Spirit Before Doctrine

We hear the warnings and immediately see where other churches fall short. But turn the scrutiny to examine the truth, and you will find. Guilty is the burden that falls on what we have built. Be it Catholics, Jews, or any other denomination, none can afford to forget for even a moment to focus on God. Yes, we are all guilty. It is not only our organizations but the individuals that form them. We all need a Savior. We all have much to repent and turn from. We have trusted our doctrines. We have leaned on our interpretations. How much of God´s presence has it brought us? Too much time is wasted fussing over the speck in our brother’s eye.

Yes, beware of false teachings and waywardness. But let the true children of God follow their Savior. Let us step out of earthly ways and follow Him as He leads us into a Kingdom, unlike ours. Let us spend time and effort cultivating our ties to the Lord. Stoop to those in need. Lift them to their feet and help them come to know Christ. He is the Healer. His presence and His Spirit are what we all need.

Dear Lord, forgive us all. We act like we know, but none have seen the wonders You hold for us. We say we believe, but our deductions rely on human experience. What we know of You is limited to our languages. It is tainted and faint because we use our understanding of our world. Lift our faith high above our ways. Let our hope rest in the God of Wonders! Make us a people of a new kingdom; we pray! Amen

John 14:26 ESV / But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Acts 1:8 ESV / But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Romans 8:9 ESV / You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

1 Corinthians 2:10-11 ESV / These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Colossians 3:9-10 ESV / Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV / Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.