What is life? How can you choose life?
When the scriptures speak of life and death, life is described as both
physical and transitory and as eternal and spiritual. There is no question
about the transitory, physical part. We are born, we live and we die.
But if that was all there was to it, then those who say, "eat,
drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" would have a good point.
There is not a single "seeker of pleasure," who does not have
a spirit within him that casts light on his self centered existence.
That light within you is both your hope and your judge. God knows you
intimately. Read and understand this next verse and then read the Psalm
following it and you will know, if you carefully consider it, that God
is "considering" you right now. His thoughts toward you exceed
number. This point needs to be made over and over until you understand
because it will lead you to understand that God initiates, you respond.
It is His Holy Spirit seeking to commune with your spirit. If you feel
Him calling and you fail to respond, you are spurning His affection
and love. Your inaction is action.
Psalms 40:5
5 Many, O LORD my God,
are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward
us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. (NKJ)
Psalms 139:1-18
1 O LORD, You have
searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting
down and my rising up; you understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my
path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not
a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me
behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is
too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from
Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into
heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings
of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your
hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, "Surely
the darkness shall fall on me," even the night shall be light about
me;
12 Indeed, the darkness
shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness
and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my
inward parts; you covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise You,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and
that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not
hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in
the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my
substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written,
the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also
are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count
them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am
still with You. (NKJ)
Death is described
as both physical and permanent and life as spiritual and eternal. One
actually chooses, for eternity, the realm in which you want to exist.
Volition is a wonderful gift. But, "To whom much is given, much is required."
Those who have the option to choose have a much greater obligation than
those that have no option. Our autonomy is both a gift and a liability.
When the prophet Ezekiel spoke of the
final gathering of Israel, he described the condition of the heart and
the spirit. I believe that this is a promise to the faithful remnant
of God's chosen people, bestowed at the onset of the Millennium. Listen.
Ezekiel 36:26-27
26 "I will give you
a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of
stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 "I will put My Spirit
within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My
judgments and do them. (NKJ)
Perhaps the greatest "mystery"
to one, who seeks the approval of God, pertains to man's inability to
see himself as an infinite spiritual being. We know we have a body that
is certain to die. We can not visualize ourselves as a spiritual entity,
one who, "like God," will live eternally. In my opinion, the
solution to the mystery hinges on our need to grasp an understanding
of the Holy Spirit. First understand that your spirit is the lamp of
the Lord and it is God, who is Spirit, that communicates with your spirit.
Listen.
Proverbs 20:27
27 The spirit of a
man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart. (NKJ)
1 Corinthians 2:9-16
9 …as it is written:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of
man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
10 But God has revealed
them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes,
the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows
the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even
so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received,
not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we
might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we
also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy
Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural
man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual
judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For "who has known
the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind
of Christ. (NKJ)
1 Corinthians 3:16
16 Do you not know
that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in
you? (NKJ)
Now if those last two verses don't
wake you up to the reality of God's "reach" into your soul
and His willingness and ability to make you His temple, then you don't
stand a chance against Satan. It is Christ in you, the power of the
Spirit of God in you, which differentiates you from those who believe
that this is only a physical world.
If this is only a physical world then you should feel comfortable with
evolution, survival of the fittest, even a lifestyle that is focused
on your personal achievements. The triumphs and losses are yours. You
are in control. If you choose to be charitable, that may make you feel
good. In doing so you are elevating your sense of caring and your sense
of compassion for those who are less fortunate. But understand this.
You will receive all of the credit and all of the blame. You will be
trying to add holiness (yours) and to avoid unrighteousness, but you
are on your own. And as Solomon said, you are all headed to the same
fate, the grave.
One certainty exists in this scenario. You are acting as your own god.
You have vowed that this is a physical world without a spiritual dimension,
here for your pleasure (and incredibly you think it "evolved"
into this magnificent, orderly universe). Life then would be viewed
as becoming all you can be, in and of yourself. Your priorities will
lead you to compete, using rules that are "situational" and
values that are in transition. You will have no anchor to your soul
because you do not acknowledge that you have a soul.
But where does all of this kind of thinking lead? Look around you and
read the newspapers. Wearying you with commentary about sin is not my
mission. My mission is to point you to the Word and to the reality of
the Power of the Spirit of God. He has spoken to us about what would
be, what is and what is yet to be. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit
in you can you understand His mystery, revealed.
