Purpose Of Being Christian

[Felicity]

I think many overlook the need for us to go about our work for God in the same manner Chirst did.... dependence on the leaidng of the Spirit and empowerment of the Spirit.

Correct. I made reference to this earlier. This is the secret.

Time spent in the "secret place" .... in the presence of the Lord as PO mentioned earlier .... is the secret to tension and stress relief.

Not just time spent in His presence however, with an an understanding of why we can rest in Him. Now that is very important.

I think a lot of believers have lacked good teaching concerning this because they think it's all about what they "do" and don't do and live in a constant state of guilt feeling like they never measure up.

The truth is none of us can ever "measure up" in our own efforts, but at the same time there is a responsibility to live in obedience.

There is a balance.

[mfblume]

I think it needs to be said that the work in reaching a lost world can only effectively be accomplished by a personal maturity in the Spirit. People hear of spiritual maturity and consider it a waste of time, since we should be rather reaching the lost with our time. But reaching the lost effectively and really accomplishing something that is powerfully anointed, to enable us to reach the lost effectively, requires a personal spiritual maturity. The greater the spiritual maturity in a person, the more God can lead us and work through us to impact souls for eternity.

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Felicity

Correct. I made reference to this earlier. This is the secret.

Time spent in the "secret place" .... in the presence of the Lord as PO mentioned earlier .... is the secret to tension and stress relief.

Amen. And it is the secret to learning how to flow with God so that he can inspire and empower us to do His will. We cannot do His work without His empowerment!

Not just time spent in His presence however, with an an understanding of why we can rest in Him. Now that is very important.

Right! Feeling inferior like a loser, hinders God's work in our lives to affect others.

I think a lot of believers have lacked good teaching concerning this because they think it's all about what they "do" and don't do and live in a constant state of guilt feeling like they never measure up.

That is my whole point. Ultimately, they cannot do much for God, in this mindset. And that needs to be changed.

The truth is none of us can ever "measure up" in our own efforts, but at the same time there is a responsibility to live in obedience.

And it must be obedience with the conscious realization that we can only OBEY through tapping into God's Life, and then seeing Him minister through us.

This is like the branch in John 15 that Christ said cannot bear fruit without being tapped into the vine. Fruit can represent any work accomplished for the Kingdom. Souls saved. Fruit of the Spirit. Feats of activity. It can be done in the flesh, but that means nothing to God. Only through doing these things through the Spirit does God value it.

Without Him, all we do is consider "nothing".

John 15:5 KJV I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

There is a balance.

True. However, all things must be accomplished THROUGH Christ. Hence, our need to come to the fullness of Christ for even the pratical and physical work for God. He told us to GO, but He said we must do it through the Spirit's empowerment. Learning to do all through Spirit-empowerment is not only necessary for God to even value what we do, but is what will cause us to accomplish ABUNDANT works for Him. We cannot separate obedience from doing all through the Spirit.

Philippians 4:13 KJV I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Learning how to do it THROUGH CHRIST is the kicker.

[Felicity]

Spiritual maturity can only come through spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth is a result of:

1. Spending time in the presence of God i.e. prayer
   
   
2. Discipleship ..... studying, understanding, obeying and putting His Word into practice.

How do we know a person is spiritually mature?

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Felicity

Spiritual maturity can only come through spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth is a result of:

1. Spending time in the presence of God i.e. prayer
   
   
2. Discipleship ..... studying, understanding, obeying and putting His Word into practice.

Amen! Learning through these things how to be a vessel of God is the entire key, I think.

How do we know a person is spiritually mature?

By their fruits. A mature branch bears much fruit on the vine.

[Felicity]

Originally Posted by mfblume

Amen! Learning through these things how to be a vessel of God is the entire key, I think.



By their fruits. A mature branch bears much fruit on the vine.

And that fruit is visibly seen as ........ ???

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Felicity

And that fruit is visibly seen as ........ ???

Like I said....

...Fruit can represent any work accomplished for the Kingdom. Souls saved. Fruit of the Spirit. Feats of activity....

There can be "plastic fruit" -- counterfeits. But true fruit is distinguishable. Everyone knows a true smile from the fake ones, for example. lol

Perhaps it is seen as rest and peace in the life of the believer, where they continue to do the work of God, but do not struggle with whether or not their works are good enough. They will never be good enough, so we simply, peaceably, do the work & will of God without pressure to perform or measure up.

When that is seen in individual's lives, it is truly inspiring to others.
God bless.

[mfblume]

Amen teacher,

And when HE DOES THE WORK THROUGH US, it is not us who struggle to accomplish it. It FLOWS out. How much struggle does a branch exert to bear fruit? None! Just plug into and rest in the vine, and be extremely active in Spirit-empowered ministry! It's REST in the position we hold as believers, but that causes a LOT OF Spirit-led ACTIVITY. Somehow, people think rest in the Spirit means no activity. That cannot be further from the truth.

[mfblume]

This is why my first post said:

Hebrews 4 teaches the believer that they are to enter into His rest. The Bible says, "There remainth therefore a rest for the people of God"? What does that mean? That doesn't mean that there remains a place in God where you can just lay around and not work and have everything come to you. It means that "in Christ", in His finished and completed work, everything was accomplished to make you stop working to become spiritually successful. It is entering into what He did and to become more successful than you've every dreamed you could make yourself.