Idaho is on a 21 day shutdown. The worship team for this Sunday’s streaming at church is now not to take place. The small groups for our restoration classes cannot meet face to face and the men’s step study I lead is not to gather. We move to a totally on-line meeting platform as of today. I had hoped we wouldn’t need to go this far, but the proclamation has now been given. My brother and I are helping a widow move this Saturday from her present residence which has been sold so she can’t rent it any longer. I’m not even sure we would have permission for this if we were to ask someone. I’m not asking.

Someday we will know the entire story behind this world-wide catastrophe. For today, I simply want to trust God knowing He is ultimately in control of what man keeps trying to be. God tells us to obey the law of the land and I want to. I also want to obey God’s nudges. Now is a good time for me to question and scrutinize whether I’m responding to my will’s nudges or The Holy Spirit’s nudges. This is my test of the day.

Last night our men’s class for Mending the Soul completed the last chapter of the curriculum–Mending the Soul. It was a touching moment. Last fall when we met for the first time I gave each member a sheet of paper where they were to answer three questions: “What is my relationship with God like?” “What do I struggle with at this time in my life?” “What are my prayers, desires, and expectations for this series?” I had put each letter in a sealed envelope and kept them for the moment of last night. I gave each one their letter and had them read it silently. We then, if willing, read our own letter to the group and responded to it now that the class is finished. It was a touching and remarkable time seeing and hearing just how intimately God had been completing what each letter expressed and so much more.

Our God is so Amazing! This present time of distancing ourselves from one another is certainly not a time when I have to distance myself from God my Father. In fact, I have ample time to simply sup with Him–commune with Him. There are a number of ways in today’s society for us to connect with one another without being physically present. I want to do a better job using this time we presently have to reach out and be a “Barnabas”–an encourager for others.

Yesterday turned out to be one of those remarkable days where God seemed to proclaim Himself in many ways. A man who had struggled with porn a good deal of his life contacted me Sunday evening asking me to meet him yesterday at noon. He’d relapsed and his wife had found the evidence. I had contacted my prayer warrior ahead of leaving and Kathy and I prayed together ahead of my leaving. She actually went to be with the wife as I met with the husband. (The wife wasn’t found at work or home so this was a time for Kathy to pray rather than meet). This story has much within it that I won’t disclose, but the critical side of it needing to be addressed was fear. The husband was rather certain he’d come home to find his wife prepping for him to leave and their marriage would be over. I prayed with him that God would perform His work of healing rather than man’s work of judgment. That the intimate doors of communication would open for this couple so they would be able to express to one another their personal, intimate needs so God could use them to support one another rather than judge one another. God’s time for judgement of mankind is coming, but it is not today. We were together for most of 2 hours and then I left and he went back to work.

Last early evening I got a text from the husband. He got home to find his wife waiting to wash his feet and ask for forgiveness of her judgmental attitude towards him. They spent the night working through what needed to be talked about. Counseling is going to be next in order for them and both desire this.

I praise God for His loving concern He has for each of us. I also praise God for the tender heart this wife had in being able to listen to Him and hear the spirit of her husband rather than judging the action he still seeks to break the bondage from. The ugliness of man and sin can only be turned into Glorious Light when we bring it into God’s Light through confession and repentance . The darkness flees in the Light’s presence. Cleansing and healing come when we remain in the Light as difficult as it is at these times. To God be all Glory for great things He does!

Today is my sis Bonnie’s birthday. She is the one Kathy and I went to visit a couple weeks ago. We talked a good deal yesterday. She lives in California and has now been isolated from her work. She is that sis I call my favorite. We grew up like “two peas in a pod”. Even though she knew nothing about the abuse of my brother while we were growing up, and didn’t know how much I had bottled up inside me, she was my cheerleader. In her mind she had me believing I could do anything and she encouraged me to do so . She has done this for both of her boys and for her husband which she lost nearly 3 years ago. I celebrate you Bonnie! God has used you mightily and is still doing so!

