God's rich Blessing on you all ...
My Muse Walking up the Peak early this morning – then running down, I discovered afresh how life sustaining oxygen truly is. It's my body's life and breath. This is the way God wants us to relate to Jesus, our true life and breath. Acts chapter 17, verse 28 says, "For in Him we live and move and have our being." And although we are supposed to live, move, and have our being in Jesus, we tend to so easily take His life-sustaining grace for granted. We forget that apart from Him we can't do a thing, just like Jesus says in John 15:5 "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” We forget that when we put our Christian life on automatic pilot which is so easy to do, it’s the same thing as what we call “walking in the flesh” not “walking in the Spirit.” When we forget that we live, move, and have our being in Christ, our prayers become dull, witnessing becomes non-existent, our jobs become routine, worship becomes colourless, and relationships begin to sag without us fully realising it under the weight of our own selfishness. What's worse, our relationship to the Lord turns into a chore and we become more focused on form than relationship. The Lord seems to lose vitality, becoming a wooden image in our hearts, and a mere measuring rod for our behavior, even worse we end up living for us than in Him! It all happens when we forget to inhale His life-giving Spirit on a moment-to-moment basis. It happens when we sing “I need You, Oh I need You, every hour I need You,” but only recognise our need of Him when a problem crops up. It happens when we fail to see the God of grace as our very life and breath. It happens when we take Jesus for granted. Jesus is The Resurrection and Life, He is The Way The Truth and The Life and He is the Door into this abundant life God is offering us to live in every day. Nothing is more mechanical than when we attempt to live a supernatural life apart from God. I think that is one of the biggest spiritual barriers to our growth in Christ. As the day begins, we kind of say to ourselves, ‘You know Jesus, I accepted you many years ago, and I’ve been to enough Bible studies now; I’ve studied enough scripture that I kind of understand right from wrong, I've been to enough church services, so as I head into this day, I may check in with you now and then – maybe – but I pretty much have this Christian thing figured out. I know the lay of the land. I can take it from here.’Sadly then drift happens. If you live your Christian life that way, you’re not inhaling the strength of God; you’re running on your own steam, not God's; you’re running on pride. This is why the apostle tells us in Romans chapter 6, verse 11 to "Count yourselves (every day; it’s an everyday sort of thing) count yourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus." To "count" means to take a daily inventory, to consciously consider you “alive to God in Christ Jesus." So do what I do so many, many times during the day – stop and pause often and ask God for moment-by-moment grace. Take a minute to reflect on His Lordship, His supremacy in your life. Inhale His graciousness. Remind yourself, that is, to count yourself alive to God and then move forward into the next hour fully aware of the life-giving strength of the Spirit. Can I encourage you to got to this song link and reflect on what has been shared in the Muse and the lyrics of this song. https://youtu.be/5dUsbE5de4w May you move and live and have your being in Jesus Christ May your life in Him lead you to an intimate relationship with The Father God's peace and presence be on you Aroha JD
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AuthorPastor JD Drower Archives
May 2017
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