2021-01-15
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I’m commanded to discuss how we become inhabited by the Holy Spirit and what the effects of this are. On the day of His ascension, Jesus Christ gently rose to heaven with His friends and disciples looking on. They knew He would do this but had to have felt some pain at their physical separation from this glorified Being. They would miss him terribly, most of all His earthly mother, Mary and best friend, John [MK16: 19-20; LK 24: 52-59; AC 1: 9-11]. As He disappeared, they worshipped Him and then went back to town with joy in their hearts. They believed He would one day return and that He would keep His promises.
The believers had to be strong in their understanding of the difference between having the leadership of the flesh from leadership of the Spirit, Whom Christ had promised to send. RO 8: 5-8 reminds us about this difference. “To be controlled by the flesh leads to spiritual death; to be controlled by the Spirit leads to eternal life and peace…Those who become God’s enemies disobey Him and reject His teaching; those who obey Him please Him.” It is the Holy Spirit Who raised Jesus to eternal life, and Christ sent Him to dwell in all who believe. We, who have been given the Holy Spirit, are obliged to live by Him and not human nature. This is a choice we make.
Christ’s promise before leaving earth is found in JN 14: 21, 25. He said that God will send the Holy Spirit, a Counselor Who will teach you everything you need to know, in Christ’s holy name. Christ’s disciples [and all who follow Him] were told that they were set apart to bear enduring fruit, so that they will ask for anything they need and God will supply it in Christ’s name [JN 15: 16-17]. These people will show the love of Christ in what they do. JN 16: 7-8 has the actual promise in Christ’s explanation of why it was better for Him to return to heaven than to remain on earth. It was precisely so that He could send this marvelous Counselor that Christ needed to leave. The Holy Spirit would show the world why choosing a sinful life is wrongful and what pleases God. One of His tasks will be to lead people to the truth (13).
To be a true believer, we must go through an adoption into the family of God. The Holy Spirit has a big part in this process. Those who are led by God’s Spirit become His children. The Holy Spirit joins Himself to our spirits and cries out for us to advocate for us and declare that we are God’s children [RO 8: 14-16]. We then become “joint-heirs” to all the blessings the Father has for us, for if we share in Christ’s suffering, we will also share in His glory (17). Yes, we eagerly await the day when that glory will be revealed to us (18). That is how important the work of the Holy Spirit is to each believer. RO 8: 26-27, “In the same way the Spirit Who comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how to pray, but the Holy Spirit pleads with God in groans that words cannot express. And God, Who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Holy Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of His people in accordance with His will.” Those whom God has chosen are also set apart to be like His Son, so that His Son would be the first among many believers (29).” Amazingly, nothing can separate us from the love of God (38-39).
Along with all we learn about the Holy Spirit, we must remember that God’s great mystery is Christ in us, Who opens the depth of God’s knowledge to us [COL 1: 26-27; COL 2: 2-3]. We can learn; we have the power through the Holy Sprit to fend off evil and be open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit over human nature in our lives. All of this information makes us understand why the Pentecost was an event of enormous importance. The events of the Pentecost are described in AC 2, and they, like so many of God’s actions, are supernatural. Those tongues of fire that touched each person in the upper room brought a huge change in them. For example, Peter could leave that room and speak to people from all over what is today northern Israel. That audience spoke many dialects normally not understood by others who didn’t speak the same one. However, that day every individual who heard Peter’s words understood them well.
PRAYER: Prayer directed to the Holy Spirit is called Theophrastic utterances. Such prayer is often effective in reaching its target and bringing about blessing. You, Lord, will answer us “yes,” “no,” or “maybe later.” The Holy Spirit tells me that when You choose not to answer or say, “maybe later,” there is a lesson for us in it. We must look at the bigger picture to see why God might be responding this way. When we reach a crossroads, Your Spirit gives us a way to work out which way to travel or which decision might be best in another context. There are times when we observe disobedience to You by another, and it helps us to assess this person’s motives realistically. Just as Christ is our constant Companion, so the same may be said of the Holy Spirit. We may use the words “our conscience” when it tells us one thing or another, but it is the Holy Spirit making us aware of Your will and what pleases You. We acknowledge Your [Christ’s or Your Spirit’s] power to do good and how loving a Parent to us that You are. We praise and thank You for never abandoning us in our times of need. Moreover, we are grateful and have joy in our hearts that You are a constant presence in our lives. In Christ’s holy/mighty name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded to write about the presence of the Trinity in the OT next week. The Biblical explanations for the importance of the Holy Spirit and some of the things He does for us above certainly applies to my own life. I’ve had a life of contrasts and took a long time to come to where I am on my faith walk today. As you already know, I grew up rejecting being spiritual, rejecting (due to immaturity) the truth of God’s interaction with the Jewish people to whom I belong. I was 25 before I even believed God is real. Some of that is due to my mother’s lack of knowledge of Jewish history, which led her to be an agnostic-a person who thought God existed but didn’t believe in what she was taught about Him in the shul. My father’s efforts to shove traditional Judaism down my throat without concern for how it was affecting me also contributed. At 25, God had enough of this situation! His will came as a surprise to me when I was finally mature enough to understand what He was wanting. After a “shopping expedition” of other belief systems, Christ called me to faith in Him. But that wasn’t the only surprise. At 39, He was calling me to the ministry! Other changes were happening during those years. My chaotic life was given order and a purpose. I had become a very self-disciplined student, who understood my status as a sinner. My childhood anger was replaced with inner peace. The importance of patience and humility was finally becoming obvious to me. My arrogance and mouth- out of control diminished, and more thoughtfulness and care for the welfare of others came into my life. I decided to spend more time confessing my sins to God, study, and in prayer in general. These are only some of the countless blessings that having faith in Jesus Christ has given me. I pray that the Holy Spirit blesses each of your lives. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2020. All Rights Reserved.
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