The Holy Spirit is the most important Entity in the life of a Christian during this day and age. He is the One the Father sent to develop a d bring to maturity the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is God at work, not only for the Church, but actually in the Church. He is here to glorify and to empower Jesus through the body. And, He is to reveal and invisible God to an unbelieving world.
In the old covenant, the power of God was revealed to the world by His presence to all. In the new covenant, He is to reveal His power and glory through the Church. We've taken the things of God and made them into a religion like the world's "gods" are to them. 2timothy 3:4-5 (Amplified) says, "(They will be) treacherous (betrayers) rash, (and) inflated with self-conceit. (They will be) lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God. For (although) they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it)their conduct belies the genuiness of their profession) avoid (all) such people (turn away from them)."
In these last days, God is raising up a people who still believe that our God can do anything and that His power is still real for His people today. They must believe that Jesus Christ is still Lord of all.
God has always had a remnant of people who He could call upon to show Himself strong in the earth...and He still has. Those who followed Jesus weren't always accepted by all the people. There are always those who oppose change in what they believe, which always brings back the truth of what we've always believed. We've watered down our God into a "Someday" God Who will someday be what He used to be. He is the Same God Who parted the Red Sea and stilled the waters and raised the dead. He hasn't changed, we have.
Why do we have such a difficult time believing that God can still do these things? Is is because of what we've heard about Him or is it because we are "afraid" to step out of the boat like Peter did? Jesus said that, "All things are possible to those who believe." Are we really afraid to trust Him to do what He says or are we afraid of what people will think of us? Are we really fanatics, like some say, or are we really true believers?
There are probably some who will read this blog and think I'm crazy for writing such a thing. Some might even stop reading this blog because they fear being rejected by others. The world is full of religion, but not full of the power and presence of a Living God. If our Jesus still lives and His Holy Spirit is still in the earth and the Church, then what is holding back His power? Can it simply be that He is waiting for a people and a time such as this?
If the world has ever needed to see His presence, then surely it is now, with the things going on in the world. Our God is our Only Answer. We don't need another religion, we need a living demonstration of the One True Living God. He is a God of Might and Power and Love. He is our Ever Present Help in our time of need.
Today, we see the Muslim's zeal for their God being demonstrated throughout the world. Although I disagree with what they are doing, I am amazed at their zeal and belief. I wish that Christians would demonstrate our faith in our God with such a zeal. I wish we would dare to provide healing and miracles in a needful world. I wish we would show our God as the One True God.
Instead of fear, we could do like the early Church did and provide faith and hope through the demonstration of God's love for the world. Jesus didn't just talk about God, but revealed Him to a sick and dying people. He never said, "Someday, God will be God." Jesus said the God is a Now God.
During Jesus' earthly ministry, He very plainly said that, "It is not Me, but the Father in Me, that is doing the works." Jesus didn't perform signs and miracles because He was Jesus, but it was God in Him doing these things. The present day Church has the same Father living in us. We sometimes fail to see that the Holy Spirit is the Father Himself Who entered into and merged with our born again spirit.
We've somehow failed to see that the Holy Spirit is God Himself. This is not for "someday when we get to heaven," but is for now in this life. We have been made one with Him by His grace. We're not simply close to God, but made one with Him. We've been taught for centuries, that God was unapproachable to man. This was true for the old covenant, but God, in His great love, has made this not true in the new covenant.
We Christians have become the focus of God's plan for man in the very beginning. He always intended for man to be in perfect fellowship as His family. Through Jesus, this great plan from God's heart has been reconciled back into reality. God our Father, has become one with His children once again. He wants to walk in us and live in us as our God and He wants us to be His people.
Hebrews 10:18-22 (Amplified) says, "Now where there is absolute remission (forgiveness and cancellation of the penalty) of these (sins and lawbreaking), there is no longer any offering made to atone for sin. Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the (Holy of Holies) (by the power and virtue) in the blood of Jesus. By this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies) that is, through His flesh." Verses 21-22 go on, "And since we have (such) a great and wonderful and noble Priest (Who rules) over the House of God, Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water."
Without the Holy Spirit to bring truth and light to these scriptures, we as children of God, continue to gravitate towards the same "guilty and evil conscience." Only the Holy Spirit can minister the Father's love for us, making us free from the past. We continue feeling like it is our works that qualify us to the Father, when we were qualified through Jesus and His gift of righteousness.
All things from God, are gifts and cannot be bought by works or be received by our own merits. they are gifts and must be received by faith as such. Before we can ever hope to understand the will of our Father, we must understand that it all came as a gift. You cannot buy a gift. And, even if you refuse a gift, the results are always the same.
We try being humble before God and feel unworthy to receive from Him. This not only disrespects His gift of Jesus, but is also being very foolish for not allowing God's deliverance from life's problems. How can God deliver us if we keep refusing to accept His gift of deliverance in our time of trouble? Many times, we hold fast to our traditions of the past and act like this is God's way of teaching us. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He will reveal the heart, the truth, the light of God and His new covenant to us.
We've tried finding favor with God, not understanding that we have favor with Him already, through Jesus. We struggle to walk in His blessing, not understand that the blessing has already come on us through Jesus, according to Galatians 3:13-15. Everything we try to become righteous enough to a Holy God, we already have because of His gift of righteousness.
Everything has been done already and has been given to us (by faith) as gifts from our Father. The only thing we must do in order to receive these gifts, is to receive Jesus. As we allow the Holy Spirit to bring light of our relationship and covenant, we discover that God hasn't held back anything from us. This is the ministry the Holy Spirit, God living in us, has been sent to do. We must learn to know His Voice, just like Jesus did.
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