How Can Spiritiual Precision Bless My Life?

How could someone have spiritual precision? Why does it matter? I’ve never heard anyone talk about it, so it must not be a big deal…right?

(Note: Our verse today covers a lot of ground in about a thousand words. You may want to read it on a lunch break or 15 minute break somewhere in your day).

We all know that the accurate and rightly divided Word of God is a precision instrument. It is so precise, God compares it to a two-edged sword dividing the thoughts and intents of the heart and the soul from the spirit. That sounds precise enough. But how does one use that precision?

Well, let’s start at our verse in Philippians.

 

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and [in] all judgment;” Philippians 1:9

I’m excited because God defined what He wants us to abound in by the Greek words He uses in the verse above.

Let’s look at the literal translation.

“I pray that your love (agape, love by your freewill decision to be obedient to God) may abound (perisseuō, exceed and overflow) yet more and more (even more than that) in knowledge (epignōsis, precise and accurate knowledge of spiritual things) and in all (pas, individually, each, every) judgment (aisthēsis, cognition, discernment).”

I heard a phrase that I’ve made my own over the years. “The faster you go, the faster you go.” An olympian once said it after competing in several events and finishing the last race faster than all the others. We have that same opportunity! Our ability to “check-in” with God on what to do in each situation, which is walking in agape, abounds more and more by doing it. We get better and better at walking in love. That is a relief to me, I don’t always know what to say, but someday if I keep at this, I’ll get there. That is how we are perfected or matured in the faith.

Then we have the word “knowledge” which is epignosis. Let’s look at a few other places this word shows up. Remember it means, precise and accurate knowledge of spiritual things.

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:” Ephesians 1:7

“And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:” Colossians 3:10

“Who will have all men to be saved , and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4

Wow! These verses amaze me! We receive the accurate and precise knowledge of God from God Himself!. Then we can put on the new man by renewing our mind after we know the accurate and precise knowledge of God and God wants all men to come to the accurate and precise knowledge of the Truth which is Him!

As long as I’ve been in the Word in know that if there’s a right way to do something, there’s also a wrong way. Look at this verse.

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” Romans 16:7

There are people out there preaching doctrine contrary to the precise and accurate knowledge of God. The word “contrary”, above, is the Greek word, para. We get our English word “parallel” from this word. This means that their doctrine is so close to the accurate knowledge it could seem like it is that knowledge, but in fact it is error.

Wait just one minute Terri!

How am I supposed to find out what is accurate and what is error if the doctrine or teaching is so close like that? Well, how does one find out if you have a counterfeit oil painting on your hands? They say you have to know the real thing so well, that the counterfeits are easy to spot. God asks us to get to know Him so well that if the devil comes in with a forgery of any kind, you can “resist the devil and he shall flee.”

God helps you too. There are certain plants for your garden that repels pests. Likewise the precise and accurate knowledge of God repels, counterfeits. For instance, when you realize that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, you’ll begin understanding where all the trouble is coming from. It’s not from God, He loves you. See now it’s easy to spot the lie that God is testing you. The truth repels that pesky little lie. Do you see how easy it can become. Just match up the counterfeit next to the real thing.

“We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:6

This word “knoweth” is ginosko which means to know by experience. What have we experienced? The precise and accurate knowledge of God.

Cool huh!

The last phrase in Philippians 1:9 is “and in all judgment (aisthēsis cognition, discernment)” This word compliments everything we’ve learned already in this verse. This is spiritual insight and after what we just read it’s spiritual insight on steroids. Wow! Can you believe all this wonderful precision was in one verse? Spiritual insight and precision starts with honing of our ability to walk in love. That walk helps us weed out the error and wrong doctrine. The Love helps us with our precise knowledge of God and it will give us spiritual insight.

God bless you today!

