Tag Archives: spiritual growth
Pastor Wrinkles: Another Journey Begins
Hello Dear readers. Pastor Wrinkles (that would be me) is off on another journey into the interior. Over the next few weeks I am praying into the strategies God has for ministry in 2015. I can already see the outline of some mighty battles ahead which speak to me of pain and perhaps loss but beyond that I also see victory.
Here are a few of the Scriptures I am going to be meditating much on over the next days:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Heb. 12, 1-3
5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very naturea God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very natureb of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. Phil. 2:5-11
I am praying about strategies and about weaknesses in my own life that need to be shored up. In addition to these Scripture passages I will be reading Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline.
I will share quotes from this book and insights with you as they come.
Read on…
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Uncle Tom and the Gift Of Tongues
The Daily Post has asked us to…Describe a memory or encounter in which you considered your faith, religion, spirituality — or lack of — for the first time.
You can see how others met this challenge at
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/in-good-faith/
As a boy of thirteen I had an intense spiritual hunger. I suppose I had always leaned toward the spirit world. Growing up the first books I remember borrowing from the town library were stories of the Greek gods and the writings of Uri Geller and other famous psychics.
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t believe in the supernatural or in a higher power but my search for that higher power began in earnest at the end of my eighth grade year. I remember telling my mother that I thought some day I would become a minister. She scoffed at the idea because at that point no one in our immediate family even really believed in the biblical God. My grandparents were believers but they didn’t wear their religion on their sleeves or anything like that and their pastor at the time was more in tune with Universalism than Christianity.
I met a girl in school whose family members were committed Jehovah’s Witnesses and she began witnessing. Through a series of events my parents found out and insisted that if I was really interested in church then I was going to go with my Uncle Tom. They thought he was crazy but at least they knew he was harmless and crazy.
So began my journey into the Christian faith and away from the neo-paganism I had known. The story is long and convoluted but suffice it to say the first time I heard someone deliver a message in tongues and another person give the interpretation, I was hooked. Uncle Tom and the gift of tongues showed me the way to a real personal and supernatural relationship with God through Jesus Christ. God can and will use anything to bring a seeking soul to Himself.
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Debased
I go through life as a transient on his way to eternity, made in the image of God but with that image debased, needing to be taught how to meditate, to worship, to think.- Donald Coggan
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Like the Magi
“I feel like the magi, wandering, following some distant star in hopes that it will bring me to a place, however poor, that will connect history with legacy.” JE Lillie
Do you ever feel like this?
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This Place Called Prayer
Prayer is the place where the mystical power of God meets the practical action of man. JE Lillie
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A Word A Week: Cross
Sue has challenged us with the word :CROSS this week.
Discover how others have met the challenge at
http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2015/01/04/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-cross/
This seems like a challenge right up my alley. I am wholly indebted to the cross of Christ. My life is lived in light of the cross of Calvary! I am nothing without His cross or his resurrection!
Beams cross at the Guiness factory in Dublin
Crossing Windmill blades at Zaanse Schans
“…the cross is part of salvation. Jesus didn’t purchase Christianity without a cross and Christians cannot live Christianity without a cross.” JE Lillie
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Where All the Trouble Comes From
“All of man’s troubles stem from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Blaise Pascal
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Pastor Wrinkles: Paying the Asking Price Pt. 4
Today we are concluding this series from Luke Chapter 14 on Paying the Asking Price. If you have missed any of our previous discussions go to:
https://josephelonlillie.com/2015/01/04/pastor-wrinkles-paying-the-asking-price/
https://josephelonlillie.com/2015/01/06/the-place-to-pay-the-price/
https://josephelonlillie.com/2015/01/06/pastor-wrinkles-pay-the-asking-price-pt-2/
https://josephelonlillie.com/2015/01/07/pastor-wrinkles-paying-the-asking-price-pt-3/
Now on to our conclusion
Whatever your rhema Word (see pt. 2 for the discussion on rhema) is this year. Whatever God is telling you about your future there is going to be a price for that future with Jesus.
