FROM LEE IN TENNESSEE: Q&A... Should I Get Baptized?

leeyounger:

passionprayparis asked:

Hey Lee, I wondered if you could share your thoughts on baptism. I was baptized as a baby, into the Catholic Church, but lately I have been really drawn to the idea of baptism, of the public declaring of faith. I am not sure anymore that Catholicism is the denomination I want to embrace. I wonder if you had any advice about how to know if this is the Lord prompting this, or just my own thoughts getting tangled up! I’d appreciate prayers for more clarity and guidance too. Thanks so much. :)

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So I Said:

Hey Madeleine! Thanks so much for all your encouragement and for writing in.

Have you ever been to a sporting event where some of the fans were so pumped about their team that they covered themselves in paint for their school color? It’s an expression of the extreme fandom. They are saying in no uncertain terms, “I am with THIS team! WOOO!!”

Well, baptism is kinda like that. That word, ‘baptize’ is a Greek word. We didn’t translate it, we just moved it over and started saying it. It’s a word that means to ‘dunk down’ or ‘immerse.’ People used that word when they would dye cloth a different color. In the same way, people get dunked down in the water as a way to say, “I’m with Jesus! I’m on His team!” It’s like getting painted up. 

Baptism doesn’t save you and it doesn’t mean you’re forgiven for your sins. When you believed in Jesus, you were instantly and eternally forgiven and completely saved forever. Baptism is just your way of telling the world, “I’m team Jesus now.” Baptism doesn’t give you anything and it doesn’t change your spiritual status in any way, but the Lord does want us to do it. I don’t really know why, but then again, I hardly ever know why He wants me to do the stuff He wants me to do. 

Baptism is supposed to be your decision. In other words, you need to be old enough and able to decide to do it. When you were little and your mom dressed you up in the home team’s colors, you didn’t have any say in that. You weren’t really a fan yet. When you were old enough to paint up, all that changed. Madeleine, you love Jesus. That’s obvious. This is just your chance to shout it from the rooftops. 

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ASK ME A QUESTION

Unka Glen: Your Handy-Dandy Guide to Signs and Wonders!

unkaglen:

more-than-a-piece asked: I’ve seen people about my age talking about these experiences they have where they could not control their laughter “from the Spirit” and they were blessed by something and felt waves of the Spirit radiating off of them as they continue in this laughter. I haven’t really heard of this. What’s your view of this?

Unka Glen answered: This so called “holy laughter” movement has been around awhile, and I can give you a way of understanding not just this type of situation, but any kind of “sign or wonder” you might encounter. 

Your Handy-Dandy Guide to Signs and Wonders!

1) God is God, and He can do what He wants. God is bound to do all kinds of wild things with all kinds of people in all kinds of situations. He is not bound or limited in any way, and we should have no doubt that God does all kinds of out-of-the-ordinary things with people every day. BUT… if you want ME to believe in it, that’s another thing.

2) Is it Biblical? If you want me to believe in what’s happening to you, I’m going to look at scripture carefully for some kind of example of it. In the case of holy laughter, some would point to Acts 2:13, where the Holy Spirit came upon the early church, and others observing this thought they were “drunk on wine”. To go from there to “holy laughter” is a bit of a stretch. Is it stretching things too far? Eh. I think so, but I suppose it could be in the ballpark.

3) When, Where, and How. I’ve certainly laughed in prayer, often when I hear something from the Lord that gives me a sense of relief, where that wisdom comes in and breaks down my own foolishness. And I’ve laughed in church when I’ve experienced that same kind of breakthrough in a good sermon, and I think that this kind of laughter is fantastic, and if you dig it, I think that this breakthrough moment is a holy moment, in it’s way. 

But let me say, as someone who has presided over more worship services than any pastor I know, if you want to disrupt a service, by giggling loud enough so that we all take our focus off of the Lord, and put it all on you, then you and I are going to immediately have a very serious conversation, and it’s really not going to go your way. 

4) Signs and wonders do not point to a special status. If you read Numbers 22, you’ll hear the story of Balaam and his donkey. In that story, you’ll discover that the Lord chose to speak through a donkey (not a super-holy donkey either, as far as we know), and it wasn’t Balaam’s great status or faith that brought this about either. In fact, the Lord was quite angry with Balaam.

