Acts 8:15-16
Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
I feel very ill equipped to read and interpret this passage for I do not fully understand it. However, I pray that I was guided by my father as I read and wrote.

The people of Samaria received the Gospel, and were baptized, but they did not receive the Holly Spirit. This clearly shows that having faith in the Gospel does not necessarily mean that you have received the Holly Spirit to the fullest extent; they are two separate events. However the only of the two that is salvific is the reception and the acceptance of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit filling someone to overflowing is then an addition of the initial work that Christ has done in a life. Peter and John obviously saw the importance of the Spirit because they were filled and had seen Him work in and through them. The Holy Spirit is our companion, He is a gift from God, and I desire to be filled with Him on a daily basis. I would plead for that to be everyone's prayer that we all might walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. That we might receive the gifts He has to offer us when they are thought necessary by Him. Not for the purpose of drawing attention to us, but too point to our Lord and Savior. For that is the only purpose of ALL the gifts it discerningly bestows upon us. Furthermore, we are not holders of any gift. We can not use Him if He does not wish to be used. The Holy Spirit is a comforter and a barometer for us. He convicts us and shows us that we need That which only Jesus can offer, redemption.

I know that this is a very stereotypical application, but it is the only thing that seems fitting for this passage. I will and do, pray everyday for the Spirit to work in me that I may be used to bring glory to my father. Also, that I will be eager to hear and head His correction regarding the things in my life that are not pleasing to Jesus.  

Acts 8:15-16
Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
I feel very ill equipped to read and interpret this passage for I do not fully understand it. However, I pray that I was guided by my father as I read and wrote.

The people of Samaria received the Gospel, and were baptized, but they did not receive the Holly Spirit. This clearly shows that having faith in the Gospel does not necessarily mean that you have received the Holly Spirit to the fullest extent; they are two separate events. However the only of the two that is salvific is the reception and the acceptance of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit filling someone to overflowing is then an addition of the initial work that Christ has done in a life. Peter and John obviously saw the importance of the Spirit because they were filled and had seen Him work in and through them. The Holy Spirit is our companion, He is a gift from God, and I desire to be filled with Him on a daily basis. I would plead for that to be everyone's prayer that we all might walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. That we might receive the gifts He has to offer us when they are thought necessary by Him. Not for the purpose of drawing attention to us, but too point to our Lord and Savior. For that is the only purpose of ALL the gifts it discerningly bestows upon us. Furthermore, we are not holders of any gift. We can not use Him if He does not wish to be used. The Holy Spirit is a comforter and a barometer for us. He convicts us and shows us that we need That which only Jesus can offer, redemption.

I know that this is a very stereotypical application, but it is the only thing that seems fitting for this passage. I will and do, pray everyday for the Spirit to work in me that I may be used to bring glory to my father. Also, that I will be eager to hear and head His correction regarding the things in my life that are not pleasing to Jesus.  

Colossians 3:16
 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Be in the word and be in fellowship, these are the fundamentals of growing in Christ. What does it mean to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly? It certainly does not mean to read a chapter in your Bible every morning as your devotions and then proceed to live your life. The word of God is a powerful living entity that we as Christians are to take part in. We are to study it that we may glean wisdom and knowledge concerning humanity, life, death, and our father. If we let the word of The Lord richly dwell in us, it will transform us.
When you take to heart the word of The Lord and see the work it is doing in you, it would only seem natural for you to desire to share revelations with others. This is called fellowship, when we are building one another up in Christ. It is imperative for your walk with God that you fellowship with other like minded people. For a long time, I did not have any like minded friends. I would often surround myself with people who simply didn't know what they believed. At the time, I didn't even notice the negative effects they were having on me. Looking back on it I can so clearly see where I went astray and the reason why. I had no fellowship with Christian friends.
when I read the last portion of this verse, I am reminded of an elderly English man that attends my church. He always has a word of encouragement or a psalm on his lips. He has prophesied to me and ministered to me on such a personal level that all I do is hope I will become like him one day. He is the most gentle and genuine man I have ever met, and his name is pastor Howard.  When I think of someone who has emptied themselves and presented God with an empty vessel to fill, I think of him. It is so comforting to see and interact with people who have gone before you on the path that you are traveling, who can counsel you and admonish you when needed. Who do things out of love and compassion, not selfish ambition. I know that I am not as far down the path as pastor Howard is, but I also know that I am further down the path than a lot of other people. Why shouldn't I strive to teach and encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ in a like manner?
Application: this is going to be a fun application for everyone. If you, yes all of you, see or hear of me being negative or discouraging to someone, PLEASE, call me out.

 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do [his commandments]: his praise endureth for ever.
If the fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom, than such a statement excludes everyone but Christians from being wise. Which resounds accordingly with the old saying "don't take advice from anyone you wouldn't trade places with". I certainly would not trade places with anyone who is unsaved, so why would I ever take advice from anyone who finds the self in such a state? More often than not, a non-Christian or even a baby Christian will not tell you what you need to hear. They will tell you what you want to hear; they will feed your flesh.  It is shameful that our reasons for seeking worldly counsel are a byproduct of our self seeking desires. It can reveal our motives and our true heart in an unsettling way. You don't have to be humble or even sincere to ask a worldly man for worldly advice. In my youth, I would often find myself needing Godly counsel from my parents, and not getting it because I did not ask for it. How foolish it is to love your sin enough to be drowned by it. My fear of God did not outweigh my love of sin and unfortunately, it still does not. Any amount of knowledge that I have is trumped by my absolute lack of wisdom. I do fear The Lord, and anyone else can say this all day long. But how do you prove such a statement? I would assume that any continuing sin in your life would prove the contrary.
if you fear The Lord, you will worship Him and you will hate sin. If you do not fear The Lord and love your sin, He will still be worshiped. Just not by you. He is not missing out when we aren't worshipping Him, we are. Not that God is not delighted by our worship, if it is sincere of course, but He doesn't need it. Luke 19: 39-40 "And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Worship is not for God as much as it is for us. It's a life that He has blessed us with, we just have to hate our sin enough to live it.


