The Age of the Spirit

On March 19, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 14: 26

But the helper, the Holy Spirit …, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

Throughout history God has been with humanity in one form or another. During Old Testament times God’s presence was with the people but there was little known about the son. The Israelites learned that a Messiah would come but besides a few prophets they knew very little about who to expect. Then the Messiah came and the New Testament is primarily about him. There was almost nothing known about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. As Jesus prepared to leave earth he began teaching people about the Holy Spirit and telling them what to expect. In verse 18 of this chapter Jesus promised that he would not leave us as orphans but that he would come back to get us. In the interim he sent the Holy Spirit to us as a gift. God sent Jesus. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit and yet I find that we know very little about him. I believe it is to our advantage that we learn about him.

The Holy Spirit has many roles in our lives. In this one verse today we see several of the important ways the Holy Spirit aids us. He is a helper, a teacher and a reminder of all that Jesus has said. He will bring to your mind scriptures whenever you need them but he is so much more. He is the power of God, a pledge of promises yet to come, a promise himself and a gift but the role that is perhaps most significant is that he is a comforter. Jesus sent a comforter to be with us at all times. He is called the stand beside because he comes along beside us at all times. We use the expression, “I’ve got your back.” Imagine one of the three aspects of God with you side by side all day, every day telling you that he has your back. He is a protector. He does all the heavy lifting for you in all things. He is like that perfect best friend. You are sealed in him and his presence with you is a sign that you are a valued child of the Most High. 

You can also get to know the Holy Spirit. He is the third person of the trinity so if you can know God; if you can know Jesus, then you can also know the Holy Spirit. He may even have a name, probably does. Jesus is part of the Father but he has his own name. Perhaps you can get the Spirit to reveal his name to you. Think about that for a moment. God has a name, Jesus has a name and even your angels have names. How is it that we have not inquired of the Spirit that is with us day and night as to his name? But we can. 

We are the people that God spoke of in Joel 2: 28: “And it will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind.” We are the children of promise. I think we should take our inheritance seriously and find out what benefits we are entitled to under this promise from God. You know how God loves for us to exercise our rights. I believe that there is an enormous blessing in our relationship with the Holy Spirit of God and that it is just waiting to be revealed. Pursue God the Father; pursue God the Son but do not fail to seek out God the Holy Spirit.

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Honor and Humility

On November 21, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 13: 18

Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline but he who regards reproof will be honored.

This is a difficult verse and certainly for the maturing Christian rather than cultural Christians. Cultural Christian is my term for people who are Christians but who are not pursuing spiritual growth. We might call them passive Christians. This is not a passage for them because this one causes one to look introspectively. 

The word which is translated here as discipline can also be translated as instruction. So the honored among us are those who do not neglect instruction and correction. No one likes being corrected. Few will even stand instruction but for those who are masters of their egos rather than a slave to it there is honor and promotion. So, let us all look inwardly for a moment? From whom do I receive instruction? To whom am I submitted? Christians are expected to receive daily instruction. I think that can be seen in the number of devotionals which are available. Of course the master instructor is the Holy Spirit and we should all be tuned in to his daily program but let us not deceive ourselves. The Holy Spirit also uses people for his purposes.

First of all, not everyone is sensitive and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and some are just better receptors than others. Secondly, he employs people in every area of expertise to speak his wisdom. So each one of us should first of all submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit and take our direction from him rather than being our own leader. Second, we are deceiving ourselves if we think that we are not supposed to submit to human leaders. To think we should lead our own parade is just the voice of ego. You may be the leader of hundreds or even thousands but you should also have someone from whom you receive instruction and if need be, correction. 

The other side of the coin is, don’t follow someone who isn’t also a follower. We are all at various stages in the journey. Make sure that the person you are following is still travelling; a stagnate person can only lead you to stagnation. We should all be growing in the things of God. None of us has yet arrived but like Paul said, we press on to that high calling. If you want to follow that high calling you should submit yourself to another’s leadership and make sure that person is also submitted. Then we are all receiving instruction and growing the result of which is the unveiling of the mystery which is in Christ Jesus.

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Minding the Spirit

On October 23, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 8: 5

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

This scripture raises an interesting question for us all. Where, really, is our mind? I know for myself that I awaken in the morning thinking about what I need to do that day. So, my mind is on the things of the flesh. There are people, though, whose first thought in the morning is towards God. They pray before they ever leave their beds and they dedicate their day to the Lord, our god. 

