Posted by: pastorapbell | October 26, 2010

as we exercise a ‘living faith’

Faith works, but we must also work our faith. An example of this is found in the life of Joshua. As a young man born in slavery, he heard stories that one day their God would deliver them from their oppressor and set them free. Like many of his contemporaries, as he grew older and saw the plight of his people he probably thought the day would never come. Yahweh is a God who always keeps his promises and sure enough a deliver came

the Lord always provide help

but not the one they expected. Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s home as a prince, killed an Egyptian citizen unlawfully, disappeared for forty years and then returned to the Israelites to lead them to a place where they could go and worship their God in peace (see Exodus 3).

Joshua witnessed all these things, saw the river Nile turn to blood, lived through the plagues and heard the cries of Egyptian mothers when their first born sons died just before they left Egypt. 

Now as an older mature man following God, Joshua is given the task of conquering all the land possessed by pagan kings as directed by God through Moses. It is a daunting task and not one that could not be accomplished ‘in his own’ strength. So he learns to walk by faith, and every step along the way the Lord goes ahead of him and gives him great victory. At Jericho (Ch. 6), at AI (Ch. 8), at Jerusalem (Ch. 10) and when all the kings join together against Israel (Ch. 11).

The Lord reassured Joshua, “do not be afraid for tomorrow about this time you will have defeated the enemies”(11:6).

The walk of faith is a difficult one, particularly when you cannot see a logical way out of your situation, But as God said to Joshua, “Tomorrow about this time things are going to change!” Faith is not logical but ethereal!

Read Joshua 11 & 12

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Posted by: pastorapbell | October 25, 2010

as we live by faith

We are encouraged to live by faith; does this mean that we should abandon our intelligence? We are told in scripture that the Just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4) and the just here are those who act in a righteous manner. So as we live by faith there are conditions that apply, namely we must act in a manner that is Godly with justice and equity. We are then constrained to try to act as Jesus acted and apply this principle to every area of our lives.

Justice is being even handed and fair. One definition of justice is “giving to each what he or she is due.” The problem we face is, knowing what is “due”.

Functionally, “justice” is a set of universal principles which guide people in judging what is right and what is wrong, no matter what culture and society they live in. Justice is one of the four “cardinal virtues” of classical moral philosophy, along with courage, temperance (self-control) and prudence (efficiency). Faith, hope and charity are considered to be the three “religious” virtues. Virtues or “good habits” help individuals to develop fully their human potentials, thus enabling them to serve their own self-interests as well as work in harmony with others for their common good.

The ultimate purpose of all the virtues is to elevate the dignity and sovereignty of the human person.

These are product of faith in God and what the writer Habakkuk alludes to when he states that the just shall live by faith. Living by faith is not just blindly following the word in ignorance, but applying the fruit of the Spirit to our everyday lives.

Today let love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control be virtues you possess which emanates from a living faith in Jesus.

Read Hebrews 11

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Posted by: pastorapbell | October 23, 2010

as we develop the walk of faith

The problem with indiscipline is that we can trivialise our faith and reduce it to a culture of just speaking it and

Faith works!

it will happen or let us think positively and we will get the desires of our hearts. I mentioned yesterday that learning to walk by faith involves a large proportion of trust. This trust is not equal to blind faith but is built up and underpinned by the word of God. The difficulty we have among Christians is the ease with which we accept new concepts and ideas without first carrying out our due diligence to determine their authenticity. This point was graphically demonstrated last Saturday when yours truly circulated an email which appealed to the spirit of greed which is in all of us. Needless to say I quickly repented and learned my lesson from the rebukes I received.

Similarly the subject of faith has been skewed by many Christians falling foul of people who play on their weaknesses. The ‘word of faith’ movement; the name it and claim it brigade; and those who encourage their adherents to use their new found faith in Christ to kill off their enemies.

