Tag Archives: thankful spirit

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – How to Test Your Experience: I

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“Talk with each other much about the Lord, quoting psalms and hymns and singing sacred songs, making music in your hearts to the Lord. Always giving thanks for everything to our God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by submitting to each other” (Ephesians 5:19,20).

Mary was one of those ardent, faithful church members – a Sunday school teacher, choir member and active participant in a home Bible study – who just assume they are filled with the Holy Spirit because they do everything their pastor or Christian leader asks of them.

“Why has no one, up to now, ever told me that I needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit?” she asked me just after I had publicly suggested that very thing.

To help Mary better understand her own spiritual condition, I read to her the above passage from Ephesians. Then I asked her several questions relating to that portion of Scripture.

“Are you talking about Christ to others? Is your heart filled with melody to the Lord? Do you spend time in God’s Word daily? Do you have a thankful spirit? Do you submit to others in the Lord?”

Mary hesitated only a moment. “If these are evidence of a Spirit-filled life, I must not be controlled by the Holy Spirit. But I would like to be. What should I do?”

With great delight and joy I shared appropriate Scriptures with her, and together we bowed in prayer as she claimed by faith the fullness and control of the Holy Spirit in her life. Surrendering to the lordship of Christ, turning from all known sin, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, she now knew with certainty that she was filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is not a once-and-for-all-decision, but a way of life in which we claim the fullness of the Spirit moment by moment, day by day, by faith.

Bible Reading: Colossians 3:12-17

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will honestly compare myself with the evidences of the supernatural, Spirit-filled life listed in the fifth chapter of Ephesians. If these are not true in my life, I will claim by faith the fullness and control of God’s Holy Spirit, and ask Him to make these qualities a reality in my daily relationships with the Lord, with my loved ones and with others.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Joy and Gladness

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“And the Lord will bless Israel again, and make her deserts blossom; her barren wilderness will become as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Joy and gladness will be found there, thanksgiving and lovely songs” (Isaiah 51:3).

When the editors of a Christian publication came to Arrowhead Springs sometime ago to interview me, the discussion turned to the subject of problems in the Christian life. They were skeptical when I explained my way of handling difficult circumstances, potential sources of anxiety and frustration.

As you will note from this verse in Isaiah, thanksgiving is a spiritual way of singing to the Lord. As we sing with a thankful heart, we receive the joy of the Lord in return.

So it was that I explained to the editors: “Many years ago I learned to obey God’s command to be thankful in all things as an act of faith. And since I am assured from God’s Word that He rules in the affairs of men and nations, that He is all wise, all-powerful and compassionate and that He loves me dearly, I would be very foolish indeed to worry about my problems, cares and tribulations even for a few moments. I cast them upon the Lord as soon as they are brought to my attention.

“For example, I can list at least 25 major problems that I have given to the Lord today – some of which would crush me and destroy my effectiveness if I tried to carry them myself.”

Then I recalled an earlier week beset with illness, surgery and bereavement for loved ones and friends. “But,” I told them, “I chose to obey the Lord’s command to give them all to Him, and to retain a thankful spirit.”

Bible Reading: Ephesians 5:18-21

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will trust God’s Holy Spirit to establish a thankful spirit in my heart and life today and every day as a way of life.