Recently, God was speaking to me about how holiness is connected with purpose. It's easy to think of holiness as it relates to things that are obvious sins, but even those sins can be thought of as not just wrong or bad, but as violations of, or deviations from, God's purpose for a person. When … Continue reading Purpose and Holiness
Tag: Holy Spirit
Iterative Revelation: Generations
This has been hanging around in the back of my mind for a couple months now, but has been very challenging to articulate. Twice, I was praying by myself in my truck, and God stirred something in my spirit about generations. I can best describe it using the following example. Let’s say you lived a … Continue reading Iterative Revelation: Generations
A Path for Miracles
"A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of … Continue reading A Path for Miracles
The Wrong Question
"What does the Bible say?" That is the wrong question. Looking for the divine, tradition misses the humanity, misses the incarnation of God's Spirit, misses the Spirit dwelling among us. So, the real question is, "What did God say to this person in that instance?" or "What did this person say to those people in … Continue reading The Wrong Question
Whoever is Not Against Us is For Us
This story may be found in Mark chapter 9. Jesus was told, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn't following us." Jesus responded, "Don't stop him." As Jesus explained his point, one thing he said was "Whoever is not against us is for … Continue reading Whoever is Not Against Us is For Us
The Counselor
In a recent post, On Your Own Terms I mentioned Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 16:7, “It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away, the counselor will not come to you.” It is for your benefit, so that the Counselor, the One who comes along-side, will minister … Continue reading The Counselor
On Your Own Terms
The twelve chapter of the Gospel of John opens like this: “Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, the one Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for Him there; Martha was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. … Continue reading On Your Own Terms
The Seasonality of Revelation
In the Gospel of Mark, chapter two, is the following story: “Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked Him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? … Continue reading The Seasonality of Revelation
Activated
After a long exile in Babylon, and then a change of dominant political power in that part of the world, the people of Judah were finally allowed to go back and rebuild their temple. In that time frame is Ezra 4:24-5:2, “Now the construction of God’s house in Jerusalem had stopped and remained at a … Continue reading Activated
Sex and the Spirit
I have a file where I draft blog post ideas. A couple of days ago I was digging deep into it, looking at things I had shelved or never finished, and against my better judgement, I decided to edit (only slightly) and revive this. For context, it may be helpful to read Sex Being single, … Continue reading Sex and the Spirit
Andrew K. Banks 