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Adjustments

           May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Thessalonians 5:23)

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

In Henry Blackabee’s Experiencing God he wrote about seven realities of experiencing God: (p 50)

1.      God is always at work around you.

2.      God always pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.

3.      God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.

4.      God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purpose, and His ways.

5.      God’s invitation for you to work with him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.

6.      You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.

7.      You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.

I would amend the first of the realities as “around and in you.” However, the focus of last night’s reading was the sixth reality.

Years ago, my back hurt so badly that to get out of bed in the morning, I had to pull myself onto my side and then push myself to a sitting position. One night, out of the blue, the question came to mind whether a chiropractor could help. I found one, and after several months of appointments, I found myself pain-free. Now and again, I’ve done something to my back, and he has helped by adjusting by spine and hips, putting them back in proper alignment.

To join God in what He is doing, we must make major adjustments, which are akin to the adjustments I had to make while my chiropractor was adjusting my spine and hips. I needed to build muscle strength to keep his work from going out of alignment again. The chiropractor initiated the work. I didn’t always cooperate. When I did, my whole life improved, but even though I wasn’t perfect in my cooperation, his adjustments were necessary before my adjustments could be much help. 

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