Paul Potts: A Humble Man Speaks to the World

This video comes from an extraordinary story about a man who works as a mobile phone salesman, and tried out for "Britains Got Talent" reality show.

He got up to perform with most people believing he was at the best silly, and worse going to hurt their ears. He had them in tears before he was through.

The story to me is about a man of humble state and brokenness who didn't really know what he had and simply wanted to share what he did have with those willing to listen.

It was amazing to see this working man with no confidence in himself, unpresumptious and simply a regular person do what he did.

Lord we need to see brokenness and true humility in your people.

A Song Of Peace

Sit Back and Relax - Eternity Within

Eternity Within

A letter I wrote:

When you wrote to me talking about discouragement, I wanted to relate something to you that has truly set me free in this area, and prevented me from entering into a lot of soulish, self-originating directions.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, we read about where God has set eternity within us. It is after that where we read about there being a time for everything. Of course Christ is our eternity, and when He reveals Himself and works Himself within us in that way, it takes away much of the discouragement that can come upon us. After all, discouragement is usually simply getting tired of a situation that were in or
waiting for something that we want to happen.
 
The scriptures and history is strewn about with those who are children of God who make terrible mistakes by not viewing things from the Lords' timelessness. Is He in a hurry? Does He get terribly troubled by the situations of life? No! 

Ask Him to reveal and to work into you His way of life in this matter, after a season of time you'll be surprised at how things that have troubled you, no longer come to mind.

You Have Died

Do you ever reach a place of despair when you get tired of yourself? You know, the place where you wouldn't live with yourself except for the fact that you must reside in your body.

One thing that can help a lot with this is the fact that we are told "we have died!"

When we were buried with Christ, we were buried with Christ. All that self activity simply has to learn that it was nailed to the Cross with Jesus. He took us with Him to the grave.

Our lives are now hidden in Christ. Instead of always trying to find our lives, let us lose them in Him, where they actually are, and simply look for Him alone. Are minds need to be set on Him and Him alone.

Let His life be what is active within you. Remind your always active self life that it has been buried with Christ forever. That's one of the things it means when the scriptures say that if we lose our lives we will find it. We need to lose our lives in Him, so we can find His live that is within us.

To do that, we must allow Him to quiet us and empower us by the Spirit to rest in Him and let His life become active, as we look to Him within.

It's not that Christ isn't active within us, it's that we're so assured that our life is so important that we don't realize that it's smothering out the life of Christ.

One way of dealing with this is to ask Him to quiet you and remind you by the Spirit that you no longer live, but Christ lives within you!

The Unbelievable Lord Jesus

Something to inspire you whenever things seem dry.

Oh Lord, you are divinity!

Your matchless grace is shed upon your people. For those who open their hearts to you, there is endless abiding in your presence.

Ignite us within our spirits, oh Lord. Inflame us like a fire within, for you.

Look to Jesus for He is there within to those who truly believe. He is our exceedingly great reward. There is nothing that can come close to comparing with Him.

Living Lord consume us with your love. Consume us with your person. Consume us with your grace.

Your grace is far beyond being sufficient for us. We must simply believe and trust in you for that sufficiency.

The Lord flows, flows from within to without. The Lord flows like a river. Like a mighty river. Yet the river is calm within and without as He flows through His yielded vessels.

Keep opening to the Lord. Keep your heart soft before Him, open before Him within you. If you do this there will be a continuous flow of His life through you.

The Lord is matchless. He is incomprehensible. Yet to trust in Him and embrace Him wholly, will give you all that He is.

The Lord is closer than we can ever imagine; closer than the union between a husband and wife. He has a love that far eclipses any love that mankind can give one another.

For even the love that we have for one another can only come forth from Him. And we can only show forth that love from being one with Him on an endless basis.

Here's a song I found about the Lord's cry to his bride:

Whatever You Do, Do it from the Heart Unto the Lord

One of the things that has helped me more than anything else in everyday life is to do whatever I do from the heart unto the Lord. It changes everything when you learn to practice this.

Whatever our circumstances are, if we will include that in our ways when we do things, it has a way of changing whatever it is we're doing without more effort.

But even the benefits it can have for others pales in comparison to the reality that we have been created from, for and to Him. To do this can become as simple as breathing. Eventually you really don't think about it, you simply live from Him, and from out of your heart give back to Him whatever it is he's given you.