No matter what our occupation we are supposed to live everyday unto the Lord. That can be a bit of a challenge when we let the world intervene first thing in the morning. I am learning that I need to right my ship early, then I can have my mind set on the things of the Spirit from the outset. From there all matter of life can proceed. If my mind is set on the things of the Spirit rather than on the things of the flesh don’t you imagine that priorities and the flow of my day may be affected? If, instead, I am focused on my to do list, getting to the grocery store, emails, phone calls and the like it gets very difficult for the Lord to lead me. You see, I believe in this verse Paul is giving us some very practical, everyday advice. Set your mind on the things of the Spirit so that you and the Holy Spirit are in synch the rest of the day. Let the Holy Spirit guide you through your to do list. Let Him inspire your actions. 

When we set our minds on the Spirit we will reap the fruit of the Spirit. That is what we want. We want to live Spirit inspired lives. Too many times people have the notion that Spirit led lives are for ministers. The minister’s job is to teach all of us how to live the high life, life which is lived in the power and light of the Holy Spirit. 

Begin your day by turning your eyes on Jesus. Let Him be your morning illumination. Then just follow where he leads.

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New Wine

On October 15, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 5: 18

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Does this verse mean that we can get drunk on vodka or gin; anything but wine? I think we all know that drunkenness is not in the will of God for his kids. Synonyms for dissipation are debauchery and indulgence even wickedness, depravity and decadence. These are not words that any of us want to have associated with us. Does that mean we can never drink wine or other adult beverage? The verse does not indicate that Christians cannot have a drink but we should not allow ourselves to become intoxicated with strong drink. The only thing we are to be intoxicated with is the Holy Spirit. The way to protect yourself from getting drunk or any other kind of dissipation is to be filled with the Spirit. Pray to the Lord to fill you up to overflowing with the Holy Spirit of God. You can never over indulge in the Holy Spirit.

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Grieve Not

On October 14, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 4: 30 – 31

30  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

One thing I would never want to do is to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. That drums up a truly horrid image. Fortunately for me and everyone else, Paul proceeds to tell us how we can avoid doing so. We are to make bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and malice completely foreign to our way of living. That means that we are to have no ill will (malice) toward anyone, nor speak of others in a way that will damage their reputation in the eyes of others (slander). We are to put anger away from us. That is no surprise but sometimes we allow ourselves the luxury of anger. If you do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, then you should quickly put the anger away from you and move into forgiveness. Bitterness is defined as: sharp and disagreeable; harsh; severe; piercing. 2) Characterized by strong feelings of hatred, resentment, cynicism. You have known people who are sharp with others. That is not the attitude God wants us to show to others nor are we to be cynical. Taking verses 29 through 32 together, there is a picture revealed to us of the Christian walk.  If it were to be summarized we might say guard our mouths only letting those words come out that are edifying and uplifting and be kind to everyone in word and deed. In this way we will be pleasing to the Lord God and not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

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Said and Done

On September 17, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Zechariah 12: 10

And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of Grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.


My, how powerful; so much contained in one verse. First we see the promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the New Covenant sealed in the giving of the Holy Spirit. Of course, through Jesus we have all been adopted into the family of David so don’t get hung up on the vernacular. The Holy Spirit has been poured out on all who will receive. He is the Holy Spirit of Grace and grace is certainly the hallmark of the new covenant. Jesus ushered in the age of grace through his atoning blood so that we are no longer slaves to the law. We have been freed from all shackles through the victory of Jesus.

It is impossible, though, not to appreciate the prophetic truths contained in this verse. Long before Jesus was born Zechariah wrote about the one who would be pierced. Are you ever amazed by prophecy? I am. God has always wished to reveal Himself and His knowledge to His people. He has given prophetic utterance throughout the ages and even continues to do so today. The glory of these prophecies is best appreciated in retrospect. Our hearts are moved when we read about the firstborn who is pierced. We know who this person is. Think about the people of Zechariah’s day. They didn’t know Jesus. Were they equally amazed by this prophecy? I somehow doubt it. Hopefully they did appreciate what the Lord told them through Zechariah.

Fulfilled prophecy certainly ministers to us today. Our faith in unfulfilled prophecies is bolstered by seeing fulfilled prophecies like the one in today’s selection. It is amazing in its own right but equally so in the way it points to other prophecy. If this one was so eloquently delivered then what does that mean for other Bible prophecy?

The Son has been pierced, the Spirit poured out. This is the last age before the climatic end of the Biblical story. We can watch the blood moons, the signs in the heavens and actually experience prophecy being fulfilled within our seeing. These are days of which the prophets spoke. It is a time of great triumph and joy as we glory in the victory of our Lord Jesus. The time is at hand for all people to turn their faces toward the light. There is a great looming darkness but greater is the light. We will jump with joy like young gazelles at the coming of our Lord and we will see His light shining brightly. We know the end of the story so fear not. The end is nigh but great is the victory of the Lord Jesus and upon His wings you will ride. Take joy. These are the promised days.

