What are you full of?

Whatever you are full of is what comes out when you are bumped, just like a full glass of water. Some are full of un-forgiveness because they have been bumped so much. Others are full of anger because at one time they were full of pain. They held on to it and it fermented into anger. Still others are full of worry because a bad experience was kept, nurtured, and grew into a tangled vine that has choked so just about everything into a worst-case-scenario.

Your eye will look for what your heart is full of. Your ear will pick up and tune into whatever is reverberating in your heart. If you are interested in (desiring) red pickup trucks, you will see them everywhere. If not, you won’t notice them even if they are right in front of you.

The Bible tells us to “…be filled with the Spirit…” and Jesus said, “…if anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water…He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believe in Him would receive.” (John 7:37-39). You can be full of the Life of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God, living in you, with you, through you, as you, in the world around you.

Guess what comes out when you get bumped…Jesus; when you get falsely accused…Jesus; when you receive compliments…Jesus; when you are interrupted…Jesus; when you have to stop suddenly or start suddenly…Jesus; when everything is in a tail-spin…Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Christ!

When you squeeze a lemon, you get lemon juice. When you squeeze a Christian, you get…, well it all depends; it depends on what they are full of; could be sour or could be sweet.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit does not mean you get more of God, it means that He gets more of you. Don’t think of being filled with the Spirit as an empty glass being filled with a big pitcher of water; think of it as a fountain springing up from within you and flowing out to flood a desert; a river of Life from a Spring Whose source is God with you.

People who are filled with the Holy Spirit do not even know they are, but people around them sure do; there is a particular love, joy, peace, patience, kindness…about them and around them that calls attention to Jesus Christ.

Receive Jesus Christ today; in the Bible, in prayer, in serving, in everything you do, look for Him, listen to Him, live from Him and the world will experience Him, in you. You will get bumped, squeezed, tempted, knocked down, cursed, taken advantage of, stolen from, congratulated, blessed, and tested; if you are full of heaven, you will giv’em heaven! So be filled with the Spirit and then giv’em Heaven!

Hearing With Eyes and Seeing With Ears

We have ears and eyes that can both see and hear, just like God. The Lord created us in His image. He can see and hear with His ears and He can hear and see with His eyes. How can that be?

Think how we do. Have you ever heard of “body language?” You can hear what a person is saying even when they are not saying anything. Have you ever heard someone say, “Do you see what I mean?”

When Jesus was teaching on prayer in Matthew 6:5-18, He said that when we pray, God sees us. “But when you pray…pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  He did not say that He hears you; He sees you. Imagine that. What do you think God is looking for when you pray? What does He hear when He sees you?

Next time you read your Bible, go to Genesis 4:1-7, the story of Cain and Abel and how God “…had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.”  The word translated regard is the Hebrew word, sa-ah, and means “to see.” God saw Abel’s sacrifice but He would not look on Cain’s. When God spoke to Cain about this in verse six, He told Cain that his countenance had fallen. Cain’s face was saying something to God and God’s face was not towards his sacrifice.

Hebrews 11:4 tells us that Abel’s sacrifice was given with faith and that he was commended by God as righteous; Cain’s was not. The word “commended” is the Greek word martyreo, and means to bear witness about something you have seen and experienced personally. God bore witness that Abel was righteous because He saw something in Abel’s life and sacrifice; He saw faith. This is what God is looking for when we offer up to Him a prayer, or praise, or offering.

Can you see it? Do you hear it?

“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17.

Learning to Pray by Listening to God Talk

The best way to learn a language is to listen to it. Children understand what is being said long before they start forming words that make sense. Prayer is like that. Luke tells us that a disciple was listening to Jesus pray and then asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1). And Jesus gave him a model prayer to begin shaping his prayers.

Listening takes concentration, something many do not engage in when they are reading the Bible. The Bible is God’s word to us and for us. As you read the Bible, hear God speaking His word to you, and for you to pray back to Him. This is how a child learns to talk; by listening and saying back what he/she has just heard.

Try this: Each day, corresponding to the day of the month, read one of the Psalms, and pray it back to God. For example, if today is the 19^th, start with Psalm 19. Read, listen, and pray a different Psalm each day. If the month has 31 days, repeat it the next day to stay with the right date and Psalm. The last number will always match. In five months you will have prayed through the Psalms and can start over.

Psalm 119 is long, 176 verses long. But it is divided up into 22, eight-verse sections. The whole Psalm is a prayer. Along with the Psalm that you are praying for the day, take one of the sections from 119 and make it your prayer for that day. On day 23, either go back to the first section, or work your way back. In a month you will have prayed through this powerful prayer. After 12 times (1 year) through this Psalm your prayers will begin to sound different; you will begin to learn to pray by saying God’s word back to Him.

During this “listening and praying back what you hear” prayer time each day, the Lord will highlight a verse for you either from 119 or from your Psalm for the day. Write this one down on an index card and memorize it throughout the day for a continuous prayer experience.

This daily exercise will begin to shape your prayer life and words you speak to God in prayer. You will be learning to pray by listening. God’s word will reveal God’s will and before you know it, you will begin asking God for what He wants rather than trying to convince Him of what you want. When this happens, His will is done on earth as it is in heaven; by the spoken word! AMEN, AMEN.

AMEN and AMEN

AMEN is a Hebrew word meaning, “This is true.” It is transliterated in several languages similar to the word Hallelujah, which is also a Hebrew word (Praise the LORD). We say AMEN, usually after something is said that we agree with during a conversation, or during a sermon. But Jesus would say it before He said something.

For example in John 3:3; “AMEN, AMEN, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” And in John 5:19, “AMEN, AMEN, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” In some Bibles this AMEN is translated Truly, Truly  or Verily, Verily. But why does Jesus say it first rather than at the end like we do, and why does He AMEN Himself?

Jesus said it first because before He said it, He heard it from the Father! He would hear the Father say it, then He would AMEN the Father, then He would say it. Jesus spoke what He heard the Father say, every time.

Have you ever had that experience? Ever said something that was so good you wanted to AMEN yourself because you knew you had not thought of it before and that it was not from you? Jesus said that this would happen to His followers; a word would be given to them in the hour they would need it (Matthew 10:20, Mark 13:11, Luke 12:11-12, 21:13-15).

Stay attentive to the Spirit of Christ who lives in you. He has things He wants the people around you to hear from Him and He knows that they will listen to you.