Sunday, May 31, 2015

God Thinking XCIV - Principles Of God Thinking 2

God Thinking is as much about deliberately abandoning wrong thinking as it is about adopting or putting on top the things of God.

It is this very kind of thinking, ‘wrong thinking’ that keeps you from getting what is rightfully ours in Christ. The things of God are abundant and they are for you 24/7.

The things of God are clear and easy to recognize, because they are unfettered by the things of man.

The things of God flow profusely from God.

You can easily recognize the things of God, they are invisible.

The things of God are the best of all that is available.

The things of God are eternal. - They pass-over from this side to the other.

The things of God don’t need to be burnt up to be purified, they are from God and they are already pure.

The things of God make life better here and they are the things ‘there’ is made of.

The things of God are to be sought with the passion of a rookie football player, trying to make the team - he just caught a pass and he is going to take it all the way home.

The things of God, (which God has imbeded in our heart) once they become your desire, once you see them as from God and to be pursued, should be pursued like a robin pursues a worm for her new born babies.
 
Some of the things of God:
  • What promotes the kingdom of God
  • What meets needs
  • What soothes the lonely
  • What sparks the intellectual
  • What comforts the hurting
  • What encourages the disheartened
  • What lifts up the downtrodden
  • What urges on the despondent
  • What lightens the load of another
  • What softens the blow of disaster
  • What blesses the un-expecting
Excerpt from God thinking XCV - Principles Of God Thinking by Keith C.                                            Powell copyright 2015

Friday, May 29, 2015

God Thinking XCIII - Questions From Within 5

"I want to do better.  Every week I make a commitment to do this or that, but when the week comes around I find myself back in the same old traps.  What can I do to break the cycle?

Abide is the key word that explains how you can break the cycle, and delay is the key word that explains why you can’t.

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall
abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”  Psalms 91:1

John 15:4-6
 4.  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

 5.  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
 6.  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

The cycle is broken when you are abiding in Christ.  This abiding has to be a relational abiding, not a positional abiding.  There are whole denominations built upon positional abiding. 

Positional abiding advocates say: the work of the cross provides the substitutionary sacrifice for your sins, which is correct, but it goes on to say - and blocks any and all actions that you do from evaluation or correction by God.

Relational abiding says:  the work of the cross provides the substitutionary sacrifice for your sins, which is correct, but it goes on to say - God can and does evaluate your actions and provides correction as needed for you to continually be conformrd into the image of Christ.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29.  For whom he did foreknow, (knew before the physical existence of our being existed and prior to our having taken any actual action ) he also did predestinate (chose by responding positively to the choices that we would make in due time, which God knows because He has full understanding of all actions and future actions of all persons) to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”          Romans 8:28-29

This image that God foreknew and predestinated would take place is not a static image like a picture on paper, but a living image, fulfilled by relationship with the living Christ.

If you want success or victory over the things that pop up every week that stand in the way of your spiritual progress, you must rely on your personal relationship with Christ."

    Excerpt from God Thinking XCIII - Questions from within by Keith C.                                              Powell Copyright 2015


                          

Thursday, May 28, 2015

God Thinking XCIII - Questions From Within 4

"(Continued) I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that He died for my sins and rose again from the dead.  Can’t I also believe in other divinities like Buddha and Rah and Zoroaster without losing my connection with Christ?


Prophesy:
God is going to pour out His Spirit on everyone, but the women of the world are going to be more receptive - Because women have been suppressed worldwide, when they are free to read the scriptures and begin to sense the Spirit of God, in this world-wide move of God - those who have not been free to worship God are going to take an unprecedented stand for Jesus Christ.  

Islam will be crushed from within.

Joel 2:28
28.  And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Entertaining alternate belief systems will only lead to confusion and wasted years.  At the end of life, you will stand before Jesus Christ. 

There will be no mention of any other deity, and not one person will prevail in explaining to God how God is unfare - because inside the heart:
The unbeliever
The religiously deceived
The secular humanist
The agnostic
The atheist
Inside their heart, there is a distinct, divine, imbedded (desire, hunger, yearning, longing) to know their creator."

    Excerpt from God Thinking XCIII - Questions from within by Keith C.                                              Powell Copyright 2015    

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

God Thinking XCIII - Questions From Within 3

"I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that He died for my sins and rose again from the dead.  Can’t I also believe in other divinities like Buddha and Rah and Zoroaster without losing my connection with Christ?

