Learn to Discern Between Spirituality and Religiosity

One of the greatest dangers that faces the Christian in his pursuit of a holy life is that of ending up being religious and not spiritual. Religiosity is often mistaken by the undiscerning believer for spirituality. But there is a world of difference between the two. The former is human, the latter is divine. The law could make people religious, but not spiritual. Religiosity is being taken up with the external, visible things. Spirituality is primarily a matter of the heart. God's word warns us that there will be many in the last days who have a form of godliness without its power - in other words, they will be religious, but not spiritual (2 Tim. 3:5). They will go religiously to meetings, pray and read the Bible daily and even attend all-night fasting and prayer meetings, tithe their income, etc. But they will still seek honour from men, live for themselves, love money and be interested in gossiping, etc. Such people are religious, not spiritual. They have a form of godliness without the power. Here are some examples.

·         If you are more interested in going to meetings than in crucifying the flesh (Gal.5:24), you are religious, not spiritual.

·         If you are more interested in reading your Bible every morning than in controlling your tongue the whole day, you are religious, not spiritual.

·         If you are more interested in fasting and praying than in being free from the love ofmoney, you are religious, not spiritual.

·         If you are more interested in evangelism than in personal sanctification, you are religious, not spiritual.

·         Religious people are interested in the written word alone (`the letter') and end up having the righteousness of the law. Spiritual people, however, are interested in the Word being manifested in flesh and blood and, thus, end up having the righteousness of God, the divine nature.

·         Religious people justify their actions by quoting the words or actions of some man of God. Spiritual people, however, never seek to justify themselves before men.

·         Religious people are more interested in men's opinions than in God's opinion. Spiritual people care only about God's opinion.

·         Religious people can meditate for years on the words of praise that some elder brother spoke concerning them. Spiritual people, on the other hand, like Jesus, refuse to receive testimony from men (Jn. 5:34). They know that other men do not know the corruption that they see within themselves, and so they realise that the praise of men is worth less than nothing.

·         Religious people are legalistic and are under the law. They think in terms of the minimum necessary in order to please God. This is why they calculate exactly how much 10% of their income comes to and then offer it reluctantly to God. In the Old Testament, this attitude finally ended up in the Israelites offering blind sheep and sick bulls as sacrifices to the Lord (Mal. 1:8). It is possible to have an identical attitude to the New Testament commandments.

·         A sister can think in terms of the minimum necessary in order to keep the letter of the word that commands her to be subject to her husband or the minimum necessary covering required for her head in the meetings - without the beauty of her hair being totally hidden!

·         Men and women can think in terms of the minimum necessary in order to be 'spiritual' without altogether giving up everything. "What is the minimum that I have to give up of this world?" is a question that is always in the minds of such people. Such can never be spiritual. They can only be religious.

·         The attitude of mind that thinks "What can I get out of the Lord?" leads to religiosity. On the other hand, the attitude that thinks "What can the Lord get out of the one earthly life that I have?" will lead to true spirituality.

·         All the activities of religious people mentioned in the above examples are good. But it is a question of priorities. It is right priorities that make a man spiritual.

Zac Poonen

Christian Fellowship Church, Bangalore, India

http://www.cfcindia.com

The Sorrowful Mystery: The Crucifixion of our LORD

Luke 23:33-34,44,46. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified Him ...Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing"...There was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour...and Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Reflection: The place of the Skull, also called Golgotha, was just a garbage heap outside the gates of the sacred city of Jerusalem. So, when Jesus was led outside the walls to die in the city dump, the Jewish leaders were exiling him not only from their city, but also from his unique heritage as a son of Israel. He was being cut off from his own people and from a place deeply associated with his cultural identity. At the same time, Jesus experienced a profound interior darkness on the cross, a descent into the experience of total abandonment by his Father. Because God is holy and Jesus was the Lamb burdened with all of human sin from the start of human history to the end, his punishment was to be exiled from the presence of the Father, and to die in that darkness, buried under the trash of all our sins. He was cut off from both his people and his God. What tremendous, aching solitude he must have experienced! And what a sense of being rejected, unwanted, and stripped of everything that was most sacred and beloved to him.

As human beings, we need relationships in order to be whole and complete. We need others, and most of all, we need God; these relationships make us whole, human, and happy. Some people inflict a terrible isolation on themselves by turning away from God or by making themselves inaccessible to other people. At times, this can be the result of sin—inflicted or received—or it could be a way of guarding one’s own wounds, punishing oneself or others, or acting out a twisted self-concept of unworthiness. But self-imposed isolation has the unfortunate consequence of shielding people from the experience of being loved and understood by others, of belonging, and even of being redeemed. We discover our own value not by self-appraisal, but by experiencing how we are loved and valued by God and by others; our identity is illuminated by our relationships. A life lived without God and others is a kind of living death. In this mystery, we can pray for all those who live their days in the darkness and loneliness of a personal Calvary.

