A Demon Possessed Man, A Samaritan Woman, and a Sinner on a Cross

Over the last two weeks I have been challenged and asked in the acts in which we go through that may cause salvation or more gifts. I think that we have misconstrued what the good word says. Over and over again we see that the Lord is not concerned with law but with the heart, with the relationship. It is good to desire the things of the Lord and the blessing in which he pours out, but because of our instant gratification kind of world, we might be mixing up good godly desires and sinful prideful wants. If we serve the Lord in an outwardly way wanting others to see what we do, we are sinning in this! A good example of this would be the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-23).

When we look at the rich young ruler we see that this man had it all, so he thought. He knew he abided by the law and yet he was not able to give up the one thing that he loved more than God – money. The rich young ruler is a perfect example of one who lives by the law and feels like he is an upstanding citizen and good in the Lord’s law. But as many of us know the Lord is not concerned with the law but with the heart.

So if the rich young ruler is what we have to be careful of becoming what are examples in the bible that may help us understand the Lord and His blessings. The greatest blessing that we have ever been given is Grace that leads to salvation. This is poured throughout Paul’s letters to the churches, but it is also seen (more importantly) by our Lord Jesus Christ.

One example is seen with a man, who was not a Jew, was possessed by many demons, it is recorded that he could not had been subdued and was once bound by shackles and chains but he also broke through those (Mark 5:1-20). The evil spirits that lived in this man knew that Jesus was Lord and asked not to be tormented by Him (Mark 5:7). Jesus allows the evil spirits to go into the thousands (that’s a lot of evil spirits!) of swine that were on the hill and all the swine ran into the sea, afterwards the man stood there in his right mind and praising God. As Jesus was about to leave the man begged and pleaded with Him to go with Him, the Lord says no. Why?

“Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

Mark 5:19

The Lord doesn’t tell the man to go and get baptized, or to go and get an education, he tells him to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Now we are not told that this man was ultimately saved and is now in Heaven but we know that the Lord healed this man, for His glory and yet the man received a blessing. He didn’t have anything to offer, only his story.

Another example we can look at is in the Gospel of John chapter 4, where Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman (4:1-42). Once again this woman is not a Jew, she is living in sin at that moment because she is living with a man who is not her husband and she has had other relationships like this previously. Jesus offers her water, as she has come to get water from the well,

“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” 

John 4:13-14

The woman is astonished! She desires the water and then Jesus tells her of her past and present; through this conviction and desire of this water she realizes that this is the Lord that stands before her. She goes and tells everyone in the town and shares the good news.

Once again we see someone that believes and desires to share the good news, but unlike the once demon possessed man she instantly goes and tells the people in the town in which she lives. Can you imagine the people who judged her for being a prostitute, a whore because of how many men she had lived and slept with and now she is sharing the gospel. The Lord truly can use anyone! We are once again stricken with the thought, is this women saved? She wasn’t baptized, she didn’t have great knowledge; all she had was an interaction with Jesus and she believed. She had a relationship with the Lord.

The last example is one that shows the Lord’s grace to its fullest. There were two men on the cross next to Jesus. One man asked to see works, he was no different from everyone else; they all wanted to see miraculous signs but never wanted to believe. The other man recognized that Jesus was the Lord and asked to be remembered. The Lord’s reply was simple yet beautiful.

“And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’”

Luke 23:43

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretched like me! This is so awesome! This man, who lived a life of sin, was receiving his just penalty, and yet the Lord knew his heart and promised him salvation.

I write these things to hopefully bring to light the legalistic views that we may have. The Lord is concerned with the heart not with the actions, he desires for you to dwell in paradise with you but so often we feel like there is more to it than recognizing who the Lord is. What do we learn from those in the story? The man with the pigs had to have had the Spirit enter into him so that the evil spirits would leave, and once this occurred he didn’t want to leave Jesus’ side. The women at the well had this relationship with Jesus because the Spirit that filled her cup with eternal life, and so she shared it with everyone. The man on the cross was given Christ guarantee that he would dwell with Him in paradise, imagine the testimony this had to those watching! The demon possessed man and woman could had been baptized latter but it wasn’t recorded. Baptism is a sign of faith that the Lord ask of us to show other that we are committing our life to God and that we want to be held accountable by our brothers and sisters.

