Servias Ministries Blog

The Power of GOD is what persuades people to become believers, not our intellect!

Being led by The Holy Spirit will shape our thoughts and future actions.  Pursuing other avenues without being led by The Holy Spirit is simply a waste of time and resources.  Is it better to rely on your intellect or being led by The Holy Spirit?  Paul came to the realization that his intellect was grossly subordinate to knowing and following Christ.

Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Philippians chapter 3:

3 For we have already experienced “heart-circumcision,” and we worship God in the power and freedom of the Holy Spirit, not in laws and religious duties. We are those who boast in what Jesus Christ has done, and not in what we can accomplish in our own strength.

All accolades belong to Jesus Christ!

4 It’s true that I once relied on all that I had become. I had a reason to boast and impress people with my accomplishments—more than others—for my pedigree was impeccable.

Paul admits his ego was inflated by all his accomplishments, yet he had been an enemy of Christ.  His ego had put him on a path of being totally wrong.  He shares how wrong he had been.  His exceptional schooling did not move him to the Truth.

5 I was born a true Hebrew of the heritage of Israel as the son of a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin. I was circumcised eight days after my birth and was raised in the strict tradition of Orthodox Judaism, living a separated and devout life as a Pharisee.

6 And concerning the righteousness of the Torah, no one surpassed me; I was without a peer. Furthermore, as a fiery defender of the truth, I persecuted the messianic believers with religious zeal.

Paul came to the realization:

7 Yet all of the accomplishments that I once took credit for, I’ve now forsaken them and I regard it all as nothing compared to the delight of experiencing Jesus Christ as my Lord!

The past without Christ being at the center is worthless!

8 To truly know Him meant letting go of everything from my past and throwing all my boasting on the garbage heap. It’s all like a pile of manure to me now, so that I may be enriched in the reality of knowing Jesus Christ and embrace him as Lord in all of His greatness.

The world would have us focus on past achievements and boast about them to impress others.  All that does is infer superiority over others.  Paul was humbled when he first encountered THE LORD.  Being struck with blindness and falling to the ground will immediately change your mindset.

9 My passion is to be consumed with Him and not cling to my own “righteousness” based in keeping the written Law. My only “righteousness” will be His, based on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ—the very righteousness that comes from God.

10 And I continually long to know the wonders of Jesus and to experience the overflowing power of His resurrection working in me. I will be one with Him in His sufferings and become like Him in his death.

11 Only then will I be able to experience complete oneness with Him in His resurrection from the realm of death.

Are you consumed with Jesus yet?

12 I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into His abundance so that I may reach the purpose for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me to make me His own.

13 I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead.

14 I run straight for the Divine invitation of reaching the Heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus.

15 So let all who are fully mature have this same passion, and if anyone is not yet gripped by these desires, God will reveal it to them.

16 And let us all advance together to reach this victory-prize, following one path with one passion.

As our mindset is renewed, our passion for Christ and our Heavenly purpose will consume us so that we will become fully mature in Christ.  We will trust in HIS power to bring forth new believers, not our persuasive intellect.

Our lives are no more transformed than is our mind renewed.

Once again, the measuring rod of personal transformation is the transformation of the mind.  Every miracle introduces us to the reality of an unseen world and that introduction is to shape all further thoughts.

When a miracle takes place such as a supernatural healing, THE LORD is exposing us to more than another story, HE’S exposing us to the supernatural activity of The Holy Spirit that can be perceived by a yielded heart.

Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 6:

13 So then, refuse to answer its call to surrender your body as a tool for wickedness. Instead, passionately answer God’s call to keep yielding your body to Him as one who has now experienced resurrection life! You live now for His pleasure, ready to be used for his noble purpose.

16 Don’t you realize that grace frees you to choose your own master? But choose carefully, for you surrender yourself to become a servant—bound to the one you choose to obey. If you choose to love sin, it will become your master, and it will own you and reward you with death. But if you choose to Love and obey God, He will lead you into perfect righteousness.

19 I’ve used the familiar terms of a “servant” and a “master” to compensate for your weakness to understand. For just as you surrendered your bodies and souls to impurity and lawlessness, which only brought more lawlessness into your lives, so now surrender yourselves as servants of righteousness, which brings you deeper into true Holiness.

In our world, we have natural and supernatural.  In FATHER’S world, HE only has natural.  The miracles are meant to shape our expectations of future situations.  As we fully surrender, walking in righteousness and Holiness, we position ourselves to walk in the supernatural.  We are privileged to seek and access The Kingdom of GOD that knows no impossibility.

Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 6:

33 “So above all, constantly seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly.

The angel Gabriel spoke to Mary in Luke chapter 1:

37 Not one promise from God is empty of power. Nothing is impossible with God!”

Mary surrendered to The Word of THE LORD and the rest is history!

Paul emphasized the importance of trusting in the Almighty power of GOD as he wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1^st Corinthians chapter 2:

3 I stood before you feeling inadequate, filled with reverence for God, and trembling under the sense of the importance of my words.

4 The message I preached and how I preached it was not an attempt to sway you with persuasive arguments but to prove to you the Almighty power of God’s Holy Spirit.

5 For God intended that your faith not be established on man’s wisdom but by trusting in His Almighty power.

Intellectuals will present the written Word, but without the power of The Holy Spirit.  It is The Holy Spirit Who leads us into all Truth, not man’s intellectual prowess.

Jesus affirmed this when He spoke in John chapter 16:

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

13 However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all Truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

As we are guided by The Holy Spirit into all Truth, our minds will be transformed and the supernatural will become natural to us.  The miraculous will no longer be the exception.

On a daily basis, we choose what we want our mindsets to focus on!