God Looks for Faithfulness in Little Things

In 1 Kings 19:19-21, we read of Elijah calling Elisha. Elisha was working hard in the fields with his oxen when Elijah called him.

Notice first of all that God always calls those who are working hard and are faithful in their secular occupations. Moses was faithfully looking after his father-in-law’s sheep when God called him. David was looking after sheep and fighting with lions and bears. Amos was a hardworking herdsman. Peter, James, John and Andrew were hardworking fishermen. Matthew was sitting at the table working on his accounts. We never see anywhere in the Old Testament or the New Testament that God called a lazy man for His service.

We don’t find Elijah going to Elisha’s house when he was fast asleep and calling him there - because we would have thought he was a lazy man. Jesus also never went to Peter’s house in the evening to call him. He called him when he was fishing. All these examples show us that God wants us to be faithful and hardworking in our secular jobs before He can call us to serve Him. If you are not faithful in earthly matters, how can you be faithful in heavenly matters? If you are young and still living at home, then be a faithful son or daughter at home.

Notice secondly that all these men dropped everything and went as soon as God called them. We see that with Peter, John and Matthew and also here with Elisha. God calls those who will respond to His call immediately and wholeheartedly. They may seek to confirm God’s call on their lives with godly people in order to be certain that they are not acting on their own emotional feelings. But once they are sure, they act quickly. God can use only such people to serve Him, because His service requires instant obedience, total commitment and hard work.

God tests us in our secular occupations to see whether we are faithful. If you are asked to clean a room and you are careless about the way you do it or you are slipshod about it, I doubt if God will ever call you to serve Him. Because, if that’s the way you clean up a room that will probably be the way you clean up your heart as well. How then can God use you to clean up His church? It is faithfulness in the little things that God looks for.

Zac Poonen

www.cfcindia.com

Trust in the Lord Alone for All Your Needs

Elijah was a man who was instantly obedient to every little thing that God said. God told him one day to go and hide himself by the brook Cherith – and he went at once (1 Kings 17:3). There the ravens brought him bread and meat and he drank from the brook (v.6). At 8 o’clock every morning, a raven would bring him some food. Again at 5 o’clock in the evening, another raven would bring him some food. These crows would bring him meat. If the crows had brought him vegetables, that itself would have been a miracle. But for a crow to bring meat (which it loves) is a greater miracle. That’s how God provided for Elijah. But gradually, after a few days, Elijah began depending on the ravens and not the Lord!

Many servants of the Lord start out trusting the Lord for their financial needs. But after a few years, they are no longer depending on the Lord, but on some ravens – human beings who send them regular support! That is exactly what happened to Elijah. So what did the Lord do? He stopped the ravens. God wanted to shake off Elijah’s dependence on ravens and to teach him once again to depend on the Lord. So thank God when the ravens stop coming – when the promised support doesn’t come. Then you willlearn once again to trust the Lord alone for your needs. I have been through experiences like that. I thank God for the times when He has turned away my eyes from ravens to Him Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and Who has said that He will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.

The Lord then changed His method and told Elijah now to go to Zarephath. Zarephath was outside Israel. Elijah may have imagined that some rich businessman there would take care of him. But when he reached Zarephath, what he found was not a rich businessman, but a poor widow who was just about to have her last meal! And the Lord told Elijah, “She will support you!” God’s ways are truly amazing. God does things like that because He is a jealous God. He wants us to trust in Him and not in ravens or rich businessmen. He will use a weak person whom you least expect to be able to help you, and use him, so that no flesh may glory in His presence.

The widow said, “We were just about to have our last meal and die.” Elijah told her, “Don’t be afraid. Make me a little bread cake from it first. The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth” (1 Kings 17:13, 14). And the bowl of flour was not exhausted and the jar of oil did not become empty.

There are many preachers today who use this incident to teach poor people to give them money. But that is a total misinterpretation of this incident. First of all, most of today’s preachers are not prophets like Elijah. Secondly, most of today’s preachers are lovers of money, unlike Elijah. These two facts alone put Elijah in a different class altogether from most of today’s preachers who exploit the poor. Further, Elijah asked the widow for just a bare meal to survive in a time of famine; and he ate the same food that the widow and her son ate. Today’s preachers are not asking for money to survive but to support their grand lifestyles. There are multitudes of false prophets around today.  Unfortunately, since most of God’s people do not know how to distinguish between a true prophet and a false one, they are deceived.