There’s only one way to be sure that you are saved.  “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”  Romans 8:16

Two things happen when the Holy Spirit indwells Himself in you:
1   Doubt as to the existence of God, the deity of Christ and the indwelling presence of God is removed from your being.  The doubt is supplanted by faith in Jesus Christ, through personal experience.
2     All other deities, characters, created beings and creatures take their rightful place - under and not ever equal to the Sovereignty of the triune God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Buddha is not God.
Vishnu is not God.
Rah is Not God.
Zoroaster is not God.
Cow’s are not sacred.
And cucumbers are just plain cucumbers. Don't laugh too hard there are people who worship cucumbers.

Christians that make excuses for and defend other faiths have been seriously misinformed or they have not come to that place of the personal relationship with the Christ.

The Bible says, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
 5.  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
 6.  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.  Ephesians 4:4-6

 6.  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  John 14:6
 12.  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is
none other name under heaven given among men, hereby we must be saved.      Acts 4:12

Jesus Christ is the creator and sustainer of life.  All other deities were created by man - and have no power, no authority.  They bring no rain, no life, no peace, no solace, no direction, no answers.

Without the power of (social management religions), these gods so-called would have been brought into question, exposed as false and discarded."
    
    Excerpt from God Thinking XCIII - Questions from within by Keith C.                                              Powell Copyright 2015

Monday, May 25, 2015

God Thinking XCIII - Questions From Within 2

"You talk about going deeper with God.  How can I go deeper, when I can’t even change a simple habit?

You can change your habits, but now you are having to deal with the flesh keeping you from your desired spiritual goal.
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”    Matthew 26:41

 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”  John 6:63

We put too much stock in our body.  The habits that bind you support the flesh, not the spirit.  To overcome and succeed at reducing the influence of a degenerative habit, so that at some point you can again take control, we need each other.

Under the best of circumstances, you can overcome on your own, but you risk that time will run out before you succeed.

Not one of us came to Christ perfect.  Not one of us has gained ground in our walk with Christ on our own.  We need each other.  If we had any idea of how much prayer has gone up on our behalf for us to have the success we already have.

It is not a blot or a mark against you to reach out and get help to overcome difficult and seemingly impossible habits, but it is a blot and mark against you to attempt to ride out the storm alone.

Even Jesus sought prayer support and fellowship and Jesus is the Son of God. 

There will be no success for those who attempt to war against the flesh on their own. 

Only through unity, agreement, education, faithfulness, hard work and determination, bathed in prayer - do we stand a chance to get the victory over habits that have attached themselves to you like a barnacle on the bottom of a boat.

Most degenerative habits didn’t come over night and won’t go away over night, but if we are willing to yield our flesh to God, the Holy Spirit will make it possible to overcome and ease the transition. 

Even when you are going to continue to feed a degenerative habit, you should pray - to get your mind to begin to mediate between the flesh and the Spirit of God.  In so doing your habit will lose its holding power, and our ability to overcome  will increase until you regain control."
   
    Excerpt from God Thinking XCIII - Questions from within by Keith C.                                              Powell Copyright 2015

Sunday, May 24, 2015

God Thinking XCIII - Questions From Within 1

"You talk about going deeper with God.  "How can I go deeper, when I can’t even change a simple habit?"

I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that He died for my sins and rose again from the dead.  Can’t I also believe in other divinities like Buddha and Rah and Zoroaster without losing my connection with Christ?

I want to do better.  Every week I make a commitment to do this or that, but when the week comes around I find myself back in the same old traps.  What can I do to break the cycle?

I want to see angels in a vision, but every time I try to see an angel...it’s just not what I want to experience.  Is it OK that I want to see an angel or even to see Jesus?

I want to hear the voice of God, but I can’t seem to get quiet enough, long enough to hear His voice.  How can I hear His voice and how can I know it is His voice?

I want to do the right thing, but it seems so hard.  Is it supposed to be so hard to do the right thing?

I know I should feel forgiven for my past sins.  Why do I still feel guilt?

I like to watch sitcoms and regular TV.  I am going to watch
them anyway, but I would like to know, how do I know if what I am watching is something that would be approved of by God?"

Yo are going to answer each of these questions from within yourself.  The direction I give is only to spark that inner man that inhabits you.  All of these questions were asked at different seminars and most of the question were asked by those who already had the answers."

   Excerpt from God Thinking XCIII - Questions from within by Keith C.                                              Powell Copyright 2015

Thursday, May 21, 2015

God Thinking XCII - Question Of The Heart 10

"How can I get closer to God?  It seems that when I try, there is always something to cut it short, and I just don’t get to the place of glory that you talk about.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” 1 Peter 5:8

Count on resistance.  Your enemy is a planner. Just the thought that you desire a glory moment with God inflames your enemy to disrupt what you are doing or distract you long enough to lose the moment, anything to keep you from reaching beyond the norm.

