Month: January 2014

Kinda like Gatorade but different

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

What does it mean to quench the Holy Spirit?  Is He something that can be put out?  I mean Gatorade quenches thirst and then thirst is gone.  Can you get rid of the third person of the Trinity?  Loaded question, and if I was smart I would have started this entry off a little different so I did not have to answer it.  Oh well here we go.

First is no you cannot “get rid” of the Holy Spirit.  He is always there giving gifts, showing correction, leading to the Savior, and restraining evil.  You cannot make Him go away by ignoring Him, and choosing not to listen.  It just won’t happen.  He will be there gently, and lovingly  nudging you.  So there is that you cannot make Him leave or disappear.  There is a day when He will be removed but that has to the end times and not you not wanting to listen.

So what is it you can do?  What is the quenching then?  Think of like a relationship.  You have at least one relationship in your life I assume.  With that relationship if you do not nurture it, foster it, take care of it, or work on it then it starts to fade.  After a while you don’t talk much anymore, and if you do it feels a little awkward because you are really not sure what to say.  You end up talking about things of no real importance or significance because the closeness is gone.  You no longer have that deep connection.  The connection where you are starting to think the same thing as the other person.  It’s just not there.

That is what it means to quench or do with stifle the Holy Spirit.  You don’t listen anymore, you don’t talk, and on those rare occasions when you do it is awkward and you only talk about the weather.  Time with the Holy Spirit can be so much more.  The Holy Spirit is the one teaching and guiding you to Jesus who then leads you to the Father.  It all starts with Him.  Spend time with Him, let Him reveal things to you.  Let Him instruct and teach you about the Savior.  Then when He gives you are hard direction you can take it because you trust him and have developed that relationship.

Just a thought,

Mike

Where are you supposed to be?

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I was thinking about David and Bathsheba yesterday.  Specifically about what lead up to the whole roof top, baby, and murder incidents.  There is something we can see that started this chain of events and something that also happens in your and mine.  The phrase I am referring to is “but David remained in Jerusalem.”  That one little phrase set of a chain of tragic events and devastating consequences.

If you do not know the story of these two then I recommend you read it.  There is a lot to going from understanding the story and seeing God’s great love.  But right now I want to focus on that phrase “but David remained in Jerusalem.”  This phrase is so very important because it succinctly shows how the rest of David’s life was set on a path he would have never chosen nor wanted all because he remained in Jerusalem.  You see David was supposed to be somewhere else, he had a place he was supposed to be but instead he was where he wasn’t supposed to be.  I do not like to use phrases like always, or never, but in this case I am going to.  If you remain where you are not supposed to be then you will always have some degree of trouble.  God has appointed a place for you to be.  Maybe it is locationally, emotionally, or spiritually, know this God has somewhere you are supposed to be, and if you are not there you will find trouble.

Let’s say like David, it is locational.  He was supposed to be in 20 miles east of the Jordan in Rabbath but he wasn’t there.  Instead he was in Jerusalem doing what he wanted to do.  This caused him to see something he should not have seen, and since he was already not doing what God wanted what is one more thing.  After all he thought “I am the King”.  Sorry David wrong answer.  You should have been where you belonged.  I got into heaps of trouble as a kid because I skipped school.  I was not in trouble for skipping school, it was the things that I was doing while I should have been in school that got me into the most trouble.  I was not where I belonged.

Let’s say it is emotionally.  You should have forgiven your father, brother, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, cop, pastor, or whatever.  You should have let that burden go and moved on with your life, but you don’t.  Instead you stew on it and let it fester.  You think about it all the time.  You start to get in a good mood and then let it bring you back down.  How could they, how dare they, don’t they know, don’t they care.  You list all the reasons over and over again until finally it completely consumes you.  Guess what though…You don’t belong there.  You have somewhere you are supposed to be.  God has a place of perfect peace for you.  You are in the emotional land of Strife, but God has intended for you to be in the land of Shalom.  Shalom does not just mean peace, but peace, prosperity, completeness, and welfare.  That is where God intends for you to be.

What do I mean by spiritually though.  How can you be in the wrong place there?  Maybe you are not spending time with God.  Maybe you ignore him for whatever reason (usually something to do with the two above).  God has a place that you belong, and it’s called Relationship.  Perfect relationship actually.  Christians usually call this fellowship , but that just means spending time with and enjoying company.  God wants to spend time with you and wants you to enjoy time with Him.  Jesus did everything He did so that this could happen.  He wants you bad.  If you’re not in the right place here you will continually look for a place to be and find more and more trouble.

The tricky part of all of this is sometimes we honestly do not know where we are supposed to be.  I myself have struggled with this for years.  I am starting to get there but it is hard.  Spend time in prayer, ask God where you are supposed to be, and then go there.  Once you know where you are supposed to be it all gets better.  I am not saying you will never have trouble.  Jesus says in John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you will have peace.  In this world you will have trouble,  but take heart!  I have overcome the world.”  Life can always be hard and anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something.  Take heart my friend Jesus has overcome and made a place for you.

Just a thought,

Mike

Big Picture, Little Picture

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I love big picture, little picture.  It’s a little game God plays with me.  You’ve probably played it to.  It is where He shows you something and then tells you to keep watching.  For example I have read James 4:7-10 a few times this past week and I saw the big picture.  Namely; humbling yourself before God is the only way to be lifted up and beat things you might be fighting.  If you resist the devil you also turn to God.  It is not you who defeats the thing you fighting but God.  Rely on Him and He will pull you through it.  I know this and it is good stuff that I need to remember.

But wait there is more.  There must be because I have read this like 5 times and can see something but it is all fuzzy and I cannot make it out.  Then it hit me.  If you want a different outcome you have to change something.  

OK this one is tough to pull out of these verses but track with me for a minute and I promise to try and make sense of this.

James 4:7-10 “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”

I am not very good at knowing what the different conjunctions and parts of speech are, but there are 8 instead ofs, or in place ofs.  You know like this instead of that….Ya dig.  

OK so here is the deal.  If you want something different you need to do something different.  So lets say sin is the problem you’re facing.  Well to defeat it you resist the devil and he will flee, you just tell him no and then come close to God.  The devil cannot occupy the same space as God (Job I know but thats a weird one because he was summonsed, and theres more to it).  Lets make it simpler and say chocolate cake is the issue.  Well just don’t buy it, and if it is in the house don’t eat it.  Instead eat a banana.  Cake and a Banana cannot occupy the same space in your mouth at the same time.  You have to do something different.  

Everything is like this.  If you want different results in your life you have to make different choices.  If you want to be healthy then you have to do healthy things instead of unhealthy (not just physically folks).  I know what you are thinking; Mike I appreciate this but I already know this, and it’s easier said than done.  My response is first I know that and that is why it is called a principal.  Second is if you know it then why are you not doing it?  Because it’s hard?  No because you don’t want to thats why.  You do hard stuff all the time, but you don’t make the choices you need to make because you don’t want to.  Guess what that is OK.  Just be honest about it.  Difficulty has almost  nothing to do with it, desire is almost all of it.

I get it there are some cases that are different.  There are some cases that are so extreme I would a total jerk to not feel bad for them.  But by and large those are the ones that inspire us.  Those are the ones that move us.  Those are the ones that give us hope, that give us drive to move on and accomplish.  Check out Nicholas James Vujicic and then tell me how hard things cannot be done.

So today either admit you don’t want to and stop whining, or start making different choices and see how God lifts you up.

Just a thought,

Mike