by David Scott Robertson
"As for you, the ANOINTING you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his ANOINTING teaches you about all things and as that ANOINTING is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him" (1 John 2:27). [Emphasis mine]
As a man of God -
The most AWESOME thing I can think of
Is ministering under the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
As a man of God -
The most AWFUL thing I can think of
Is ministering apart from the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Ministry performed in the strength of the flesh
Is, at best, embarrassing to the minister and, at worst, harmful to the recipient.
Effectual ministry originates from God
And flows outward through a yielded vessel.
Valid ministry allows the Lord to use
Your vocal chords, your hands, you mind and muscles
To bring about God's will from heaven to earth.
True ministry carries spiritual weight and authority.
Why?
The power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
It's the difference between public speaking and holy declaration.
It's the difference between a pat on your shoulder and laying hands on the sick and they recover (James 5:15).
It's the difference between sharing information
Versus communicating the "word of the Lord" that will change lives.
Friends, we must seek the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit
To activate, energize, and empower our respective ministries.
If you are a man of God,
A woman of God,
A teenager of God,
A child of God…
I counsel you, implore you, encourage you with all the earnestness I possess
To by all means obtain the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit
Before you attempt anything in the name of "ministry."
Whether that involves SINGING in the choir,
PREACHING a sermon,
TEACHING a Sunday School lesson,
LEADING a cell group,
PRAYING for a troubled teen,
COUNSELING a co-worker whose marriage is disintegrating,
Or SERVING in any capacity in the name of the Lord.
How do you obtain the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit?
ASK for it (God will surely give it).
SEEK God's face (not His hand).
Be a PURE vessel (deal with any sin in your own life prior to ministering).
DECIDE on the front end to be OBEDIENT to the Spirit's directives (obedience brings the miraculous).
DON'T TOUCH God's glory (no flesh shall glory in His presence).
STAND in faith (the battle and results are the Lord's).
Is the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit available to all born-again believers?
Yes.
Is it really necessary to perform the works of Jesus?
Yes.
Are you ready to walk in the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit this very day?
[Speak out loud your response to God here…]
DSR
8/25/02
Sunday, August 25, 2002
Saturday, August 17, 2002
The Art of Delighting God
by David Scott Robertson
“The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight” (Proverbs 11:1).
The cashier at McDonald’s gives you back $1 too much in change.
You give it back.
The art of delighting God.
The man at the produce stand on the side of the road sells a dozen ears of corn for $2.
He always gives an extra ear of corn to the customer just in case one ear is bad.
The art of the delighting God.
The driver comes to a 4-way stop in the middle of Kansas.
You can see for 30 miles in any direction and no other cars are even visible.
The driver makes a complete stop at the stop sign.
The art of delighting God.
Your friend rides his brand new motorcycle to your house to show it off.
He invites you to take it around the block for a spin.
You tell him you can’t because your license in not endorsed to drive motorcycles.
The art of delighting God.
The business owner buys a widget for $10 each.
He resells it in his shop for $25 instead of his competitor selling it for $100.
The art of delighting God.
The mechanic repairs the lady’s car and receives payment.
A week later the symptoms return to the vehicle.
It takes the mechanic 2 hours to diagnose and repair the problem at no additional charge.
The art of delighting God.
The man says “I’ll be there at 9:00am.”
At 9:00am the man is there.
The art of delighting God.
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
“The LORD detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are blameless” (Proverbs 11:20).
“This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches,
“but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Is it worth it to take the high road of integrity every time --
Even when it costs you time, money, energy, effort, and lost profits?
What is the payoff for doing things right and doing the right things?
“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4)
“When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7).
DSR
8/17/02
“The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight” (Proverbs 11:1).
The cashier at McDonald’s gives you back $1 too much in change.
You give it back.
The art of delighting God.
The man at the produce stand on the side of the road sells a dozen ears of corn for $2.
He always gives an extra ear of corn to the customer just in case one ear is bad.
The art of the delighting God.
The driver comes to a 4-way stop in the middle of Kansas.
You can see for 30 miles in any direction and no other cars are even visible.
The driver makes a complete stop at the stop sign.
The art of delighting God.
Your friend rides his brand new motorcycle to your house to show it off.
He invites you to take it around the block for a spin.
You tell him you can’t because your license in not endorsed to drive motorcycles.
The art of delighting God.
The business owner buys a widget for $10 each.
He resells it in his shop for $25 instead of his competitor selling it for $100.
