Category Archives: Basic Christianity

Spiritual habits (Part 1) The heavenly vision

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Heavenly Vision art-flattenedI’d just finished my time of personal devotions this morning when I got one of those nudges from the Lord that I should write a blog post on spiritual habits. What a huge subject. Here in America so many people are very aware of maintaining healthy physical habits. But I wonder how many are equally diligent with their spiritual habits?

And it’s incredibly important. Here in the US there’s a term, “morbidly obese”. In my travels abroad I almost never saw anyone like this, but here it’s not unusual to see people who weigh between 300 and 600 pounds (136 to 272 kilos). Not to be critical or judgmental, but their physical habits are killing them. You can’t see as easily the results of spiritual habits but they do affect you, for good or for evil.

When I was 23, recently “delivered from the power of darkness.”

When I was 23, recently “delivered from the power of darkness.”

It was my bad spiritual habits that very nearly killed me when I was in university. How I was “delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the Kingdom of His dear son” (Colossians 1:13) is a story in itself that I can share another time. But, early on in my spiritual walk, the Lord helped me establish spiritual habits that have stuck with me and have been a major factor in my staying alive for Him for the last 43 years in countries all over the world as I’ve lived to bring His love to the people of many nations.

There are so many aspects to having healthy spiritual habits. But I wanted to put one first that’s not so often even mentioned or realized. That’s what could be called “the heavenly vision”. And it’s not just the devil that fights this because, like Paul said in the Bible,  we have two natures, “the old man” and “the new man” (Ephesians 4:22-24). Perhaps more often it’s your own carnal fleshly nature constantly battling to get you distracted, discouraged, disillusioned, disenchanted and just plane dissed.

Condemnation-flattenedIf you are a believer, if you are a Christian and trying to hold on to your crown and your faith, the devil will fight you. But this is where the Spirit of God will help us to overcome that and the way He does it is through the majesty of choice. You can choose to fight and resist those negative fleshly impulses and that nature. And one of the easiest and strongest ways He can help us do that is simply through our mind’s eye.

There are many verses in the Bible where God’s greats told of the importance of this. David said, “I have set the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” (Psalm 16:8) King David had, in his mind’s eye, in his vision, the Lord ever before Him. In Hebrews, in that stirring 12th chapter, it tells us to “run with patience the race before us”. And then it goes on the in the next verse to tell us how to do that: “Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith”. (Hebrews 12:2)

Looking unto Jesus. Setting Him before our face. It’s that heavenly vision, that setting our mind on the things above, above the daily distractions and death of this world, keeping the heavenly vision. Paul said, “I have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision.” (Acts 26:19) He’d kept the faith by keeping the vision. Solomon said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”  (Proverbs 29:18)

mileyAnd here’s one more that has always spoken to me, again from King David. “I will set no wicked thing before my eyes, I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me.” (Psalms 101:3). That is a significant verse from God’s Word. If your mind’s eye is filled with doubts, discouragement, worldly distractions, earthly values and prejudices, those things are “wicked things before your eyes”. Some of the filth and foolishness that’s so visible nowadays is like some loathsome, viral disease for which there’s almost no antidote, except for God. And if you don’t watch out, it will “cleave to you”, like some kind of dirty chewing gum that you can’t get off.

The solution is to keep the heavenly vision. Fill your mind and heart with positive, encouraging, faith building thoughts from God’s Word, or the refreshing uplift you get from being in God’s nature, or the strengthen you receive from deep Christian fellowship with others, or the renewing that comes from sharing His love and truth with those in need.

the vision flatSo one of the simplest but most important habits you can have to keep yourself alive spiritually is something that happens within you, when your mind and heart are stayed on Him and Him alone. As Isaiah said in a prayer to God, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because they trust in You.”  (Isaiah 26:3)

7 Ways to Know the Will of God

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Someone wrote me, “How do I hear from God? How do I know His will?” Interesting question and one almost all of us have. I was thinking about that again this morning when I read that the first thing, the prerequisite for finding the will of God, is to have no will of your own.