It’s nice if you have a mystical experience, but God doesn’t reserve His signs and wonders for the super-spiritual. Indeed, if one wants to “take it the the extreme”, remember that Paul told us to eagerly pursue gifts that “edify the church” (1 Cor. 14:4). You giggling away is nice for you, but it doesn’t do squat for the rest of us, so don’t assume that we’ll see you as the holiest one in the room all of a sudden.

5) Discern and pray. Here’s the real bottom line: does God say it’s okay to be skeptical about these things? Paul himself was put to the test in a place called Berea, and unlike the people in Thessalonica, the Bereans took everything that Paul said and examined the Old Testament to see if it fit. So what does the book of Acts say about the Bereans? 

“The Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11). They loved hearing it, they loved checking the Old Testament on it, and they loved finding out that it was all true. Putting things to the test made them more solid in their belief, and they were praised for it.

As for the Thessalonians, Paul ends his first letter to those same Thessalonians with this instruction: “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil” (1 Thes. 5:20-22). Paul is telling them to put everything to the test, even him. Discerning true from false is not only okay, it’s good, and using prayer to test the signs and wonders you see, is something the Bible directly instructs you to do.

Discerning dem signs =)

I actually find this more in HK, maybe I just go to conservative churches in Australia xD

Unka Glen: Conviction versus guilt

unkaglen:

i-jot asked: What’s the difference between conviction and guilt?

Unka Glen answered: Oh, they couldn’t be more differenter (shut up spell check, you think you know everything).

Let’s look at some of the more obvious differences:

• Guilt drives us away from God, how can we face Him with what we’ve done?
• Conviction drives us closer to God, how else can we overcome this sin?

• Guilt says, “you are disqualified!”
• Conviction says, “you’re so much better than this!” 

• Guilt belittles us
• Conviction calls us to our higher selves

• Guilt weakens us
• Conviction wakes us up to a greater strength that’s available

• Guilt calls for us to wallow
• Conviction calls for us to act! To strike out in faith!

• Guilt puts the focus on ourselves
• Conviction puts all the focus on God, and the better life He offers us

• Guilt confuses things
• Conviction gives us a clear path to freedom in Christ

• Guilt is rude, mean, and manipulative
• Conviction is gentle, loving, and respectful

• Guilt brings a sense of failed obligations
• Conviction brings a sense of relief, even when it’s hard news

• Guilt is an emotion that quickly fades, thus it sets up a cycle of failure
• Conviction is of the Spirit, and not subject to the roller coaster of our emotions 

• Guilt comes from a place of condemnation
• Conviction comes from a place of love

• Guilt is what the enemy uses to bind us
• Conviction is what the Holy Spirit uses to set us free

It’s for freedom that Christ set us free =P

J.S. Park: Question: Spiritual Gifts or Demonic Rituals?

jspark3000:

Anonymous asked:

Hi, love your blog!! So i recently had the experience of “holy laughter” during a prayer group at someone’s home. Before it happened to me i had never heard of it and they told me it was from the Holy Spirit but now after some googling i’ve learned it is apparently evil and from demons which honestly has me a bit freaked out. What’s your opinion on this? And if it is evil what do i do? Should i stop associating with those people at church who support it? Thanks :)

Please allow me to cut straight to the bottom of this issue:

Is it biblical? Is it edifying? What’s the motive? What’s the purpose?

I know there is tons of history, culture, and tradition behind spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues, healing, and prophetic visions, so I also know that I will offend one group of people or another. But again — what’s the bottom line here? What’s the appropriate biblical place for something like “holy laughter?” How is it being used? And why?

Even legit biblical disciplines like prayer can be abused with false motives, like competing with other Christians or praying only for health and wealth. Ascetic monks of the early church would play American Idol by praying louder and longer than everyone else. Or they’d pray in their isolated chambers but never lift a finger to help a dying stranger.

Sometimes “spiritual gifts” are just working yourself into a frenzy as if the religious experience of ecstasy somehow equates to meeting with God. While emotions play a part in worship, it’s definitely not the basis. And trying to work yourself into a fervor every week is downright exhausting. If you base your faith on how well you can shake on the floor, then you’ll hate yourself when you just don’t want to do it one day. Or you’ll go through the motions and be severely disillusioned while pretending.