Friendships That Span Distance & Time

“For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:8

Isn’t it wonderful to hear from a friend. I’ve often marveled at how easy it is to pick right up where you left off with someone. It might’ve been years since you saw them last, but when you talk, not a day passed by. How cool! Koinonia the Greek word for friendship is like that. When you are with that person you trust that you can fully share with them and you’re safe to do so. They feel likewise. These kind of friendships are healthy, boundless and enriching. When a friend asks God what to do to bless you, that friend has walked in great love. What a treasure! When you do that for others, there is no limit to the depth of love you can have for them.

For God is my witness, how greatly I long after you all with the same tenderness of Jesus Christ.

God Bless You Today!

Are You In the Fight for Your Better Life?

Imagine a soldier out on a torrential battlefield. He’s exhausted from fighting, charging, running and shooting. When he finally gets to a place where he can sleep for the night, he takes out his pencil and paper to write a letter to his family. Literally the stench of battle is still rising from his body. He writes in vivid paragraphs of description. Then suddenly a bomb goes off nearby and dirt from the explosion falls into the folds of his finished prose. When his mother opens the letter several weeks later, she sucks in that air. It’s air from the his night, air from his suffering and his joy. The end of the letter says, “I was able to stop the war and get the information we need to a new place for peace. Please know I love you all.” You can imagine the tears that flow as she reads, and the joy!

I imagine that the Philippians felt this way when they opened Paul’s letter. He was captured, laying in a filthy prison. He was accused and slandered like the warfare that was used by the Vietnamese or Germans. But they knew it would be okay because he had fought a good fight.

Even in those moments God hadn’t stopped working in him. Here are his words. (I’m backing up so we can read the whole sentence as one thought.)

“Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is meet (right) for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.” Philippians 1:7

When I look at this wonderful sentence, I see heartfelt love and tenderness towards his family. They were fellow laborers along with him and members of the household of God. Paul yearned to encourage them in their work. He didn’t want them to stop just because he wasn’t there, and of course they didn’t.

You and I have to honor this work as well. It’s a work that was started in you the moment you were born again and will continue until the day of Jesus Christ. We don’t have to stay in the dirt, fear, worry or bondage of this life. God gave us a way out. He rescued us that day and he will continue His work in you until the day He sends His son back to gather us up. What will that day be like?

Every single person from the day of Pentecost forward, who believed Romans 10:9-10, will be raised from the dead with a new spiritual body. Those who are alive at that time will be changed instantly and meet us in the air. We don’t have to sit and wonder if this will occur, we know it will occur. God promises it will. He promises to continue working in this gift of Holy Spirit in us completing and perfecting it. Wow! What would I rather focus on? I’d rather focus on my better life and the great things that are coming in the future.

God Bless You Today!

God Sure Hands Out A Lot of Character These Days

Have you ever heard that? I told a friend of mine about some of the life lessons I’ve experienced and she smartly told me that God was just giving me more character. In other words He allowed those things to happen so I’d learn…right? Why does something feel so not right about that statement. Here’s our verse today.

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6

Does this verse make me feel better or worse? Worse! If I think God is going to hand out more character anyway. Doesn’t it make me dread the future and fear new situations. Wouldn’t it make me wonder when I’ll ever be worthy of the “CHARACTER” badge. I would know, down in the depth of my heart, I didn’t have enough character so every time something terrible happens, I’d jump in line just so I could grow in my character.  I’d want to let people know what I had just gone through too so they could repeat the mantra that God is just giving me character. I’d go home feeling better for a few minutes until I looked again at the sickness, disease, financial ruin, or general lack of happiness in my life. As I sat down and pulled out my Bible, I’d glare at it. Resentment would build and maybe even bitterness. This bitterness would callous until unbelief would sneak in. God isn’t going to change my circumstances, or make me an overcomer if He’s busy dishing out character.

Unbelief is the believers biggest enemy. If a believer isn’t believing, will they see miracles, signs and wonders? What has this “character” statement now done to me?

First, I won’t see these verses happening in my life.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe;” Mark 16:17a

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Matthew 21:22

How can I believe for a miracle if I think it’s God’s will that I lose my pants financially, or physically, or mentally?

