Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

The third person of the Trinity and the work of G*d in this world – it is the Holy Spirit that builds faith

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on October 3, 2015
Tags: Holy Spirit,   

Spiritual Weight Lifting — Rev. David J. Schreffler

image  October 3, 2015

“Then David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly; David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might; and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all. And now, our God, we give thanks to you and praise your glorious name.” 1 Chronicles 29:10-13

“Recently, I looked up the word sinker in the Webster’s dictionary. It is a weight used for sinking a fishing line or seine. Next, I looked up weight. Weight is heaviness, mass, burden, load. I believe God is telling us, if we will learn to run with the weight that is intended to sink us, it will be astounding to see how fast we can run when the load is lifted. You see, the weights in life that are meant to bring us down can, in fact, build us up. Athletes know this. They use weight to build muscle. Likewise, with the help of the Lord, weights in life such as a loved one passing, sickness, financial trouble, marriage problems, false accusations, job loss, etc. can actually strengthen us.” (Run with Weights On, By Sue Bohnert The Christian Broadcasting Network)

“…it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all.” Before I entered high school I considered myself to be average at athletics, but not a physically strong person. Then, in eighth grade I decided to play football. The summer before ninth grade all of us who were going to try out for football needed to be involved in a strength training program. We lifted weights every day, twice a day. Over the next year, I found that I became physically stronger, and also found that other physical challenges became much easier for me to perform. I could climb the rope in gym class faster and easier than many of my classmates. Other activities we did in gym class also became easier for me to do.

As a pastor, I often pray for the Holy Spirit to give strength to my members who are in the hospital or having other difficulties. Strength comes in many forms — we can lift weights, we can work in a warehouse that requires a lot of lifting — these help us build physical strength by exercising our physical muscles. But in the realm of faith, strength comes from exercising our faith muscles through our experiences. We find strength in how we endure our life experiences, and we find strength in how we experience G*d’s presence with us, sustaining us, and showing us G*d’s love as we travel difficult roads.

You may not feel like a weight lifter, but every day you are building muscles. As you travel the roads of life, when you allow your faith and your relationship with Jesus to lead and guide you, you will be exercising your faith muscles.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on September 29, 2015
Tags: Holy Spirit, ,   

Humility — Rev. David J. Schreffler

 

image  September 29, 2015

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2:3-5

“Let me give you 3 examples, and consider which is the best display of humility:

Example 1: A teenage girl walks to school with her head down and a chip on her shoulder. She often utters to herself – “I’m fat, stupid, and ugly.”

Example 2: A man talks to his friends about his terrible job – he doesn’t brag about his job because he hates his job, but he dominates the conversation with talks of how terrible his job is.

Example 3: A woman talks with her friends. She interjects briefly, but for the most part she listens to what her friends have to say.

The real example of humility is of course example number 3. The other two are not really displaying humility. Example number 1 is an example of ‘low self esteem.’ Low self esteem is not the same as the quality of humility! Example number 2 is really displaying pride! It’s difficult to see because he’s not saying something positive about himself, but by dominating the conversation with facts about himself he says, “My life is very interesting! Everybody look at me!” This is not humility – it’s pride. The third example displays a mature soul who does not draw attention to herself. She is not consumed with thoughts about herself but shows interest in other people. Applying this to the Christian life – Christian humility is shown when a believer dwells primarily on God and God’s glory and not his or her own self-image.

CS Lewis put it like this: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less”.” (HePrayed website — True and False Humility)

Humility is a topic that comes up a lot for Christians. We hear from scripture that we are to be humble, while others will add onto this teaching that we also “should not be door mats for others”. In other words, we are to be careful that others do not abuse and use our kindness for their own benefit. My answer to the dilemma is this: we should pray for the wisdom of Solomon, the generous heart of the widow from the story of the Widow’s Mite, and the closeness of a relationship with Jesus as demonstrated by Mary and Martha.

You see, we all need to approach each situation that presents itself to us with wise discernment. It is one thing to ask “What Would Jesus Do?”, and it is another to ask “What Wouldn’t Jesus Do?” Each situation requires a response, and doing nothing is a response. You see, sometimes Jesus acted, sometimes Jesus spoke, sometimes Jesus sat in silence.

The Widow from the story of the Widow’s Mite gave “all that she had”. She held nothing back in her generous response. We should have such a heart of generosity when we are called to respond. Again, discernment is the answer in the level of generosity.

Finally, we should seek a relationship with Jesus modeled on Mary and Martha. They respond one time with active hands, and another with listening ears. Sometimes they asked Jesus very, very difficult questions, and other times they simply followed, and gave him their total attention.

All of these responses require a level of humility where we demonstrate a mature soul that seeks to serve the “others” in our lives. We are not called to be door mats — we are called to have humble hearts, and active hands.

Pastor Dave