March 2007
Dearly Beloved of Our Lord:
Grace, peace, and mercy be multiplied to you as you walk each day with the Holy Spirit. We send you our greetings, along with our prayers. May you walk in His wonderful presence with your heart filled with praises and thanksgiving. And may you be abundantly fruitful in these amazing times of harvest, which also may include times of tribulation.
SIMPLICITY
He has been speaking to us a lot these days about simplicity. You probably have heard of the acronym KISS which stands for “Keep It Simple Saints!” Simplicity is very important to us because we often do not have a lot of time when we talk with people on the streets or at a college campus. Most people tend to be in a hurry these days.
We want to share a scenario with you. Suppose we are in the grocery story or getting gas at a gas station. Perhaps we are passing through the line at the bank or some checkout counter somewhere. Or we could be on a street corner at Pioneer Courthouse Square handing out calendar cards. Then we encounter someone for a short period of time. We make contact with our voices and perhaps even with our eyes. What do we want to give to that person? What can we say or do that will be the most valuable, life-giving blessing to them?
The Holy Spirit lives in us. We belong to Him. We have been purchased with the precious and powerful blood of Christ. The Holy Spirit has fruit He wants to impart and gifts He wishes to use during our brief encounter with someone for whom Christ died and rose again. Our desire is to yield to Him so that He can do what He wants to do in this encounter. Let Him act and let Him speak as He looks through our eyes and as He loves the one in front of us.
He has caused us to “stop for the one” as we wait for what He wants to do. This is where simplicity is so important to us. We wait for the words or the action which is “spirit and life” where the Holy Spirit breaks through and we walk in the Spirit (See John 6:63). When the time is very brief He may give us a simple word such as, “Jesus is eternal life.” This may lead to more interaction or it may be all that is said and done at the time. Whether the opportunity is brief or long, we want to simply communicate the life and presence of God. We desire to see the heavenly realm released into this earthly one. May His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth (See Matthew 6:10). We want to experience the kingdom of God here.
HUMILITY
Paul writes us an encouragement and a warning in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4:
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
And the prophet writes in Micah 6:8:
“He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
Paul warns us that if we depart from the simplicity that is in Christ we could end up following a different Jesus, believing another gospel, and receiving another spirit other than the Holy Spirit. Micah calls us to humility, mercy, and righteousness (doing justly). This is simplicity. Walking in humility with the Holy Spirit. This is the walk of Jesus (see Philippians 2:5-9). He walked in humility, doing justly, and loving mercy.
Do you ever have scriptures almost jump off the page while the words pierce your heart? Here is one we would like some response to. In Romans 8:6 Paul writes:
“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
To be spiritually minded is life and peace. This brings up an important question. What does it mean to be spiritually minded? We believe that this refers to our relationship with the Holy Spirit and the importance of this relationship. This relationship is absolutely essential to our walking humbly with God. It is also central to bringing the gospel of the kingdom of God to those we meet wherever we may go – downtown, a campus, the grocery store, our neighborhood, our family, etc. Paul writes this in simplicity in Romans 14:17:
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
The kingdom of God is in the Holy Ghost. We experience the kingdom of God in the Holy Spirit. So it is very necessary to be spiritually minded so we can experience and bring the righteousness, peace, and joy of His kingdom to others. And the kingdom we bring is in the Holy Spirit.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT
We would like to hear from you. What does it mean to you when you read, “to be spiritually minded is life and peace”? The simplicity of this phrase is challenging. We desire to be spiritually minded. We desire life and peace so that we can walk in humility and reveal His presence and His kingdom. We would be encouraged to hear what you think or believe. Send us a note or an email. We want to grow in our understanding of what it means to be spiritually minded and walk in simplicity. Thank you for your thoughts on this. And thank you for your prayers, your encouragement, and support. We look forward to hearing from you.
~ Ron & Karen
E-mail: awakening1s@comcast.net
Home Page: awakening1s.net
church @ 24/7
Ron & Karen Rohman
PO Box 14292
PORTLAND OR 97293