Okay, so where is this statement coming from if it makes a person a martyr for God. God only asked one man to die for us, Jesus Christ. How many of us are willing to live for God? If God is not done with “building our character” then we stay in our victumhood, oppression and depression.

Does the “character” statement hold any water with God?

First we need to expose the lie. Then we expose the liar. The devil wants to steal from you. He’s the Father of Lies. That alone should explain where this statement came from, but I think I should just take you to the Word of God.

“We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:6

There is a spirit of error out there and it’s our job to uncover it and know the truth. God helps because we are of Him. The biggest lie here is that you shouldn’t believe for miracles, signs and wonders in your life. The devil wants to talk you out of your abundance, protection, blessing and power. Christians who don’t stand up for themselves are powerless to stop the adversary from ruining their life. Better yet if they think they deserve to be stolen from, it makes the devil’s job that much easier. Why believe the devil? Why not believe your father, the God of Peace and Prosperity!?

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I (Jesus Christ) am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.” John 10:10

We have three promises in this verse. We are promised life, abundant life and a MORE abundant life. Wow! Jesus Christ won our life back for us. We’ll never have to do that again! We’ll never have to suffer until we bleed for our salvation. Jesus Christ did that already. Then we receive it as a gift of grace.

What else does God promise us for our life here?

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 2

WOW! “I wish above ALL things!” Wow! It pretty much knocks out the character building trauma doesn’t it. But wait Terri, doesn’t it say in the Word that I need to persevere and be tested?

That is two things.

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,” Ephesians 6:13-14a

What do we stand on? The truth. The truth that God made us free, abundant and strong. We’ll believe we don’t deserve to be stolen from, killed or destroyed. We have the right to a more abundant life. We need to gird ourselves with the whole armor of God just to believe and keep standing on that truth because the devil’s sly lies will constantly try to talk you out of it. How do we keep standing? Let’s go back to our series in Philippians. I’m going to skip ahead.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8

We think on the truth. What’s the truth?

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Phil. 4:13

And…

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” vs 19

These are the verses we believe. And the biggest thing is, of everything that God did for us when we got born again, the most important is He made us righteous in His eyes. Righteousness is our sonship right and a gift out of God’s grace. We can’t do more good deeds or survive more hard times to earn it. We just have it. I’d say righteousness tops character any day of the week.

God Bless You Today!

What is the Right Kind of Friendships to Have?

Aren’t good friends amazing? Believing friends are the best of all kind. So much so that God defined them in His word. There is as many different kind of people as there are molecules in the world. We’re all different. So how can we create friendships that will last throughout eternity?

Today we’re going to talk about fellowship and how good fellowship is at the center of any good friendship. We’ll talk about what kind of fellowship makes the best friendships. What kind is most profitable to us?

Here is our verse for today in bold.

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;” Philippians 1:5

Paul was obviously many hundreds of miles away while writing this heartfelt statement to the Philippians. He couldn’t be close physically, but one word in this verse indicates that he had an extremely close friendship with these people.

The word “fellowship” is the Greek word koinōnia. This word is intensely important when you want to talk about friendships. Koinonia means full sharing. I go over this word in greater depth in my book called the “5 Basics for Growth” in the chapter 6 called, “Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone lived this way?” What does God mean when He says full sharing? Full-sharing is a safe place to open your whole heart on any matter. God wants full sharing with us, and in fact He should be the only one who gets the fullest sharing in your life. But there are people who won’t condemn, complain or criticize you. You can share your dreams, your outlooks, your goals and your failures with. They do the verse above. They fellowship, koinonia, in the gospel to you and vice versa. This kind of fellowship is rich with possibilities and incredibly powerful.

