Last week, Christ For The Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas held a 50 hour worship event on their campus. It was wonderful to see so many old faces and worship with so many former worship leaders and alumni. One of the themes talked about during this event, was the idea of re-digging old wells that had been dug many years ago. We can trace back so many of the blessings we walk in today to pioneers of faith in previous generations. Truly we stand on the shoulders of the faithful of bygone years. I’m so thankful for the prayers, faith, and sacrifices of previous generations of Christians. It causes me to consider my own life. How tragic it would be if I, or any of us, take for granted the blessings we walk in and fail to realize our own responsibility to not only re-dig the water wells of previous times, but dig our own wells that will be a blessing to future generations. Digging wells takes time, effort, and perseverance. Digging wells moves us from the selfishness of quick blessings here and now, to thinking generationally. God is a God of generations. Yes, His blessings are for us individually, here and now, but a truly “blessed life” is one that impacts future generations…long after we who are alive today are gone.
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Secondly, I was reminded that, not only should we take care to re-dig the spiritual wells of the past, but that we should, with renewed strength and determination of heart and mind, focus on our true love…our first love…Jesus. What good does any “ministry” do if our hearts are not first and foremost focused on the One for Whom we live and breathe and have our very being in the first place? It is for Him that we live. Worship is not about singing songs, it is about spending intimate time in the Presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. May we never get so caught up in doing good, that we forget our first love.

I was sitting in church Sunday morning, listening to our pastor preach about the Holy Spirit when he referenced this scripture out of Ephesians. “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit.” I’ve either read or heard this scripture probably hundreds of times over the course of my life. But something jumped out at me during church, like it had never done before. Paul meant to put these two things together. This scripture was not just simply a command to a bunch of people who were partying too hard. What if he put these two statements back to back on purpose?

What happens when someone is under the influence of alcohol? Who you truly are begins to come out. Perhaps a person is opinionated, but keeps their opinions to themselves, because, they are well-mannered, and it would be impolite to share their opinions with the rest of the world. After a few too many drinks, this person begins to vocalize their opinions and perhaps even becomes outspokenly blunt, if not down right rude.

We are new creations in Christ Jesus. The old man is dead. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That's who you truly are if you are a Christian. What if we began to live daily under the influence of The Holy Spirit? I used to think getting “drunk in the Spirit” meant participating in a lively church service where people are laughing or speaking in tongues or any other number of things. There is a place for that, but what if the kind of “drunk in the Spirit” Paul means for us isn’t just those outward manifestations at all? What if it’s a way of life?

If we are truly living under the influence of the Spirit…if we are filled with the Spirit…if we are drunk in the Spirit, then we have no reason to be inhibited by all the trappings that so quickly hold us back from praying for others, or sharing the Gospel with others. We don’t have to be angry or lustful or unforgiving anymore. We are under the influence. We are behaving differently than we used to.
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We must continually seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. In the natural, the influence of wine only lasts a short time…so too, we cannot rely on just one experience with the Holy Spirit…We must daily be filled. Let us purpose in our hearts to be always under the influence… His influence! Who knows how God will use us when we surrender our mind, our will, and our very selves to Him?

I can’t remember who said it, but many years ago I heard a speaker say that, “you can’t stop a bird from pooping on your head, but you can stop it from making a nest.” I admit, it sounds a bit gross or weird, but if you think about it for a second, it makes a lot of sense. Think about it in regard to your thought life. We all have experienced thoughts that seemingly come from nowhere. You were scrolling through Instagram or Twitter, minding your own business, and all of a sudden you come across an inappropriate picture. Thoughts you didn’t ask for come rushing in...you can’t stop a bird from pooping on your head, but you can stop it from making a nest. Or maybe you’re driving down the road and someone cuts you off. Immediately, your skin begins to turn green and you feel rage coursing through your veins as if you were the Hulk himself. You can’t stop a bird from pooping on your head, but you can stop it from making a nest. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says to, “...take every thought captive to obey Christ…”

We live in the world. We can’t avoid life. We will undoubtedly encounter situations that will tempt us. Lust, anger, envy...whatever flavor of sin is most enticing to you, will come knocking. If not today, just wait awhile. But it is what we do in those initial moments of temptation that make the difference between sin and obedience. Temptation is not sin. Everyone has crazy thoughts. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve walked with God, temptation will come.

Take every thought captive. Trust in God. And don’t let a bird make a nest in your mind or heart. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

​-Chad Bozarth

Here are a few perspectives and principles that I have learned the last 50 years. I learned them the hard way.

1) Who you are as a believer is more important than what you do.

If we are not in tune…We can build an alternative reality of success instead of wholeness, but it is a fantasy. Get with God and gut this stuff out now, while there are those around you to help.

T. Kempis, a 14th century Monk in writing words of encouragement and correction to young monks entering the monastery said “…if I am outwardly admonished and not interiorly set on fire I may die and find that my life was without fruit, and at the moment of judgment I may be condemned for hearing the word but not fulfilling it, knowing it but not loving it, for believing it but not living it.”

Who you are as a believer is more important than what you do.

2) Self-sufficiency is a trap.

Dependence on ‘self’ leads to prayerlessness. You will find, and it will be a good day when you find it, that having confidence in your flesh is just an illusion. Crisis will drive you to your knees and ultimately flat on your face. And when you cry out and mean it when you say, “Oh God, I can’t do it”…He’ll be there. When you can no longer hold on, He’ll hold on to you. Again, to quote Kempis: “If you are looking for knowledge and learning that is useful to you, then love to be unknown…”

Self-sufficiency is a trap.

3) Don’t fear the crucible event that is coming.

The word crucible means: a situation of severe trial. At some point in your life you will experience, if you haven’t already, an event that changes you. Don’t be afraid…what you do with that life-altering event will reveal who you really are. And it’s good to know who you are and it’s good to find out that you are really stronger than you think you are.
To quote Kempis one more time, “…you must not become dejected nor give into despair… Remember, after winter comes the summer, after night comes the morning, and after the storm comes the great calm.”

-Susan Bozarth

Have you ever bought a new car, and the moment you drive it off the lot you start to see your same car everywhere you look? You go to the grocery store, the same one you’ve been going to for years, and suddenly everyone else has your same exact car! This experience is called the “Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.” Once you have focused on something specific, you begin to see that something everywhere.

Isn’t that how it is in our spiritual lives? We hear a sermon on Sunday about kindness, or giving, and the next week we do a great job showing kindness or maybe we even buy somebody’s lunch. But as the days go by, and we lose our focus, we don’t see opportunities to show kindness or give like we did that first week. We can see this pattern over and over again in our lives. If you’ve ever bought a new house and you’re anything like me, you binge watch shows on HGTV for design ideas. Our thinking becomes a snowball of what we feed ourselves. If we’re not careful, days turn into weeks, turn into years, and we realize we have been filling our hearts and minds with earthly things. And if our minds and hearts are filled only with earthly things, there is no room left for spiritual things.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with cars or HGTV. In fact, that’s the sinister nature of the whole thing. We can easily deceive ourselves with these “good” things because they are not inherently sinful like pornography or something like that. But any time our hearts become consumed with anything other than the Lord, it can quickly become sin. Let us renew our minds, and renew our focus so that we may walk in all the blessings the Lord has prepared for us.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

-Chad