The art of delighting God.
The mechanic repairs the lady’s car and receives payment.
A week later the symptoms return to the vehicle.
It takes the mechanic 2 hours to diagnose and repair the problem at no additional charge.
The art of delighting God.
The man says “I’ll be there at 9:00am.”
At 9:00am the man is there.
The art of delighting God.
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
“The LORD detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are blameless” (Proverbs 11:20).
“This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches,
“but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Is it worth it to take the high road of integrity every time --
Even when it costs you time, money, energy, effort, and lost profits?
What is the payoff for doing things right and doing the right things?
“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4)
“When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7).
DSR
8/17/02
Monday, August 5, 2002
The One Needful Thing
by David Scott Robertson
(Luke 10:41 KJV) And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
(Luke 10:42 KJV) But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
I got up on time.
I slid into my favorite chair.
I got out my Bible.
I read passages from the
Old Testament,
New Testament,
Psalms,
And Proverbs.
I read today's quota of the classic Oswald Chamber devotional
"My Utmost For His Highest."
I turned on some praise & worship music
And sang along with three or four songs.
I prayed for my wife and daughter,
My pastors and church,
My country and for the peace of Jerusalem.
Then I hit the showers and headed off to work.
In your estimation,
Do you think I had what you would judge a successful "morning devotion?"
Do you suppose my time with the Lord
Was really a time with the Lord?
Can you see anything I missed?
I'm certain the reader could quickly identify
Any number of missing elements
In my morning meeting with God -
Depending upon your spiritual or religious tradition.
For example, you might recommend
Partaking of the Lord's Table (holy communion),
Dancing before the Lord in worship,
Praying in the Spirit (in tongues),
Journaling my prayers,
Speaking scriptural declarations out loud
(You always pray God's will when you pray God's Word),
Or perhaps sitting quietly in silence and listen for the Spirit's still, small voice.
All of the above are excellent embellishments
To any devotional time spent with the Lord.
My point today
Is the same as Rabbi Jesus' point to Martha regarding Mary:
"And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).
The one needful thing…
Is to get the “Word of the Lord.”
God can speak to us while we are in our favorite chair
Reading passages from the
Old Testament,
New Testament,
Psalms and Proverbs.
God can speak, and often does, to us
Through incredibly moving praise & worship songs.
God can speak to us through
Oswald Chamber's classic devotional "My Utmost For His Highest,"
Guideposts,
The Navigator's Discipleship Journal,
Or a comic strip in the Sunday funny papers.
HOW He chooses to speak to us
Is not nearly as important as
THAT He speaks to us.
The one needful thing
In my and your devotional time
Is to actually communicate with God.
Communication is a two-way street.
We talk, God listens.
God talks, we listen.
Have you noticed that sometimes God's voice seems evasive?
Now I'm not one of those "hyper-spiritual people"
That has angels show up in my bedroom every night for 30 days
To tell me great and mighty things that I knowest not.
Please understand that I don't have a problem with that,
And would love to have the experience,
But my faith is not rocked if I don't.
To me,
The one needful thing
Is to take responsibility in my relationship with Father God
To do what Mary did and got commended for...
To sit quietly at the feet of Jesus and
Pay attention,
Listen,
Hear the words of the Lord…
Be they corrective, instructive, or encouraging in nature,
And then apply them to my life.
The one needful thing
Is to get in and stay in God's presence,
To drink it in,
To hang out with the Master.
Just being in the presence of Jehovah
Is a soothing, calming, settling, satisfying, and fulfilling experience.
In His presence there is fullness of joy
And at His right hand there are pleasures evermore (Psalm 16:11).
Doing the one needful thing --
Simply hanging out with Jesus and listening on a regular basis,
Has the potential for His will and ways to rub off on you
And generate a testimony like that of two of Jesus’ close buddies, Peter and John:
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say” (Acts 4:13-14).
The one needful thing
I need to learn about the presence of God
Is that it's not limited to any particular space or time or routine.
All day, everyday,
Anywhere and everywhere,
The Lord can (and I believe desires to) appear on the scene
And transform the ordinary into the extraordinary,
The natural into the supernatural.
Oh, the power of His presence!
So as we approach our time of "devotions,"
Let us strive for a "moment-by-moment relationship" with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Expect to hear from Him daily, hourly, and why not even “moment-to-moment”
(or shall I say from “glory to glory” as promised in 2 Corinthians 3:18?)