Zac Poonen

www.cfcindia.com

Clear Your Debt to the Whole World and to the Church

In 2 Kings 4:1 to 7, we read of a preacher’s widow who was in debt. It’s a sad thing when husbands die and leave their wives with a debt. That’s something all of us should avoid at any cost. And preachers especially should avoid getting into debt because that is a bad testimony. Now the creditor had come to take away her two children as slaves to repay the debt. Elisha asked her what she had in her home. She replied, “Nothing, except a jar of oil.” She called the jar of oil “nothing”, and yet the solution to all her problems lay right there. The Lord asked Moses something similar in the desert, “What do you have in your hand?” He only had a shepherd’s staff. That was enough. With that staff, he split the Red Sea, brought water out of the rock and led Israel right up to the borders of the promised land. The widow in Zarephath (whom Elijah visited) had only a small bowl of flour and a little jar of oil. But those contained the solution to all her family’s problems and saved her and her son from death. We too may have some ability that we don’t value and say, “I can’t do anything with that.” But that may be the very thing the Lord wants to use.

This jar of oil here is a picture of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes those who serve the Lord say, “I don’t have much money or knowledge. I am not gifted or clever. I don’t have any supporters to give me money. The needs are so great for the Lord’s work. What shall I do?” So you ask them,“Have you received the Holy Spirit?”   “Yes.”   “Then what else do you need?”

This woman did not realize that the solution to all her problems lay in that jar of oil. Elisha told her, “Go and borrow many large vessels from all your neighbours. Then go into your room, shut the door, and keep pouring from your jar into these vessels. They will all get filled up. Don’t let other people see this miracle. Do it in secret” (2 Kings 4:3, 4). This was just like Jesus said, “Go shut the door and pray and fast and give your gifts. Don’t let anybody see you do these things” (Mt.6:1-18).

A man of God must have a secret walk with God where he has dealings with God before he can stand up in public. Shut the door and you can experience the Holy Spirit ministering to all your needs. Then open the door and share that with others. Thus you can clear your debt.

We have a debt to the whole world – to give them the gospel. Paul said, “I am a debtor to Jews and non-Jews, to the cultured and to the barbarians - to everybody - to give them the gospel of God” (Rom.1:14).

We also have a debt to the whole church – to every believer – to show them love. The Bible says, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another” (Rom.13:8).

How are we to clear this two-fold debt – to share the gospel with the world and to love every child of God? Is it money we need or human abilities primarily? No. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. That was what Jesus told His disciples to wait for (Acts 1:8). That is what Paul told Timothy to kindle afresh within him (2 Tim.1:6).

Shut the door and seek God in secret. Pursue after love and seek earnestly for the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, and especially for the gift of prophecy (1 Cor.14:1). You can then go forth and clear your debt. That is the message of this passage of Scripture.

That widow filled every vessel she could find. She not only cleared her debt with that oil but blessed and enriched her neighbours too – for she must have sent those vessels back to them full of oil. That is our calling too – to bless our neighbours and everyone we meet. This is why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Zac Poonen

www.cfcindia.com

Be a Servant Always - Till the End of Your Earthly Days

In 2 Kings 3:11, we see a beautiful title given to the prophet Elisha by others in Israel: “He who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.” Each time, after Elijah had finished eating, Elisha would bring some water and pour it for Elijah to wash his hands. He did that job so regularly and faithfully that others observed it and gave him that title! That is how Elisha started out on his ministry.

God will test our faithfulness in little things before He commits a ministry to us. Joshua had served Moses faithfully for many years before he became the next leader. Timothy served Paul faithfully and became an apostle.

Elisha was not known as a great preacher or a great prophet when he started out. He was known only as a servant. Many young people miss God’s best because they look for fame in the ministry and not for the opportunity to serve others.

Jesus taught us by His example that we should wash people’s feet till the end of our lives. It’s not that we begin by washing people’s feet for a few years and then move up to more senior ministries! No. We are called to wash people’s feet until the end of our lives. We must always be ready to do the lowly tasks.

Jesus said that He had come to serve others and not to be served by others. Be a servant always - till the end of your earthly days. If you want to be a servant of the Lord forever, be a servant of peopleforever. Always consider yourself a servant of others and nothing else. When you serve the Lord, others will be kind to you and serve you. But don’t ever take any delight in that.  Don’t ever look at them as your servants. They are your brothers. Be willing to serve them and to wash their feet. Most preachers today have become “lords”, and that’s why the anointing has gone from their ministry.

BY Zac Poonen  www.cfcindia.com

Pray with full faith... GOD will deliver and hear your prayer... GOD Bless All :)

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. 
(Psalm 18:2-6)