2020-04-24
Good Morning Dear Ones,
After the last 1 ½ years of writing about “Knowing God,” it is my prayer that we have all come closer to God and know Him better. Today, I have the pleasure, at the behest of the Holy Spirit, to begin our new series, “The Spirit Speaks.” He has given us nine gorgeous gifts, which are outlined in GA 5: 22-23. “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.” If we know God well, then we also have taken control of access to our own spirits. What this means is that we have the power to deny access to the evil one and open access to the Holy Spirit. Allowing the Holy Spirit to take control of our souls and every portal to our being pleases God and allows us not to waste the great sacrifice that Christ made for us on the cross.
And now, join me in this prayer of dedication:
O Lord, we pray to You often, acknowledging what you do for us and Who You are. Once again, we acknowledge Your supernatural power to bring blessings into our lives when we approach You with freedom and confidence [EPH 3: 12]. Your wisdom in allowing certain carefully chosen challenges to happen is unparalleled. These challenges provide a way for us to mature spiritually (and sometimes emotionally) as a byproduct of working through them with Your help, if necessary. We approach Your mighty throne to ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the writing of this new series of messages, in the reception of them, and in our ability to correctly interpret Your will, conveyed to us by the Holy Spirit. People who do not believe in Christ and who don’t know the Holy Spirit are unable to understand the things of the Spirit [RO 8: 8-10, 12-14]. That is why the Holy Spirit commanded us to get better acquainted with You in the “Knowing God” series. Dearest Lord, we ask that You allow us to dedicate this new series to You, as a way of allowing us to show the devotion we have for You and Your teaching. Open Lynn’s mind to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the teaching of Lord Jesus. You deserve praise and deepest thanks for Who You are and what You do. We say these things in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Before beginning this series, the Spirit leads me to share a quick review of some basics. The three personalities of God are called the Trinity. They are God, the Father, Jesus Christ, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father has never been visible to us, except in his visible form, the Son. He makes all the decisions. Jesus came to serve His earthly incarnation first to let us know what is the Father’s will and what is not, and then, to die on the cross, so that we can be justified, sanctified, saved, and eternally forgiven. It is Christ’s decision alone as to a person’s final fate. That decision and task was given to Him in DN 7: 13-14 by the Father. “Christ is the visible image of the invisible Father, the Firstborn of all creation” [COL 1: 15, see also vss. 16-20]. If you have seen Jesus, then you have seen the Father [JN 14: 9, 11]. All that Jesus teaches us originates with the Father; we can believe that Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Him. The greatest sacrificial act is Christ’s Atonement on the cross. It opens to us justification (being deemed acceptable to God-RO 4: 3), salvation (JN 3: 16), and eternal forgiveness (1 JN 1: 9). The Holy Spirit is our Counselor, sent by Christ after His ascension to heaven. The Spirit conveys to us what the Father’s will is, shares the Father’s wisdom, helps us in times of decision-making, and guides us through necessary challenges. He never leaves believers in Christ throughout eternity and always tells the truth [JN 16: 13-14]. At a time, the Father decides, those who believe in Christ and have lived according to His teaching will be glorified, i.e. raised to heaven for eternal love and fellowship with the Father. One final basic belief has to do with God’s grace. EPH 2: 8-10 should be familiar to us all. “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift so that no one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus He has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared us to do.” It is basic to our shared belief in Christ that we understand EPH 2: 20-22. “You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the Cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself. He is the One Who hold the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. In union with Him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through the Spirit.” Praise and thanks be to Him!
PRAYER: O Lord, the prayer above was to dedicate this new series, “The Spirit Speaks,” to You. This prayer is to ask You to prepare us to receive what the Spirit has to say to us. Dearest Lord, please open our hearts and calm our spirits, so that we may show You the devotion we have for You and take in all the Spirit has to teach us. We ask for Your blessing and Your help to motivate us to make any necessary changes that will allow us to be closer than ever to You. Cleanse us from unclean thoughts and decisions. Guide our actions, so that they will please You. Enable us to serve You effectively and with peaceful hearts. Help us to have the courage to close off our sprits to the evil one and his henchmen. Forgive us our sins, in the hope that we will do what is necessary to confess them to You and stop the thoughts/behavior involved in them. We offer You our open hearts, our love and devotion. You deserve only praise and thanks. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded by the Holy Spirit to remind us all of the story of how the Holy Spirit came to us. It was foreshadowed in the OT and happened in the NT. There is nothing accidental about how things were laid out in heaven and made to happen on earth. Nor is there anything accidental about Christ’s teaching. God calls it His “Plan of Salvation.” He loves us so much that He wants us to do what is necessary to come to faith in Christ, proclaim that faith to other people, and receive the teaching and other intervention in our lives by the Holy Spirit. We must remember that the Bible is “Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth.” We learn from studying history and doing what we can not to make the mistakes of the past. The Bible is God’s love letter to us; nothing we learn from studying it is a waste of time. 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.” God loves you and me! How great this is, if we allow ourselves to know that! We are equipped to follow every one of His very consistent teachings. Once again, praise and thanks be to God!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2020. All Rights Reserved
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