The Bible says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
 8.  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”  James 4:8

You can draw nigh to God, but it will require more than a moderate attempt at the last minute while rushing to get to the next thing.   

To draw nigh to God is a sacred event and not to be in the same repertoire as shopping, doing the laundry or getting a bite to eat.  If you want the glory of God you will have to seek it differently than other pursuits, because there isn’t as much resistance from the enemy in seeking other pursuits.

If we are going to be lit up like a light in the presence of God, we will have to learn to live a quiet and peaceful life.      
 1.  I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
 2.  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.   1 Timothy 2:1-2

The Bible talks about living a quiet and peaceful life, being quiet before God and seeking a quiet place to meditate on His Word.  Nothing else will provide the proper setting for a glory moment with God. 

God isn’t going to compete for your affections. 
  
Entering into the inner court takes perseverance.  God doesn’t make it difficult, but the resistance from the enemy is formidable.

On this side of heaven there will always be resistance, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.   Ephesians 6:12

Some of us want a Moses experience while we have the TV on in the background and we are monitoring the mobile phone. 

The glory of God is not a commodity, nor will God respond in a glorious way, to a partially yielded vessel.  There’s only one way to get closer to God and that is to get further away from the world."

Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015





Tuesday, May 19, 2015

God Thinking XCII - Question Of The Heart 9

"The next time they all get up and go pray for somebody, I am going to walk right out the door.  Shouldn’t they keep their problems to themselves?

Actually, every subject that we are discussing is to deal with different types of rebellion.  One of the most dangerous kind of rebellion is to create a situation where you put God on trial.

You haven’t left much room for a move of God if you pre-plan your experience with God.

God demands that you submit your will to his will, not the other way around.  Learning to be softened and pliable is a great part of your Sunday worship experience.  If we are hard and rigid, you become like the Pharaoh of Egypt, who would not yield to God. 

Even after ten plagues the Pharaoh still held out in rebellion to God.  If you are that hardened inside the sanctuary, what are you at home where those who love you the most have to tip-toe around you and act like everything is OK. 

One thing you should know, you are always going one way or the other - either closer to or further away from God.

As far as Christians keeping their problems to themselves, that is not God’s plan.  The Bible says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.    James 5:16

Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015


Monday, May 18, 2015

God Thinking XCII - Question Of The Heart 8

"One hour of Church is enough for anybody.  Who does the preacher think he is, just taking his good ole time?

The preacher/pastor is a servant and if your pastor is following God’s guidance, you need to take up this question with God, not man.

As a servant your pastor is sensitive to the time, but not ruled or led by it.  It’s not really his fault that it seems like a long time.  The Church has been surviving on religion for a long time and religion can easily be practiced within an hour on even less. But relationship takes more time to develop, and and good Church is about relationship, not religion. 

The truth is: Those who want to hurry God on Sunday hurry God throughout the week also and God doesn’t hurry.

I believe that you should finish what you start, and if you start Sunday morning:
in hope of seeking and finding God’s presence
         in hope of hearing the blessed Word of God
in hope of meeting the spiritual needs of the congregation
in hope of finding peace in your heart
in hope of being healed in the body
in hope of your children staying pure
in hope of your week ahead going well
in hope that you apprehend the truth
in hope that you get answers

An hour isn’t very much time.

 Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015


Sunday, May 17, 2015

God Thinking XCII - Question Of The Heart 7

"I believe that Jesus died on the cross, but I don’t see any need for all this Church stuff.  It’s boring and I don’t want to stop doing the things that I like to do.  Can’t I just believe and still live the way I want too?

How do you want it, watered down or straight up? 
Striaght up
If you aren’t liking Church, and you are bored now, you’re not going to like heaven either and you will be bored to death.

Everything about God has to do with interaction one to another with God leading us and guiding us.    

Organized Church isn’t perfect, but without the call to holiness in the lives of believers, without regular fellowship, without being called up to higher ground, without praise and worship, without Bible study, discipleship, baby dedications, funerals, baptisms, communion, corporal prayer - only your own you can become self-centered instead of Christ centered and you can become self-willed instead of God willed.

Of course you can live the way you want to, but if you have been born again, the Church is not your enemy, it becomes your best friend. 

