http://pastorjohnshouse.blogspot.com/2010/06/forced-conversion-and-lord-said-unto.html

Hey,

The BLOG on “Forced Conversion: was is very good.  I thought when I read it, after reading your blog on “Unbelieving Disciples”, that if someone is following the truth, as the unbelieving disciples followed Jesus, only for the benefits of it, then their sacrifices of praise to God are not acceptable.

I remember when going through the Old Testament class that the first thing the people of Israel brought to Moses when they were starting to build the tabernacle was a willing offering.  Their offering, God said, would not be acceptable if it was not given willingly AND if it was not what God wanted for the tabernacle.  He wanted the people to be willing.  He was not forcing Himself on them.

I looked back at those scriptures on “willing” to see what was asked of the people, and it was a willing heart and a willing mind.  That’s pretty simple, and filled with much love.  Anything that would force you into worship of Jesus is not of God.  What a great measuring stick!

It will be so sweet when we really realize that God is not a big one of us!  😎  He does not think like we think about things, especially His kingdom.  I always remember Isaiah when the Lord spoke to Him:

[8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
[9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

It’s a good prayer to pray: “Lord, let my ways be your ways and your thoughts be my thoughts.”  When you pray that prayer, He will show you!  Just pray that you believe it when He does show you!

Amy

Hey,

I wanted to write out some thoughts I had this morning.

During the night, I heard, “Be ye mindful always”.  When I woke up this morning, I found the scripture in Chronicles, “Be ye mindful always of his covenant”.  I was thinking of that and I asked the Lord what does that mean, being mindful?  I heard, “Caring for the things of God and thinking on the things of the Lord.”  When I looked up the definition of mindful, it meant taking care of, keeping remembrance of, and being heedful of,  which is just what the Lord told me.

The other day, I saw an example of someone seeming to be polite/humble by appearance, but the feeling behind it wasn’t right.  I asked the Lord, “What is this I am feeling?”  And I heard right back “false humility”.  I was seeing what looked like humility, but was not.

So, this morning, when I was talking to the Lord, I asked him, “What is humility Lord? (according to your definition)”  And a list of thoughts came flooding down.

Loving your brother
Testifying to what God has done for you (confessing Christ)
Obedience – Obeying the commandments of God
Obeying the feelings of God – doing something
Reproving evil
Being honest with yourself and others
Then came, “the opposite of what the flesh wants.”

Humility in the Spirit is responding to the Spirit and putting into action whatever the will of God is for you.  It is a response.  The flesh wars against the Spirit of God and every time you obey the will of  God, you are being humble in God’s sight.

Then, tonight, when we were reading chapter 10 of your new book, God Had a Son, we were talking about Form and Life.  When we were reading about form, the Lord gave me this thought, “Form is false religion, and false religion is false humility.”

When we hide behind a form, we are not being humble in God’s sight.  It may look good, but it really is only an appearance and false humility.  It is only pleasing to the flesh and it’s doing something other than what the Spirit is saying do; with form, we are really rebelling against the Spirit of God.

I love reading chapter 10.  To me, it’s the cap on the whole book.  The key is sincerity.  If we will stay sincere in our hearts and listen to what the Spirit is saying to us and obey it, we can stay free from form, false religion, and false humility, and any kind of pretense. That’s the way to life everlasting!  And if we stay “mindful of his covenant” and always keep it in remembrance, thinking on these things always, and be heedful of it, we will be there already in Spirit.  We can live!  And stay free and happy – forever!  It’s only as hard as we make it!  😎

Amy P.

Once Anna came home from the doctor and they told her she had lupus, and the spirit of God in me rose up and said, “You don’t have lupus, and that doctor don’t know what he is talking about!”  Anna never mention it again, and she does not have lupus to this day.  You can choose to be sick.  If you want to let someone else tell you that you are sick, somebody will.

Stuart

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Hi Stuart.

Thanks for that.  I used to watch Uncle Joe take care of Aunt Myrtle the same way you took care of Anna.  I saw it many times.  There are times when a sickness is just a spirit trying to weasel into our lives.  On those occasions, the man in charge has to do his duty and stand his ground against it.

jdc

Pastor John,

I wanted write out a testimony that I told about this past weekend.

It all started a week ago on a Thursday evening while I was washing Dishes.  Mary and Josh were gone to his first swimming lesson so I was home alone.  I was singing the song Blessed Jesus, Give me Jesus night and day, Give me Jesus all the way.  The more I sang, the happier I got.

For the past two weeks I was pretty stressed out.  My back and neck were giving me trouble again.  For almost two years I was pain free in my back but about two months ago I switched positions at work which involved me lifting boxes that weighed 40 to 80 lbs.  I had to get some pain block shots in my lower back but it did not help.  All the long while I was going through this ordeal I was trying to get my employer to move me back to my old position but to no avail.  So I was stuck lifting heavy boxes everyday.  I would go home every night in pain and ask Jesus for relief.  So there I am doing everything I could do to change this situation and every day my pain got worse.

Well the more I sang on that Thursday evening the more the Spirit fell and I was getting drunk.  Jesus showed up and he was showing me if I wanted to feel better in my body then I had to give him some things to take away about myself.  The Spirit started talking through me saying, “If you got PRIDE, let IT go!!  If you got SELF WILL, let IT go!!  If you got WRONG THOUGHTS, let THEM go!!”  He even said, “If you Got PAIN in your body, let IT go!!”  Jesus said, “Whatever things you are holding on to that are not in my Father’s Kingdom, just let them go.  Because If you let them go, I will take them from your heart.”  When he said that, all the pain in my body left.  I was dancing all over my house without pain in my body!!  Even the worries about my job were gone.  He said, let me handle your job.  You just show up, do your job with your whole heart, to the best of your ability, and I will take care of your job.  I had thought I might have to leave UPS but deep inside I said I like this company.

So with Jesus showing up I did not have to leave UPS. Instead all I had to leave was everything that’s not in the Kingdom of God . And when I did let go of the whole situation Jesus took over and I got happy.  Nothing mattered but being thankful for my simple life in Jesus.  I love this truth, love my pastor, love my family that Jesus put me in, and my wife also my son.  It does not get anymore difficult than that!

Jesus is our Hero!
Terrance

Last Wednesday night’s meeting was a good meeting!  When you approached the camera to pray for us who were not physically there, it was sweet to me.  It made me feel like I were there, a part of everyone!  At one point during the meeting, there was talk about fellowship and how we need each other.  A thought came to me, there is no “I” in Jesus, only an “US”!

Julie P