joy

"I thank my God for every remembrance of you," were the words of Paul in Philippians 1:3. Paul had made a choice - to remember the positives with joy rather than to remember the negatives with irritation.

There had been the Philippian jailer - imprisonment, lashes - what were the memories? Joy: it was a choice.

After being placed in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany, Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychologist, said, " They stripped me naked. they took everything - my wedding ring, my watch - I stood there naked and all of a sudden realized that moment that although they could take everything from me - my wife, my family, my possessions - they could not take away my freedom to choose how I was going to respond."

We choose to rejoice. Psalm 34:1 "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will be continually in my mouth." That is a choice! You will choose to be bitter or better. Yes, the hurts are real; the good news is that with Christ, we can choose to heal the hurts and rejoice.

Choosing joy ~ Bob

Positive Prayer for Our Relationships

Have you ever wondered what to pray for when interceding for friends and brothers and sisters in Christ?

Paul gives five solid requests to ask in Philippians 1:9-11: "This is my prayer; that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God."

Pray for:

1) Love - that they will grow in love - authenticity, honesty, openness, taking risks by opening their inner self to both God and others.
2) Knowledge - that they will grasp spiritual truth and feast at Jesus' banquet table of truth.
3) Discernment - that they will make godly decisions and know what to do as a result of being in the intimate place with Christ.
4) Pure and Blameless - that they do right things from their inner character; that they conduct themselves in such a way that no one can bring any charges against them.
5) Live for God's glory - that they will have the fruit of being like Jesus Christ, showing His characteristics and qualities for all to see; when people look at them, they will see Jesus.

Is there someone who you could pray those five things for? Do you want someone to pray those five things for you? If no other names come to mind, ask Jesus for those five things for me ~ Bob

Getting Unstuck

The church at Philippi was stuck in their strife, parties, and dissensions with no way out. Paul's solution is a strong admonition: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is working in you... Philippians 2:12,13. Was the "salvation" they were to work out personal or corporate?

It is clear that Paul's talk about "salvation" refers to the community of believers. Why? They were unhealthy! There was strife, bad feeling between believers, occupation with themselves - their power, their opinion, their way.

True, God would have a part in it (for it is God who is works in you), but they must actively "work at" allowing the Holy Spirit to change their attitude to humility with complete reliance on God in carrying them through to health - "with fear and trembling." No room here for programs, assessments, strategies - just plain humility, prayer, confession, forgiveness, and focusing on others with a mind to knowing and meeting their needs as they grow in Christ.

How quickly this health formula, admonished by Paul, would heal broken people in unhealthy churches if it were applied in our day.

Bob