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Outrageous Secrets Revealed!
Get the discussion questions for Outrageous Secrets Revealed!
SHHHHH! Listen closely...there are some things that some people don't want you to know. Certain hush hush secrets that, if discovered, could damage reputations and make you go "omigosh!".
I know what these secrets are, and I'm going to pass them along to you because you have a right to know! You need to be armed with this knowledge and break free of the misconceptions you have lived with all your life.
Ready?
Secret #1 - Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb.
Nope, it was actually someone else's bright idea. This shocking fact is that a chemist named Humphry Davy was the first to come up with the "light in bulb" concept in 1809. Makes you wonder how many historians it takes to screw up a light bulb story - eh?
Secret #2 - Twinkies are not what you think they are.
Of course we know that they are incredibly yummy snacks that do very entertaining things in the microwave, but they don't pack the preservative punch that they are famous for. In other words, instead of a 25 year shelf life, Twinkies actually are only good for about 25 days. So if you're counting on Twinkies as a main course during the end times, you might do better with bottled water and Ramen noodles.
Secret #3 - Shakespeare just made stuff up.
I love his solution to writer's block. When Sir William got to the point where he didn't know what to say or how to describe something, he simply invented a new word or phrase! See if any of these sound familiar:
Puppy-dog
Assassination
Bloodstained
Vanished into thin air
Haven't slept a wink
In fact, Shakespeare invented over 1700 words and phrases during his lifetime - so the next time you use a cliché, tell people that you're just quoting one of the greatest writers of all time.
Secret #4 - You have the power of God inside you.
This is the secret that Satan desperately wants to keep secret from all Christians. He knows that if you truly plug in to the power of the Holy Spirit, your life will light up like a light bulb making you sweeter than a Twinkie and more influential than William Shakespeare! Unfortunately, many believers are in the dark about walking in the light, so let's talk about the ultimate spiritual secret that God has revealed!
First of all, you need to know that it is impossible to live the Christian life apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. Notice I didn't say it is difficult, challenging, or tough...I used the word impossible because that's the truth! Here's what Jesus said:
"apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
Satan loves it when we try to serve Christ in our own strength and power, because he knows we are doing absolutely nothing. We may feel like we're pleasing God, but the fact is that we're just running in place like a little hamster on his wheel.
Second, God's power is available to you 24/7 - but you have to ASK for it and KEEP ASKING for it. That's the other part of the secret, because at any given moment of any given day you are either living in your natural power or God's supernatural power. When I got a hold of this truth it completely changed the way I lived my Christian life. When the secret got out, my secret Christian life went public, and things have never been the same!
All you have to do is learn how to spiritually breathe. That's right - nothing complicated or fancy, just a simple inhale and exhale will do, because unlike physical breathing, we have a voluntary choice whether to do it or not. When you start breathing, the power of God will come alive in your life like never before. Here's how you do it:
Start each day asking God to fill you with His Spirit, because this is the inhaling part of spiritual breathing. It's not only a good idea, it's also a command:
Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. (Ephesians 5:18)
The part about "fill" and "control" means to keep on doing that, because the issue is not about you getting more of God...it's about God getting more of you! God wants you to start every day on the right foot, so as soon as you smack down the alarm, take a quiet moment or two and invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, control you, and take charge of your life.
Now if you're anything like me, you are likely to blow it within the first few hours of the day. An impure thought, a bitter attitude, an unkind word, or any number of other sins removes the power of the Spirit like a lamp being unplugged from the wall. So now it's time for the exhaling part of spiritual breathing. Here's how it works:
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. (I John 1:9)
The moment you realize that you have sinned, simply tell God about it and admit that you were wrong. It's not like God doesn't know about it already, and the longer you wait to exhale, the less you'll be living in God's power.
After you exhale, it's time to...you guessed it...inhale! Ask God to fill you again, and be on your way living in God's power.
That is until you sin again - at which point you exhale, then inhale, and so on, and so on.
Get the picture? Because this is the picture of the Christian life. It's a tug of war between our sinful nature and the Spirit of God living inside us, but I guarantee the more you breathe, the more you'll plug in to the power of God. When this happens, your life will become something simply amazing. You'll be Jesus to those around you, which is the secret the world is dying to hear!
Head: What you need to know about this truth
It is impossible to live the Christian life apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, so all Christians must live in God's power 24/7 by being filled and controlled by the Spirit using spiritual breathing.
Heart: What you need to feel about this truth
Be patient and don't give up on spiritual breathing, because the power of the Holy Spirit is not just for salvation, but transformation, a process that might be slow and gradual. The difference might look like this:
You can take ten gallons of gasoline and release a tremendous amount of power and energy by just dropping a lighted match into it. It makes a dramatic onetime impact. But there is another way to release the energy in that gasoline. Place it in the fuel tank of a new Honda, designed to get 30 miles to the gallon. The high tech engine will use that ten gallons of gasoline to take a person 300 miles or more.
Explosions may be spectacular, but the sustained, controlled burn has staying power. You don't want to be a flash in the pan, you want to make a difference in this world over time. You want to last for the long haul. You don't want the Holy Spirit to just save you for heaven, you want Him to use His power to transform your life. You want Him to use you in this world for kingdom purposes.
Hands: What you need to do about this truth
Access the power of the Holy Spirit by spiritually breathing throughout each day - repeatedly inhaling by inviting the Holy Spirit to fill you, control you, and take charge of your life and exhaling by telling God about your sin right away when it happens and asking His forgiveness. Then inhaling, exhaling, inhaling...before long it will as natural as, well uh, breathing!
