Learning from History

From Solomon's writing, he has said that all we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. Little by little every unscriptural methods will appear to grieve the Spirit and stifle the life of Christians. What we can learn about God from the Word of God and through the Holy Spirit through various edification sources will become our life motivation, our good hope, and our confidence in God. In our positive thinking mode, we have to be extremely careful that, in our zeal of positive confession and positive thinking, we should not attempt to do what only God can do--that is, to open the hearts of people. Heresy is not so much rejecting but rather simply selects the parts of the Scripture a Christian wants to emphasize and ignore the rest. Satan is very clever in deceiving us into thinking that bowing to temporal blessings can be clothed in spiritual maturity. God knows our hearts and each of us better know our own hearts, too. Quote by A.W. Tozer: "No act, however noble it may seem to be, done from fear of consequences can be good in itself. A good deed done for earthly gain is an evil deed at bottom. Motive imparts moral quality, and without a holy motive there cannot be a holy act." Believing heart and confessing mouth can only happen as Romans 10:10 says: "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." The heart believes and the mouth confesses that both are necessary to salvation. We should not attempt to do what only God can do--that is, to open the hearts of people. Only the Holy Spirit alone can open the heart that Christians' motives for speaking the word may be commendable, but their methods are probably unscriptural and their spirit completely out of mood with that of our Lord. Our approach to getting people out of their sinful nature must not be to pressure them to do something they don't want to do, but rather, we must present the truth and let the Holy Spirit prompt them to want to learn the truth. Quote by A.W. Tozer God has revealed so many glorious contradictions in the lives and conduct of genuine Christian believers that it is small wonder that we are such an amazement to this world. The Christian is dead and yet he lives forever. He died to himself and yet he lives in Christ. The Christian saves his own life by losing it and he is in danger of losing it by trying to save it. It is strange but true that the Christian is strongest when he is weakest and weakest when he is strongest. When he gets down on his knees thinking he is weak, he is always strong. The Christian is in least danger when he is fearful and trusting God and in the most danger when he feels the most self-confident. He is most sinless when he feels the most sinful and he is the most sinful when he feels the most sinless. The Christian actually has the most when he is giving away the most; and in all of these ways, the Christian is simply putting into daily practice the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, his Savior and Lord! Prayer: Father, give us clear understanding of consequences that we may discern the eternal from the temporal and not compromise.