For all of you who've been faithful to follow my blog, forgive my being absent for the last two weeks. I've been in the hay fields putting up hay for the coming winter.
When I had a radio broadcast in Watertown, New York, the radio station's announcer Tony Gullo nicknamed me Cowboy Jim. He didn't do it without reason as I raise horses and beef cattle. Most of my ministry is done in cowboy boots and Levis.
It's been a very busy summer and a trying one. My horse barn was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. We lost everything in it along with one of my horses, Tammy's cat and thirty chickens and a rooster. So, between working on preparations for rebuilding along with haying, I had to take time off for vacation (if you can call that vacation). The Lord has been good to me during this trial and many of the men from church built a shelter for the horses until their barn is completed.
One of the Holy Spirit's ministries is being the Comforter. He never ceased to bring comfort and strength to my family and me,even in the midst of everything going on. And, as long as the Church is here, the Holy Spirit will always be our Comforter and our Strength. His greatest work and ministry is revealing the Lord Jesus to the world as Savior and bringing a continuous revelation of Jesus to the Church.
Many in the Church are now growing in His grace and wisdom at an alarming rate. For many years, the Church walked in a very limited knowledge and understanding about what really occurred after the cross. Most in the Church were familiar with Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, but they were not familiar with His position and ours, because we were raised together with Him and made to sit with Him in heavenly places and were given joint seating with Him, according to Ephesians 2:6 (Amplified).
For many years, we believed that these things were for when we got to heaven. But, we're in the now place with the Father and this means that we (the Church, His Body) are in the same position as the Head of the Body. This means that the Church sits in the same place and authority where Jesus sits. This concept is too hard for our natural man's wisdom to comprehend, but not for our spirit.
For far too long, many in the Church have felt like the Prodigal Son who was still living with the pigs and not really accepted by the Father. The Church has been taught for years that we still weren't pleasing to the Father. No matter how hard we tried or what we did, we remained more conscious of our failures that we were of Jesus' victory. And, all the time we were struggling to be accepted by our Father, He was trying to be accepted by His family. We were unsure of being able to approach Him and even more unsure of His hearing and answering our prayers or meeting our needs. God was doing everything through His Holy Spirit to reach beyond man's teachings and reveal Jesus in us and through us, in His glory.
The Holy Spirit is actually the Shekinah or glory of God Himself. Jesus speaks about the Church and the Holy Spirit in John 17:22 (Amplified), saying, "I have given to them the believer the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one (even) as We are One." This "glory and honor" was the infilling and indwelling of the Holy Spirit Who is God Himself. Now, because of Jesus being raised from the dead and raised up to "sit together at the right hand of the Father," we can be filled with the same Spirit, same glory and the same honor Jesus was filled with. It is the Holy Spirit of God Himself Who lives in us and Who does the work.
Many believe this sounds like boasting and being puffed up with pride, but not to the Father. To the Father, is sounds like He is finally being accepted by His children as truly being our Father. No father wants his children to be afraid or mistrusting of him and our Heavenly Father doesn't want that either.
Some believe it's harsh to say we've been afraid to believe His Word for us. No Christian would dare say that "we don't believe the Bible," but we remain reluctant to believe what God's Word says about us while we're still in this natural body and remain reluctant to receive His Truth. We're not only His children when we get to heaven, we are His children now. God's promises to care for us in our time of need, have no bearing on when we get home with Him because there won't be any needs there. These are promises for here and now.
The Holy Spirit is reaching beyond the realm of religion and is revealing Jesus in the realm of relationship. We've almost reduced Him to an idea instead of I AM. Those serving other gods always have an uneasy feeling of being rejected by their god. Some are also afraid of their god.
Our God gives us the invitation to "Come boldly before His throne of grace" at anytime. We never need be concerned with His rejecting us, turning away from us or being scorned by Him. If God loved us when we were still in sin, then would He love us any less now? God knew who and what we were when He called us and loved us anyway.
The Holy Spirit is working to bring the world to Jesus and He is working to make the Father truly acceptable in the most intimate part of believer's lives. Even after everything He suffered through to eradicate our sin and trespasses and declare us as righteous and holy, we still hesitate to approach Him in peace and in surety.
Don't be afraid to open your innermost, private soul to Him because "He restores our soul," according to Psalm 23. This restoration will bring us back in our soul, our mind, our will and our emotions to a place of innocence (like a newborn baby). God wishes to restore us to the place of innocence before we sinned and relieve us from the fears and guilt stored in our soul from the past. He doesn't even see or remember them. As the Holy Spirit moves, let Him remove the past, along with the memories of the past and the dead man and replace them with His glory and honor.
You have retained "lordship" over the things you hold onto; such as anger, bitterness, hate and unforgiveness, for example. You might have given Him Lordship over some things, but He isn't Lord over other thins in your life. To make Him Lord over those old hurts and emotions, you must surrender them to Him and allow Him to be truly Lord over all.
It sounds odd to say that I've retained lordship over certain things in my life, after making Jesus Lord. If these things are still there, if they still hurt and if they continue causing anger and bitterness in my life, then He hasn't been allowed to take Lordship over them. When He is truly Lord over our lives, then His peace and not the world's peace will reveal His Lordship in our lives. He is, after all, the Prince of Peace. Accept the Father's invitation to "Come boldly before His throne of grace and receive grace and mercy" any time and every time we need it.
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