Why I’d Rather Be Tried by Caesar than the Church
The Holy Spirit is to the process of actually becoming a Christian as oxygen is to the human body.
The way of the cross calls us to interpret our difficulties and sufferings as perhaps one of the most confirming signs we are in the center of God’s will.
Give yourself to what may seem small today—history often reverses conclusions about the kingdom of God.
This is how the Holy Spirit works, not by overcoming power with brute force, but by subverting power with gentle humility.
If the people of God can’t work out their own problems and grievances among themselves, we’ve got little hope of convincing outsiders that they should join our “wonderful” community.
The Holy Spirit will often engage and employ our earthly credentials and accomplishments to get his work done; it’s just not usually how we would have done it.
In the eyes of the watching world, Jesus was completely vulnerable. But in the strength of the Holy Spirit, he was totally invincible.
Listening for the whisper of the Holy Spirit is a cultivated skill which must become part of our discipleship.
When theology devolves into ideology it’s a short step to idolatry, which inevitably pushes out doxology.
Here’s a mark of Holy Spirit maturity in a follower of Jesus: You no longer have anything to prove; only something to become.
Is it possible for you and me to know Jesus in the way that Paul knew Jesus, and if so, would we want to?