All tagged Spirit

Drunkenness, Singing, and the Holy Spirit among Us

Richard Forbes
Christian, Daily Devotional, Drunkenness

What songs do we sing when we are with our friends outside of church and church gatherings? Do we sing popular songs of today, old favorites from the past, folk songs, holiday songs, campfire songs, or perhaps… drinking songs? Well, we are told in Ephesians that as believers we are to remain sober, greet one another spiritually in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs as we sing to the Lord, and to be filled with the Spirit. How should we interpret this? Is singing anything other than hymns a taboo?

Sin, and the War that Rages Within Us

Richard Forbes
Christian, Daily Devotional, Spiritual War Within Us

Do we find ourselves to be at war within? Are we in the midst of a battle between our mind and our body, between the weakness of our flesh that is so often reluctant to kneel before God, and our spirit which actually worships Him? We never have to look far as we seek to understand if there truly is both a physical and a spiritual world, because we live with one foot in each, and this tenuous stance threatens constantly to destroy us as our spirit works to tame the man of flesh who walks towards sin.

Do we Lean on our own Understanding?

Richard Forbes
Christian, Daily Devotional, God’s Understanding

How do we come to understand the Word of God, and His will for us? Is it by our own intellect, and through diligent study that we are able to piece it together like a puzzle? Do we somehow find the hidden key within it that allows everything to fall into place so that we can stand back from it and marvel at our ingenuity? No, we understand with our hearts, and not our minds. Our minds barely scratch the surface, but our hearts use the keys of our spirits like a scalpel.

One spirit, Church, and flesh; are we really One in covenant with God?

Richard Forbes
Christian, Daily Devotional, One Church

How many churches are there within your congregation? How many groups with different mindsets, and various agendas are milling about one another, and often find themselves at loggerheads? This is what happens when we lose focus on maintaining ourselves in the image of Jesus Christ. This is what occurs when a marriage ceases to be of one flesh and reverts to two individuals.

Faith in the Spirit, and the Physical Hands of God

Richard Forbes
Body, Spirit, Christian, Daily Devotion, Man’s Duplicity

For most of us our belief in God is based primarily on faith. We have never seen God, but we have felt Him; not so much by His outward physical touch, but through an inward touching, and by a spiritual response to His actions and voice in our lives. For His physical touch we depend on the love we have for one another, and in the hands of man being borrowed to do the will of God. Does your faith bridge your body and spirit?

Which Tree have you Chosen to Eat From; Life, or Knowledge?

Richard Forbes
Christian, Faith, Reasoning, Believing, Daily Devotion

How do you believe? Do you believe because you have leaned on your own understanding, and reasoned Jesus Christ to be true, or do you believe because your heart has led you to him? Faith and belief that flow from our own reasoning places God in the realm of man, but faith and belief welling up into us out of the depths of our hearts is delivered from the realm of God through Jesus Christ. Who rules your faith?

Religion and Faith - The Skin and Heart of Knowing God

Richard Forbes
Body, Spirit, Daily Devotion, Religion, Faith, Christian

How do we worship and have faith in the Father and the Son? Do we go about doing the physical things that identify us as religious, and leave the inner, spiritual, things of faith to quietly stagnate? God made us to be both physical and spiritual beings, but didn’t He make the physical first, and then breathe the spirit into it? As we grow in faith is our body fully formed, but our spiritual self lagging behind?

A Two Week Experiment in Seeing Your Body

Richard Forbes
Temple of God, Christian, Daily Devotion, Holy, Acceptable, Body

Do we think of our faith in God, and Jesus Christ to be entirely spiritual? Do we continue on in the sins of the flesh even after we have presented ourselves as believers to the Lord? Resisting those things is difficult, and this is why Satan attacks us there so often by finding this weakness in our armor.. Here he finds advantage against our physical body, and breaches the walls of our spirituality.

Removing our Shoes, while bringing Holiness to Completion

Richard Forbes
Spirit, Presence, Christian, Jesus, Holiness, Body, Daily Devotion, God

How do we come into the presence of God? Are we clothed in all of our sin, and wearing shoes that are filthy and covered in the dust of the world? As creatures of both physical and spiritual construction we can’t travel anywhere without both sides of ourselves being present. Only at death is that separation possible. So until then, we must be careful regarding the purity of both our body and our spirit when we come before the Lord.

Sin, and the War that Rages Within Us

Richard Forbes
Flesh, Conflict, Daily Devotion, Christian, Sin, Spirit

Do you find yourself to be at war within? Are you in the midst of a battle between your mind and your body, between the weakness of your flesh that is so often made to kneel before God, and the spirit which actually worships Him? We never have to look far as we seek to understand if there truly is both a physical and a spiritual world, because we live with one foot in each, and this tenuous stance threatens constantly to destroy us as our spirit works to tame the man of flesh who walks towards sin.

Praying for the Family

Richard Forbes
Prayer, Spirit, Salvation, Christian, Family, Daily Devotion

Over the past few days many of you have prayed for me as I have battled to throw off the head and chest cold I have been suffering with, but today I wish to pray for you, and ask that you join me by praying for me and those around you. My prayer today is not for your physical body, but rather for your spirit and faith. Have you ever prayed such a prayer? If you haven’t then you are missing the greatest opportunity in prayer... to pray for the will of God to be manifest in all its power within another person.

Spirit and Truth; the Crux of Prayer and Worship

Richard Forbes
Forgiveness, Worship, Daily Devotion, Spirit, Christian, Prayer, Fulfillment, Truth

Are you unsatisfied in your prayer life? Do you ask in prayer, and yet feel unfulfilled when you rise from your knees? Do you recite scripture in your prayers and cry out, yet leave your prayer closet feeling as though God might not have heard you? Well, perhaps you are missing a key lesson that was taught by Jesus. Maybe you need to listen as he teaches us to pray in spirit and truth.

Answering the Call of Faith

Richard Forbes
Faith, Jesus, Daily Devotion, Christian, Our Calling, Salvation, Relationship

Are you struggling with whether you will give yourself to Jesus, and fully believe in God? Have you been reasoning and reading scripture without moving an inch closer to believing? If so, then quit listening to your own intellect, and still yourself... then open your ears to the still small voice of God that calls you to “Come.” Hearing God isn’t a matter of intellectual reasoning on your part; it is being inexplicably drawn by the Lord.

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