Dear Saints,

Came across this today and OUCH. Time for self-examination.


TWENTY TWO QUESTIONS

THE HOLY CLUB, TO WHICH JOHN WESLEY

BELONGED, ASKED THEMSELVES EACH DAY

AS A PART OF THEIR DAILY DEVOTIONS

1. AM I CONSCIOUSLY OR UNCONSCIOUSLY CREATING THE IMPRESSION THAT I AM BETTER THAN I REALLY AM? IN OTHER WORDS AM I A HYPOCRITE?

2. AM I HONEST IN ALL MY ACTS AND WORKS, OR DO I EXAGGERATE?

3. DO I CONFIDENTLY PASS ON TO ANOTHER WHAT WAS TOLD ME IN CONFIDENCE

4. CAN I BE TRUSTED?

5. AM I A SLAVE TO DRESS, FRIENDS, WORK OR HABIT?

6. AM I SELF CONSCIOUS, SELF PITYING OR SELF JUSTIFYING?

7. DID THE BIBLE LIVE IN ME TODAY?

8. DO I GIVE IT TIME TO SPEAK TO ME EVERDAY?

9. AM I ENJOYING PRAYER?

10. WHEN DID I LAST SPEAK TO SOMEONE ELSE ABOUT MY FAITH?

11. DO I PRAY ABOUT THE MONEY I SPEND?

12. DO I GO TO BED ON TIME AND GET UP ON TIME?

13. DO I DISOBEY GOD IN ANYTHING?

14. DO I INSIST UPON DOING SOMETHING ABOUT WHICH MY CONSCIENCE IS UNEASY?

15. AM I DEFEATED IN ANY PART OF MY LIFE?

16. AM I JEALOUS, IMPURE, CRITICAL, IRRITABLE, TOUCHY, OR DISTRUSTFUL?

17. HOW DO I SPEND MY SPARE TIME?

18. AM I PROUD?

19. DO I THANK GOD THAT I AM NOT AS OTHER PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THE PHARISEE WHO DESPISED THE REPUBLICAN?

20. DO I GRUMBLE OR COMPLAIN CONSTANTLY?

21. IS THERE ANYONE WHO I FEAR, DISLIKE, DISOWN, CRITICIZE, HOLD A RESENTMENT TOWARD OR DISAGREE? IF SO WHAT AM I DOING ABOUT IT?

22. IS CHRIST REAL TO ME?

‘GIVE ME ONE HUNDRED PREACHERS WHO FEAR NOTHING BUT SIN, AND DESIRE NOTHING BUT GOD, AND I CARE NOT A STRAW WHETHER THEY BE CLERGYMEN OR LAYMEN; SUCH ALONE WILL SHAKE THE GATES OF HELL AND SET UP THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH. GOD DOES NOTHING BUT IN ANSWER TO PRAYER’. JOHN WESLEY

I'm having trouble with number 19. Like the Pharisee, I am not thinking kindly toward the republicans.

_________________
Tom Cameron

I'm ashamed to admit I'm having trouble with more than just a few of these. Lord, soften my heart again as it has gotten hard and I'm letting the flesh rule me.
L

Thank you brother for sharing it. Very useful.

_________________
Sreeram

I 'pass' on about 5/21 at most. Maybe 6-7 on a good day.

Now, if this this the 'Holy Club' Wesley was part of during his time at Oxford (before his famous Aldersgate experience)then hit appears that this constant self scrutiny did not give him much peace either.

22 Questions that can lead you right into condemnation. If your answer to 22 is no, you can disregard the other 21. Or if your answer to 22 is yes, no worries, there is no condemnation in Christ.

_________________
Bill

Brothers and Sisters,
Certainly I agree that doing something with a religious mindset without the Holy Spirit will bring condemnation, but scripture clearly says
‘examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.’ (2 Cor. 13:5)

The questions in the list are just that, self-examination. Perhaps one is doing well in many of these areas. If not, why does a question bother us? Several bothered me and I have asked God to reveal my heart over some areas of my life where I have felt free to do what I want or harbor resentment. He forgives, he cleanses, he brings a change of heart, then I am free to live again with no impediments.

My life has been held in a great "holy tension" between conviction of sin and forgiveness, of moving in the Spirit or listening to my own justifications or excuses. I know that apart from Him I can do nothing, but I dare not give up on examining myself to see if I am in the faith, dare I?

Because something is difficult or requires self-discipline, am I free to wait for the "wind of the Spirit" to move me.
This is critically important to me because I was raised in a religious atmosphere that required perfection without knowing Jesus Christ or being filled with His Spirit.

But just because this was my background, does not excuse me from being disciplined by His Holy Spirit? If anything I have found the requirements to be even higher, but my ability to be Holy an innate desire and the battle to subdue my own will completely impossible...Except that Christ lives in me and draws me deeper or higher or wider or longer, as the case may be. Richer and more rewarding, more abundant and as I said before a HOLY TENSION that acknowledges HE IS GOD and I am going to have to yield something in order to "Come Up and Be There".

By the way, here is where I ran across the list. On David Ravenhill's blogsite,

http://davidravenhill.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/13-january-2014-1201/#comments

I've met the man and he walks in holiness. He holds up a standard which much of the church is now rejecting and he was raised by a man we all respect deeply, Leonard, who impacted the church of the 20th century profoundly.

I am appreciative of this list, lesmanto. It is increasingly easy to become complacent in areas of compromise just because of the culture we live in and the people we brush up against. We ARE to examine ourselves, yet always remembering there is no condemnation in Christ.

Along these same lines I will share a quote (my paraphrase) that I heard on Moody Radio the other day by Vance Havener. I had to look up when he lived, and he died in 1986, which put an exclamation point after what he said PRIOR to that year....It went something like this:


"The church needs to raise the bar on holiness. It is so low that you would have to backslide to find fellowship there"...wow....

Thanks for what you shared.

Working one's way to a status has always been a recipe for failure, no matter how noble the steps and components. The only thing waiting at the other end of the success is pride of accomplishment, and the house of cards crumbles anyway.

What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

Then you will look back and be amazed at the good things God set into your path, and you will fondly remember at the judgement the joy of serving your Master.

"I was hungry and you fed Me, naked and you clothed Me, in prison and you visited Me..."

"When did that happen?"


If we commit to loving Jesus and doing the activities each day as His servant, treasures in heaven will accumulate. There will be no need for a "performance list" and the grey cloud of nagging guilt to rob your joy.

_________________
Tom Cameron