"Resist the Urge"

The apostle Paul told the Collosians, "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God". We can very easily get caught up in the rat race of "good works", yet not be walking in the Spirit.

Since Jesus was in a fleshly body, limited by time and space etc etc, there was naturally alot of "good things" he still could have done, but didn't...why didn't He go to bed just one hour later each night and roam the streets to minister to a few more people?
Yet, he never carried any condemnation concerning good works going "undone".

Why?

Simple.

He never walked according to the flesh, He walked according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Am I frowning on people ancouraging their brothers and sisters in Christ to continue in good works?
No, but keep it simply that...a Spirit-lead ENCOURAGEMENT.

God's grace does far more than motivate us towards good living, it EMPOWERS us towards it, and IN it.

Let's make every effort to not just enter, but REMAIN in Him (His rest) - and of course, it is possible to have a busy life and still be in His rest (rest is not a state of immobility, it is a state of complete TRUST), but that's a story for another blog.

People often blame "time" for lack of "revival", they say things like, "history repeats itself", but the bible hints to the real reason...something along the lines of 'a dog returning to its own vomit'. Others will "urinate" on the finished works of Christ by trying to add or bring balance to a finished work by trying to WORK FOR CHRIST instead of LIVE IN HIM (I am tempted to apologise for the harsh vocabulary, but the bible itself refers to such efforts as "dirty rags" or "menstrual cloth").

Here is a good article that I hope will be of encouragement - that we remain in Him, and learn to walk with and talk with and listen to Holy Spirit, enjoy:

Resist the Urge (by Wayne Jacobsen)

It's often been said that the greatest enemy of the best is the good. It often is. The greatest distraction to being a part of what God is doing in the world is to be focused on human efforts, especially what we try to do for him. Nothing disrupts God's work around us more than when the arm of flesh asserts itself to try to do for God what we think God cannot do for himself.

When we feel unattached, unproductive, or insignificant this growing urge will prod us to "at least do something," as if misguided activity is preferable to a quiet, listening heart. If that doesn't spring from our own flesh, then it will from someone's near us. Many of our fellowship groups, Bible studies, and outreach efforts have begun with the perceived guilt that we are not doing enough for God. More time-consuming and irrelevant religious activities have been generated from that distorted impulse than any other. Authors manipulate it to sell books, and would-be leaders exploit it to get us to embrace their programs and contribute to their income.

The fruitfulness of God rises out of rest not anxiety, out of the gentle nudge of his Spirit not the vision of a charismatic leader. In truth, God is not asking us to do anything for him. He's already doing the best stuff in the world and as we learn to live inside of him he will invite us to be part of what he's already doing. One of the things I notice about the life of Jesus is that he rarely created the environment, or planned meetings for other people. He simply joined them in the environments in which he found them.

When we get so involved with our own planning we easily miss the moments Jesus puts right in front of us. They are always far simpler and yet more magnificent than what we conjure up. At the beginning they never look as flashy as our plans or appear to be as far reaching. Usually he's just inviting us to love someone. We have no idea how simple acts of obedience can snowball into consequences we never considered.

As long as you have any confidence in your flesh's ability to work for God, you will confuse the urge to be productive with the nudging of the Spirit. And the more capable you are in your own efforts and intellect the greater danger you're in of substituting the arm of the flesh for the breath of the Spirit.

Being part of his church happens by simply loving the people God puts before you each day.

Much love
Troy