Expect to hear from Him
In a variety of means and methods
And don't get stuck in a rut,
A habitual ritual
Or some religious tradition
That demands God to do it a certain way every time.
Sure as you and I do that
He'll upset our applecart of religious expectation
And speak through a donkey or some other unorthodox method!
But whatever you have to do,
By all means do
The one needful thing.
"And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him" (Luke 9:35).
DSR
8/5/02
(Luke 10:41 KJV) And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
(Luke 10:42 KJV) But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
I got up on time.
I slid into my favorite chair.
I got out my Bible.
I read passages from the
Old Testament,
New Testament,
Psalms,
And Proverbs.
I read today's quota of the classic Oswald Chamber devotional
"My Utmost For His Highest."
I turned on some praise & worship music
And sang along with three or four songs.
I prayed for my wife and daughter,
My pastors and church,
My country and for the peace of Jerusalem.
Then I hit the showers and headed off to work.
In your estimation,
Do you think I had what you would judge a successful "morning devotion?"
Do you suppose my time with the Lord
Was really a time with the Lord?
Can you see anything I missed?
I'm certain the reader could quickly identify
Any number of missing elements
In my morning meeting with God -
Depending upon your spiritual or religious tradition.
For example, you might recommend
Partaking of the Lord's Table (holy communion),
Dancing before the Lord in worship,
Praying in the Spirit (in tongues),
Journaling my prayers,
Speaking scriptural declarations out loud
(You always pray God's will when you pray God's Word),
Or perhaps sitting quietly in silence and listen for the Spirit's still, small voice.
All of the above are excellent embellishments
To any devotional time spent with the Lord.
My point today
Is the same as Rabbi Jesus' point to Martha regarding Mary:
"And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).
The one needful thing…
Is to get the “Word of the Lord.”
God can speak to us while we are in our favorite chair
Reading passages from the
Old Testament,
New Testament,
Psalms and Proverbs.
God can speak, and often does, to us
Through incredibly moving praise & worship songs.
God can speak to us through
Oswald Chamber's classic devotional "My Utmost For His Highest,"
Guideposts,
The Navigator's Discipleship Journal,
Or a comic strip in the Sunday funny papers.
HOW He chooses to speak to us
Is not nearly as important as
THAT He speaks to us.
The one needful thing
In my and your devotional time
Is to actually communicate with God.
Communication is a two-way street.
We talk, God listens.
God talks, we listen.
Have you noticed that sometimes God's voice seems evasive?
Now I'm not one of those "hyper-spiritual people"
That has angels show up in my bedroom every night for 30 days
To tell me great and mighty things that I knowest not.
Please understand that I don't have a problem with that,
And would love to have the experience,
But my faith is not rocked if I don't.
To me,
The one needful thing
Is to take responsibility in my relationship with Father God
To do what Mary did and got commended for...
To sit quietly at the feet of Jesus and
Pay attention,
Listen,
Hear the words of the Lord…
Be they corrective, instructive, or encouraging in nature,
And then apply them to my life.
The one needful thing
Is to get in and stay in God's presence,
To drink it in,
To hang out with the Master.
Just being in the presence of Jehovah
Is a soothing, calming, settling, satisfying, and fulfilling experience.
In His presence there is fullness of joy
And at His right hand there are pleasures evermore (Psalm 16:11).
Doing the one needful thing --
Simply hanging out with Jesus and listening on a regular basis,
Has the potential for His will and ways to rub off on you
And generate a testimony like that of two of Jesus’ close buddies, Peter and John:
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say” (Acts 4:13-14).
The one needful thing
I need to learn about the presence of God
Is that it's not limited to any particular space or time or routine.
All day, everyday,
Anywhere and everywhere,
The Lord can (and I believe desires to) appear on the scene
And transform the ordinary into the extraordinary,
The natural into the supernatural.
Oh, the power of His presence!
So as we approach our time of "devotions,"
Let us strive for a "moment-by-moment relationship" with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Expect to hear from Him daily, hourly, and why not even “moment-to-moment”
(or shall I say from “glory to glory” as promised in 2 Corinthians 3:18?)
Expect to hear from Him
In a variety of means and methods
And don't get stuck in a rut,
A habitual ritual
Or some religious tradition
That demands God to do it a certain way every time.
Sure as you and I do that
He'll upset our applecart of religious expectation
And speak through a donkey or some other unorthodox method!
But whatever you have to do,
By all means do
The one needful thing.
"And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him" (Luke 9:35).
DSR
8/5/02
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