Raise the bar!

We may as well face it: the whole level of spirituality among us is low.  We have measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit is all but gone... [We] have imitated the world, sought popular favor, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost. -A.W. Tozer

One day, our children won't fight to see whose taller or who's gaining on the other.  They won't stand up straighter when someone tall walks into the room.   They may even stop standing on tip-toes as they walk up to me, each of them wondering if they are taller than Miss Jessica or Miss Kristen or Miss Holly yet. 

I hope that we can however challenge them to always stand on their spiritual tippy-toes.   We adults are pretty easily drawn into comparing our figure, our car, our income bracket- but rarely are we so delighted by the joy of the Lord that we allow His joy to trump any such comparisons.  It's our hope to challenge one another within our home to raise the bar.  To really revel in the joy of the Lord and rest in the power of the Holy Spirit.  To allow the Holy Spirit to have such a large role in each of our lives that if one of us begins to 'slouch' and depend on our own strength or struggle with doubt- we quickly stand tall in the Holy Spirit, showing evidence of the Spirit's work in us and basque in life dependent upon His power.

Unity is necessary to the outpouring of the Spirit of God. If you have 120 volts of electricity coming into your house but you have broken wiring, you may turn on the switch, but nothing works - no lights come on, the stove doesn't warm, the radio doesn't turn on. Why? Because you have broken wiring. The power is ready to do its work..., but where there is broken wiring, there is no power. Unity is necessary among the children of God if we are going to know the flow of power...to see God do His wonders.

A. W. Tozer