Our faith must be rooted in the word (scripture). And it must be contextualised. So when we read that Jesus spat on the ground and made clay and put it on a blind man’s eyes and he sees, this does not mean that we should do the same and avoid sending the man to the doctor to get his eyes checked out whilst we are praying for his healing. It is God who heals through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. As a disciplined one, we are called to try every spirit to avoid being deceived.

Today, learn the art of discernment by grounding your faith in the word and allowing the Holy Spirit to help with the discernment process. Intuition is developed when we have fellowship with God and communion with each other.

Read Psalm 23 and meditate on it.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | October 22, 2010

as we trust the Holy Spirit and learn to walk by faith

The whole point of being in the army is to be trained to be the best fighter you can be to be able to defend your country. When a civilian joins the armed forces, he or she is signing away their civilian rights and is committing themselves to service for a set period. They become a part of a community and must learn the protocol of that community.

When we enlist in the ‘Salvation Army’, we are operating as spiritual soldiers. We embark on the training programme where we learn about our enemy, our weaponry and the tactics needed to overcome the enemy. So we are told that the first and most important trait we must develop is that of DISCIPLINE (Heb 12:5-11). A disciplined life leads to great success. Next we must learn about our enemy. We cannot defeat the enemy if we do not understand his tactics. Our enemy uses the same tactics over and over again, but it works. He tries to get the individual to operate in the realm of the ‘soul’. That is, we make important decisions based upon our feelings rather than consulting our commanding officer, Jesus. When we walk by our feelings our faith is sidelined and we end up taking the long road home. The enemy tries to get us isolated so that he can ‘wear us down’. This is why we need to be in communion with others. So when we fell down, they can give us a lift by speaking a timely word to our spirit.

The last thing we need to learn to do is to know our weaponry and how to use them. For our weapons are not carnal or fleshy, but are mighty through God. They are: the word of God, the blood of Jesus and name of Jesus among others. And when we go into a battle we must be fully clothed with the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit and the shoes of peace.  Once we are clothed in the right manner, we can then engage in the battle.

Today put on the correct garment so that you can defeat the enemy.

Read Galatians 5:16-26.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | October 21, 2010

as we develop the art of instinctive and unconscious knowing

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, Ephesians 6:12 NIV.

When our spirit is knit or in tune with the Holy Spirit we become aware of what God is doing in our circle. We may not understand it or be able to work out all the details but we are aware that something is going on. This was rather like the Tsunami in Indonesia in 2004 which took the life of some 128,000 people, but not one animal was killed. This knowing or sensing without the use of our rational senses is our intuition. We may not be able to explain or deduce what is happening but we sense that something is happening. Most of us are used to making intuitive decisions in our daily life: As soon as subjective judgment is involved, rational reasoning is

I know because I beleive

very difficult to apply. Typical examples where intuition can play an important role in making decisions are: Choosing your life partner, selecting the right car to buy, evaluation of a job, decision about an education, selecting a meal when eating out, selecting the next book to read, decide how to dress for today, and so on. Intuitive decision making is far more than using common sense because it involves additional sensors to perceive and get aware of the information from outside. Sometimes it is referred to as gut feeling, sixth sense, inner sense, instinct, inner voice, spiritual guide and so on.

Intuition plays a major role in the lives of those who have made significant contribution to humanity. People like Albert Einstein (Theoretical Physicists), Immanuel Kant (German Philosopher) and John Naisbitt (Former IBM Executive) all extol the virtues of intuition and regards it as essential to their progress beyond the realms of logic.

Joshua and his close allies use this prophetic gift to conquer the whole of the promise land.  When we become too rational we squash our intuition and stifle the development of our intuition and our consciences which are the major parts of our spirit.

Today ask the Holy Spirit to come alongside and help you to sharpen your intuitive ‘spirit’.