This topic of having The Holy Spirit and being filled with the Power of The Holy Spirit just won’t leave me alone. Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit upon his disciples before He ascended into heaven. He told them not to leave Jerusalem until they were filled with the Power of The Holy Spirit. This too happened. Today in Acts 9 Saul was confronted with a Light who was Jesus and told to turn his life over to Him. Christ told him in verse 5 to “stop kicking against the goad”. Saul was blinded for 3 days and then out of obedience, Ananias came to Saul, prayed over him and the scales on his eyes fell off. He could see again. Three days later Saul was baptized and filled with The Holy Spirit.

Today we stress the importance of accepting Christ into our lives as our Savior. We often include the fact that Christ wants to be Lord of our lives. I’m being hit with the fact that Christ cannot be Lord until we are fully committed to “being filled with The Holy Spirit and surrendered to be obedient to His every nudge (where the Power comes into existence). It is then that God can do all that he wants to do with our relationship as Father and son/Father and daughter. I’ve got a ways to go here and I don’t want to stop until I’m fully committed each and everyday.

Today is Sunday–the Lord’s Day. I’m going to church to sing in a worship team which will be recorded and streamed. Even a grouping of choir members is coming together–keeping our distance from one another and singing the choir number. I’ll go from there to our step study group of men for their lesson. There are 9 of us so this group meets the criteria and none have any symptoms. I have grown so accustomed to the routine of Sunday that I feel like worshiping God is suppose to have these ingredients in it or God isn’t worshiped. All of this current crisis is bringing me back to how simple life can truly become. God doesn’t need all of the fluff to be glorified. He simply wants a sincere, genuine heart coming to Him.

We are the ones who need the congregation coming together to reinforce one another, praise God collectively and listen to God’s Word to inspire us to live daily for Him. I’m sure God is wanting us to still come together and collectively praise Him. We will simply do this virtually and stay in touch with one another through the means we still have available.

In the book of Acts the disciples are now being tortured by Saul (soon to become Paul). What is standing out to me is the miraculous work and power they have now that The Holy Spirit is upon them and they are totally sold out to His leadership. I am still wondering how this is suppose to look today? I think I have been scared of this Power and I wonder if many of us are simply scared to be the messenger of such Godly Power? I want to open myself to God’s teaching and leading in this arena.

I’m stricken today with the enormity of our present world situation. There has never been anything in our lifetime which resembles it. The news states that some are overreacting, some say we are on track, some say more should be done. None of this matters for the present reality is what it is. Every person is to turn inward by staying away from others and keep personal safety as the highest priority. In this state we need food, shelter, warmth and rest as Maslow’s hierarchy states. At least in our country, self-actualization (top of Maslow’s hierarchy) has been our focus for many, many years. We have grown accustomed to this being a “basic need”. How quickly this can shift.

Today I’m reminded that these basic, physical needs are required for us to sustain living. However, what is required to sustain eternal living is Jesus Christ. Accepting Jesus as our Savior is our highest priority. Then, accepting Jesus as Lord is our second highest priority. Once we’ve done this, then put our human state on the table for prioritization. Lets all remember that God is the God of the universe. Scripture says heaven is God’s throne and the earth is His footstool (Isaiah 66:1). He is truly aware of this state and He wants us to know this and trust Him in it. I’m going to trust.

Wow, 20, 2020. These number combos are always striking when I stumble into them. Today I’m hit with a message from Oswald Chambers that says, “We tend to say that because a person has natural ability, he will make a good Christian. It is not a matter of our equipment, but a matter of our poverty, not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us; not a matter of natural virtues, of strength of character, of knowledge, or of experience–all of that is of no avail in this concern. The only thing of value is being taken into the compelling purpose of God and being made His friends.” (I Corinthians 1:26-31).

