Search Results for ‘changed’

The Anatomy of Victory

Then they came to Jericho and as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.” Mark 10:46-49

Get Desperate and Determined. Blind Bartimaeus was desperate and in need, and he called out to Jesus. So often, when we get under pressure, the temptation is to shift into neutral and zone out in front of the TV. Instead of letting lethargy set in, we need to get desperate and cry out to God for help. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 34:6).

Alert Expectancy

We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! Romans 5:3b-5 The Message*

God wants all of us to be ready for what is up ahead in terms of our call and fruitfulness. The presence of lethargy signals the absence of faith, and that’s why many people in a crisis situation become numb with fear. A percentage of people, though, respond to adversity with clarity and boldness.

God’s Love

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11

Without agape—the God kind of love—all other loves fall short. God’s love is different from natural human love; it’s supernatural and changes a person. Agape love is value: looking at a person and realizing that is someone for whom Christ died.

Anointed For Today

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13

An advantage of giving your life to Jesus is that you’ve been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth and equip you for every good work so you can see biblical results modeled in your 21st-century life.

The Power Of The Holy Spirit

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6b

The advantage we have in this Spirit-filled life is beyond compare. The best of our commitments fail when done in our own strength, but when the power of the Holy Spirit is poured out on us, it goes way beyond mere human empowerment—it activates us for stuff we don’t even know about yet. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).