Read Ephesians 6:10-18.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | October 20, 2010

as we understand how our spirituality develops

Since our spirit is comprised of our conscience, which it the ability to be aware of:- life, our surroundings and sin, we must never become complacent. The menace of complacency is apparent all around us. When our hearts are not totally submitted, we will do things and justify them to ourselves and to those around us. And there are those whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. These are the folks mentioned in Romans 1:21ff, who change God’s order to satisfy their own lusts and desires.

Their consciences have not developed and hence their intuition and need for true communion with the creator and their fellow men has been put on hold.  This was the case for Achan, in Joshua 7. His conscience, that is his ability to be aware of what God was doing in the locality, was seriously damaged. So he openly disobeyed the instruction of his commanding officer and spiritual leader and caused a great defeat for his people. Similarly today, there are people in our fellowships who fraternise with the enemy. They cannot keep their mouths and volunteer information to the detriment of the whole community.

There is a saying that ‘loose lips costs lives’ and we must be aware that all double agents eventually get killed.

So today, ask The Holy Spirit to show you how to sharpen your conscience so that you become more aware of and become a part of what God is doing in the earth now.

Read Romans 1

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Posted by: pastorapbell | October 18, 2010

as we make up our mind to follow the ‘spirit-man’

We are a complicated composition of physical, emotional and spiritual.  Our physical body is composed of our skeleton, our flesh and our blood. This is the superstructure on which each individual is built. Once the skeleton is in place and starts to grow, the next constituent that makes us human develops. This is what we call the ‘soul’ or the emotional person. This comprises of our senses: feelings, touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight. Our minds, where information received is processed and our will with which we make choices.

The purpose of the Gilgal training camp is the get the physical body in shape and to train the mind to follow the leader. So we have a choice once we have processed all the information received at camp.

The final and most neglected part of our makeup is our spirit. We cannot separate our spirit from our soul (our feelings, emotions and senses) but we can use our emotions as the drivers for all that we do.

We know we are spiritual because of our model and leader Jesus Christ is the perfect human being. We are told in scripture that the first man, Adam was made a physical man and became a living soul by having the spirit of God breathed into him (Gen 2:7ff). This breath of God gave him the ability to relate to God on a spiritual level and also the ability to feel, think and reflect.  

Because of Adam’s disobedience to God, which is rebellion, humanity lost the relationship they had with their creator. On the contrary, Jesus was from the beginning (St. John 1:1), so he was spirit and became physical so that he could save Adam’s fallen race from permanent separation for their creator God (see Hebrews 10:4-7). So Jesus is called the last Adam because he was obedient, kept his emotions in check and did the will of the father, i.e. made the right choices.

Today keep your emotions in check and follow the example of our leader, Jesus. He was obedient to death, even death on a cross so that he could redeem humanity for the curse of disobedience. Tomorrow we will look at the composition of the spirit.

Read 1Corinthians 15:35-58

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Posted by: pastorapbell | October 16, 2010

as we decide you we are led by!

we are many parts but one whole

The human psyche is complicated in one sense and really simple in the other. Let me explain. Although we are a complicated mass billions of cells, millions of neurons and zillions of synapses each individual has a need to belong, and need for companionship and a need for significance. This need drive many to do crazy things and others to achieve way beyond their capability.

We are essentially a perfect specimen made in the image of God. But does this mean that we look like God and if so what does God look like?

The problem humanity face is that we try to look for God through our understanding and perception. We look for God through our natural or sensual perception. When we hear image we immediately think of icon. This is where we who are in the training camp learn to see and hear things differently.

So how do we see and hear?

We are a conglomerate of spirit, soul and body. Not in the Greek mythological sense where we can identify and separate these ‘elements’ that constitutes us, but from the Jewish mindset where we are a complete whole. There is no dichotomy between spirit, soul and body. We cannot separate them but we can only speak in allegorical terms. They not only constitute who we are but they determine how we operate.

Let me explain further; even though I am made up of these parts, I am not me without either of these parts nor can I separate one from the other. So when I speak of my spirit, it involves my soul, how I fell about myself and my body, what impact it has on my structure (Bones, flesh and blood). We are not a tripartite being!! We are more than that.