If we look carefully at the text there will be action from receiving God’s grace, but there are not certain laws in which guarantee salvation. We want to be close to our Father, we want to dwell with Him, and we want to share the things that He has done for us. We do all this so that one day we will go to heaven and fall even more in love.

Prayer

Lord thank you for your saving Grace, Lord help me to reflect upon it more and to find your beauty in it all. Lord I recognize the sinful person that I am and that through your grace I am saved. May the reflection upon your love drive me to share the things that you show me – may the grace that you give me be poured out to others through me – may my life be an endless pursuit to know you more. May each day be a day that prepares me for the day that I meet you. Amen.

Reflection upon Grace - Romans 8:6

Romans 8:6

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Thought

As of late I have been reading Romans and I am always amazed on how applicable and alive it is today, as I am sure it was then. One thing that I would like to discuss in this note is grace and hope.

If you ask just about any Follower of Christ they will tell you that, ‘you are saved by grace alone.’ Some will stand firm in this and put a dot at the end, others will say grace and action, but non the less grace. Not surprisingly this is, one thing among many, that Paul is discussing in the letter of Romans.

From my personal view I do believe that we are saved by grace alone and there is nothing, NOTHING, that we can do to get ourselves into Heaven and I would feel that the apostle Paul would agree (3:23-25, 5:15-16). Paul does go on and say that through this understanding of grace we desire to do good works (6:17-18, 7:4-6), which is where I would stand. It is not good works that lead us to heaven, or that we do things that make us feel good in the church, but that we have grace and we recognize what a wonderful gift this is.

Let’s look at Paul’s life before Christ intervened. He was a man who was enraged with anger towards the ‘sect’ that proclaimed Christ as Lord. He sought to kill them and make sure that others knew that this ‘sect’ was not from God but blasphemous. Then God showed grace upon him. God revealed himself to him and gave Paul a chance to live a life worth living, a life for Jesus Christ.

When you accepted Christ as Lord and Savior did you understand the grace that you received at that moment? The reason why Paul was so passionate about what he did was partly, if not mostly, do to grace. He was thankful for this gift of grace and wanted others to understand and feel the same way.

When we seek things of the flesh we are accepting death, this is not what the Lord has planned when you receive grace. He has given you hope in HIM so that you may have life and peace. Life and peace is something that you don’t even have to try to share because it pours out through you.

Understanding God’s grace leads you too sharing the good news; this is what I feel Paul was trying to get at in parts of Romans. There are many scripture passages that would support this, especially in Romans (just read the book). I guess my question would be, ‘how often do we reflect upon God’s grace?’ I am confident that Paul was well aware of the grace that was bestowed on him, that he reflected upon those things and it fueled him to share the good news.

I agree that we are not all gifted speakers, but would we ever expect fishermen to be? Boldness comes from understanding God’s grace and having hope in the things to come. This isn’t legalistic, but it’s a relational view on God.

Prayer

Lord God help me, help us, to understand Your grace. Some of us came from good homes and an easy life, but there is grace in this – reveal to us that it is you that have blessed our families, but also have us inquire on why we have these blessings. Some of us may come from a broken home and/ or a harsh environment – help us see that you have protected us and this was not your original design for us or this world. Lord the enemy, Satan, is real and wants to distort our thoughts and have us not recognize Your grace, be with us as we fight this spiritual battle. Thank you once again. Amen

Who's favor do I seek?

“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”

Galatians 1:10

How often do we see our life as being a slave to the Lord? Often times we have a hard enough time seeing ourselves as slaves to certain sins, much less to the Lord. Often times it is difficult to see this because we live in a culture that is countercultural to the Bible.

The New Testament is not a book about treating people a nice way, living in a nice home, having a big yard and some kids playing in it. The letters that we read are about people sacrificing there lives so that others may know about God.

What kind of culture can we call this? Well, as Paul says in the letter to Galatia, we are seeking the favor of men. Though we may think that we are seeking what is best for ourselves and our families we often times are seeking our will first and hope that the Lord is thinking the same thing we are. The Lord Jesus Christ calls us to go and make disciples of all nations!