What you focus on determines your growth in Christ!

Jesus understood that the key to spiritual maturity was to go before FATHER and hear HIS instructions, resulting in the appropriate actions. 

Matthew recorded Jesus’ encounter of the devil as he wrote by The Holy Spirit in Matthew chapter 4:

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.

3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the Mouth of God.'”

GOD is not silent today.  HE is speaking to those who have receivers tuned into HIS Voice.  If you have your radio set to the AM channels, you will not pick up the FM signals all around you.  We must tune our ears to hear what FATHER is saying.  We are not only to read and meditate on the written Word, but we are meant to hear FATHER’S Words that are unique to our calling.

Jesus constantly spent time with FATHER and He declared it as He spoke in John chapter 14:

9 Jesus replied, “Philip, I’ve been with you all this time and you still don’t know who I am? How could you ask Me to show you the Father, for anyone who has looked at Me has seen The Father.

10 Don’t you believe that the Father is living in Me and that I am living in The Father? Even My Words are not My own but come from My Father, for HE lives in Me and performs HISs miracles of power through Me.

11 Believe that I live as One with My Father and that My Father lives as One with Me—or at least, believe because of the mighty miracles I have done.

Jesus’ mindset was based on Him constantly hearing FATHER’S Words.  He was fully tuned in and had no worldly static.  It was His daily choice to focus on FATHER’S Voice and no other.

Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 4:

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the Life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

In essence, Paul said that we have the choice to walk in the futility of our mindset or to pursue the Mind of Christ.  If you choose to focus on the world, you will alienated yourself from the Life of GOD and you will become dull of hearing.

20 But you have not so learned Christ,

21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the Truth is in Jesus:

22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,

We are instructed to “put off” the old man’s mindset else it will grow corrupt and powerless.

23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in True righteousness and Holiness.

You have the choice to “put off” and to “put on”!  How bad do you want to hear FATHER’S Words on a daily basis?

Deal with unwanted seeds quickly!

When removing unwanted seeds through repentance, don’t go into guilt and shame because it gives you a false sense of spirituality.  It creates a sense of humility that mimics humility, but it’s not humility.  It doesn’t give you access to what humility gives you.  Do not come into agreement with the accuser who is trying to draw you into the sin in the first place.  Simply repent quickly and move on.

If the adversary can’t get me into the sin, then he wants me to become arrogant over the fact that I am dealing with the sin.  We must become aware of such a subtle attempt to plant unwanted seeds in our hearts.

Consider the Last Supper.  The disciples had been with Jesus for 3 ½ years.  This is the most intense and intimate moment ever.  The disciples knew that something was about to happen.

Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 22:

14 When the hour had come, Jesus sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.

15 Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

16] for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves;

18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.”

19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My Body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My Blood, which is shed for you.

21 But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.

22 And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”

23 Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

24 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.

25 And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’

26 But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.

27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One Who serves.

28 “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.

29 And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 that you may eat and drink at My Table in My Kingdom, and sit on Thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.

32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

33 But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.”

34 Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”

The disciples are in the Presence of THE LORD and how did they respond?

The heart of the betrayer is revealed.

The desire to be called the greatest is revealed among the disciples.

The arrogance of Peter claiming his allegiance to Jesus is revealed.

Their actions and speech revealed what was in their hearts.  All seeds are watered in His Presence, both good and bad.  Wisdom is to recognize when THE LORD is bringing something to the surface and in that moment, He has given you a grace to deal with the issue quickly and thoroughly.

Rain from Heaven waters the just AND the unjust!

Watering seeds will reveal the nature of each seed planted.

Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 5:

44 But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of Your Father in Heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

When someone cuts in front of you on the highway, how do you respond to their action?  Your response reveals a seed that wants permission to be planted in your heart.  Whatever seed is planted will become manifest by the Presence of THE LORD.  You have a quick moment to deal with that seed by repenting when it becomes exposed.  Once the seed sets down roots because of being allowed to grow, it starts affecting your personality.

Do you have an angry attitude or just an arrogant attitude that begins to creep up when encountering such a situation?  FATHER in HIS mercy, is revealing seeds that need to be removed from your heart before they choke out The Word.  Quick repentance is the best way to keep unwanted seeds from germinating in your heart.

Do good, Love, bless, and pray for those who do some form of evil toward you.

Luke recorded what Paul spoke by The Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 24:

14 “But I do confess this to you: I worship the God of our Jewish ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. For I believe everything that is written in the Law and the Prophets.

15 And my hope is in God, the same hope that even my accusers have embraced, the hope of a resurrection from the dead of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

16 That’s why I seek with all my heart to have a clean conscience toward God and toward others.

Paul wanted no bad seed to remain in his heart.  He was wronged but he would not allow unwanted seeds to bring forth unwanted fruit in his life.

When THE LORD starts blessing us with good fruit, we must not allow seeds of arrogance or pride to be planted in our hearts.  We must focus on serving others.

It is written by The Holy Spirit in Isaiah chapter 10:

12 But when the Lord has carried out His purpose on Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will punish the king of Assyria because of his overbearing arrogance and unrestrained pride!

And Wisdom recorded in Proverbs chapter 21:

23 Watch your words and be careful what you say, and you’ll be surprised by how few troubles you’ll have.

24 An arrogant man is inflated with pride—nothing but a snooty scoffer in love with his own opinion. Mr. Mocker is his name!

The seeds of arrogance and pride are often subtle so we should watch over our words closely.  They will ultimately reveal the existence of such seeds.  When you exalt yourself, you are effectively belittling the other person.

It should be our goal to quickly repent when unwanted seeds have been exposed in our hearts.