However, whilst we are in the camp, we are taught to see, not with our physical eyes but through our spiritual lenses. Many of us still see and look with our physical or natural eyes. And hence they are not able to see and reflect the image of God (see St. John 9). We are being governed by our soul! What, I am governed by my soul!!

Our soul consists of our will, our minds and our emotions. So when I operate, act, are led by my feelings, I am walking in my ‘soulish’ realm.  And this is the problem. We cannot see because we do not perceive! The things of the spirit are discerned by those who are spiritual because the ‘carnal’ man cannot understand the things of the spirit (1Cor 2:14ff). 

Today let us ask our commanding officer to open our eyes so that we can see, and like the servant to the prophet in 2Kings 6:17 our eyes will be opened and we will see!

Read St John 9, 2Kings 6:8-23.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | October 15, 2010

as we learn to think and act as soldiers

A soldier is a disciplined person. He is trained to obey instructions and to defend his

changed mind, different action

territory even at the expense of his own life. The first thing the army does when a soldier enlists is to retrain the individual to act and think like a soldier.

The way we have been brought up determines how we think and subsequently how we operate, that is, how we behave. The process of change takes time and effort; this is why soldiers are taken away from the distractions of everyday life to develop the mindset that the Army requires. Our default position is to do our own thing. We know what is going on in our own lives and we have the answers to fix it! WRONG. 

On enlisting in the army of the Lord Jesus Christ, we divest ourselves of the things of the ‘world’ or the things of the ‘flesh’. Don’t get me wrong here, we do not hibernate or retreat into living as an ascetic; we try to the best of our abilities to live a life that is ethical, honest and adds value to those with whom we come into contact with.

This is exactly why we need to have our ways of thinking transformed. The apostle Paul reminds us that we must be transformed, in our thought life, by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). Once the mind as the control centre for the body is transformed, then the rest of the body will fall in line.

As followers of Jesus, the soldier metaphor allows us to envisage the necessary steps we need to take on a daily basis. Unlike those being led by Joshua at Gilgal, we are not enlisting in a physical army, but in a spiritual one.  Our fight is not a literal one but one of faith. The problems we face must first be confronted in the spiritual realm, I use realm here not to suggest that we have to go out there somewhere, since spirits are all around us, but to engage our minds. An example of this is found in scripture with the man who lived among tombs (Luke 8:26-39). On the surface Jesus could have attacked the man, however, Jesus saw the demonic spirits who had possessed and were oppressing him. So Jesus spoke directly to the demoniac and not to the man. The spirits left him and he was in his right mind (Luke 8:35).

Today be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And remember that all things are possibly with God!

Read 2Timothy & Luke 8:26-39.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | October 14, 2010

as we review the notion of T.E.A.M work

Team work is crucial to success

When soldiers come into the training camp, they enter as individuals and quickly become members of a unit. Being a member of a team means that you are responsible for and to all the other members and your actions impact on your colleagues.

One soldier crossing a bridge has little or no impact on it however, if one hundred soldiers march together in unity across the bridge they can cause it to vibrate, oscillate and eventually collapse. There are key words that every soldier needs to hear repeatedly. They are: Unity, Commitment, Endurance, Vision and Submission.

It was these traits that allowed the 33 miners trapped over 2300 feet (700 metres) underground to survive for seventy days before being rescued. They were ordinary men who developed a routine and incorporated the Lord into their routine. 

There is no ‘I’ in team, so the individualism generated by capitalism and portrayed by Christendom needs to be revised. We need to work together and for each other. 

Each person working as part of a team has a role to play and every role is important (1Cor 12:20). As part of the body of Christ each member has a role to play. Like the soldiers as Gilgal let us renew our commitment to God and to each member of our fellowship.

Let us live as examples so that people can follow us as we follow Christ. As we work together each of us can achieve more.

Read 1 Corinthians 12

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