The cost might be forgiving someone who has wronged you terribly. The cost might be giving up a relationship that holds you back from getting closer to Jesus. The cost might be swallowing your pride and reentering a relationship you know is good for you. The cost might be more giving if you are stingy or it could be less giving if you are codependent. The cost might be inconveniencing yourself and your family in order to serve God in some ministry. It might be getting a new job or it might be sucking it up and being joyful in the job you’ve got.
I can tell you this the cost is never fun to pay. The longer you look at it and ponder whether or not you should pay it the less you will want to. But when you bite the bullet and pay the price whatever it is, you open up your life to God’s blessing and you open up your life to see the rhema word fulfilled successfully.
Moondustwriter, a blogger friend of mine, wrote these words on a recent poetry forum
Worth Giving
“Give your life away”
was all the message
had to say
it seems a cold hard voice
that makes me take
the sacrificial choice
But as you offer up your hand
another life has the
opportunity to stand. http://moondustwriter.com/2014/12/28/worth-giving-sundaydevotion-poem/
go visit Moondustwriter at
The choice can seem hard. But once it is made the blessings begin to flow and what you will receive is ultimately worth far more than anything you give away. To quote and old adage, “you cannot out-give God.” To quote an even older Scripture “Give and it shall be given you full measure pressed down shaken together and overflowing.” Luke 6:38
What choice is God leading you to today?
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Pastor Wrinkles: Paying the Asking Price Pt. 3
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:17, 18
Over the last few days we have been laying out the idea of being willing to count and pay the cost in order to have God’s will and blessing accomplished in our lives. If you have missed these writings you may read them at…
https://josephelonlillie.com/2015/01/04/pastor-wrinkles-paying-the-asking-price/
https://josephelonlillie.com/2015/01/06/the-place-to-pay-the-price/
https://josephelonlillie.com/2015/01/06/pastor-wrinkles-pay-the-asking-price-pt-2/
Let’s advance these thoughts a little shall we?
Yesterday we concluded by asking…
What is the present word of God for your life?
Everyone reading this blog has both a rhema word and the logos word from the Lord concerning their lives right now. You discover those words by going to the Lord and asking Him for them and by reading the Scripture.
I can tell you one thing, though, whatever the word for your life turns out to be there is going to be a price to pay for that word to be fulfilled in your life.
Last week our youth pastor delivered a sermon regarding salvation as a work of grace done by God’s hand alone. You can do nothing to earn your salvation you can do nothing to make yourself more righteous. Jesus paid it all on the cross and the only way to Heaven is to accept Jesus’ sacrifice and ask Him to forgive your sins. You will never earn your way into Christianity or Heaven or relationship with God. Jesus does it all.
That said as Jesus comes and adopts you into the family, that act puts into motion certain principles which are going to affect you for the rest of your eternal life.
Christianity is obtained freely You don’t pay for your salvation by good works. But there is a price that comes with being a Christian. Getting into the family is free. God will adopt you if you want to be adopted. But being in the family costs. That’s because our family, this family of Christians, is committed to accomplishing a certain job in this world and because this family, the family of Christians, has a group of beings who have decided that they hate us just because of who we are. Paying the price doesn’t get us into Heaven. Christians are already going there. Paying the price is a result of us receiving the gift in the first place. It’s part and parcel of the gift. With this gift you get: eternal life, all the powers of the Holy Spirit, direct access to the throne of God and constant fellowship with Him and you also get some very powerful enemies who have power in the world to cause harm and who are set against you to stop you and your success.
That is why Jesus said, “whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14
This is not because the cross earns us the right to be saved but because the cross is part of salvation. Jesus didn’t purchase Christianity without a cross and Christians cannot live Christianity without a cross.
Whatever your rhema Word is this year. Whatever God is telling you about your future there is going to be a price for that future with Jesus.
Do you know what the cross Christ is calling you to bear looks like?
Lillie-Put 