Saturday, April 16, 2016

Half Full or Half Empty?




“You know, a lot of people talk about you either look at the glass half-full or half-empty, I don't know why people do that because my opinion is, if you don't like what's in your cup, then empty it out and fill it up with something new, and if you're going to fill it up, might as well fill it all the way up.”
                                                                                 Jim Harbaugh

I start again with Jim Harbaugh quote.  He is a great motivator and many of his sayings are Biblically sound although not Biblically based. I have reason to believe that he is a Christian; although, I don’t think he intended this saying to be interpreted from a Biblical viewpoint.  I think that the above quote, however. is very pertinent to today’s blog.  Last time I talked about being “filled with the Holy Spirit” or “being full of the Holy Spirit”.  I think that the “half full/half empty” dilemma is very applicable to that discussion.

It is obvious scripturally that this is not a heaven or hell matter; BUT it is a matter of how much God can use us.  Paul was talking to Christians telling them and praying for them to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.  They were already saved.  The Holy Spirit did dwell in them; but, He did not control them.  The Holy Spirit will control you only as much as you yield yourself to him, allow Him to fill you.

We choose, with what we fill the cup; that is our lives.  Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.”

In the days of Samuel, it was said, “In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions”.  Can this be said about the church in America?  How much of the Word do you have in you?  Does it fill you?  Does it permeate every part of your being?

Look at what the Psalmists says:

Psalm 57
In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.

Psalm 107:
Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.


 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 119
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

I entreated thy favor with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word.

How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

 I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.
 Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

Paul instructs the Colossians:



Are you and I allowing the Word of God to dwell in us richly?  If someone checked the hard drive in our heads, what would it be filled with?  Do we need to defrag our hard drive?  Is the Word of God so scattered in our head such that it is not functioning effectively in our lives?


The Psalmist in Psalm 92 tells there is a “secret place” that we can live in.  In that place we are “under the shadow of the Almighty”. 

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

There are benefits to living in this “secret place”

I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Where is this “secret place?  How do I live there?  Jesus tells us where that place is and how to live in that place:

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

He also tells the benefits from living in this place.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

How do we allow God to fill us?  As you fill yourself up with His Word, all the other “stuff” is pushed out.  When Jesus talked about casting out demons, He said that if the house is left empty, seven more demons will come in, leaving it in worse condition than before.  Your mind will be filled with something.  We decide what to put in it.  We must make a conscious decision to put the Word into it. 

Every pastor/teacher in the Body of Christ has the responsibility to put as much Word as possible into the flock.  The job of the shepherd is to feed the sheep.  If the sheep are not producing wool, something is wrong.  If the body is not producing fruit; maybe, it is because it is starving or malnourished. Jesus said, “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

 The under shepherd needs to follow the example of the Great Shepherd

He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.  He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths for His name's sake. Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff-they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

Are you feeding on the Word?  Are you being fed the Word?  Pastors and teachers, are you keeping your flock well fed?  Oh, that the church would be filled with spiritual obese Christians!

Hosea spoke these Words to the people of Isreal
“Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.  There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed… You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you….my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children”.

Has this happened in America today.  Is the Word of God rare, like in the day of Samuel?  Is America being destroyed because we have taken prayer and the Word of God out of our schools and replaced it with evolution, the homosexual life style and freedom of choice.  We have placed the accumulation of things ahead of spending our time and money on teaching the Word to our kids.  How much do we spend on our cars, homes, and toys?  How much time and money do we spend educating our kids and grandkids about God.  When our kids and grandkids look at us, do they see someone who puts the things of God first in our lives; or, do they see someone who puts things first?

Does that mean that we are all lost?  No, but don’t expect God to use us.  Just like the football coach, if you are not all in; you will not play in the game.  You may not even travel with the team.  God pulled Ananias, and Sapphira, literally killed them.  They were still saved, but God could no longer use them.  They were a cancer in the young church.  The same is true at the church of Laodicea in Revelations.  They were the church of Christ, the body of Christ; but, God could no longer use them.

These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Does that sound like the church in America? As long as it all about what I want, what I deserve, what I earned, me, me; me; God can’t use us.  It is hypocritical to think that we are “filled with the Spirit” when we are filled with “ME”.  We come up with excuses why God answers our prayers with “NO” and will not be honest with ourselves or God.  Mean while, the eyes of the LORD run throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him”; meanwhile “anyone who turns his ear away from hearing the law- even his prayer is detestable”.

“Surely those who know the great passionate heart of Jehovah must deny their own loves to share in the expression of His. Consider the call from the Throne above, "Go ye," and from round about, "Come over and help us," and even the call from the damned souls below, "Send Lazarus to my brothers, that they come not to this place." Impelled, then, by these voices, I dare not stay home while Quichuas perish. So what if the well-fed church in the homeland needs stirring? They have the Scriptures, Moses, and the Prophets, and a whole lot more. Their condemnation is written on their bank books and in the dust on their Bible covers. American believers have sold their lives to the service of Mammon, and God has His rightful way of dealing with those who succumb to the spirit of Laodicea.”
                                                                                                Jim Elliot

“We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with. But we are "harmless," and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the Cross. We are "sideliners" -- coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!”

                                                             Jim Elliot

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