Application: I lay down sin in my life that I hold onto, not just because I am here at ignite and it is easy to do so. But wherever The Lord takes me.

What an interesting premise to think about, "numbering our days". On the one hand, we could live our lives accordingly, on the other hand, we would alter our lives and potentially neglecting things that we shouldn't neglect. Furthermore, not all would be pleased with how soon Gods appointed hour might come. For instance, if I knew that I were going to die in three years, I would not seek to be married out of compassion for the woman I love. However, God may have intended me to be married and I would have missed out on something He had for me, and though I know it seems depressing, she may have missed out on something God had for her also. Because no one knows the time or hour of there death, we know not how they would respond to such enlightenment. Thus we can not derive a conclusion as to how certain categories of people would react. All we can do is theorize. But I would challenge the importance of even pondering such a topic. After all, what is the Christian man to do with such information? Apply his heart to wisdom? We have a good Master who knows the hour He will choose to take us. He is perfection and His timing can be described in a like manner, no matter how inconvenient we may think it is. Moses was looking forward to the coming of Christ, we are looking back at it. We have no excuse to not employ our hearts in the search for wisdom each and every day. God has dispensed more than enough revelation for us to have faith. We, understanding that earth is not our home, would be fools to store up treasure here. Eternity is promised us by the Creator of everything seen and unseen; the God who breathed life into our lungs. He has stored a desire for heaven in our hearts and He will reward us by fulfilling that desire if we live our life for Him. To hear my father say well done good and faithful servant. A greater reward than this is unfathomable.
Application: Let go of the that which God has told me to let go of.

It's funny how much the grammatical structure of a sentence can alter the way it reads. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love." Not, but the fruits of the Spirit are. This reads as love being the fruit of the spirit, and then it goes on to list attributes of love. It's as if there should be a semi-colon after love, not a comma. So the evidence of the Holy Spirit being in someone is the presence of love, which manifests itself under the appearances of joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, and temperance. The only perfect human example of these attributes is Jesus. Oh, how far we fall short of His example on a daily basis. This comparison is not presented with the intention of condemning, but for the purpose of exemplifying how much we as humans need grace that only Jesus can dispense.
Now that we have isolated the different qualities that are evidence of Love and the Holy Spirit, it is necessary to take a close, but not to close, look at each one. Joy, happiness is fleeting but joy is eternal. Peace, something that cannot be found apart from God. In war or in a time of silence, there is no peace apart from God. Gentleness, it seems self-explanatory, but I would argue the opposite. Gentleness can be placed under a purely physical connotation, but I believe it is far more meaningful when displayed through words. Look at how gentle Jesus was with Peter in John 13. Instead of getting frustrated with Peter's zeal and defiance, He was gentle. Goodness, being and doing good without any prodding or hope of an earthly reward. Faith, giving your life for Jesus is faith. To see the big picture of eternity as God has revealed it to us and to live accordingly; that is faith. Meekness, to not boast in self. To let your self be hidden behind Jesus. That when you converse with someone, they might see Jesus in you, not the hideous thing that is you. Temperance. I would argue that this trait can be best expose when someone is treated unjustly, and does not return evil for evil. How often do we let our pride rear it's ugly head. We can see all of these traits so clearly when we look at Jesus, my hope is that someone might catch a glimpse of them in me.

The absence of any one of these traits is the presence of their antonym, which is sin by nature. I will dedicate a ten minute slot of prayer each morning to asking God to help me better exemplify these traits in my life. 

You never know how selfish you can be until you are placed into a position where that selfishness can manifest itself. This somewhat goes without saying, but it is absolutely vital to what I am going to say next. We often feel that we are better people than the corrupt people in power. That we could do a better job. This may be true that we could do a better job, but there is no such thing as "better people". My basis for saying this is rooted in the argument that there are no good people. There are just bad people and God who changes those people. The only difference between us and Barrack Obama is that he is the president of the United States. It is so easy to look at him and bad mouth him because of the massive amounts of money he spends on vacations when The United States are trillions of dollars in debt, but we can't be too sure that any of us wouldn't be taking those enjoyable family vacations. I'm not saying I agree with what he is and stands for, but I don't know how I would act in such a situation. I cannot say for sure that I would not tell my servant to prepare my meal and feed me before he feed himself because I have never had a servant. Now, knowing who I am and how I have reacted under the conditions of being a leader, such as at camps and things I can safely say that I enjoy serving people to some extent and do try to be sensitive to the needs of others. But there are other issues that I have, ones that are difficult for me to act appropriately when I am tempted by them. I tell myself I won't fall, but then I often do. I I have realized that I can't win certain battles on my own but the best part about being a child of God is that I don't have to. I am not supposed to win battles by myself, I need Gods support and guidance or else I will fall.

Application: examine your heart. Realize that you are only one situation away from falling and ask God for strength.