When you compare how “church” was done in the first century with what most of us experience every Sunday morning, it’s pretty clear that today’s church looks very little like the original blueprint.
What does God say about that, and what change is He bringing to how we gather together?
We all have needs and desires… it’s part of our human condition. And since God created us this way, He obviously knows our weaknesses and the temptations we face.
He’s also a good Father who wants to meet our legitimate needs, and fulfill the desires we have that lead to abundant life and eternal purpose.
The problem we have is this: we want to be the only one who decides what we want, when we want it, and how best to fulfill it.
Is your heart “unoffendable?” When people treat you badly, how do you respond? Jesus said that a spirit of offense arises when we allow our personal judgments and negative opinions of others control how we behave towards people.
We’re learning how to overcome this mindset, so we can begin to see others the way the Father sees them, and to treat them accordingly.
Fear has been described as False Evidence Appearing Real (F.E.A.R.), and that’s pretty accurate. Our opinion of the future… what we believe might or will happen to us, is rarely in agreement with the heart and promises of our heavenly Father.
God is restoring His glory to the Church. But what, exactly, is this glory? What does it look like and what does it mean for you and me in our day to day lives?
When we have a negative opinion of ourselves that God disagrees with, we are under the influence of a lie that will severely limit how much we will accomplish in life. God’s opinion of you does NOT include saying that you’re a failure…
Everyone has opinions about almost everything, and most of us simply assume that our opinion is right. If you’re a Christian, you should also know that it’s possible for your opinion about something to be wrong, which basically means God might disagree with you!
Unbelief happens when we hold onto an opinion God disagrees with, because we’ve decided it’s true. The problem with this is that if God disagrees with your opinion, then what you’ve chosen to believe is actually a lie. And since we know Jesus said that the truth will make us free, believing a lie can’t lead to a good outcome…
Everyone has beliefs that are not true. These false beliefs combine to create a mindset that affects how we live in this world. Because we believe these lies are true, we defend and protect them when challenged.
This is what the Bible labels a “stronghold,” a place in us where we stand in agreement with the enemy, who is the father of lies.