OUT OF THE BOX

This article describes why the typical church does not see more of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. There are many personal reasons why individuals do not move in spiritual gifts, and we can list some of them in later posts. But this is written to describe the general church atmosphere that quenches the Holy Spirit and hinders the hungry and willing individual.  ----Billy Long   HOW SPIRIT-FILLED CHURCHES HINDER THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT   Our expectation of the Lord’s active presence working among us is often disappointed because we tend to create an artificial context that does not allow people to “come forth” in their gifts reaching out to one another. We would see the Lord moving among us and through us if we would give Him opportunities in a more natural, living room setting rather than the artificial and rigid setting of the typical Sunday morning. The absence of relational interaction quenches the real moving of the Holy Spirit...

  Walk with purity of heart and motive, sincerely seeking God’s will and God’s interests. This will produce a clarity in your ability to hear God, and will produce peace. When you desire God’s will, you can rest knowing He stands behind it. This also removes the need to manipulate people or struggle to artificially enforce and reinforce your own plans that might not be in tuned with God’s will, way, or timing. A pure heart will lend itself to producing good relationships. An impure heart becomes affected by selfishness, pride, and wrong motives that hinder relationships through jealousy, insecurity, competition, and ambition.  When your motives are pure, people will trust you and they will entrust things to you. John 5: 30, Philip 2: 3-4,19-21, 4:17,  Psalm 139: 23-24. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Mt 5:8.

  "Hannah answered and said...'I am a woman of sorrowful spirit...I have poured out my soul before the Lord.'"  1 Samuel 1:15 There was a prayer chapel on the first floor of the men’s dorm at the college I attended. It was a small, carpeted room with an altar up front. I would often go there at night to pray. The fellows who went in there to pray usually left the lights off and sat in the soft light that passed through the stained glass in the door. I would sit on the wooden pews or kneel, but often I would lie on the floor. It was there, during my freshman year of college, that I discovered a deeper level of intercessory prayer. I would begin to weep before the Lord, sometimes vehemently, as I cried to Him in behalf of various family members and other areas of concern. During these intense times of prayer, I was not able to speak much or say anything but could only cry before the Lord. I ...

This chapter speaks to a real issue in our culture today. The title addresses women, but the message is also for men. Immodesty and sexual license present a great temptation and snare to this generation. It is also a great deception that destroys lives and families. I hope you will read this article and share it with those who need to hear it. RECONSIDER MODESTY People who are into porn and public nudity often proclaim that the human body is good, and we should not be ashamed to show it. They also charge that Christians, because they believe in modesty, think the sexual aspect of the human body is evil. But to the contrary, Christians frown on public nudity and pornography because sex is sacred, not evil. After all, God created male and female, and said “it is good.” There are two things the scripture forbids us to flaunt in public—that which is evil and that which is sacred. The evil is forbidden because it is evil. The sacred is to be treasured. It is not for the public eye. It i...

  To my dear friends and readers, Thank you so much for visiting and reading my blog articles.  Please feel free to leave a comment or email me and introduce yourself. You can order copies of my books at amazon.com or at my website at www.billylongministries.com.   God bless you, Billy Long P.O. 101, Longs, SC 29568  USA broblong@gmail.com

  The first time I gave a word of knowledge in public was to a lady at a health club in Chapel Hill, NC.  I had never met her before. She was a doctor and her husband was an anesthesiologist. I stumbled around very awkwardly with my words, but managed to get them out. I told her the Lord had given me a word to encourage her. I then said, "You are married to your second husband. Your children are from your first marriage. There is tension in the home because your husband and  the  children do not get along.” She answered, “That’s right. My husband is rather immature."   I then told her the Lord wanted to encourage her and help her and her family. My presentation was not polished, but I was relieved to know the Lord had u sed me in spite of my uncertainty. Every Christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit should be moving in the Holy Spirit to minister to others. My book, Spiritual Power for Everyday Living, gives definitions and examples of spiritual gifts and h...