(My attachment cant be opened on all computers, so the notes are below.) Ladies of Grace conference, March 22, 2014 at Southview Baptist Church in Hope Mills, NC Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker Whitney Capps blessed us with her two-part talk: “Thirsty: Finding Refreshment with a Cool Glass of Living Water”. (MORNING SESSION) Prayer before starting to speak included, “Lord, will you hydrate me with Your Living Water?” Being a mom of 4 boys is rewarding but very challenging for Whitney. It takes a lot of time and obedience to Jesus to be a good mom. It helps sanctify her and we should look more like Jesus as we navigate motherhood. What are some things in life that drain energy from our very existence? Dead, harsh skin in winter can be like us spiritually: we can get crisp and harsh in words and actions. Tough things are brought into our lives to bring us closer to God through the process, but we sometimes fail to involve God in the process, and instead think we can handle it. DO WE LET GOD HAVE CONTROL OF OUR LIVES? Were going to people-watch through the Bible and identify symptoms of physical and spiritual dehydration. Water makes up 85% of the brain, 80% of the blood and 90% of our muscle. We can think of our brain as wisdom, blood as grace and muscle like good works. Dehydration = when we lose too much water and our body reabsorbs water from our tissue, etc. Have you ever had emotions totally take over? Its something natural for our flesh, but we know its not of the Holy Spirit. We feel hijacked by our emotions and incapable of being gentle, loving and other Fruit of the Spirit. According to WebMD, physical dehydration can be mild, moderate and severe. Well equate physical symptoms with spiritual symptoms. MILD DEHYDRATION: Symptom: dry mouth and sticky saliva. Psalm 137:6 says its better for the tongue to stick to the roof of the mouth than to say something unlovely or impure. In Matthew 15, it talks about what comes out of the mouth defiles a person. Symptom: reduced output. We have less water to release from the body. When water leaves the body, it flushes out the toxins and impurities that dont need to be in us. The Living Water of Jesus Christ is what flushes out spiritual toxins that dont need to be there. 1 John 1:7. Without Living Water in our lives, we cease to confess sin. The Lord wants us to acknowledge specific sin so we can be freed from repeating it. Offering generic requests to God to forgive our sin doesnt make them as real and we are more likely to repeat them. Are we at a spiritual point where we just want cleansing when we sin, or are we at a place where we dont want to repeat sin? (For example, are we in tune enough to the Lord to ask forgiveness for coveting our friends shoes, or do we just ask God to forgive our sins, not even realizing we were coveting her shoes?) MODERATE DEHYDRATION: Symptom: Increased thirst. This is usually the first symptom we recognize, so many of us are walking around with moderate spiritual dehydration because we dont recognize the first two symptoms. In moderate dehydration, we are lacking the impact of the Word in our lives. We dont think about whether what weve said or done that day has been edifying or impactful to the kingdom of God. Matthew 5 says blessed are those who thirst for righteousness because theyll be satisfied. Often we realize were spiritually off track so we get BUSY trying to fix it. Well take on another project at church and it just makes us more worn out and more dehydrated. WHEN WERE SPIRITUALLY DEHYDRATED, WE DONT THINK WE NEED TO GET QUIET BEFORE THE LORD AND CUT OUT UNIMPORTANT ACTIVITIES FROM OUR LIVES. WE HONESTLY THINK WE NEED TO BE BUSIER. Especially in the south, church girls feel obligated to become busier in order to become holier. BUT, the Holy Spirit is quietly telling our souls “Just come BE with Me. Shut it all down.” Many of us find it much easier to cram something else into our schedules than to slow down and be still with God. This is because we can CONTROL busy but we have to GIVE UP CONTROL to be with the Lord. We often sense the dehydration but we dont respond by thirsting for righteousness; instead we go for busyness. This doesnt FILL us, it FRUSTRATES us. At the moderate level of spiritual dehydration, we arent even grieved by our sin anymore. We persist in it and use Pauls thorn in his flesh as an excuse not to surrender to God. For example, when was the last time I was moved to tears because I sinned and Christ died for me? Do I treat the Cross casually because I persist in my sin? Do we struggle with guilt and shame over the past? Do we condemn ourselves, get frustrated, and dont ask forgiveness because we committed the same sin again? Thats like getting stuck in tar. Thats what condemnation does. When we try to escape, the tar sucks us back in, even harder. We need to ask God to give us freedom from condemnation. Responses