Many times this includes things in relationship to people. It can make a tremendous difference when we relate to others and serve them in any way that is the same way that we would relate or serve the Lord.

There is nothing we can strive or work for here, we just open our hearts and give them to Him, and then from His heart give it back to whoever we are able to at the time.

It's a life-changing experience that we can all partake of as we walk in Him together; not only those we touch, but ourselves as well.

Our Hearts Need to be Always Open to Him

Sharing the life of Christ together takes a lot of humility and brokeness, things that can only come from the Lord. Yet it is a heart after God that enables us to open up to Him doing this work within us, and living His life through us.

A willingness to take everything as coming from the hand of God is one of the attributes that come along with this.

What this does is keep our hearts open before God and with one another. A hard heart is possibly the greatest enemy against our allowing Him to live His life within and through us.

One of the jobs we have as the people of God is to continually remind and watch out for one another that hardness and bitterness doesn't enter within us and find a home. It can devastate everything that the Lord wants to do within us if we resist Him.

All we can do is continually be open before Him whether it is painful, joyful, happy or sad. As long as He is there with us - which He is - nothing else really matters. That He is there is enough.

He is more than willing and able to renew a right heart and spirit within us. Just trust that He will, and leave it in His hands.

Sharing the Life of Christ Together

Do you ever wonder what it was that Jesus was doing with the twelve disciples that eventually he sent out as workers for Him?

When you look at a lot of what he talked about, it was nothing else than teaching them how to be together centered around Him.

First, of course, He had to help them to see who He was and believe in Him. Not a head belief, but to cast their entire being onto Him in trust.

But from there, it was always about how to be brethren together. What do you think the 12 were? Some guys Jesus simply gave a title to? Not at all. This was a new Israel Jesus was giving birth to. That's why there were 12 of them. It was full of significance that he was now introducing the true Israel, the Spiritual Israel - the Israel that would have Jesus live within them by the Spirit. That is the true Israel of God.

Within that thought is not what was most important though. He was teaching them how to live together centered around Him. That's why He would tell them things like if they wanted to be the greatest, then they must be a servant of all. That's why he served them when they last ate together before He died, as an example to how they should live amongst one another.

All the things that they had learned how to do together, is what they would eventually pass on to those they would live in community with together. It was togetherness centered in Christ that was what was learned, and what would be passed on. One of the last things Jesus said to them was that they should love one another like He had loved them; that they should lay down their lives for one another.

You can only do that be being together; by living close together. That's how the church was birthed through Christ. All of them living and laying down their lives for one another centered around nothing but loving Jesus Christ their husband as His bride.

What more could a people want then to share the life of Christ together on a daily basis? When it comes down to it, it's all that He wants!

The Seed Within

Mark recorded one of the most important insights that Jesus offered us when He said concerning the disciples not understanding the the parable of the sower, that if they didn't understand that, than how could they understand any parables? In other words, How could they understand the kingdom of God, which the parable talks about?

Right before he made the comments, Jesus told them that the secret of the kingdom of God had been given to them. Who was them? It wasn't only the twelve, but the account includes the others. It's always those that are centered around Christ.

Concerning the Kingdom, remember that Jesus also said that the Kingdom of God was within us. That's what this parable is talking about.

Jesus is that seed; the kingdom of God planted within us. One thing to understand about this seed is that it is absolutely perfect. The seed cannot be improved upon - he lives within those that believe.

The issue is never the seed, it's always the ground. That's why Jesus said that if they didn't understand this parable, they could never understand the rest of them either. It always has to do with the heart of God's people as to how much of the seed of Christ will grow and be fruitful.
Again, remember that the Jesus is that seed and he is a perfect seed.

Does this mean that through straining to have a good heart we can make this happen? No! But, when Jesus initiates Himself within us, we have the opportunity to respond. That response only can come because of the Lord Himself - only He can empower us ... but we must give Him room to.

All we can do is ask Him to keep our hearts open and encourage and remind one another to keep our hearts open to Him within us - and to Him within one another.

This is the story of how the bride emerges out of Christ. She came out of Him and He then dwelt within her and shines forth from within her to show forth all that He is. It all starts from seed being planted within good ground.