POSITIVE THINKING CANNOT RESURRECT YOU FROM THE DEAD
THE SUPERNATURAL POWER OF GOD OR POSITIVE THINKING CANNOT RESURRECT YOU FROM THE DEAD!
Paul McGuire
©
It is impossible to live the Christian life! Absolutely impossible! You cannot overcome sin, and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, apart from complete reliance on the Holy Spirit through faith. The Reformer Martin Luther said, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith: as it is written the just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17
The true Christian life is entirely supernatural. You cannot accomplish anything for God in the power of the flesh, or human energy. Nothing! No individual Christian, no church, and no ministry can do anything for God. Absolutely nothing. The Christian life, and the life of the church can only be live supernaturally. It is only through the same power that resurrected Christ from the dead that we can do anything for God. For in actuality, we can do nothing for God, apart from His Spirit through faith.
You cannot change yourself, anymore than you can resurrect yourself from the dead. Although, in a very limited sense a life which is based on positive thinking will produce more human results than a life which is based on negative thinking. But, positive thinking cannot resurrect you from the dead. Positive thinking cannot cause you to put to death through the power of the Holy Spirit your flesh. Positive thinking cannot produce conviction of sin. Positive thinking will not cause you to meet the Lord in the air at the Rapture of the Church, or resurrect you from the dead. Positive thinking cannot produce any of the fruit of the Spirit. Positive thinking cannot cause you, or anyone else to be saved, or made holy.
The reason I am focusing in so precisely on positive thinking, is that it is a very subtle, but very insidious spiritual error. In fact, positive thinking is “another Gospel.” Lenin, Hitler, and the “Godfather,” were positive thinkers. They believed in themselves, and what they could achieve. But, the message of the Cross calls out to us to receive God’s free gift of salvation in Christ. It is a call to die with Christ, and our old man, or woman. It is a call to pick up our Cross and follow Jesus Christ. The Christian life, and the victorious Christian life can only be realized by placing our faith in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian life can only be lived as Martin Luther said, “from faith to faith.”
The true Christian life is entirely supernatural. We can only be Christians, and walk with Christ to the degree that we abide in the Vine, who is Christ. The Christian life is entirely contingent on faith in the supernatural power of Jesus Christ! We can only overcome sin, temptation, and bear fruit for God through the power of the Holy Spirit. We can only accomplish God’s plan for our lives through the power of the Spirit. We can only win souls, when we realize that we cannot win souls, and the conversion is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. We are not “salesman,”for God! We don’t win people to Christ through an intellectual chess game where we say “checkmate,” and now accept Jesus Christ. Emotionalism, and the force of human personality is not the same thing as the genuine move of the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is not that God in his Infinite grace, and mercy may not use our human efforts to present Christ, or answer people’s honest intellectual questions. This is not a call not to utilize apologetics or intelligent presentations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People have honest answers about the faith, and they must be answered intelligently, and rationally. This is not a plea for anti-intellectualism. Jesus Christ is Lord of all of life! Lord of science, medicine, philosophy, politics, economics, creativity, art, sexuality, culture, and so on. But in the final analysis our effectiveness is totally reliant on the power of the Holy Spirit. This means both on a personal, and corporate level.
Paul McGuire
©
It is impossible to live the Christian life! Absolutely impossible! You cannot overcome sin, and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, apart from complete reliance on the Holy Spirit through faith. The Reformer Martin Luther said, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith: as it is written the just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17
The true Christian life is entirely supernatural. You cannot accomplish anything for God in the power of the flesh, or human energy. Nothing! No individual Christian, no church, and no ministry can do anything for God. Absolutely nothing. The Christian life, and the life of the church can only be live supernaturally. It is only through the same power that resurrected Christ from the dead that we can do anything for God. For in actuality, we can do nothing for God, apart from His Spirit through faith.
You cannot change yourself, anymore than you can resurrect yourself from the dead. Although, in a very limited sense a life which is based on positive thinking will produce more human results than a life which is based on negative thinking. But, positive thinking cannot resurrect you from the dead. Positive thinking cannot cause you to put to death through the power of the Holy Spirit your flesh. Positive thinking cannot produce conviction of sin. Positive thinking will not cause you to meet the Lord in the air at the Rapture of the Church, or resurrect you from the dead. Positive thinking cannot produce any of the fruit of the Spirit. Positive thinking cannot cause you, or anyone else to be saved, or made holy.
The reason I am focusing in so precisely on positive thinking, is that it is a very subtle, but very insidious spiritual error. In fact, positive thinking is “another Gospel.” Lenin, Hitler, and the “Godfather,” were positive thinkers. They believed in themselves, and what they could achieve. But, the message of the Cross calls out to us to receive God’s free gift of salvation in Christ. It is a call to die with Christ, and our old man, or woman. It is a call to pick up our Cross and follow Jesus Christ. The Christian life, and the victorious Christian life can only be realized by placing our faith in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian life can only be lived as Martin Luther said, “from faith to faith.”
The true Christian life is entirely supernatural. We can only be Christians, and walk with Christ to the degree that we abide in the Vine, who is Christ. The Christian life is entirely contingent on faith in the supernatural power of Jesus Christ! We can only overcome sin, temptation, and bear fruit for God through the power of the Holy Spirit. We can only accomplish God’s plan for our lives through the power of the Spirit. We can only win souls, when we realize that we cannot win souls, and the conversion is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. We are not “salesman,”for God! We don’t win people to Christ through an intellectual chess game where we say “checkmate,” and now accept Jesus Christ. Emotionalism, and the force of human personality is not the same thing as the genuine move of the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is not that God in his Infinite grace, and mercy may not use our human efforts to present Christ, or answer people’s honest intellectual questions. This is not a call not to utilize apologetics or intelligent presentations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People have honest answers about the faith, and they must be answered intelligently, and rationally. This is not a plea for anti-intellectualism. Jesus Christ is Lord of all of life! Lord of science, medicine, philosophy, politics, economics, creativity, art, sexuality, culture, and so on. But in the final analysis our effectiveness is totally reliant on the power of the Holy Spirit. This means both on a personal, and corporate level.
