Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

What does doing the works of God mean to you?  If you are a Christian, it can mean any number of things. I have walked with the Lord long enough to realize a few things about doing His works.   I fully believe that the Lord's works are done first and foremost in our hearts.  Out of this connection, or as Oswald Chambers puts it, "comradeship," His works flow outward.   What I mean is, it is much easier to put the proverbial cart before the horse, the cart being outer good works.  The true work, what Jesus is after, lies within our hearts.  When the Lord takes up residence in our hearts, via the Person of the Holy Spirit, He comes to rule and reign there.  When we allow Him to rule in our hearts, that is how His works are accomplished through us. Now this is actually the harder work, because it is not tangible or quantifiable.  And Lord knows, we are a results-driven society! But remember, the Lord is after our hearts.  Always.  This is Scriptural (see I Samuel 16:7).  The

God is Omnipotent.  There is no higher or greater power than Jehovah God. When we are born again, He comes to live in our hearts via the Holy Spirit. We now possess all that He is!  We are not God - nowhere near.  That is for the New Ager's way of thinking. No.  Where once our spirits were dead, darkened, and lost, they are now made alive!  We now worship, love, and obey God only because His Spirit lives inside us.  Up until then, we may choose to be "good" people, and do the right things in life.  But there is a vast difference between a person living a "good" life in the flesh, and the born again Christian who allows the life of Christ in her to rule and live His life through her. There is a power to God's goodness.  His Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  All of these attributes live within us as born again believers in Christ. Our job now is to allow  the Holy Spirit full reign in ou

Where is my focus?  If it is on anyoe or anything else other than Jesus, I will get tripped up, distracted, even deceived.   So how do we keep our focus on Christ?  Mostly through prayer.  Talk to HIm and with Him throughout the day.  Trust Him to lead and guide us.  our work, and be sure to obey Him. He will perform His miracles, healings, and casting out of demons through us as we stay focused on Him, stay connected to Him.   As we give up control and allow  Him to take over our heart - mind, will, and emotions - He lives His life through us.  This is to be our core and how God does His work in this world - through our yielded selves! When we focus on the work, or on goals, instead, they can take over our hearts in place of Christ as gods to us. This always leads to stress and turmoil within because nothing else is meant to usurp Christ on the throne of our hearts. This takes surrender and trust.  We won't surrender to anyone or anything that we don't trust or believe in. Whe

Did your flesh prick just then?  "Hey!  They are MY desires!  I can want whatever I want!" Are you in the habit of yielding to Jesus on everything?  If not, then yes, the title of this blog will prick your flesh. Am I serious?  You betcha! When you think about it, it's our desires that either lead us into good or bad choices.  Problem is, the bad ones can feel  good in the moment. So what's a girl to do? Run it by Jesus!  Jesus, is this desire of and from You?  Or is it only me? Or worse, the enemy? Desires, wishes, and feelings will come against us from our own deceitful hearts!  Yes, even those of us whose hearts are indwelt by the Holy Spirit can be led astray by our desires. Now to be sure, God can also lead us through our desires.  Most Christians have Psalm 37:4 memorized.   But we're complicated creatures.  We've been programmed by so many sources throughout our lives, not all of which were in our best interest. How to we truly discern between good and