If God has blessed you with a great job and salary, and you don’t see yourself going out and being a missionary, then you give your money to someone who will so that you may be apart of the joy that comes from having others join the body of Christ and the furthering of the kingdom of God (this is still being a servant to Christ).

As we live here on this earth we are either a slave of sin, or of God. Which one would you rather have own you? Would you rather have someone who controls your life that doesn’t care about your well being, but cares more about how much pain he can bring upon your life? Or would we rather have an owner who cares about our well being and will grant us complete freedom and joy someday?

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Matthew 6:24

When we say that we are Christian are we saying it because we were once baptized without any actual confirmation on our own part (Baby), or that we said a prayer once at a camp. What fruit do we bear from ‘saying’ that we are a Christian, who are we fooling? If we believe in the all knowing creator of the universe, how can we lie to Him?

I do not write these things trying to condemn, but out of concern that we have listened to the lie of men, and the devil who is their master, and are living a lukewarm life. The Lord asks us to serve Him so that we may have joy.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

John 10:10

We often think that because the Lord has come to give us an abundant life that this means that we are supposed to have a nice home, car and family but is this biblical? Let us go back to the verse from Galatians, If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. Paul did not live a life that many of us would call nice or anything close to it, but I feel like this is the life that many of us are called to but ignore it and try to appeal to men.

The main point I am trying to get at is that sometimes our life is not meant to be a life that meets the American Dream, it might be the Gospel Dream which will bring far more joy and peace to one’s life, and have many more riches later on when all else has faded away.

Prayer

Dear gracious heavenly father, thank you for giving us a life worth so much more. Lord I pray that those reading this recognize that a life serving you has far more riches and joy than a life pursuing the almighty dollar. I pray for those you may not believe in you that they will begin to seek you and learn about you, and that they may not just accept you to be apart of the norm, but because they truly know you. I pray for those who label themselves as Christians that they may look inside themselves and see if they have truly given their life over to you, to see any fruit in their life. Lord forgive us fallen humans who, at times, are horrible examples of what a Christian should be, yet you still love us, so thank you! Amen. 

What is a Refreshed Heart?

Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.

Philemon 1:20

I am a Christian Hedonist and much of my writing is influenced by this train of thought. If you would like to know more about it I would highly recommend John Piper’s, Desiring God. But the reason why I mention this is because this is what influenced the title of my blog and I felt that it would be good to start out my blog sharing how I got the name, Refresh My Heart.

If one where to read through the writings of Paul they would continually come across passages of how Paul is encouraged and refreshed by fellow believers that he knows and loves.

Here are a few examples:

Romans 15:32
so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company.

1 Corinthians 16:18
For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.

2 Corinthians 7:13
For this reason we have been comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.

Philemon 1:7
For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

Paul is a man that is refreshed through believers because of their love of Christ. This is a man who tells us that he was beaten, ship wrecked, thrown into prison, and was at sea for a day and night; yet he is continually encouraged by those who are living out a life for Christ.

The question that comes to mind is, ‘how are we being refreshed?’ Often times we tend to turn on the TV, or talk with our spouse, some even use nicotine or alcohol, and others can end up turning to pornography or harmful drugs; yet if we understood this refreshment that we received from service, as Paul did, would we need these other things?

My fear is that we in America have become numb to the Spirit and how it encourages us. We don’t seek refreshment from the people that we serve along side because either, 1) we don’t serve, or 2) those we serve with we don’t love.

Why is it that the church’s in India and China are growing yet they face persecution, why is it that they enjoy reading the Word of God and being in prayer? What are we missing? Sadly it is service. The more we lose of ourselves the more joy we have in Christ and eternally. It is a act of service to pray, to read with an intention to learn; through time this act becomes joyful and refreshing.

I end with the thought of how are we serving today, week, month, year? Pray, with a real heart that desires to serve, and see where God places you and see the happiness that comes into your life.

Prayer

Lord thank You for refreshing our hearts through one another, showing that we truly are one body with many parts. Lord I pray for those reading this that they may feel lead to serve and are open to where you send them. I ask that through service to you that they may recognize that their joy comes from you and nothing else. May we not mask our feelings with false things in this world but pursue you with a heart that wants to change the world. Amen.