A Person of Spirit
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July 11, 2010 |
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 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)
God is spirit, so He can see everything, including our deeds, words, thoughts, and even our minds and the things hidden deep in our hearts. God is love and goodness itself, so that He does not see our appearances but accepts the good and sweet fragrance of our hearts. If we cause the other to have ill-feelings with our evil words and actions and then sing praise to God in beautiful garments and with smile, it is never pleasing to God.
Now let's say about attending the worship service. When we worship God in truth and spirit and offer the service by the grace of God and in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God is pleased. It also applies in every other field, including praying, evangelizing, taking care of new believers, and volunteering at the church. God really wants His children to become men of spirit. As much as we become men of spirit or men of whole spirit, we can communicate with God more clearly, destroy the works of the devil, bear more fruits in accomplishing God's kingdom and dwell in the greater glory in the kingdom of Heaven. What do we have to do in order to become a man of spirit?
First of all, we have to be careful about our words.
One of the standards to discern whether or not we are a man of spirit who can please God is to examine how many words of truth we say. Our words come from our hearts, so if we speak evil words, it means our heart is evil and unclean (James 3:8-11). In that sense, our words and actions that come from our evil heart can never become sweet fragrance to God even if we speak beautiful words and act in a beautiful appearance.
Let's say there is a cup of clean water. What do you feel if the water has been brought from inside the toilet? Some people dislike even touching the water. In the same way, no matter how beautiful one may look in appearance, his evil words and evil heart can never please God at all.
That's why we should never speak out the words of gossiping, judging and condemning the other, complaining against God, letting the other stumble, imitating the trends of the world, cheating and lying in a sly manner, and funny jokes. We should say only beautiful, good and sweet words of planting faith into the other's heart and building up edification.
Second, we should have spiritual love.
What would you feel if a myna says to you, "I love you. You are really beautiful!"? Could you feel the bird's sincere heart? Do you think you can be touched by it? But if your beloved son confesses his true love before you, you will be impressed and pleased. It is the same when we sing praises to God. If we praise God with true love for God in our heart, God can be moved. And if we really love God, we should show the proofs of our love for Him. We have to give thanks for His grace all the time and must be able to sacrifice everything we have for the kingdom of God.
A person who loves God from the bottom of his heart shows the proofs in his prayer. He earnestly prays for the kingdom and righteousness of God with tears and all his strength. He loves God first of all and loves his neighbors as himself. He does everything with love, and serves others and sacrifices himself at his home, group and working place with love. He gives a better choice to the other, rejoices in good things of others and tries his best to comfort and encourage those who are in difficulties.
Third, we should pray earnestly and fervently.
Fervent prayer does not mean to pray loudly for a long time. When we pray with our inner hearts and cry out earnestly, our mighty voice can be sounded. We have to pray with detailed prayer titles and be moved in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If we really believe the almighty God is listening to our prayer, we should pray from the heart. Then, we can be inspired by the Holy Spirit and pray fervently. Through such fervent prayer, we can change in spirit realizing how much we have cast off evils and which level of goodness we have reached.
Many believers are bound up with their self-righteousness and frameworks and stay at the same level of faith and spirit because they do not offer fervent prayers to God. But they think they are leading a good Christian life. They do not commit works of the flesh, the sins revealed in action, so they think that they will be able to enter the best place in the kingdom of Heaven. They fail to discover themselves even if they are following the lust of the flesh, hurting the other's heart, breaking peace, and seeking their own benefits. They think they belong to goodness because they can outwardly smile at the other who is not in agreement with them even if they are quick-tempered and have ill feelings against him or her. Some believers follow the trends of the world but they say they need them in order to fulfill their duties more effectively.
But if we are inspired by and filled with the Holy Spirit through fervent prayers, we can discover ourselves like looking at us in a mirror, cast away even a slightest form of evil and turn into a man of spirit soon.
For additional information or to read the message's text in its entirety, please visit Manmin Central Church on the web at www. manmin. org, select the "English" menu, and click on "Words of Life."
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