Note in the verses above the use of the word Spirit and spirit. When
Spirit is capitalized in the Bible it means the Spirit of God or the
Holy Spirit. When it refers to an evil spirit, it is a lower case "s"
and when it refers to our human spirit it is a lower case "s."
Yes, the Holy Spirit communicates with your spirit and it is a mystery,
in part. Do not think for one minute that this is simply a physical
world or that you are simply flesh and bones, awaiting your demise.
Jesus told a parable. After doing so, the following exchange occurred.
Mark 4:9-11
9 And He said to them,
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
10 But when He was
alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.
11 And He said to them,
"To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God;
but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, (NKJ)
Paul further defines
the mystery, "solved."
1 Corinthians 2:7-8
7 But we speak the
wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before
the ages for our glory,
8 which none of the
rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified
the Lord of glory. (NKJ)
Just as the destruction of the 1st,
2nd, and 3rd temples has been prophesied, so was the crucifixion of
the Messiah, Jesus Christ. God knew who would "know" Jesus
and who would not. Some Jews did know Him, and some did not. Those who
did had the mystery of the Holy Spirit, "Sent," revealed to
them.
One who did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah was the apostle Paul.
He was a Pharisee and notorious persecutor of the early followers of
Jesus Christ. Paul was the author of verse 8 above. He is not exempting
himself from blame. He was among the most active of those who denied
that Jesus was the Messiah. But Paul did not remain blind spiritually.
His full story is told in another section. He is the best example I
know of to show God's chosen people, the "Way."
One of the most prominent of Jews, a Jewish ruler named Nicodemus, came
to Jesus "by night" and asked him an indirect question. Listen.
John 3:1-8
1 There was a man of
the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 This man came to
Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher
come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God
is with him."
3 Jesus answered and
said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4 Nicodemus said to
Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time
into his mother's womb and be born?"
5 Jesus answered, "Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 "That which is born
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 "Do not marvel that
I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
8 "The wind blows where
it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes
from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (NKJ)
Nicodemus said, "We know you are
a teacher come from God" Why? Because "no one can do these
signs that you do unless God is with him." This same ruler of the
Jews, following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, appears again, but
this time, openly.
John 19:39-42
39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing
a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen
with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in
the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews' Preparation Day, for
the tomb was nearby. (NKJ)
Earlier, when Jesus
was speaking to Nicodemus, He spoke of renewal, being born again, not
of the flesh (water) but of the Spirit. Notice above in John 3:8 how
life becomes "directed" as the wind. When you choose to be
filled with God's Holy Spirit, you choose to be directed.
Romans 8:14
14 For as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (NKJ)
The root of the word Spirit is pneuma,
meaning wind, breeze or the movement of air. Have you ever wondered
how God can be everywhere at once? Understand as you see the breeze
moving the leaves around you that the Holy Spirit is just like that.
An ever- present "possibility" in nature (you don't know where
it comes from or where it is going).
The Holy Spirit is either an ever-present possibility or an ever-present
reality in you. The refreshment of the Holy Spirit, its cleansing comfort
as it "lifts" you into the presence of the Father, is as the
most pleasant, reassuring breeze you have ever experienced. God is constantly
present, whether in you or not. Never let a leaf move in your
presence or a breeze cover you again, without acknowledging His Presence.
It is a wonderful reminder of His love.
God is not always "in the wind." Destructive winds are not
the same as the Holy Spirit's moving. The forces of nature are at God's
disposal but learn to differentiate between the times that His Hand
is healing and when it is not. Listen to this incident involving Elijah.
1 Kings 19:10-14
10 So he said, "I have
been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel
have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your
prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life."
11 Then He said, "Go
out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD
passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke
the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind;
and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
12 and after the earthquake
a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still
small voice.
13 So it was, when
Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out
and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him,
and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
14 And he said, "I
have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children
of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed
Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take
my life." (NKJ)
I believe that when God said to Elijah
that He was not "in the wind, fire and earthquake" that He
was teaching us that there are events that are special dispensations
of His power which serve no other purpose than showing a man that He
is present and can cause such events. These are different than the course
of life in which His power is dispensed to bless or to curse.
