2021-03-05
Good Morning Dear Ones,
While people were mired in the idea that lifeless material things give happiness the same Holy Spirit impacted those who would become believers professing faith in Jesus Christ. Today, I’m commanded to write about how the Holy Spirit meets our needs. Is there a physical way to describe this process? The answer is “no,” because it deals with intangible matters. Where the giving of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are concerned, it is the same Holy Spirit that gives them all [1 COR 12: 4]. Like His other two personalities (the Father who decides all and the Son, Jesus Christ, Who teaches and Who sacrificed His physical life, so that all believers in Him can be redeemed), the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. And yes, as human beings, we are quite limited in how we can understand these supernatural truths. However, be that as it may, these qualities of our Deity are real.
No person that has received the gifts of the Holy Spirit and who has genuine faith in Christ would ever want to reject the lifestyle or advice the Spirit has given him. That is because we are guided by the Holy Spirit, we are given a much better way to live than trying to rely on idols. The following are ideas for how the Spirit meets our needs are from 1 COR 12: 3- 11. There are different ways of serving, but the same God is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but each one’s ability is given to Him by God. Despite these differences mentioned, each person’s service is for the good of all. Strength of faith, wisdom, knowledge, power, speaking ability, etc. are all things given by the Holy Spirit to individuals for the good of all. One person has a great singing voice, another writes poetry that expresses the feelings of a nation, and yet another is given power to make changes to the good of all. These are only some examples of how the Holy Spirit imparts His desire for the good of all. Those receiving the ability to speak in strange languages work hand in hand with those who can explain/interpret what was said.
We value the words “for liberty and justice for all,” “under God,” and “the pursuit of happiness” in our national documents, for example. The idea to write or say these words came from the Holy Spirit to those speakers and writers. Anyone with experience being in communication with the Holy Spirit would recognize the truths discussed here. Our Lord always has our best eternal interests in mind when speaking to us, granting us blessings, or receiving God’s plan for our future. We wouldn’t have been inhabited by the Holy Spirit had not God wanted as many of us as would believe to spend their eternity with Him in heaven. The gifts of the Holy Spirit themselves are listed in GA 5: 22-23, and I suspect the Holy Spirit will give me plenty to say about each one. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. We are told “there is no law against such as these.”
When we are serving others, as with any other time in our lives, the Holy Spirit is right there with us to advise us when we have questions or concerns. He wants us to serve unselfishly and with His goals in mind. He also wants us to think in eternal terms, rather than only earthly ones. For us to have this kind of understanding, we need the intervention of the Holy Spirit. Our very motivation for accepting His intervention is from the Holy Spirit. As we see the good results of acting on the advice of the Holy Spirit, we can bear witness to it to others. I remember the lessons I personally had to go through and hoped for the Lord’s patience with me as I struggled to understand that these changes for the better don’t happen overnight. It takes time to learn all that the Holy Spirit has for us before we can function to forward His goals effectively. And the Holy Spirit is with believers to help them learn these lessons.
Long ago, I was having trouble learning how to pray. It wasn’t the words, but it was that I needed to see the benefit of praying. I had been given the task to lead a huge prayer chain in my congregation. It was before on-line computerized programs were invented. As our congregation grew, so did the time my task took to complete 7 days a week. This job took an ever-increasing chunk of my time, causing me to have to give up things I really enjoy doing. Rather than allowing things to go on long enough that I would come to hate the task, the Holy Spirit gradually showed me the value of prayer, which I now understand. Part of that was inspiring the invention by others of software which does the job of giving members of a congregation a way to post prayer and praise requests and allow others to join the person posting in prayer—even allowing the addition of Scripture citations that apply. Another few people came on board to separate out ones that needed rewriting to preserve privacy. The net result was I had time given back to me that I could use for other tasks the Holy Spirit wanted me to do.
PRAYER: O Lord, we are grateful that You have given us the Holy Spirit to indwell in us and guide us. Our spiritual lives would be meaningless without Him. It is by the Holy Spirit that the Father helps us to understand and obey His will. We accept that His will is always in mankind’s best eternal interests. For the Father has no evil in Him, and thus, neither do Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit [1 JN 1: 5]. The guidance and goals He sets are from the same Holy Spirit to all people who will believe in Him. Therefore, there is never disagreement as the Holy Spirit trains us to function effectively as believers. We have the given tasks in accordance with our God-given skill set and abilities, and the responsibility to witness to others (who will listen or observe the example we set) to convey the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank You, God, and praise You for giving us the Holy Spirit to see to our needs. It is in His name that we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Lord knows what our true heart-attitude is. HE 4: 13, “There is nothing that can be hidden from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before His eyes. And, it is to Him that we must give an account of ourselves.” Is this a reason to be afraid? I believe it is only if we are doing evil that we should be afraid. Since most of my readers are already believers in Christ subject to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I would assert that there is no reason to be afraid and every reason to welcome the presence of the Spirit. Without His help and that of Christ’s teaching, we will do evil; with those things, we will want to live and work righteously. Next week, more of the interaction between us and the Holy Spirit will be seen as we examine how God knows our hearts. The grace of God is demonstrated with these interactions, and both our desires and those of the Holy Spirit can often be as one. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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