Sometimes that’s called “yieldedness” or “surrender”, not very popular terms or ideas in our modern world. That’s why, when Paul talked about this, he said “be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2) Because God’s ways are so utterly opposite from the ways of the world.

In the world, we are to never surrender to anything or anyone. But in God’s sphere, we are to surrender and yield to Him. And that means to let go of our own will. Even Jesus Himself did that. Just before He was captured, tried and crucified, He cried out to His Father, saying “…not My will but Your will be done.”  (Matthew 26:41) So even before you begin to find God’s Will, the attitude of your heart needs to be one of yeildedness and surrender to Him.

But let’s say you’ve come to that place. You’re desperate, really seeking God’s Will for your life. Then what? hand of God flatThe first way to know God’s Will is through His Word. The Bible is the first place to find the Will of God. When you read it in His Word, then you know it’s right. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”

reveal from the Word-flattenedThe second way to know God’s Will is called “the voice of the Word”. This is when the Lord brings to mind a certain verse or passage from the Scriptures. Or you’re reading your Bible and all of a sudden a verse seems to jump right off the page at you. The Lord brings it alive and applies it to you personally, even if it was written for someone else 3000 years ago.

The third way to know God’s Will is by a direct revelation. Sometimes God uses a dream or vision, a voice or prophetic message to show you what to do. You know it’s from God if it agrees with and doesn’t contradict His written Word. The apostle Paul was on a missionary journey and at one point he seemed to somewhat not know where he should go next. Then in the night he saw a vision of a man, saying, “come over to Macedonia and help us”. (Acts 16:9) Paul took that as a message from God, went to Macedonia and things really took off again.

wisdom is art-flattenedThe fourth way to know God’s will is through Godly council. When finding God’s Will, it’s often wise to ask others for their opinion. However, it is important to weigh the counsel you receive and to prayerfully consider the source that it comes from. How reliable are their leadings from the Lord? Do they bear good fruit themselves and produce good results from their own actions and decisions? Solomon said, “He who listens to council is wise.” (Proverbs 12:15)

The fifth way to know God’s Will is through “open and closed doors.” If something is God’s Will, He’ll usually “open the door” and make it possible. Which direction is God providing or opening the way and the means to do it? Sometimes God has certain set-ups and situations which suddenly become golden opportunities. Circumstances and conditions are not always the final criteria for finding the Will of God, but they can sometimes be an indication.

Right now-flattenedThe sixth way to know God’s Will is what’s called “burdens”. Strong impressions or feel­ings can sometimes be an indication of God’s leading. It’s not always wise to go by feel­ings. But if something is really of God you’ll have an inner conviction, what many Christians call the “witness of the Spirit”. You just know that’s the Will of God and that’s what you’re supposed to do, or not do. Paul said, “It is God that works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

fleecesThe seventh way to find God’s will is called “a fleece”. This is taken from Judges 6 where Gideon laid a fleece (sheepskin) on the ground and said, “Lord, if the fleece is wet with dew in the morning, but the ground is dry, then I’ll know it is You talking to me!” Then he wanted to be doubly sure, so the next day he said, “If the fleece is dry and the ground is wet, I’ll believe it!”, and that’s just what the Lord did each time. So it’s a little like asking God for a specific physical sign from Him.

Although they seem like an easy and supernatural way, fleeces are the least reliable of the 7 ways to discover God’s Will, only to be used in conjunction with the other more dependable points shared above. In fact, the more ways you employ in making decisions, the greater the assurance will be that your decision is right.

Once you know God, it becomes clear that we really need to do all we can to stay close to Him and His Will. Otherwise we can make some foolish mistakes and sometimes really endanger ourselves and others when we are “leaning to our own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5), running around outside the protection of His Will. I hope, in these troubling times, that you’re seeking first His kingdom and following closely His personal will for your life.