God is Not in a Box:

     Be sure you don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

     Albeit He does not change nor does He evolve, our God is not a formulaic God.   He is infinitely creative, and by not letting us in on all of His thoughts and plans, we are free to walk by faith rather than relying on the illusionary insurance of legalism.

     How grateful we are for the Word of God in which He spells out many things and never mentions others.

     Let's take music, for example.  I have been a professional orchestral musician for forty-five years.  I was raised in the faith and it is rare for me to hear a hymn I can't sing by memory.  I am somewhat abhorrent of Christian rock music, yet one of the finest missionaries I know found the Lord when he discovered a record in the trunk of his car.  How he understood the words, I'll never know.  But the Lord drew Him and saved Him by using the content of that rock music.

     When someone says "God told me. . ."  I usually break out in hives.  But I have a close friend with whom I have fellowshipped for thirty years.  She is right on target, mature and rightly divides the Word of Truth.  She was a student in one of my university classes when she met the Lord.  Later, she told me that she invited the Lord into her life when He addressed her in an audible voice.  I believe her.  There is nothing about her life that  points to her being an experience-driven Christian.  She is a woman in love with God's Word and His people, and  is determined to live by faith.

     Today, there is a wave of testimonies coming out of the Muslim world.  Many are saying that the Lord has appeared to them and explained who He is, inviting them to receive Him.  Lives are transformed.  Nothing is amiss.  The Word is not distorted.  There is evidence of the lean and desirable taking up of The Cross to follow Him.

     Soldier of The Cross, here is the issue:  If the Lord is in it, He can be seen in the life of the follower and His voice can easily recognized by those who already know Him.  Nothing will conflict with His Word.

     We do not worship the offbeat or strange. We are not interested in different for its own sake.  God's Word lays out His heart in such a way that His Own must tow the mark.  No exceptions.

     But, be careful not to live by formula.   We must be sensitive and available to be led by the Holy Spirit.
     We live by every Word that comes out of the Mouth of God as set forth in His Word.
     Nothing more, and certainly nothing less.