Where Do You Live?-- In The Mind Or "In The Spirit?"

"While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, 'Paul, you are out of your mind!  Your great learning is driving you mad.'" (Acts 26:24, NASB)

Festus was operating in the mind.  Paul was operating in the spirit. When he was at Mars Hill, Paul also ran into "mind dwellers."  The Message translation says, "At the phrase, 'raising him from the dead,'the listeners split:  Some laughed at him and walked off making jokes; others said, 'Let's do this again.  We want to hear more.'"  And here you have all of humanity.  If you are as Festus, you miss everything.  If you are as, "Let's do this again," then you will have Everything.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ does not primarily empower my mind.  It empowers my life.

I was sickened this morning when I heard of a man who murdered his wife and five children because both he and his wife had recently lost their jobs.  Later I saw a photo of the family-- what a beautiful family, what tragic loss.  Were they "mind dwellers?"  Did nothing make "sense" any more?  Was the Gospel of Jesus Christ something rational, something which made sense for a while, until everything went wrong?
And what about you and me?  As long as things "make sense," many of us are great worshippers, tithers, pray-ers.  But so many, when things don't seem to "add up," when life happens without any acceptable answer, say to us in Jesus Christ, "You are out of your mind."  

I have been asked over the years about our son, Stephen's, passing.  "How did you make it?"  The question should be, "How are you making it?"  I don't know.  But I can tell you the answer is not in my mind, or "my understanding."  It is in my spirit, in the Holy Spirit, in "the word of Christ," indeed, in Jesus Christ Himself.  If this is "madness," then all I can say is, "Blessed madness."

Father, in Jesus' Name, "Let the word of Christ dwell in [me] richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing in [my] heart.. to [You]."  Amen.
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You must see Netanyahu's speech at: www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com


"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2



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