Granted, there will be people in the world who never come close to this kind of sharing. Partial sharing around a craft, talent or skill can be very helpful, but it is only a partial sharing because you may not be able to share the gospel back to this person. Or, they may take offense if you start full sharing and they are only willing to partially share. There are also those who want you to full share just so they can use the information against you. These kind of full-sharings are not koinonia they are the devil’s twisted agenda and extremely dangerous. Why? Because the sacrifice is your heart. If the person with an evil agenda gets a fiery dart deeply embedded in your heart, you can lose everything. God says in Proverbs to…”guard thy heart with all diligence,”

It’s incredibly important to check in with God on who will genuinely koinonia with you. The element that is always present in koinonia is accurate, godly communication. They will point you back to the Word of God.

Let me show you what I mean. Each of the verses below has translated word from the Greek word koinonia in bold.

“That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Philemon 1:6

“If [there be] therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one accord, of one mind.” Phil. 2:1

“If we say that we have fellowship with him (God), and walk in darkness, we lie , and do not the truth:” 1 John 1:6

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

Wow! These verses definitely help define koinonia for me.

The book of Philippians should almost be a study on friendships and fellowship. We’ll get in to that as the book unfolds but it’s helpful to know the scripture build-up. As we go along you’ll learn more and more Greek words. They will define and expand on themselves as the Word unfolds. I know for me, doing a little extra study helped to add layers upon layers of understanding. For instance, look up any scripture about David and Jonathan in the Old Testament. They are a perfect example of friends operating in koinonia or full sharing.

“Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” Proverbs 27:17

We counsel with many,

We koinonia with few,

In the end we alone decide with God

which way we should go.

God Bless You Today!

What is the Catalyst to Growth?

“Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,” Philippians 1:2-4

Our verse today is the last statement starting with “always”. Have you struggled with your attitude? I know I have. There are times when I just don’t feel like praying, reading or doing anything.

It’s funny that I live in the freest country on earth, enjoy fruit and vegetables practically off the plant, have every need met almost as soon as I realize I have one and if Paul saw my life today, in comparison to what he lived through, he would think I already lived in heaven. We live in the time of touch-button convenience. We sit in a car instead of walk, we type instead of write, we pick up the phone instead of send a messenger to deliver our handwritten scrolls. Yes, we live in a wonderful time. I almost don’t want to mention that Paul was sitting in a prison cell while writing Philippians. He was falsely accused, beaten, alone, scorned by his old life and in this particular book he mentions wanting to be dead instead of living the life he was in.

And here I sit behind a beautiful 21 inch screen Macintosh, complaining? I don’t think so! Suddenly, my attitude changes. What is amazing about this verse?

“Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,” Philippians 1:4

The gladness and joy. Paul had a light heart. He deliberately thought of things that made him thankful. How could Paul have joy? Have you ever heard the phrase..

“When the pressure is on, give.”

This statement seems contradictory. Almost like the statement, the faster you go, the faster you go. Or if you’re tired, run around the block. Why does this work? It’s all based on principle.

Giving equals receiving. But it’s not just any giving. It’s giving like God gives. God in all His knowledge and wisdom tenderly reaches out to give to a person whether they deserve it or not. He gives the right thing at the right time. This kind of action is above and beyond our human inclinations. It is a deliberate decision of our will to listen and then obey.

Why is giving so important?

Giving creates momentum for the soul and traction for our spirit or inner man.

Our soul, (our likes, dislikes and personality,) stays in a state of inertia (a constant rate of self-propelled growth) until it is struck by an outside force causing propulsion into faster growth, thus giving us momentum. When our soul has momentum, our inner man reaches out grabbing onto things like, hope,  agape or love and faith. All of these are spiritual principles. When our soul submits and gives (a spiritual principle also), it puts the pedal to the metal of our growth.

Most importantly, giving surrenders the pride of the giver. In order for the giver to deliberately ask God for the recipe of the right giving action at the right moment or the exact right thing, word, deed or prayer, they must surrender their pride. They must think outside of themselves. They must be humble and humility is the catalyst to growth. Every chemical compound needs a catalyst for change. To see the power of gun powder add the catalyst of fire. To see flour, sugar and yeast react, add warm moisture. These may see like silly examples but they relate. Humility is the catalyst to growth. Add humility to giving and boom you’re in a new time zone of growth.