Let’s take the example of speaking in tongues. I often get the feeling that when people publicly go on a tongue-rage, they’re saying, “Look at my awesome divine ability to yell holy gibberish!” If you read 1 Corinthians 14 (especially verses 18-19, 23, 27-28), you’ll see the true biblical parameters for speaking in tongues which are almost always violated. Tongues are supposed to be done away from non-believers, always with an interpreter, quietly, and it’s at the bottom of the list in significance. God’s Word is super-specific here: there’s no getting it wrong.

God is a God of order, and He knew how whacked out we could become if we over-emphasized these things. The fad of “holy laughter” has also led to animal noises and bouts of shrieking weeping. At some point, somebody needs to blow a whistle and say, “Okay man, stop being an attention whore. You’re holy, okay? We get it. Congrats bro.” If that’s harsh, I’m just saying what everyone else is already thinking.

While I’m not sure all this is demonic or evil, I’m also not entirely sure that much of it is born from a right heart. I have no idea how it could NOT distract others and break the atmosphere. I’m not sure how it connects with God, either. You’ll really have to pray about attending this church by asking: Why are they really doing this? Ask them the same thing. Be thoughtful.

It’s cool to rejoice in worship and have fun in fellowship and shout for joy, and there’s a right time to laugh too, but I think spiritual gifts do not go far enough. They’re just extras. The authentic Christian submits to the Spirit of God so He will gloriously flex the fruit of love in serving one another. Love is the priority; it is the greatest gift; it’s the bottom line. Anything else that impedes it should be tossed.

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
— 1 Corinthians 13:1, 8, 13

Also Read:

- So About The Speaking of Tongues

- The Real Miracle (by Unka Glen, on the gift of healing)

Unka Glen: We're all the same, but not in the same place

unkaglen:

benshim asked: How do I move to a place of serving, valuing, and loving people instead of judging their worth based on their accomplishments? When I first accepted the love of God I knew my value came from God and not my works. Recently, it’s been harder to remember what that was like, and I find myself thinking about how other people can change. I want to humble myself as Jesus humbled himself, but I don’t know where to start or what I’m aiming for. [edited for length]

Unka Glen answered: It’s wrong to judge people period, and it’s wrong to judge people based on their accomplishments, or lack of accomplishments, but ignoring accomplishments, and experience, and insight is wrong as well. We’re all equally loved by God, and we’re all equally saved, and everyone’s calling is of equal importance, since we’re all members of one body (1 Cor. 12). 

But if we were all in the same place in our walk with the Lord, nobody would be qualified to mentor or guide anyone else.  

There is a point in every believer’s walk where they find a deeper and deeper intimacy with God, they see more and more of who God is, and all of scripture and good doctrinal training begins to flow together, and make sense as a whole. In that moment there is a call to action of sorts, and this desire to serve puts us in a position of learning even more about God’s character as we share it with others.

When you reach that place, you can call it a prideful attitude when you look around and say, “hey, I don’t know much, but even I can minister better than this.” You can pretend that you don’t have a useful insight to share with others, but in the end you’re just hiding your light under a bushel.

If you weren’t mentored one-on-one by anyone, then it may be hard for you to know when your walk has reached a point where you’re ready to mentor others. But I can tell you that when your walk gets to that point, it will start with love, which leads to understanding, which leads to compassion, which leads to speaking the truth with gentleness and respect. 

Your worth is not measured by your accomplishments, not even in the things you accomplish for the Kingdom, as you’ll find many of those things were God accomplishing them through you. Your worth is measured in God’s love for you, and in His saving grace, your worth to others is measured in how much -and how well- you can share that love and embody that grace.

FROM LEE IN TENNESSEE: What Is Love?

I’ve probably reblogged most if not all of this series when I’m not too busy to check my tumblr feed - but I don’t want to reblog for the sake of reblogging, so note to self/everyone, click the lovingly provided link at the bottom to see all the short posts on Lee’s “What Is Love?” ! =D

leeyounger:

In 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul says that there is only one stat that ultimately matters in your walk with God - one thing that that truly tells the world who you are, and that is your love (or lack thereof). The real question is, how do I grow in love? What does love look like? What does love do, and what does it not do? What is love?