I suspect such events are not for just "any man," but for
one that God is dealing with individually. They are not intended for
"others" but for the individual. Why? I speculate, but our
God has chosen individuals such as Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Elijah
through whom he directly spoke. He often spoke only to them, and even
did so with others standing about, who did not hear or understand. I
sense that when the wind, earthquakes and fire are experienced by "others"
God is in the phenomena and it is not ever a circumstance beyond His
control or outside His purposes.
Do you recall the verse that says that not a hair falls from your head
that God does not notice? He is in control. We are the clay, He is the
potter. He loves His children and provides for them in triumph or in
tragedy. "Acts of nature" as they are called implies the absence
of God's control. God either causes or allows every act of nature to
occur. In the case of Job's troubles, God allowed Satan to "use
the forces nature" to accomplish God's greater purpose, a purpose
Job did not understand, at first.
There is a "new" dimension to God's methods of intervention.
When Jesus Christ did what He did for us, when he suffered and died
for our sins, He provided perfect, permanent atonement and God gave
Him the responsibility of "judging." But in that same time
frame Jesus taught us that His ascension to the Father was accompanied
by the Father's sending of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit, the
breeze that encompasses you and cleanses and fills your heart, that
is the essence of Jesus "in you."
The odd thing is that everyone, according to scripture will, whether
they think so or not, acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. That can happen
now or at the beginning of the Kingdom Age or at judgment day, but it
will happen. When the Messiah returns will you be greeting both a friend
and companion, or you will be regarded as a stranger. Listen.
John 15:14-15
14 "You are My friends
if you do whatever I command you.
15 "No longer do I
call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing;
but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father
I have made known to you. (NKJ)
Philippians 2:9-11
9 Therefore God also
has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on
earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NKJ)
Here in this next set
of verses we find the three dimensions of spirit, "spirit, Spirit and
Holy Spirit"
Psalms 51:9-12
9 Hide Your face from
my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away
from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the
joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. (NKJ)
Man has a spirit, and here King David
asks that his spirit be steadfast. Then he asks that the Holy Spirit
not be taken from him and then he asks that the generous Spirit uphold
him. Is there a difference between the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit?
Fundamentally, there is not. But we do know that Jesus clearly taught
that the Holy Spirit is an entity that would be "sent" to
each one who believed upon Him. Read carefully. This "gift"
could not be clearer.
John 14:15-29
15 "If you love Me,
keep My commandments.
16 "And I will pray
the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with
you forever--
17 "the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows
Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
18 "I will not leave
you orphans; I will come to you.
19 "A little while
longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because
I live, you will live also.
20 "At that day you
will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
21 "He who has My commandments
and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved
by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
22 Judas (not Iscariot)
said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us,
and not to the world?"
23 Jesus answered and
said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father
will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
24 "He who does not
love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine
but the Father's who sent Me.
25 "These things I
have spoken to you while being present with you.
26 "But the Helper,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach
you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said
to you.
27 "Peace I leave with
you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 "You have heard
Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved
Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for
My Father is greater than I.
29 "And now I have
told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. (NKJ)
John 15:26
26 "But when the Helper
comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth
who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. (NKJ)
John 16:7-15
7 "Nevertheless I tell
you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not
go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send
Him to you.
8 "And when He has
come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment:
9 "of sin, because
they do not believe in Me;
10 "of righteousness,
because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
11 "of judgment, because
the ruler of this world is judged.
12 "I still have many
things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 "However, when He,
the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for
He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will
speak; and He will tell you things to come.
14 "He will glorify
Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
15 "All things that
the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine
and declare it to you. (NKJ)
Here the apostle Paul,
further clarified the work of the Holy Spirit in you.
Romans 8:14-16
14 For as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not
receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit
of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
16 The Spirit Himself
bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (NKJ)
Romans 8:26-28
26 Likewise the Spirit
also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray
for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 Now He who searches
the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that
all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who
are the called according to His purpose. (NKJ)
If the Holy Spirit
is in you, you are the Temple of God, the place that God abides, and
if that Temple sins, you are defiling God's Temple. Listen.
1 Corinthians
6:18-20
18 Flee sexual immorality.
Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual
immorality sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know
that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom
you have from God, and you are not your own?
20 For you were bought
at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's. (NKJ)
Galatians 5:16-25
16 I say then: Walk
in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are
contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led
by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of
the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery,
hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness,
revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also
told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (NKJ)
In the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses
1-2, It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. (NKJ)
God is a Triune God. He is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit. We have a difficult time, as the creation of God, to grasp the
reality of His eternal preexistence, His power to manifest Himself in
the flesh and His deliverance of the Holy Spirit to those who believe.
