Dirty Bible, Clean Heart

"How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.  Jesus answered, ' I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you'." - John 1:48 Have you ever felt unnoticed? Left out? Invisible? Like an extra or unwanted piece in a jigsaw puzzle? I think it's safe to say that each one of us have felt unnoticed and lonely at one time or another. For some of us that may mean getting overlooked for a promotion at work, not being invited to that friend's birthday party, or still being single while everyone around you is married. We want to be seen, yet find ourselves overlooked once again. There are plenty of reasons we could list as to why we sometimes feel unnoticed. Yet if we take a close look at Scripture, we see that even in our loneliest moments God is always present...especially when we need Him the most.  God's silence never equates to His absence.  If you've been walking with Jesus for a while now, you will have encountered periods...

"Were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit there would be no gospel, no faith, no church, no Christianity in the world at all."  -J.I. Packer One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Acts. I love reading about the power of God manifested in the daily lives of the believers as they became powerful witnesses of the love and mercy of God. Nothing excites me more than reading about miraculous healings, supernatural provision, Sauls becoming Pauls, and countless lives given to our Lord Jesus Christ. I think one of the reasons why I love the book of Acts so much is that it demonstrates to us what real Christianity looks like. The early church, despite their flaws and "growing pains" are a real life example of what God desires to do in us and through us. Though it is great to read about the miracles God performed, we must closely examine the  source behind the power seen in the early church and apostles...the Holy Spirit. The hallmark in the book of Ac...

"If we think of the Holy Spirit only as an impersonal power or influence, then our thought will constantly be, how can I get hold of and use the Holy Spirit; but if we think of Him in the biblical way as a divine Person , infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely tender, then our thought will constantly be, 'How can the Holy Spirit get hold of and use me?" -R.A. Torrey After reading Part I of this series, you should be well aware that the Holy Spirit is not an it but a Person . I repeatedly stress this point because so long as we subconsciously think of the Holy Spirit as an it or gift, we will never treat Him as a Person nor seek a relationship with Him. So long as we consider Him a "lesser god" or an experience, we will use Him instead of being used by Him. But the life that Jesus lived on Earth gives us a very different picture of what our attitude towards and relationship with the Holy Spirit should look like. 1 Peter 2:21 states that Jesus is the exam...