to sin are conviction and condemnation. In both, we are aware weve fallen short of Gods standard. In condemnation, we realized we missed the holiness and are upset and frustrated. We tell God well do better and try harder. When, not if, we mess up again, we focus on self. In contrast conviction LEADS US TO THE CROSS! We recognize our own strength isnt enough and we MUST be submitted to the cross. The enemy/accuser will lead us to awareness of sin so well live in a state of condemnation so we wont live an abundant life. We try to fix things that Jesus died on the cross to set us free from. If we find ourselves thinking we should try harder, we know we need to go to the cross! Symptom: Faintness that CAN be relieved: In this phase of dehydration, we are lightheaded and things are happening all around us but we are disengaged and not participating. Prov. 24:10. There are times in life when were not doing ANYTHING and we SHOULD BE. Our works should never be an effort to fix whats wrong (more busyness) but should be a response for what is right. Do we get frustrated/mad/bitter when we KNOW God CAN do anything but He chooses NOT to, or not YET? Do we FAKE it because we dont FEEL it? We must choose to believe God even when we dont feel it or see Him in the circumstance. If well do what is right, eventually our feelings will catch up. The faintness that can be relieved is done, not by FAKING it, but through FAITH to believe Hes trustworthy even when we dont FEEL it. Critical bodily functions start to shut down when were dehydrated. Our hearts can still be angry and hurt, but we can acknowledge our feelings cant and dont change the character of the unchangeable God! SEVERE DEHYDRATION: Symptom: Altered mental status: Isaiah 26: 3-4. The Lord keeps, in perfect peace, the mind steadfastly focused on Him. Peace and worry cannot coexist in the same heart. When our minds are drowning in our circumstances, thats severe spiritual dehydration. Symptom: Faintness that CANNOT be relieved: God helps those who are incapable of helping themselves. When we are all at the end of our rope, He shows up with His 100%. When we give Him proper reverence and glory, He then wants us to act. In the Old Testament, God rarely asks people to do their best then Hell help a little. He shows up in amazing ways. When we decide, “Ive got this,” we leave God out of the equation. Symptom: Weak or rapid pulse: Ez. 16:30. People in that day had let idols capture their affections. When were at the point something has our affection and attention more than Jesus, were at this symptom. People know what we truly love based on how and with whom we spend time. Symptom: Skin that is cold and clammy or hot and dry/ loss of consciousness: We are at this point when we have completely disengaged from worship, dont want to let Christ change us at all, have no Fruit of the Spirit showing in our lives, and there is complete inactivity of the Holy Spirit inside us. We received the Holy Spirit when we became believers but His activity can be quenched when our flesh (sin, bad attitudes and wrong thoughts) overtake us. If we do it too long, weve lost the awareness of His activity at all. If we dont know the Holy Spirit is moving in our life, something is WRONG. Do we ever hear the Holy Spirit pleading with our souls to come back to the Living Water? Symptom: Shock: God loves us too much to let us flatline and spiritually die. Hell take extreme measures, like the paddles, to shock us back to Him. This season is agonizing. Ask the Holy Spirit where you are: Are you mildly, moderately or severely spiritually dehydrated?Honestly seek the answer. The Churchs job isnt to make us comfortable. Yes, we should COME AS YOU ARE, but the Gospel is a radical agent of change! WE SHOULDNT STAY AS WE ARE.We should be uncomfortable because its those people who make a move toward Jesus. Part of prayer: “Lord, were tired of living an existence that doesnt lead women to You. Whisper to our heart if were dehydrated, and help us get ready for Living Water to fill us to overflowing! Your Word does that! (AFTERNOON SESSION) We can pray a simple prayer: Holy Spirit, tell me what You want me to do. Are we spending time simply learning or are we spending time letting God change us? Isnt it so much easier to see sin and dehydration in other people? See the story of the Samaritan Woman at the well in John 4, starting in verse 1. Lets call her Sam. Its a familiar story but are we thinking of real people when we read it? When Jesus spoke to her, and considering her background of 5 husbands and issues with me, Sam might have though Jesus was trying to proposition her. According to their customs, He shouldnt have been talking with her. She probably wasnt too polite to Him when He asked for a drink. Her heart was probably suspicious and irritated. She was spiritually dehydrated. 