Bible | The Skilled Workman

The Positive confession - July 3, 2010 by David Bergsland

One of the more common heresies running around the church today is that we must always speak positively, that negative confessions are, by definition bad. The truth of the matter is quite different.

II Timothy 3:16 {NKJV}

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”

God tells us the purpose in the next verse [let's use New Living this time]:

“God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

Please notice that the second use of scripture if “for reproof”. The amplified expands this (and correction) to the following:

“for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience”

This does not sound like the power of positive speaking to me.

Jesus could be quite negative

Take the verse I harp on all the time—spoken to the church-goers of the day:

Matthew 7:21-23 [Amplified]

“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name? And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].”

Notice that these are people using the name of Jesus in power—those whom we would call spirit-filled today. They prophesied, did exorcisms, and miracles in the name of Jesus. Yet, Jesus says to them the scariest words in scripture, “I never knew you: depart from me”.

May it never happen to any of us!

So, how are we to speak?

Paul says it best in Ephesians 4:15

“speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him”

OK, I understand speaking the truth, but that is to be done “in love” . Again Paul says it best in I Corinthians 13: 4–6 [NASB]

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;”

So, even if the truth hurts we are responsible to be patient, kind, humble, meek, un-offended, in the moment, and happy with the truth as it is reveled. But, we mustn’t pull back if the truth requires a rebuke, a warning, or a so-called negative expression.

If we are prayed for about healing, we are not to lie if it still hurts but positively confess that we’re healed. However, I see nothing wrong with saying, “I haven’t seen the manifestation yet, but I am convinced that He will heal me and stop the pain.” [But only if that is really the truth about how you feel.]

God never requires us to lie. If you think that is what is happening in your life, bite your lip, zip your yap, and don’t say anything until you can say the truth. Sure that is difficult sometimes. But the Christian walk requires nothing less.

Category Discipleship, Holy Spirit | 0 Comments »

Giving the Holy Spirit control - May 23, 2010 by David Bergsland

Possession has a really bad ring to it, doesn’t it?

However, that is simply due to the fact that we almost always preface possession with demon. This is a bad thing. However, the Holy Spirit is God himself and a gentleman at the very least. This is a spirit you should covet. This is a spirit you want to possess you, to fill you to overflowing.

Maintaining spiritual security

The manner of living this way mimics what we have to do to maintain security on the Web.

We do not listen to anyone we don’t know.

Spiritually, this is incredibly important. Demons lie and pass themselves off as beings of light that we like and want to befriend—much like in an unregulated chat room.

Spiritually trustworthy people are very rare. Be extremely careful who you trust: be they pastor, bishop, evangelist, friend, lover, spouse, child, whomever.

We only accept information from sources we trust.

This goes much further than you might think. Scripture is clear that the world is under the authority of the evil one. This is the spiritual power behind almost all movies, TV shows, music, books, Websites, and so on.

Even the Bible must be read with care. KJV has many archaic words that need careful translating to the modern usage. Gender neutral translations abound, but more common are those written by paternal bigots. I’ll do a list of the versions and link from here if any one is interested.

We never give our password to those who ask.

Our soul, worship, & allegiance: we do not sell our soul to the devil, give allegiance to the enemy, get committed to heathen organizations, and so on. We all work in the world within heathen groups under demonic authority, but we do not have to give them our allegiance, worship, or unqualified support.

We have strong junk filters

We need to learn to recognize junk in the same way we filter junk mail & email. If Jesus is not openly proclaimed as Lord of Lords, both man & God—beware!

We only register on trusted Sites

Be careful of which churches & ministries you get involved with. Many of them are apostate. They do have believers within them, but official policy is commonly anti-scriptural and far outside the normal Christian life.

We need the Holy Spirit

This security itself is impossible without the Holy Spirit. We need to give Him as much authority over us as He will provide. As I mentioned, He is a gentleman and you will need to constantly reaffirm your desire to be under His control. You will need to actively seek a stronger, closer relationship.

If you sense someone or something aggressively demanding access, that’s not the Holy Spirit. He does not do that.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Let us know how you feel

Category Announcements, Holy Spirit | 0 Comments »

Web 2 Digital Bible: Glo from Zondervan - October 18, 2009 by David Bergsland

I ran across this in my Christian professionals group at Linked In this morning. It is a visually exciting presentation to be sure. My only question is:

Can it really be used?

I saw no place to add notes, new crossreferences or any of the other things necessary for a real study bible. I’ve included a scan of one of the pages in one of my bibles to show you what I mean.

It may be that Glo can handle this, but I couldn’t find it in the promo pieces on their fancy Website.

It is gorgeous though—unlike this bible that has actually been used. I’ve got to admit I’m suspicious when they don’t give you the version and the typography looks so bad on the screen. I’m afraid it’s NIT or worse.

My guess is (judging by past history) that Zondervan has it locked down tighter than a drum so it can’t really be used as a teaching tool.

A used study bible

Category Announcements, Apprenticeship, Christian Design, On-Demand Publishing, Readability, Typography | 7 Comments »