Gary Mintchell

Author Archive

What Is The Spirit Seeking To Do Through Me?

November 21, 2022

Some people think that all you need is faith. They are suspicious of what they call “works.” The idea is that you cannot work your way into heaven.

Other people follow along with the Apostle James who taught that faith without works is dead.

Many of us are at work seeking God. We are not so arrogant as to think we know all about God.

As we seek, we ask the reverse question–what is the spirit seeking to do through me?

I am not an innocent bystander. God’s spirit moves through the universe seeking people who will infuse themselves with the spirit and follow where it leads doing what is required.

Posted in Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Raising The Volume of Your Voice

November 18, 2022

When people raise the volume of their voice, one of two emotions are in play. Uncertainty or lying.

People telling the truth speak softly. People with assurance also speak softly.

Perhaps we should tune our ears to ourselves for immediate feedback. We can catch ourselves before being foolish.

Posted in emotions, Listening | Leave a Comment »

Smooth Is Fast

November 17, 2022

I knew a man who never hurried, never raised his voice. He accomplished much.

I knew a man who managed by edict. He was a flurry of energy and orders and forcing others. He accomplished little.

The caption in an old cartoon called Pogo once had one character talking to another, “The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get.”

Slow is smooth; smooth is fast.

Posted in Attitude, Disciplines, Work | Leave a Comment »

Dwell On What Is Real, Not On the Surface

November 16, 2022

There is the flower, then again there is the fruit.

Do you dwell on the surface beauty of the person, or on their inner depth?

Do you dwell on the surface words of your scripture, or on the spiritual depth they reveal?

Posted in Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Try To Be Good

November 15, 2022

Sometimes the harder we try, the less we accomplish.

The good person accomplishes good without trying. It comes from within.

The fool tries to accomplish good without results. There is nothing within to reveal itself

When Luke Skywalker tells his mentor, “I’ll try,” Yoda replies, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

Nurture your inner good and you will one day reflect on the good you have left in your wake.

Posted in Doing | Leave a Comment »

Are You The Messiah?

November 14, 2022

John, the Baptizer and Jesus’ cousin, asked Jesus through his disciples:

Are you the Messiah, the Anointed One?

Jesus replied:

The blind see,
The lame walk,
Lepers are cleansed,
The deaf hear,
The dead are raised,
The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.

Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed.

Jesus didn’t say, “Yes, and believe in me and you will be saved.”

He reported what was happening in the land. This also referred back to old prophecy about the coming of the anointed one of the Lord.

Those words should be a challenge and guidance to us. Are we just dashing into a life, telling them to believe, then dashing out?

Or, are we helping the blind to see, the lame to walk, those with disease to be cleansed, the deaf to hear, to raise the dead, and teach the most wretched of the earth that God is on their side?

Is it time to get off our chairs and out from behind our lecterns and go to work?

Posted in Mission | Leave a Comment »

Easy and Hard

November 11, 2022

Easy is hard; hard is easy.

A movie actor weighed more than 550 lbs. (250 kg). He lost about 300 lbs. Much of that new 250 lb. person was packed with lean muscle.

He related that maintaining the lifestyle that resulted in a 550 lb. person was easy. But living at that size was hard.

Working in the gym was hard. But living in the new body was easy.

Living a life oblivious to the spirit is easy. One can just slide along. But life that way can be hard facing up to relationships and decisions.

Spiritual disciplines (similar to going to the gym) can be hard. But life in the spirit with peace, hope, joy, and the rest is easy.

Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Can You Do This For The Rest of Your Life?

November 10, 2022

You want to lose weight. You choose a diet. Any one will work.

You want to improve health. You choose a healthy diet and a workout routine. Almost any one will work.

You wish to pursue a spiritual life. You choose to meditate.

Can you do this almost every day for the rest of your life?

Just a few days or weeks will not accomplish the goal. It must become the new you. Every day. For the rest of your life.

Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Philosopher Blaise Pascal writing in the 17^th Century observed, “There are two kinds of people one can call reasonable, those who serve God with all their heart because they know him and those who seek him with all their heart because they do not know him.”

Our churches have tended to venerate the former. They are comfortable with those who know God (or at least say that they do).

For those seekers among us who wish to know God but do not claim that certitude, the church knows not how to relate.

For those who seek, I encourage your seeking. It has been better in my life when I was not so certain.

Posted in Attitude | Leave a Comment »

I Stand In Awe

November 8, 2022

On my walk this morning. The moon is uncovering from the full eclipse. I took this photo with my iPhone 12. It’s as good as it gets. I should walk with my Canon, I guess, where I have more settings to play with.

I had a vision of the first human inhabitants in where I now live. We know what is happening with the alignment of the sun, earth, and moon. They would have wondered about some mystical force. We call this the “Blood Moon”. What would they have called it 1,400 years ago? I call it beauty.

We can explain how this event happens. We can look beyond the Earth to understand.

Sort of like how we need to look beyond ourselves to understand more about us and our relationship to God.

Posted in Awareness | Leave a Comment »

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