Tiegreen

 Chris Tiegreen is a devotional writer that I much admire. I have found so many of his thoughts speak to and challenge me. I thought I'd use this writing to share three that I've written down in my prayer journal, and use as a part of my prayers.

"Holy Spirit, I desperately need Your touch, Your voice, Your power." This should be one of the constant prayers of the people of God. I'm not sure that in general, the average believer doesn't take the Holy Spirit's presence and ministry in their life for granted. In fact, in many ways, we think of Him only rarely. Francis Chan wrote a wonderful book entitled, "Forgotten God," detailing how the Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit has so greatly diminished in the church. If we think of Him at all, it's as a benign presence, as an "it." He's there, but He's unobtrusive, especially in our corporate gatherings. We certainly don't expect Him to interrupt our well planned proceedings. How His church must grieve Him, not only in our views of Him, but in our ignorance. Scripture says that the Father loves to bestow His gifts upon His children, and that "how much more will He give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him." When was the last time we, you and I, cried out to Him as Tiegreen does in his prayer? Do we long for all the fullness of His touch, voice, and power through His Holy Spirit? Among the many desperate needs of the western church, this may be the foremost....a fresh, new, outpouring of His Holy Spirit. Many would call it revival, but I prefer to call it an awakening to all the fullness of His Spirit.

"Don't just study God's Word, fall in love with it." How do we approach the Living Word of God? What is our view of what is usually called "Bible study?" Is it a tedious exercise in trying to memorize what is written? Is it a duty to be performed? A duty that others have told us needs to be done. Do we spend time in His Word because we have to, or do we see it as a love affair that we get to grow deeper and nearer to Him in? Jesus said that, "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." A popular profession in the church is to say that we love Him. If we do, shouldn't we love His word? If we say we love Him with all our heart, shouldn't we love what He is saying to us through His Word with all our hearts? The Bible is His revealed word to us, and He speaks through it. All that He says to us through His Spirit will be in line with what He has spoken in that revealed word. He speaks outside of His written word, but He never speaks in contradiction to it. If we love Him, then surely we should love to hear Him speak. What are we, you, doing as concerns His Word? Have you fallen in love with it, or, is it merely a dry duty to be carried out?

"See yourself as a Kingdom outpost in hostile territory." One thing is certain; if we are determined to live according to the will and word of God in this world, we will find this world to always be hostile territory, both openly and subtly. The world will allow us to present Christ as one of many paths to God, but they will never, apart from His grace, accept Him as the only path. Neither will they receive their inability to please God by their own efforts, free themselves from the bondage of sin, or accept what was done on the cross of Christ. Christ as absolute Truth will never find reception in a world and culture that says truth is relative. Followers of Christ are in the world, but not of it. We live by the ways of His Kingdom, and not by the ways of the kingdom of the world. The Kingdom of God is in direct conflict and collision with the kingdom of the world that is all around it, and so will be the lives of all those who belong to His Kingdom. We will be His witnesses, His outposts in that world. We will never love that fallen kingdom, but we will love and seek to bring to His Kingdom all those who are trapped in it. We will expect its hostility, but will not be deterred by it. Christ told us to let our light shine before men. He said "Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness cannot comprehend it." We are to be "lighthouses," outposts of His Kingdom in a world composed of rebel kingdoms that are everywhere. We are commanded to be so. Are we being so, or, have we been more affected by the fallen kingdom around us, than His Kingdom within us?

Three thoughts and quotes from Chris Tiegreen. I believe they are Spirit led words, and I hope they speak to you as they have me. Be blessed today my friends.

Pastor O