1. Jesus knows when were spiritually dehydrated and meets us where we are! Just like with Sam, Jesus questions move us to answers He already knows. Jesus was offering to meet Sams deepest soul needs – she responds with altered thinking when she notices He doesnt have anything to put water into. We do this too. God offers to help us and we ask for a “cup” because all we can see are our circumstances. Jesus didnt have a physical cup, and thats all Sam could see. We often tell God what we think He doesnt have. What we believe about God reflects how our circumstances do or dont change. We often tell God why the things He has promised cant happen, when, instead, we should be content with His sufficiency, not focused on our circumstances. Whenever we give God reasons why something wont work, were spiritually dehydrated. If we offer excuses, were just looking at circumstances. Sam physically needs water for her day. She went to the well in the heat of the day rather than the cool of the morning to avoid the gossipping women. We should be building relationships with women, not tearing them down. Sometimes in our spiritual thirst, we want Jesus to make us comfortable rather than changing us. We just want Jesus to deal with the urgent. We hear unbelievers say theyll come to church after getting their lives right. But we live that way inside the church. In John 4:16, Jesus wants to address her spiritual thirst, yet Sam is probably feeling week or rapid pulse physically. When were spiritually dehydrated and the Holy Spirit starts to move, we get antsy and uncomfortable, if were a believer. If were not a believer, we can get way beyond uncomfortable to panicked. In verse 19, Sam changes the focus off of her sin to talking about Jesus. Church girls do this too. We hear a message and think of the friend that should have heard it instead of realizing WE needed it. Jesus never addressed peoples physical sickness without also dealing with their sin or faith. In v. 25, Sam said she knew about a Messiah. You can be spiritually dehydrated and KNOW all the right stuff. In the conversation, Jesus moved Sam to belief rather than just knowledge and how to be controlled by that belief. Knowing is like being unconscious physically. Believing is like being conscious. It was a radical shock to life when Jesus revealed to her that He was the Messiah. She ran into town toward the many people she had purposely avoided and many came to saving faith in Jesus because she changed. John 4:39 – shows Jesus radically changes your life and lives of everyone around you. If we dont see this change in life, we are spiritually dehydrated. Everyone worships something. Our changed lives and testimonies need to demonstrate the One, True God! SO, WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO BE FULLY SPIRITUALLY HYDRATED? We love God with our whole being, and we love others (our neighbor) as ourself. Most sin in life exists because we love ourselves most. Galatians tells us to crucify ourselves so we can live in Christ. So, we should love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. The body relies on water for three critical functions: 1.Cohesion: this gives our body the ability to flex and bend and stretch without breaking. Women who are spiritually hydrated WELCOME stretching and growth when the Holy Spirit prompts it instead of resisting and giving excuses. The stretching is for our own growth and protection. Sam offered forgiveness to those who judged her, and she was reconciled with her community. 2.Temperature control: Adapting to change. This is the part of us that isnt swayed by circumstances. If life circumstances are crummy and were tossed all about, it may be because were spiritually dehydrated. Are we able and willing to stay cool, calm and collected when life turns up the heat? Sam left her circumstances and water jar and went to get the townspeople! 3.Solvency: water is the main active ingredient to break down what weve eaten and make it beneficial to our lives. Are we doubting the Bibles relevance in real life? Living Water makes what we know useful. Sometimes we think we can survive spiritually like we survive physically. We know our bodies need healthy food, yet we eat fast food. Our bodies digest bad food poorly and with unpleasant consequences. If we get spiritual truth only occasionally – such as once a week during the sermon – its not enough nutrition and food for our soul. Regular digestion of Gods Word is what leads to spiritual hydration and Living Water! We need the nourishment and God breaking it down to be used throughout our lives like good foods are used throughout our bodies. We need to examine how we reconcile (or dont reconcile) relationships. How do we take in spiritual nourishment? Do we let the Holy Spirit use it in our souls? Spiritual dehydration is not abundant life!
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 00:22:34 +0000
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