Tag Archives: holy spirit

Stop Living Biblically

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Stop Living Biblically

A lot of Christians living biblical lives are condemned to hell.

Without the Spirit, the Bible becomes whatever we want it to be.

“we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting”
— Ephesians 4:14

There’s a lot of deceitful plotting going on by so-called Christians today.

We need to stop being Bible followers and become obedient to the Word.

There is a difference between the Bible and the Word.

Scripture is vital. It is God’s communication, but

The Bible is what God said.
The Word is what God means.

Never forget that the Pharisees Jesus rebuked live biblically.

We need to stop being Bible followers and become obedient to the Word which is a Person.

What we need more than the memorization of scripture and exegetical sophistication is a relationship with God granted through a heart quickened by the Holy Spirit that allows us to know Him.

No matter how clearly I think something is said, if I don’t know the person saying it, I will misunderstand their communication.

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”
— 1 Corinthians 2:11

Read scripture and ask God what He meant, which acknowledges the Person of God rather than approaching faith like a philosophy. Keep doing so until the eyes of your heart are opened (Ephesians 1:18) where God reveals Himself, we receive the Holy Spirit and are granted the ability to know Him.

Then we can walk according to His Spirit that conveys what He means by His Word rather than what we, according to our desperately wicked hearts without His Spirit, wants the Bible to mean.

The Only Way To Call Jesus Lord

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - The Only Way To Call Jesus Lord
Photo Courtesy of Zoltan Toth – Flickr

“[…] no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” – 1 Corinthians 12:3

Because you’ve said “Jesus is Lord,” don’t read this and think that you’re in the clear.

You do realize that calling someone “Lord” indicates that you acknowledge their authority to tell you what to do, right?

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” – Luke 6:46

Calling Jesus, “Lord” it is not about saying the words with your mouth but with your life.

Even demons recognized His title. What makes them demons was their rebelling against His will.

The line between the godly and the demonic is as simple as who’s rule you support: God’s or not. To be clear, any rule besides God’s is demonic, including yours.

But, even in that there’s grace.

“But what do you think?

A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.

Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go.

Which of the two did the will of his father?

They said to Him, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.'”

– Matthew 21:28-32

All of us have areas in our lives that we have not given over to Christ’s lordship. We’re saying “I will not” because we’re comfortable with the demonic arrangements we’ve made for those parts of our lives.

The key to authentic faith and life in Christ is to trust Jesus. We must let God be true and believe His government produces life, while all others lead to death (whether it looks that way or not – many things that appear full of life are dying, e.g. a rose in a vase looks beautiful, it’s naturally a perennial [long living, enduring plant], but it began to die the moment it was cut – anything apart from God is dead).

When we belong to Christ, the Holy Spirit reveals areas in our hearts where Jesus is not King and one by one, with great violence, we must make war to turn them over to His rule.

It is in this process that though we formerly said, “I will not”, by the revelation of Christ and conviction of the Holy Spirit, we come to a place of repentance and obey, and in this struggle we truly say “Jesus is Lord” and can have confidence that we belong to Him.

It’s a work of the Holy Spirit.