I read this and then I began to read Acts 5. The disciples by now have built such a reputation among the people that the sick were finding healing by simply being in the shadow of Peter. It wasn’t long ago for Peter that he was still trying to please Jesus from his own natural ability. By now he’d learned that his own skills weren’t what Jesus was after. Jesus needed his full obedience and from that Peter freed the Holy Spirit to do all He intended to do. It wasn’t through Peter’s ability, but through his surrender and then obedience.

God is really wanting me to learn full surrender and full obedience. I don’t want to fight this but I find myself all too often relying on “my own understanding” as I approach day to day activities. I truly want to be part of God’s compelling purpose as I better surrender each day. The last part of Oswald’s statement is that we will then be His friend. We do trust a friend fully. This I want to do with Jesus–trust Him fully. Teach me Lord–Teach me Lord.

It is quite an astonishing thing to watch the world around us coming to a slow halt. Yes, many are still going to work, but even the work is done in a very different way. I went to our church yesterday afternoon to record tonight’s Celebrate Recovery lesson so it could be uploaded onto our website. No CR has ever experienced what is happening today. It is all about meeting people face to face where genuine accountability takes place. We are encouraging everyone to reach out through our leadership with the share groups and step studies. I find myself needing a different kind of discipline to do this. Disciplining myself to reach out to individuals seems too much like going door to door with flyers about something I have to sell. I feel like an intruder. I confess this today because I know God is wanting me to step into an area of discomfort and reach out to individuals. I appreciate their calls, but I don’t like to be the one initiating them. Sounds silly, but it is me.

The Power of the Holy Spirit only comes when we act on the nudges of The Holy Spirit. I don’t want to be a disappointment in this area so in this time of disarray I want to be obedient in spite of my personal discomfort. Maybe I’ll learn something new from this. The miracles of God are awaiting. I’m going to step into obedience this day.

Yesterday I brought out a puzzling item regarding the Gift of the Holy Spirit being given to the disciples at the end of the book of John. In the book of Acts it brings out the followers of Jesus coming together and waiting for the Holy Spirit to fill them. It happens too as Acts 2:1-4 reads. It was also a time when Jews from various countries were assembled together. The followers were ignited with power and ability to speak Christ’s message in the languages of the crowds. Thus, 3,000 new believers joined Christ’s following that very day.

Maybe all of you already saw this as I’m seeing it today. Christ has made each of us believers a new creation when we accepted Him into our lives. He also gave us The Holy Spirit as our Gift for accepting Him. For much of my life I lived knowing I had the Gift, but I sure didn’t have the Power of the Gift. The Power of the Gift came when I started acting on the nudges of Christ/God/The Holy Spirit and not acting on my fears. I kept myself in isolation knowing I would never be accepted by mankind if they only knew “who I really was”. This turned out to be who I thought I really was–discrediting who Christ had made me to be.

There is nothing puzzling about what the scriptures are saying. Instead, there is amazing strength and encouragement knowing that This Gift we have been given is literally the Power of God put into action through us as we obey His nudges.

As I wrote yesterday’s blog I didn’t write something which was in my mind but I needed to process it a little. Today I want to write about it. In John 20:22 it say, “And having said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” This I mentioned yesterday. What was puzzling me somewhat was the fact that in Acts, the next book of the Bible, the disciples were coming together and waiting to receive the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t this sound like a contradiction? Didn’t they already receive the Holy Spirit from what John 20:22 says?

This morning in Acts 1:8 it says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” Jesus had already breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit before He ascended into Heaven. The word which seems to stand out is “power”. In Acts it says you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. I’m going to need to do some questioning on this to have someone with more Biblical depth of knowledge talk me through this. I know the disciplines and other followers of Jesus stayed in the upper room (a total of 120 of them) until the power ascended upon them. It makes me think I have the Holy Spirit but I may not have the power of the Holy Spirit as Christ would want me to have.

I’m writing today’s blog as a personal inquiry but also as a challenge to readers. If you know something along this line I ask you to share it with me and any other readers. I sure don’t want to inhibit God’s use of my life.