11. Love Sees God At Work

We’ve all seen people at their worst. We’ve all watched folks unravel on a bad day or snap at someone when they’re over the edge. Everyone loses their cool form time to time and the hard thing about being in a relationship with someone is that you have to watch this happen repeatedly. You see, when you really know someone, you see them when they don’t really want to be seen. The closer you are to a person, the more mess you have to see.

This is basically where the rubber meets the road when it comes to love - that is to say, how do you love people when they are hard to love? How do you love someone when they are at their worst?

In verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says that love “always trusts.” What does that mean? Why is love about trusting? Well, that word “trust” is the same Greek word that is translated “believe” in some places and “faith” in others. In other words, when you love someone, you believe stuff about them. You have faith about them. The real question is, what do you believe about them? What faith do you have?

You know, when you’re at your worst, you probably don’t give up on yourself. When you lose your temper or yell at someone or fall into some sin, you probably cut yourself some slack because you know that God lives in you and that He’s at work in your life. You know that Jesus died for you and that He’s not going to stop working in your life until you’re all finished and complete. That is your faith. That right there is what you believe about yourself because of what God has done in your life. You trust that God loves you, is at work in you and isn’t finished with you yet. 

That same trust and faith and belief is what love gives everyone else. In other words, Love believes God is at work in that person who is so hard to love. Love has faith that God hasn’t finished with that person that drives you crazy. Love trusts that God will bring them to completion.

Every week I go to the local jail with two of my best friends to reach out to the guys behind bars with the love of Jesus. Recently we found out that we aren’t the only church group that goes to that jail to do ministry. Thing is, some of the other groups go in there and tell guys how bad they are. They tell the guys that God hates their sin and that if they don’t turn things around, they are going to wind up in hell. You and I both know that this is not the way to do jail ministry. Those guys know they’ve been a mess already. They’re in there paying for their messes. They don’t need yet another person telling them they suck, so when we go in to do our ministry, we take a totally different approach: We tell guys how much God loves them. We tell them that God has a plan for them and wants a life for them that is sweet, filled with joy and totally fulfilling. We tell them that we respect them and we are encouraged by their walk with God and that we believe God is at work in their hearts, making them something new. In short, we love them.

Last week, as we got up leave the jail, one of the guys shook my hand, pulled me into a hug and then said, “I love you, brother. Thank you for coming to see us.” That dude is on fire for the Lord. He’s changing. He’s growing in Christ. In other words, when you decide to look at a person and always trust, you see God at work in them - and that’s because He really is at work. 

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If you want to see the rest of these posts about What Love Is, simply Click RGHT HERE.

Lord, I will trust in You.: Is it acceptable to repeatedly pray for the same thing, or should we only ask once?

iwilltrustinyou:

In Luke 18:1-7, Jesus uses a parable to illustrate the importance of persevering in prayer. He tells the story of a widow who came to an unjust judge seeking justice against her adversary. Because of her persistence in prayer, the judge relented. Jesus’ point is that if an unjust judge will grant the petition of someone who perseveres in a request for justice, how much more will the God who loves us—“his chosen ones” (v. 7)—answer our prayer when we keep praying? The parable does not teach, as is mistakenly thought, that if we pray for something over and over, God is obligated to give it to us. Rather, God promises to avenge His own, to vindicate them, right their wrongs, do them justice, and deliver them from their adversaries. He does this because of His justice, His holiness, and His hatred of sin; in answering prayer, He keeps His promises and displays His power.

Jesus gives another illustration of prayer in Luke 11:5-12. Similar to the parable of the unjust judge, Jesus’ message in this passage is that if a man will inconvenience himself to provide for a needy friend, God will provide for our needs far more, since no request is an inconvenience to Him. Here again, the promise is not that we will receive whatever we ask if we just keep asking. God’s promise to His children is a promise to meet our needs, not our wants. And He knows our needs better than we do. The same promise is reiterated in Matthew 7:7-11 and in Luke 11:13, where the “good gift” is further explained to be the Holy Spirit. 

