2021-02-12
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Only the Father knows every detail about the what’s, how’s, and when’s of our future [MT 24: 36]. We can be satisfied that this retention of details removes us from day to day worrying about what will come. We can be satisfied that the Father will keep His promises made, and we will come through the end times intact. We are told in the early passages of 2 THESS 2 that there will be the appearance of the “wicked one,” who is destined to end up in hell. He will oppose all that we worship, all that is good and kind, and will put himself above all. He will even go into God’s temple and claim to be Him! (6-8) “Yet there is something that holds him back at present, and we know Who it is. Evil, which is already at work, is held back, and it won’t have its freedom until He Who holds it back (the Holy Spirit) is removed from the scene. In keeping with His promise [DN 9: 27b; REV 20: 7-10].
The Holy Spirit has other functions as well. There is the feeling of fright when one thinks he is alone amidst stressful trials or losses. However, our loving God never abandons us [PS 9: 9-10]. We can turn to Him in prayer and know He is listening. My own experience is that He will answer us, “yes,” “no,” or that tough one to endure, “maybe later.” This has everything to do with God’s superior wisdom about choosing the perfect time, way, and outcome –to maximize any teaching He has for us. He always wants us to be dependent on Himself and to mature in our spiritual lives. His goal is to prepare us to go to heaven for eternity—one of sweet fellowship with him in heaven. When we reach a crossroads in our lives, He wants us to appeal to Him for advice, which He gives to us through the Holy Spirit.
Certainly, either we or our parents for us decide on baptism through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We are exposed to this entrance into the Christian community of believers by seeing others baptized. This experience leads to thoughts about if we should be ourselves baptized, and those thoughts are placed in our minds by the Holy Spirit. Before my baptism, I (as a former non-believer born into traditional Judaism) had the influence of the Holy Spirit on my spirit intermittently. At first, I was not aware of what He was doing. In an 8th grade class at the shul, the subject of Who Jesus Christ was came up in the discussion. I suddenly heard myself saying to my astonished teacher, “Wasn’t Jesus part human and part divine?” The teacher called my father that night to ask about my faith walk, since traditional Jews believe he was a human rabbi who has no divine nature. My comment was not something I had previously been actively thinking about, but instead, it simply came to the surface at that moment in class. That was the beginning of this remarkable faith walk on which our Lord was taking me.
At the time, I was a teenager quite unfamiliar with making important commitments that would last forever. I knew nothing about the glorious indwelling of this third personality of the Godhead. While I’m not a Latter Day Saint (of the Mormon faith), they use a term which can apply to any Christian. It is being “sealed for time and all eternity.” This is used for their alternative to marriage, but it can also apply to our decision to profess genuine faith in Jesus Christ, and speak not just of life on earth, but also of life after physical death for eternity. As a Messianic Jew, I have been completed, i.e. have faith in Who the Messiah [Jesus Christ] is and the hope for eternal life with all three personalities of the Trinity. In my years of unbelief, I had no idea that I could yield to the Lord and live a life filled with spiritual satisfaction. Filled as I am, I’m aware of some important responsibilities that I’m willing to assume. They are spending time in the Scriptures every day, genuinely professing faith in Christ, allowing God to forge uplifting friendships and interaction with them to build my faith, seeking Him in prayer and listening for His answers, living according to God’s teaching, and conveying, through both my example and my words, the Gospel to others willing to listen. Faithful obedience to the Lord Jesus can only bring blessings to our lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, we are spiritually filled every day by Your Spirit. He is with us at all times, and He helps us (step by step) through our roughest trials and losses. As we age, we are forced to get used to losing loved ones and friends around us. This is particularly true, as the world endures the Covid 19 pandemic. We can’t control the foibles of others in positions of authority around us but must learn to live with them. All that we can control is our reactions to their mistakes. We can’t depend on other humans to solve our problems. Instead, we are totally dependent on the Lord. He alone is in total control. When bad things happen to us, we must learn to ask, “What lessons do You (Lord) have for us in this trial?” The rest of the time, we must train ourselves to look for the Lord’s blessings day by day. Nanette and Thomas Kinkaid (the painter of light) listed their blessings in what they called “Glow Books.” At the end of the day, they shared those lists with each other. Glow Books are only one way to train us to look for blessings. There are many others. When we do this, we watch You at work and realize how blessed we are that You are always available to us through the Holy Spirit. We thank and praise You for sending Him to indwell in us and grace our lives. We offer this prayer, thanks, and praise, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’ve been commanded to write about Spirit-led lives next week. Over the past 30 years, I’ve been writing these weekly devotions. They got started because a dear friend who was dying due to a massive, inoperable, and malignant brain tumor asked me to write letters to her. I began writing about myself foolishly, until the Holy Spirit commanded me to write about my faith in the Lord. My friend died within three months, but during that time others asked to also receive my letters. The list of readers grew and grew until it became what it is today. Nothing like this could have happened, had it not been for the power of the Holy Spirit to bring goodness to the earth. He can take the least likely of people and show them they are empowered to let Him use their spirit and body to do God’s work. As I experience His influence over me, my faith in Him grows every day. He prepares all believers who do His work on earth for that day when the Father decides this individual is ready to be taken up to heaven to be with Him for eternity. That day of glorification will be grand and wonderful indeed! No one knows what day that will be until it happens, and there is the hope that many of our questions will be answered about this heavenly life of sweet fellowship with the Father and His Son. Imagine spending eternity using our talents to glorify God! Thanks and praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2020. All Rights Reserved
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