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Extraordinary Success

On July 28, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Daniel 6: 1 – 3

It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they should be in charge of the whole kingdom and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss. Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.

The Israelites have been carried off into captivity once again, this time at the hands of the Babylonians. When they were first taken into captivity the then king, Nebuchadnezzar, ordered that some of the youths of Israel should be groomed for service to the king and David was among those selected. Now Darius is king. Darius is organizing his command structure. One hundred and twenty satraps were appointed over the kingdom. We can think of them as governors or provincial rulers. These one hundred and twenty governors were accountable to three commissioners and the three commissioners reported directly to King Darius. David’s appointment to a commissioner position is remarkable in itself but even among the commissioners he stood out. The scripture records his great success as due to the remarkable spirit he possessed. We know who this remarkable spirit is. He is the Holy Spirit of God and we too can avail ourselves of his divine assistance. You see, Daniel was an outstanding man but his extraordinary talent was not innate. It was born of his close walk with the Spirit. To my way of thinking this in no way diminishes the greatness of Daniel. In fact, it elevates him in my mind because Daniel learned how to walk according to the Spirit which is a phenomenal accomplishment in any age but amazingly and incredibly so before the coming of Messiah. 

This is the same Daniel that was thrown into a pit of lions and survived. He is the same Daniel who had three good friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah whom we know better by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Daniel hung out with guys who walked through a fiery furnace without getting even the smell of smoke on their clothes while the people that threw them into the furnace were burned up. What gave these young men their incredible power? They possessed an extraordinary spirit. 

Okay, I am willing to accept that explanation. How about you? We know that with God, truly, all things are possible. I can fathom the Holy Spirit being the secret to this awesome power at work in the lives of these young men. Here is the problem though. You and I have this same Holy Spirit. In fact, we are living in the age of the Holy Spirit. Only after Jesus came and left was the Holy Spirit sent. It was only through Jesus’ victory that the age of the Holy Spirit was ushered in. The promised outpouring of the Spirit occurred well after these young men walked the earth. Now, because of what Jesus did, the Holy Spirit accepts our invitation and comes to live inside us. That never happened before. So, that means that we have greater access to the Holy Spirit than did Daniel and his friends. Since they did not have the Holy Spirit indwelling them as we can today, what made these captives who had few resources more powerful than most of us today?

 I believe the answer can be found in the tenth verse of chapter six where, referring to Daniel, it reads, “and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God.” Daniel spent a lot of time seeking God and giving thanks and I presume his friends were like minded. I do not preach a doctrine of works, far from it, but I cannot deny that there is something that happens within us when we spend time with the Father. I am not saying that God will reward you with miracles if you will spend sufficient time in prayer. All of God’s gifts are free. We didn’t have to do anything to earn the greatest gift so we do not have to earn the others. None the less, prayer causes a change. We build up ourselves and our spirits when we spend time in prayer and in the presence of God.

We talked recently about sowing to the Spirit. It is basic logic to conclude that if we want to reap from the Spirit we must first sow to the Spirit. Said differently, if we wish to reap spiritual benefits we must sow spiritual seeds. To me that is as simple as saying, if you want tomatoes, plant tomato seeds. Don’t expect tomatoes if you put cucumber seeds in the ground. Look at what you want, at what you need and then sow that type of seed. But let us take our thoughts one step further. There is nothing in this earth or universe that did not begin in the spiritual realm. Even the tomato began in the mind of God who then communicated His thought to Jesus and the Holy Spirit and commissioned them to bring His vision into being. They then created the tomato in the realm of the Spirit and manifested it into the physical. That is how everything comes into being. Therefore, we, who have a pipeline to God, can go right to the source of creation and have all our needs met. When we spend time with our Holy Father, He shows us how to create the answers we need. He teaches us how to walk hand in hand with the Holy Spirit so that miracles become everyday occurrences. This is God’s plan for us. He promised the outpouring of the Holy Spirit thousands of years ago looking forward to this day when He could teach us how to live and walk as He does. It is His Garden of Eden plan, the way that Adam and Eve were supposed to walk and work. This is the life of abundance that Jesus was tasked with bringing into the earth. It is here now and we can walk in it even more powerfully than Daniel and his friends. It is all at your fingertips. It is in your next breadth. There is nothing you cannot have, nothing you cannot do. Just spend time with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and let them lead you.

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