The Bible says, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
 25.  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25

You and those you worship with complement each other.  Your strengths and weaknesses are integrated together to make up the body of Christ.

It’s only a matter of time that you will stop doing the things that displease God.  Sooner is better, and that is why God put us together, to be there for each other, through thick and thin, in season and out of season, when we are poor and when we are rich.

You can believe and live any way you want to, but you cannot live with peace and joy and hope, without living for Christ.

Romans 1:18
18.  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;"

Yes you can just believe the way you want to, your own self-created and personally managed form of Christianity, but do you really believe that is best?"

 Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015

Saturday, May 16, 2015

God Thinking XCII - Question Of The Heart 6

"I want to be a part of the Church, but I really don’t want to give up the relationship I am in.  What can I do?

You can go to Church and be in a relationship that is not sanctioned by God, but every time there is an anointing, inside you feel the distance instead of the closeness of God.

Sharing physical intimacy outside of marriage is forbidden as recorded in the scriptures and there is a price to pay for disobeying God. 

Just as with any sin, you are called to turn from your sinful ways and replace them with the ways of God.  

The Bible says: 18.  Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19.  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20.  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.  Corinthians 6:18-20

Wouldn’t it be better to separate until you are married, so that when you are married you can have the blessing of God within the marriage? 

Don’t expect to hear one word of this message from the world, because the world doesn’t care about you, your girl friend/boyfriend - the world doesn’t care about your future, nor does it care if you are in the will of God or out - but God does care and God knows what is best, not only for you but for your girl friend/boyfriend.

Separate for a season - Court one another and then marry.  It is far less expensive (emotionally and financially) than any other option."

Note: I can just hear the mocking and the indifference from those who are living with someone and intend to continue, no matter what anyone says, even God.  It's OK. You can stand firmly and adamantly against God on this issue and God will still love you the same. You will not enjoy the internal feeling you get from making things right with God nor will you get the benefits of waiting, planning, courting that you would if you chose differently, but don't ever believe anyone that says that God loves you less.  It's just not true. 

 Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

God Thinking XCII - Question Of The Heart 5

"I am not the speaking kind of personality, and I don’t particularly want to help with the ministry, but I want to help, just not the way that others do.  What can I do to help? 

You have been called to go and do as God leads.  You will have a different calling than others.  Finding that calling can take weeks, months, years, or decades.
                              
But rest assured that you have been called to serve God and man in some capacity. 
1 Corinthians 7:17
17.  But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk.
  
1 Corinthians 7:20
20.  Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

1 Corinthians 7:24
24.  Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

Ephesians 4:1
 1.  I Therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,"

I know for sure that you can pray.  You can pray for your ministry, its leaders, its finances, its teachers, its direction. 

But now this; if and when you do pray for a ministry and its leaders, its finances, its teachers and its direction - you will be stirred up in the heart to do something about what you are praying about - It’s the way God operates."

 Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015

Thursday, May 14, 2015

God Thinking XCII - Question Of The Heart 4

"I hear a lot of talk about getting in the presence of God, but if I do will I have to believe just like my wife or my husband?

No.  But there will be some similarities.  God imparts Himself unto you as you get into His presence.  And God’s self that He imparts unto you is not different than what God imparts unto others.  Our character and personality is different one from another, but God does not change. 

When you truly receive God into your being, the fruits of the spirit rise to the top and are revealed, despite your character, upbringing, nationality, previous religious philosophy, despite your past, your talent, your skill or your intellect.

The fruits of the spirit are:   “love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith,  23.  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.   Galatians 5:22-23

These attributes transcend the character and personality of each believer.

(Again) when you truly receive God into your being, the fruits of the spirit rise to the top and are revealed, despite your character, upbringing, nationality, previous religious philosophy, despite your past, your talent, your skill or your intellect - but not in spite of your current situation. 

If you are in rebellion or if you are knowingly living in sin, (against your own knowledge of God's intended will) the fruit of the Spirit will not rise to the top - the Spirit is quenched and the fruit is not produced until you yield. 

When you backslide, the fruit of the Spirit is stiffled - It’s God’s way of reminding you of your total inability to accomplish the will of God on your own. 

The will of God is accomplished when the fruit of the Spirit is present.  The fruit of the Spirit is present when the will of God is accomplished.  The will of God is only accomplished in you when you yield to the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God only produces fruit when you accomplish the will of God.                 
The Bible says, “...For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
 6.  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”  Matthew 19:5-6

I hear a lot of talk about getting in the presence of God, but if I do will I have to believe just like my wife or my husband?

