II Timothy
My forty day journey through the epistles continues. Here are some thoughts from II Timothy.
Paul says he serves God with "a clear conscience" (II Timothy 1:3).
I had a frustrating day yesterday. My computer crashed and I lost two emails I had spent hours working on. Unfortunately, AOL doesn't have a back-up feature like Word so I lost everything I was working on! I'm no computer guru, but my processor was maxed out. It warned me: virtual memory low. But I ignored it and paid the price.
When we sin it's like we open guilt windows that causes our conscience to crash. Confession is the way we close the windows and defragment and operate at peak performance. There is nothing like serving God with a clear conscience is there? No distractions. Nothing to slow us down!
II Timothy 2:7 is some of the best advice in Scripture: "Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all of this." No reflection = No insight. Reading without meditating is like eating without digesting. I believe that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the writers of Scripture can inspire the readers of Scripture. This verse is at the heart of why I decided to just read through the epistles during these forty days versus the entire Bible like I did last year. I'm trying to linger longer over key verses. There is nothing like God giving us insight into His word is there? It's life-changing!
II Timothy 2:14 says, "Warn them before God against quarreling about words." When I was in Seminary I almost jumped ship and left the Assemblies of God because I had issue with some of the semantics of how the doctrinal statement described the baptism in the Holy Spirit. To make a long story short, I use different words to describe the same experience. I think words are incredibly important. I don't recommend compromising your convictions. But I decided not to quarrel about words. In the world of mathematics, there are different ways to arrive at the right answer. Don't get me wrong. There is only one right answer. But there are different ways of getting there! I think the Holy Spirit speaks more than six billion languages. He deals with each of us on an individual basis. No one has more originality than the Holy Spirit. You can't put Him in a box or reduce him to a formula! I never cease to be amazed at the ingenuity of the Holy Spirit. He fills us in different ways at different times. I never want to let semantics get in the way of me being filled with the Holy Spirit. Too many churches have reduced God to a doctrinal statement. The end result is "having a form of godliness but denying its power" (II Timothy 3:5).
Paul says he serves God with "a clear conscience" (II Timothy 1:3).
I had a frustrating day yesterday. My computer crashed and I lost two emails I had spent hours working on. Unfortunately, AOL doesn't have a back-up feature like Word so I lost everything I was working on! I'm no computer guru, but my processor was maxed out. It warned me: virtual memory low. But I ignored it and paid the price.
When we sin it's like we open guilt windows that causes our conscience to crash. Confession is the way we close the windows and defragment and operate at peak performance. There is nothing like serving God with a clear conscience is there? No distractions. Nothing to slow us down!
II Timothy 2:7 is some of the best advice in Scripture: "Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all of this." No reflection = No insight. Reading without meditating is like eating without digesting. I believe that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the writers of Scripture can inspire the readers of Scripture. This verse is at the heart of why I decided to just read through the epistles during these forty days versus the entire Bible like I did last year. I'm trying to linger longer over key verses. There is nothing like God giving us insight into His word is there? It's life-changing!
II Timothy 2:14 says, "Warn them before God against quarreling about words." When I was in Seminary I almost jumped ship and left the Assemblies of God because I had issue with some of the semantics of how the doctrinal statement described the baptism in the Holy Spirit. To make a long story short, I use different words to describe the same experience. I think words are incredibly important. I don't recommend compromising your convictions. But I decided not to quarrel about words. In the world of mathematics, there are different ways to arrive at the right answer. Don't get me wrong. There is only one right answer. But there are different ways of getting there! I think the Holy Spirit speaks more than six billion languages. He deals with each of us on an individual basis. No one has more originality than the Holy Spirit. You can't put Him in a box or reduce him to a formula! I never cease to be amazed at the ingenuity of the Holy Spirit. He fills us in different ways at different times. I never want to let semantics get in the way of me being filled with the Holy Spirit. Too many churches have reduced God to a doctrinal statement. The end result is "having a form of godliness but denying its power" (II Timothy 3:5).
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