It is evening on the last day of winter. (Out on Bittersweet Farm we say spring is March/April/May and tomorrow is March. So tomorrow is spring–even if we have to will it to be so and we may still have to endure a half-dozen snowfalls of various intensities.
This evening I helped a neighbor pick up some branches from an ice-storm and I walked. Upon returning I rode my bike a bit. It was a sunny and wonderful way to end winter, especially since we lost electrical service and internet last week for three long days.
I’ve written an article I hope will be helpful to you. Let me know what you think…
Learn How to Change
Unless you are perfect, you need to change. As a Bible-believing Christian I always hold out hope that real, lasting change is possible. God’s word p
romises that it is possible with God’s help to change. What needs to change in your life?
Small, daily changes contribute to overall change and the Lord promises that the Spirit will inspire us and empower is in the process. So if you want to change as God to help you work on these things:
1—Change the Way You Think. (Meditation) repent-means change the way you think. (Psalm 19) “Let the words of my mount and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh, Lord…” (Psalm 19:14)
2—Change the Way you Talk.“…Let the words of my mouth…be acceptable in your sight…” (Psalm 19)
3—Change the Way you Act. (Romans 6:15-23) “put-off and put-on” are you habitually godly or habitually ungodly. (ill) Ralph Waite. (Jay Adams)
4—Change Who you Admire. Worship is the loyalty, time, talk, physical bowing we give to what we really value and admire in the deepest part of us. (Psalm 1)
5—Change What you Desire. “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, (fleshly desires
) which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11, ESV) “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4, ESV)
Notice this prayer from the end of Psalm 19:12-14: “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19, ESV)
Remember that small sins lead to secret sins, which lead to habitual sins, which lead to life-dominating sins, which result in great transgression. Never stop improving with God’s help…and that begins by meditating on the Word of God.
With God’s help, you can change.
A Few More Musings… On the Asbury Revival….
Musings by the fire on the last night of winter….
I’m sure you know there have been spiritual stirrings among young people at Asbury University which have also spread to other gatherings and campuses. The awakening is especially among young people.
Now some of the same folks who were deeply grieved that more young people are not following the Lord are the same who are quick to be critical of the awakening.
Let’s be very, very careful about having a critical spirit with young people. Let’s be careful what we say. Let’s get our facts straight and err on the side of grace. Let’s not close our door or our hearts to what God might do among us because the first stirrings happened among people who might be “across the aisle” from us in some doctrinal matter.
Warren Wiersbe once said, “Isn’t it amazing how often God uses people we don’t approve of.”
I would be very, very careful not to discourage young people when they are praying, repenting, singing, reading Scripture and seeking God. I would be very, very careful not to compare my spiritual experience unfavorably with theirs. I would be discerning and wise, but I would be very, very careful to discourage young people who want long church services, spirited singing, prayer meetings, public Bible reading, and repentance.
God, thank you for moving among young people. Move across our land and around out world in revival. May we be telling the stories of what you did on the porch in the evening throughout the rolling ages of time.
Oh, and may I gently add this. Please don’t post a defense for criticisms on this site. Can I humbly suggest that you spend your time watching and reading and listening to accounts of revivals of the past so you long for a fresh moving of the Spirit among us.
Bittersweet Farm
February 28, 2023