No, you do not have to believe just like your wife/husband, but if and when each of you submit to the will of God, you will believe the same.

    Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

God Thinking XCII - Question Of The Heart 3

Is there a way for me to experience the healing power of God without going up in the front of the Church and being prayed for?

Yes.  You can be the recipient of someone who goes up in the front of the Church and prays for you.

Going up in the front of Church has nothing to do with healing - except it is a place where men and women of faith join together in agreement and that has a lot to do with healing. (there is power in agreement.)

You could join together in agreement somewhere else, but the practical truth is that on Sunday morning (or other) when you are all together, it becomes the place where the most like minded believers get together to agree in prayer under the anointing:
The anointing of:
a collective group of saints
the anointing of the ministry
the anointing of the sanctuary

That doesn't mean that you cannot get off to yourself somewhere alone and pray and get healed. It's just that collective/corporal prayer is a God thing.  OK so praying alone is a God thing also.  The bottom line is that either way God will hear your prayer, but praying together as a group is more than just a suggestion in the Bible.

James 5:14-16
14.  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
 15.  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
 16.  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Of course you can go to God in private prayer and pray for healing and God can move on the prayer of one.  If you have the kind of faith that can pray healing into existence, you also have the kind of faith that can get up and go to the front of the sanctuary and let your request be made known.

One more thing.  Holding out, not going to the front or not getting with other prayer warriors to pray for our healing is not the express will of God.  

 Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

God Thinking XCII - Question Of The Heart 2

How do you take what you learn from a message (in Church) and put it to practical use? “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
 17.  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17

Several key points here:
1     God’s Word is where a good message is from.
2     God’s Word was never meant to be a set of do’s and don’ts, or a set of rules and regulations that are apart from us and we look to them as a list to follow:
God’s Word was meant to become part of who we are, not so that we would live by reference to the letter of the law, but that we would live out by experience what is in the law of God.
3     The instruction of the Lord is so that you will be thoroughly furnished to act and respond and do what is acceptable to God, naturally.
4     For all practical purposes, the reason for the scriptures is so that you will integrate the will of God in everything you do, in whatever trade you are in, at whatever job you are at, within the home, and even when you are alone.
5     It is not true that your business and your relationship with Christ, is or can be separated - nor can anyone who is in Christ, operate apart from Christ, like in the conflict over separation of church and state.  There can only be separation of church and state if no one in the body of Christ is in the state.

You cannot separate who you are from what you do."

   Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015


God Thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart 1

Questions Of The Heart

How do I take what I learn from a message and put it to practical use?

Is there a way for me to experience the healing power of God without going up in the front of the Church and being prayed for?

I hear a lot of talk about getting in the presence of God, but if I do will I have to believe just like my wife or my husband?

I am not the speaking kind of personality, and I don’t particularly want to help with the ministry, but I want to help, just not the way that others do.  What can I do to help? 

I want to be a part of the Church, but I really don’t want to give up the relationship I am in.  What can I do?

I believe that Jesus died on the cross, but I don’t see any need for all this Church stuff.  It’s boring and I don’t want to stop doing the things that I like to do.  Can’t I just believe and still live the way I want too without losing my soul?

One hour of Church is enough for anybody.  Who does the preacher think he is, just taking his good ole time?

The next time they all get up and go pray for somebody, I am gong to walk right out the door. Shouldn’t they keep their problems to themselves?
  
How can I get closer to God?  It seems that when I try, their always something to cut it short, and I just don’t get to the place of glory that you talk about.

You talk about going deeper with God.  How can I go deeper, when I can’t even change a simple habit?

I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that He died for my sins and rose again from the dead.  Can’t I also believe in other divinities like Buddha and Rah and Zoaraster without losing my connection with Christ?

I want to do better.  Every week I make a commitment to do this or that, but when the week comes around I find myself back in the same old traps.  What can I do to break the cycle?

I want to see angels in a vision, but every time I try to see an angel...it’s just not what I want to experience.  Is it OK that I want to see an angel or even to see Jesus?

I want to hear the voice of God, but I can’t seem to get quiet enough, long enough to hear His voice.  How can I hear His voice and how can I know it is His voice?

I want to do the right thing, but it seems so hard.  Is it supposed to be so hard to do the right thing?

I know I should feel forgiven for my past sins.  Why do I still feel guilt?


I like to watch sitcoms and regular TV.  I am going to watch them anyway, but I would like to know, how do I know if what I am watching is something that would be approved of by God?

   Excerpt from God thinking XCII - Questions Of The Heart by Keith C.                                          Powell Copyright 2015