For the average church member, disappointment is often the result of not understanding one of the most common of all bible principles. The Christian life is made up of two principle commitments... to love (serve) God with all our hearts and minds and secondly to love (serve) our fellow brethren with the same zeal as ourselves. Neither can be separated from the other. Disappointments arise when our expectations or hopes are not met, likewise joy returns when the opposite is true. PRO 13:12 "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life".Disappointments multiply when we forget that we are all serving and being served by God. Instead, our lives can be dominated by the actions and weaknesses of men, rather than God's strengths (this is can be equally true from within and without the church). Paul understood this great truth and expanded the principle in his letter to the church at Rome.

Many spirit filled people have very little knowledge of the potential and power of the spoken word. The Holy Spirit is power...2TIM 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind". The power of the spirit is just not found in the obvious miracles that people might imagine: the greatest work of the spirit is the power it has to affect the minds of men and women everywhere. HEB 4:12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart". You may notice that this scripture outlines the real power of the spoken word...it is more than words. Let’s investigate this principle within the written word of God, the bible.

Everyone wants a happy and successful life, but few know the secret. There is a tendency in our society to respond towards others rather than make the first contact... we wait for others to befriend us before we are prepared to befriend them. It may be surprising to some, that the Christian ethic is actually the opposite of our natural tendencies. God acts first, offers first, befriends first, despite our spiritual state or response... and we are encouraged to likewise develop the same attitude towards others. Why should we bother? A successful Christian develops through the successful applications of life's truths. God has wonderfully and surely set the correct pathway before us all... all we need to do is to fashion our life attitudes upon the bible example.

The world at present has a lot of people standing up, to voice their feelings one way or another. Recent examples are the greenhouse effect, global warming, the rain forests, the abortion issue, save the whales, aids, legalization of prostitution, etc, etc. As a result of the ongoing publicity, ordinary people are pushed to think about the issues and form opinions. What about the word of God: where are His voices? Where are the 'John the Baptists' of our age? Many have rejected or compromised the Word of God to serve their own ambitions. However, people don't need powerless religion, they need answers, testimonies of truth, examples of the personal miracle working power of God. They need to hear about the healing of the soul, mind and body.

For those filled with the miracle working power of God, a knowledgeable and Spirit inspired lifestyle is essential. This requires an intimate understanding of God's purposes and values. We need to be aware that the scriptural principles we choose to prioritize, will determine whether we keep growing and prospering spiritually, or whether we fall short of the promised blessings that the Lord has offered us. First and foremost, the local church is part of the whole family of God... the body of Christ. Every church is a family structure in its own right with many of the apostles confirming this principle with the very personal content of their epistles. Family attitudes and priorities should be the driving influences behind every blessing and all overcoming. The following is a series of scriptures that reveal the extent of this great truth.

God has taken diverse people from every corner of society and filled them with the power of the Holy Spirit. We are all different, have different expectations, differing skills and abilities and differing priorities; however, we are all expected to build God’s family together. We have no natural ability or talent that bridges all these differences, thus we have to take our instruction from God's word. This focus on family life is more about keeping people in a place of safety from the judgment coming upon this world than it is about having a good time. There is a real urgency to get our lives into order; there are many other lives to save.

Our memory is a very unreliable keeper of the truth. Due to a variety of reasons we forget things... we forget the truth. When something is forgotten, then those memories are not able to shared with others and that particular truth can be lost forever. Mankind has consistently forgotten the things that God has done for him, hence many are unaware of his promises. Just as the passing of time assists us to forget historical facts (allowing it to be rewritten); so to has man's potential relationship with God been distorted. God keeps us in touch with the truth through the continuous working of the Holy Spirit; always prompting us to offer the truth of Eternal Life to others. God's memory doesn't dim or change with the passing of time.

The attitude of a true shepherd of God contains the same underlying wisdom, which also enables the leading of the Spirit to fulfill its work. To be dedicated towards these principles is well pleasing to Christ, because it imitates the same disciplines and efforts that he made for us. Many fail to grasp what Christ wants from us, because their lives are filled with those things that God has given them, as opposed to those things that we can do for him. It is the difference between giving and taking, between being mature and childish (the difference between being one who has moved from the milk of the word to the meat of the word).

There is only one reason why evil prevails in a world, where good people outnumber the bad by huge differentials. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with the numbers; when the good won’t stand up and fight for what they know is right, then evil prevails. Thus, it stands to reason that if good men do nothing, then evil will prevail more and more.

In many ways, God measures our relationship with him, the same way that we care for our children. God wants us to understand what his love is and how strong it is for us... and to live accordingly.