But remember that we are the clay and He is the potter. Read on.
Isaiah 64:1-8
1 Oh, that You would
rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might
shake at Your presence--
2 As fire burns brushwood,
as fire causes water to boil-- to make Your name known to Your adversaries,
that the nations may tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did awesome
things for which we did not look, you came down, the mountains shook
at Your presence.
4 For since the beginning
of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the
eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him.
5 You meet him who
rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways. You
are indeed angry, for we have sinned-- in these ways we continue; and
we need to be saved.
6 But we are all like
an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken
us away.
7 And there is no one
who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for
You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our
iniquities.
8 But now, O LORD,
you are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we
are the work of Your hand. (NKJ)
These are truly wonderful verses. Note
that ear hasn't heard, nor perceived, and eye hasn't seen any God who
acts for the one who waits for Him. Grasp the meaning of those words.
Our God "meets" those who rejoice in Him and do righteousness,
in spite of our prior attitude. Isaiah then laments over the sins of
Israel and finishes by saying, "we are the clay, and You our potter."
Earlier Isaiah explained the analogy.
Isaiah 45:9
9 "Woe to him who strives
with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth!
Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' Or shall
your handiwork say, 'He has no hands'? (NKJ)
This last set of verses
first describes the stubbornness of the congregation and then prescribes
the cure. Heed My words, obey My law. Then we see the gentle, healing
touch of the Messiah.
Matthew 12:18-21
18 "Behold, My Servant
whom I have chosen, my Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will
put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not quarrel
nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed He
will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth
justice to victory; (NKJ)
21 And in His name
Gentiles will trust, (NKJ)
Now Isaiah prophesies
concerning the coming Kingdom, that wonderful 1000-year period in which
Israel will be as a covenant to the people, serving as the host and
dispenser of God's righteousness.
Isaiah 49:8-13
8 Thus says the LORD:
"In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation
I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to
the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate
heritages;
9 That You may say
to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.'
"They shall feed along the roads, and their pastures shall be on
all desolate heights.
10 They shall neither
hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them; for He who
has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of water He will
guide them.
11 I will make each
of My mountains a road, and My highways shall be elevated.
12 Surely these shall
come from afar; look! Those from the north and the west, and these from
the land of Sinim."
13 Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the LORD
has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted. (NKJ)
Now, in the New Testament Peter quotes
Isaiah, and declares what I find to be the crux of the matter today.
God told Isaiah that He lay in Zion a chief cornerstone and those who
reject that cornerstone stumble, being disobedient to the word, the
word to which they were appointed. Peter then says to his audience,
followers of Jesus Christ, that they "were not a people" but
they are now a chosen generation, a royal priesthood who have attained
mercy. Listen.
1 Peter 2:6-10
6 Therefore it is also
contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put
to shame."
7 Therefore, to you
who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The
stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,"
8 and "A stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word,
to which they also were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,
that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light;
10 who once were not
a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but
now have obtained mercy. (NKJ)
It is the Holy Spirit that directs
and guides us. It is the Holy Spirit, I pray, that is placing His Hand
upon this book and upon your heart. God wants to pour out His Holy Spirit
upon you, right now. You can not be redeemed by obedience to the Law,
only. Obedience is wonderful and good but it is the Holy Spirit that,
by the blood of the perfect Lamb of God, cleanses you and atones for
your sin and enables you to have a new heart.
Acts 2:17-18
17 'And it shall come
to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit
on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young
men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants
and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and
they shall prophesy. (NKJ)
Holy Spirit, Part 1, 2,
from the www.solascriptura.com web site gives a more complete scriptural background on the triune God
topic. Again, the mystery of God's presence in you shall remain a mystery
until it is a reality. Actually, as you read the chapter "God has
revealed Himself to every man," you will learn that the truth is
in you, but the key to that truth changing your life, forever, begins
with your simple confession of faith. Then the mysteries of God will
be revealed and then the Word of God will take on meaning. Intellectual
assent is worthless, absent a changed life, and a repentant and contrite
heart. The revelation of God's truth is only available to those who
are cleansed and made ready for rebirth by the redemptive action of
our Lord.
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