Trumpet Website

Saints,

By the way, the term "saint" is reserved for those made righteous by Jesus' blood. Followers of Jesus Christ are "saints" because of what Jesus did about their sin on the cross when He died and then, rose again to life. This restored position with God is only available through faith, not what we do for God. We must understand that to think we can earn our way into a right standing with God is at best, extremely prideful. We do not get to decide how good is good enough. Ask God to show you His standard of righteousness. There is no way for man to attain to that standard on his own merit--impossible. What a blessing for us that God initiated the way to be in a right standing with Him. Not only that, but He allows us to be in an intimate relationship with Him as Father! So, we can be sons and daughters of the Most High God, our Father. This is the essence of the New Testament Bible passage in Ephesians 2:8-9.

   "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is
    the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one can boast."

What a shift in purpose, I started this post to invite you to my new Trumpet webpage...

Please visit, www.kindermanntrumpet.org

With humility and love,
Steve

The Source of the Love in Us

Saints,

I love this quote by Andrew Murray as he writes on The love of the Most-high creator, sustainer God in The Andrew Murray 365 Day Devotional Bible, published by Barbour Publishing, Inc, from January 17, devotional. Used by permission.

"Unless you are on your knees you cannot live in this love. A life of prayer will make a life of love to Christ, other Christians, and those without Christ a reality in your experience."

May this be a reminder to all of us about where our source of love originates.

Blessings,

Steve

A New Obedience

Saints,

I recently finished a year as a middle school band director--a position which seemed to "derail" my life. I thank God that role is finished for me.

As I have turned my attention toward the Father once again, I struggle with my motivation. Why did I put God on a "back burner?" What has become of my passion for Him? 

Check out this wonderful reminder of God's love--the real power of the gospel!

"As the gospel is believed through the power of the spirit, our selfish, hardened hearts burst alive with righteous and godly passions. As we behold the glory of God in the face of Christ, Paul says, we are transformed into glory (2 Cor. 3:18-4:14).

Religion, then, can tell you what to do--namely, to "love God with all your heart, soul, and mind" and "to love your neighbor as yourself"; but the gospel alone gives you the power to do it.

The gospel produces not just obedience, you see, but a new kind of obedience--an obedience that is powered by desire. An obedience that is both pleasing to God and delightful to you."

YES! Let that sink in.

That is an excerpt from a book Lisa kept "hounding" me to read, Gospel, by J D Greear, page, 18.

Beginning to feel alive again...

Steve

Prayer and Suffering

Saints,

I pray that we continue to be drawn into deeper intimacy with Jesus. I know God will answer this prayer because Jesus asked for the same thing as recorded in John 17.

Be encouraged by these words from Paul Miller, in his book A Praying Life, from the chapter on “Learning to be Helpless,” page 59.

“If we think we can do life on our own, we will not take prayer seriously. Our failure to pray will always feel like something else--a lack of discipline or too many obligations. But when something is important to us, we make room for it. Prayer is simply not important to many Christians because Jesus is already an add-on. That is why, as we’ll see later, suffering is so important to the process of learning how to pray. It is God’s gift to show us what life is really like.”

What are your thoughts on your suffering and intimacy with Jesus through prayer?

Blessings,

Steve

A Few Words on Intimacy

Saints,

Here are a few words from A Prayer Life written by Paul Miller--a NavPress book.

"Jesus' example teaches us that prayer is about relationship. When he prays, he is not performing a duty; he is getting close to his Father. 

Any relationship, if it is going to grow, needs private space, time together without an agenda, where you can get to know each other. This creates an environment where closeness can happen, where we can begin to understand each other's hearts.

You don't create intimacy; you make room for it. This is true whether you are talking about your spouse, your friend, or God. You need space to be together. Efficiency, multitasking, and busyness kill intimacy. In short, you can't get to know God on the fly.

If Jesus has to pull away from people and noise in order to pray, then it makes sense that we need to as well." p47

I hope these words encourage you!

Blessings,

Steve

What Does More Prayer Look Like?

Saints,

What does more prayer look like?

More prayer looks like each Christ-follower driven by God-given faith. That faith initiates, propels, sustains, and motivates Spirit-led, Bible-based, Kingdom-focused prayer in Jesus name.

More prayer looks like a young husband who can’t stop thinking about his new beautiful bride—just like we can’t stop thinking about Jesus and what is important to Jesus.

More prayer looks like praying alone, like Jesus praying all night on a mountain.

More prayer looks like praying with others, like Jesus praying with His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.

More prayer looks like prayer driven by righteous anger like Jesus as He drove out the money-changers from the Temple.

More prayer looks like heart-ache as Jesus demonstrated “offering both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion.” Heb. 5:7

More prayer looks like “knowing that you know that you know” God is with you.

More prayer looks like truly standing on God’s promises—not letting go—knowing He will do it!

More prayer looks like we have been with Jesus.

More prayer looks like husbands fighting for their wives, fathers and mothers fighting for their children, and wives fighting for their husbands.

More prayer looks like every Christ-follower consumed with deeper satisfaction in Jesus.

More prayer looks like the church truly living and behaving like the Spirit-empowered world-changer she really is!

More prayer looks like “Paul-like” life change of people in our families, communities, city, region, and the world.

More prayer looks like “pursuing His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us, as well.” Matt 6:33

More prayer looks like “the God of endurance and comfort giving us unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together we may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Rom 15:5-6

More prayer looks like David asking the Father to, “Teach me your way O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear your name. I will give thanks to you, O my Lord, with all my heart, and I will glorify your name forever.” Ps 86:11-12

Father, we ask for You to re-define our lives as lives of prayer, lives of whole-hearts after You, lives that reflect Your kingdom as our priority in Jesus name, Amen.

Blessings, Steve

Beautiful Jesus Imitators

Saints,

Recently, I was struck by the power and simplicity of what Jesus did for us in a fresh way. 

Ephesians tells us that we have been giving every spiritual blessing in high places in Christ Jesus. As we know, because of Jesus, we can approach the very presence of The Most High Creator, sustainer God with boldness. He welcomes us as His children with His arms open. In other words, we live in intimacy with God which is the foundation of every relationship we have. This is true reality. 

Truth: Each of us stands forgiven and fully pleasing before the Father in Christ—not because of anything in us or anything we have done. There is a level of intimacy with God through Jesus that defines our existence. We are what we were created to be most fully in Christ. We connect with God without pretense, superficiality, deceit, or reservation. We are truly transformed. Again, all of this is the most true reality, having nothing to do with our merit—all Jesus. 

So, out of this self-transforming work of God in our life, we fully commune with God and consequently, are enabled to fully commune with one another. You may say, “Obviously, Steve, what is your point.” As I read 1 Thessalonians chapter one today, one word stuck out to me—“imitators.” This word implies a lot. Paul said that he and his companions were so dramatically transformed, enabled, and empowered by God to live that their manner of living changed eternal living impact. Then, those of Thessalonica saw this God-infused life and were impacted by it—they imitated it. 

My point today is this. Let’s become more like Paul, an example of extreme intimacy with Jesus which in a sense compels others to the same thing. I am convinced that out of this intimacy with God, our connection with others will also become deeper. So, is our role merely to strive to be more like Paul? Not exactly, we see that we come to the Father in faith which He has given us and ask Him to accomplish what Paul said in Galatians 2:20 more fully in us. We die—Jesus lives. 

Blessings, Steve