Both of these passages encourage us to pray and to keep praying. There is nothing wrong with repeatedly asking for the same thing. As long as what you are praying for is within the will of God (1 John 5:14-15), keep asking until God grants your request or removes the desire from your heart. Sometimes God forces us to wait for an answer to our prayers in order to teach us patience and perseverance. Sometimes we ask for something when granting it is not yet in God’s timing for our lives. Sometimes we ask for something that is not God’s will for us, and He says “no.” Prayer is not only our presenting requests to God; it is God’s presenting His will to our hearts. Keep on asking, keep on knocking, and keep on seeking until God grants your request or convinces you that your request is not His will for you.

(Source: gotquestions.org, via iwilltrustinyou)

Lord, I will trust in You.: How can I be an effective witness for Christ in a lost world?

iwilltrustinyou:

A “witness” is someone who attests to a fact, so in order to be an effective witness for Christ, one must have first-hand knowledge of Him. John the Apostle speaks of this in 1 John 1:1-3, when he says, “That … which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at, and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life.” Today, we who have experienced new life in Christ give an account of His love and forgiveness, both verbally and in the way we live our lives. This is witnessing. To be effective in our witness, we should remember several basic things:

1) the THEME of our witness is Jesus Christ. Paul defined the gospel as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). If we aren’t explaining the sacrifice of Christ, then we’re not really sharing the gospel. (See also 1 Corinthians 2:2 and Romans 10:9-10.) An important part of this theme is the fact that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, not just one of many ways. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, emphasis added). 

2) the POWER of our witness is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who transforms a life (Titus 3:5), and a transformed life is evident to all. As we witness, we should spend much time in prayer, appropriating the Spirit’s power so that we are enabled to let our light shine in such a way that others will recognize the power of God in us (Matthew 5:16).

3) the VALIDITY of our witness will be shown in how we live our lives. Philippians 2:15sets this goal for us: “that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” The effective Christian witness will live his/her life above reproach in the power of the Holy Spirit, whose fruit we exhibit when we remain in Christ (John 15:1-8;Galatians 5:22-23).

Perhaps most importantly, we must be familiar enough with the Scriptures to be able to accurately and coherently present the gospel to others. “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). Always being prepared means diligent Bible study, memorizing Scripture, and praying for “divine appointments”—God-given opportunities to share with those whose hearts have been prepared by the Lord to hear His message of salvation.

(Source: gotquestions.org, via iwilltrustinyou)

FROM LEE IN TENNESSEE: The Super-Encouraging Things About Satan!

hahahahaha this is pretty lol.

it also reminds me of the verse:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 (ESV)

leeyounger:

You wanna be encouraged? Okay, then let’s think about Satan.

I know, that doesn’t seem like the most encouraging topic, right? Well, hang in there, because when you really think about the devil, there’s actually a whole lot to be encouraged about:

I mean, sure. He seems like a really…

FROM LEE IN TENNESSEE: Q&A... On Knowing I'm Saved - For Sure...

because even though God predestines, when we have the Spirit, He will never leave us and no one or thing can snatch us out of God’s hand =D

Keep loving.

leeyounger (<- click there):

Anonymous asked:

Hey, I got saved when I was nine - did it count if my beliefs may not have been well developed yet?

..

So I Said:

Brother, I know exactly where you are coming from.

I first asked Jesus into my heart when I was nine years old as well. That was way…

Unka Glen's Citadel of Enlightenment: Three tips for effective ministry

unkaglen:

Unka Glen answered: Look at you! Aren’t you something? Well, yes, I’ll give you three tips, but you feel free to ask me for more any time.

1) Find a good professional mentor

2) Learn outreach.

3) Finally, humble yourself.

…

GREAT post! (click on the reblog link to find out more)

Suddenly talking to prisoners (or your colleagues for that matter) doesn’t seem to be so daunting xP

I should probably look up what outreach means …

Unka Glen's Citadel of Enlightenment: When your friends stumble, how do you react?

unkaglen:

Anonymous asked: One of my closest friends broke up with her boyfriend, after they dated for a year and eight months. Her boyfriend is a Christian, and when they started dating, she started going to church and got into God and everything. But now that they’ve broken up, she’s so far from God…

Context is about BGR breakup and backsliding, but it speaks a lot to the sinner in all of us.