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What is my story?

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I accepted Jesus into my heart at the age of six after a 5-Day Bible Club being held in our backyard. I remember Pastor Dan Austin leading me in the prayer of salvation in my bedroom after the Friday session of the meeting. For the first thirty-seven years of my spiritual life, I was, by all outward appearances, a good person living a good life. I was raised in a wonderful Christian home with parents that loved Jesus, were faithful in church attendance, and lived out their faith every day. To anyone watching, I looked like a model Christian: dependable, moral, disciplined, and engaged. But inside, something essential was missing. My faith was steady but stagnant—alive, yet not growing; obedient, but not fully surrendered. I often describe it this way: I was like a dead fish floating downstream. I wasn’t rebelling or making trouble, but I wasn’t swimming against the current either. I was drifting through life, guided more by habit than by the Holy Spirit. My faith was more about checkin...
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Is my worship true?

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You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. - John 4:22-24 (LSB) To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God. - William Temple And so the Lord says, “Since these people say they are mine but they do not obey me, and since their worship amounts to mere words learned by rote, therefore I will take awesome vengeance on these hypocrites and make their wisest counselors as fools.” -  Living Bible) For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding. - Proverbs ...
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Am I mourning over sin?

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Blessed [forgiven, refreshed by God’s grace] are those who mourn [over their sins and repent], for they will be comforted [when the burden of sin is lifted]. - Matthew 5:4 (Amplified Bible) For [godly] sorrow that is in accord with the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but worldly sorrow [the hopeless sorrow of those who do not believe] produces death.  For [you can look back and] see what an earnestness and authentic concern this godly sorrow has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves [against charges that you tolerate sin], what indignation [at sin], what fear [of offending God], what longing [for righteousness and justice], what passion [to do what is right], what readiness to punish [those who sin and those who tolerate sin]! - 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 (Amplified Bible) As long as we live on this earth as kingdom people, we will have an overwhelming sense of spiritual poverty, and we will say with Paul, “In my flesh dwells no good thi...
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Am I poor in spirit?

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Blessed [spiritually prosperous, happy, to be admired] are the poor in spirit [those devoid of spiritual arrogance, those who regard themselves as insignificant], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [both now and forever]. - Matthew 5:3 (Amplified Bible) To be poor in spirit is to acknowledge one’s spiritual bankruptcy before God. It is the opposite of the self-reliance which the world applauds. We are not spiritually self-sufficient. We cannot merit anything from God. Poverty of spirit is the first step toward the kingdom because it opens the heart to grace. - John Stott What area of my life must I remove pride or self-sufficiency to fully acknowledge my spiritual bankruptcy before God? The high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, the Holy One, says this: I live in that high and holy place where those with contrite, humble spirits dwell; and I refresh the humble and give new courage to those with repentant hearts. - Isaiah 57:15 (Living Bible) Only those who have completely surrender...
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Is my light visible?

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You are the world’s light—it is impossible to hide a town built on the top of a hill. Men do not light a lamp and put it under a bucket. They put it on a lamp-stand and it gives light for everybody in the house. Let your light shine like that in the sight of men. Let them see the good things you do and praise your Father in Heaven. - Matthew 5:14-16 (Phillips) Salt is the influence of Christian character. It is quiet, but it is powerful. Light is the communication of the content of the gospel. On the one hand, we live it; on the other hand, we preach it. God is light, and the Bible or the Word of God is light, and Christ is light; and that is the light that we are to shine on the world. We are to tell them about God, we’re to tell them about God’s Word, and we’re to tell them about God’s Christ. That’s letting the light shine. It has to be spoken, and then it has to be supported by a life that is consistent. - John MacArthur This is the ministry of the new agreement which God in his me...
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Is my salt effective?

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You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty ? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out to be trampled under foot by men. - Matthew 5:13 (LSB) President Woodrow Wilson told this story. I was in a very common place. I was sitting in a barber chair when I became aware that a personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same errand as myself, to have his hair cut, and sat in the chair next to me. Every word the man uttered, though it was not in the least didactic, showed a personal interest in the man who was serving him. And before I got through with what was being done for me, I was aware that I had attended an evangelistic service, because Mr. D.L. Moody was in that chair. I purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular effect that his visit had brought upon the barber shop. They talked in undertones. They didn't know his name, but they knew that something had eleva...
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Am I spiritually stable? - Part 2

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Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is dignified, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, consider these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. - Philippians 4:8-9 (LSB) I wish I could get this message across to this contemporary church culture.  The reason people have so many problems, which literally overpower them and spin them off to all of the books and counselors and psychologists and psychiatrists and methodologies, is because they haven’t properly assessed the fact that the inability to stand your ground and live a balanced, stable, Christian life is directly related to the absence of godly attitudes, godly thoughts, and godly practices.  You’re the only one who can fix those areas in the power of God.  You’re the one who must walk in the Spirit that He mig...
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