In the book titled “The Saving Life of Christ” by Major W. Ian Thomas he uses an illustration of HOW we are to live the Christian life, that I’d like to share with you.
This, of course, is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit – to allow the Holy Spirit to occupy the whole of your personality with the adequacy of Christ. This is the sublime (cool) secret of drawing upon the unlimited resources of Deity.
How stupid it would be buy a car with a powerful engine under the hood and then to spend the rest of your days pushing it! Thwarted and exhausted, you would wish to discard it as a useless thing! Yet to some of you who are Christians, this may be God’s word to your heart. When God redeemed you through the precious blood of His dear Son, He placed, in the language of my illustration, a powerful engine under the hood – nothing less than the resurrection life of God the Son, made over to you in the person of God the Holy Spirit. Then stop pushing! Step in and switch on and expose every hill of circumstance, of opportunity, of temptation, of perplexity – no matter how threatening – to the divine energy that is available.
With what magnificent confidence you may step out into the future when once you have consented to die to your own self-effort and to make yourself available as a redeemed sinner to all that God has made available to you in His risen Son!
Remember, He does not give you strength – He IS your strength! He does not give you victory – He IS your victory! He can not be your life without being all you need, for “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ…” Col. 2:9, 10a
Then count upon the fact – and stop asking for what you have!
Gal 2:19b, 20 “I have been crucified with Christ. I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Col. 3:4a” …Christ, who is the source of your [new] life….”
My vision for ministry, my energy, my personality, my dedication and commitment will produce zero lasting spiritual work for God as the source is ME and not Christ! Consciously depending on Christ every day as I live out my live, realizing that without Him I can not do a thing – is what God wants from me. His life is the powerful engine to produce the results God wants. I am invited to stop pushing the car of Christ in my own fleshly-effort and by faith sit in the car Christ is and let Him do what only He can do. What a rebuke and challenge to me. This is the kind of person I want to learn how to be, empty of me and fully depending on Him!
With that principle in mind we share what He is doing here in Brazil. For the last month Meri and her husband Sergio have made the 1 hour plus bus ride each way and a speed boat ride out to the school here two times a week to be taught the gospel starting from Genesis up to the resurrection.
We have gotten up to believing Noah and how God saved him, his 3 sons and their wives not only physically but also how they trusted God as their rescuer from Hell as well. Continue to pray that the Spirit would keep convicting them of their spiritual need, and by faith in God they would reach out and take God’s offer to forgive and rescue them. Pray they would stay hungry to be saved! Thanks!
Well with just 7 weeks until school ends things are going well here in the dorm of 5 boys. There is always lots of noise, mischief and challenges to trust the Lord for. He has enabled us to meet each need so far. Denise and I are just finishing up painting the whole outside of the dorm a light terra cota color. It really looks pretty nice!
Austin graduates May 27 from High school here at PQQ! Then we as a family will head back up river to our home up river the first week of June. We will be there six months, until January 2012 while our partners Lindy and Carol Drake take a much needed home assignment time to share what God has been doing among the Guanano through them these last 6 years since they were last back in their home church area. We will be part of the lesson revision while there and discipling and teaching will be happening as well. Pray for our transition back there.
By February we hope to be heading back to the USA to help Austin get started on his life after High school. We are not sure where we will be just yet, and for that we ask you to pray along with us for us to know where would be best to set up home and all. Thanks for praying! It means a lot having friends who care backing us!
Barry, Denise and Austin
Blog http://ntm.org/barry_spor
E-Mail: Barry_Spor@ntm.org
Skype name: Barry and Denise
Phone: 011-55-97-8113-6818