WOW! What revelations could we learn tomorrow? Or the next day? Or the next?

And all this from a verse and a man, (Paul) who was so joyful and blessed that he could see past all the darkness in his situation. Wouldn’t that be a nice way to live, no matter how good or bad things were? I’d say so. What an inspiration! We can say he was an inspiration now, but he had to grow before he could do this too. On the road to Damascus he allowed humility to be a catalyst in his life. For that he changed the world. How powerful is this concept? So powerful that Jesus Christ died out of humility to a greater plan. I’m very thankful for that choice aren’t you?

God bless you today!

How Can The Art of Perspective Change My Life?

Have you ever heard of the “One Point Perspective”? It is the idea that from where you are standing, everything is at eye-level. IF you sit down, the perspective changes, but you still use your eye-level to see everything around you. When seated in a helicopter far above the city, things are still being viewed at your eye-level. When drawing a building or painting a scene of farm houses everything will be drawn from your eye-level and disappear somewhere down the row away from you. Such as railroad tracks which are parallel and never meet but if you are standing in the middle of a set of them and you look at the horizon, they look like they do. The one point perspective is all about how you see things. I learned this amazing concept in art, but in so many ways it’s also applicable with our spiritual sight.

Where is our eye-level for a believer? Where is our one-point perspective coming from?

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7

If God in Christ saved us, then He raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places, then where is our one-point perspective? When God looks around Him, what does He see? It’s like He has us all seated at the dinner table with Him. We are His kids. Our perspective should emulate His as well and when we look around what should we see? Our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ seated around the table. As you think about that concept, read this verse from Paul remember that God was working within him to say this.

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,” Philippians 1:3

Our third verse in Philippians is written from the heart of God’s eye-level perspective with His kids. He seated us there, He made us holy and righteous, He gave us a new home for eternity. It doesn’t make us His equal, but it does give us His view-point. When God thinks of us, when He, God, remembers you He is thankful. Paul remembered his fellow brethren with that same heart.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11

These are thoughts that God thinks of us.They are thoughts of peace, not of evil to give us a future and a expected end.

Funny thing is, the devil always condescends. He wants everyone to worship him and look up to him and he in turn looks down and on everyone else. Look at what he asked of Jesus Christ in the wilderness.

“And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.” Luke 4:7

He wanted Jesus Christ to kneel and worship him. Wow. I’ve met some big egos, but that takes the cake. One of the most common traits I’ve seen in someone with a huge ego is condescension. Ego is different from confidence. Ego is fake. It’s as if the person is trying to build themselves up to look big and wonderful. Someone with confidence knows, in the depth of their heart, they couldn’t have been great and wonderful on their own. They give all the credit to God because without Him they know they’d be nothing.

To me, condescension and arrogance are a red flag. It shows me the person is doing a huge cover up. Did Paul ever look down on his fellow believers? Did He condescend? Instead he propped them up, empowered them, blessed and comforted them. He calls himself a bond slave to Jesus Christ? Why? For the ministry to the saints. He respected and loved his fellow believers so much that he served them. He gave to them by ministering healing, miracles (special miracles were wrought by Paul’s hands) and he sacrificed his time over and over. In essence, Paul was just emulating God because God so loved that He gave.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…” John 3:16a

God wants one-on-one fellowship with you so He can bless you. He wants to show you His tenderness and love. The devil just wants slaves to whom he can possess and corrupt. What is on the eye-level with the devil? Just his own reflection because of his pride. Pride is the devil’s lure. If his ministry is to kill, steal and destroy, he needs a really good lure. What do they say, our temper get’s us in trouble but our pride keeps us there.

On the other hand, humility is being willing to listen to what God says, meekness is being willing to do it. If our eye-level perspective is seated across the table from our Father in heaven, we’ll always want to know what He thinks and that will save our life.

Dear friend, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you!

God bless you today!