Monday, October 26, 2015

Lesson 87 The Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit

     The foremost work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the heart of the Father, through the revealing of Jesus to the world.  Many still struggle with the knowledge of God as a loving Father.  We fumble with distinguishing between the Old Testament God and the the new covenant Father.  For many believers, this has been one of the greatest weapons the enemy has used to hold back the power of the resurrection in their lives.
     Jesus said in John 14:7 (Amplified), "If you had known Me (had learned to recognize Me), You would also have known My Father. From now on you know Him and have seen Him."  The only way to ever know the Father is to know and understand Jesus, but many have only viewed Him from the four gospels.  In these four books (the Synopsis), we still see Jesus as an Old Testament prophet Who functions under the Law of Moses, speaking to the unsaved, unborn-again people.  They didn't have the new covenant or the revelation of the new birth or the Holy Spirit yet.  They only knew God as One Who would bless them by keeping the Law and if they failed to comply with the Law, then the curse would come upon them and they could even die. 
     Many of those under the Law, didn't understand that the Law wasn't intended to punish wrong doing, but to protect them from the power of the curse that could destroy them.  Many of today's Christians look at this same thing as though God was punishing them for their disobedience.  The truth is, that by keeping the Law and the commandments, the curse could not come upon them.  If they violated the Law, then the curse, which was already here through Adam, would be able to operate in their lives.  It wasn't something that God does to punish the, but what Adam did in the Garden.  The Law was to be their protection from the curse.
     It was never God's plan to punish mankind for Adam's transgression, but to place a covenant of safety from the curse that came at his fall.  If God hadn't made a Blood covenant for mankind, then all would have had to live in the curse from that point on.  God activated the blood to cover the curse, according to Romans 3:23 (Amplified) which says, "Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives."
     By the shedding of blood, God could demonstrate that death (the wages of sin) have been met and was legally paid, at least on a temporary basis.  Because He is a Just God and Judge, God must act justly on behalf of His creation.  Now, through the blood of bulls and goats, He could legally make restitution for mans sin, by death their behalf.  Every time the blood was displayed, satan had to accept the fact that his wages (death) had been met.  Now God could once more begin to bring the blessing that was on Adam back into focus for all His people.  As long as they would walk under the umbrella of covenant blood, the curse couldn't come upon them.
     It wasn't God's punishment on the people that brought about misery, but it was their own disobedience that put them outside the blood of the covenant.  We've blamed God accusing Him of saying, "I am going to get you," when in reality God has said, "If you do this, then no one can get you."  It was God's only way of keeping man safe until He could get Jesus into the earth.  God had always intended for His family to be blessed from the beginning.
     Deuteronomy 30:14-19 (Amplified) says, "But the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your mind, and in your heart, so that you can do it. See, I have set before you this day life and good, a death and evil. (If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which) I command you today, To love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land into which you go to possess. But, if your (mind and) heart turn away and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish, and you shall not live long in the land which you pass over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness this day again you that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live."
     Notice how God didn't say He would place a curse on them, but that they had a choice.  If they would accept and walk under His covenant, then it would protect, bless and bring long life.  But, if they chose not to accept His covenant, then the only thing left to them was the curse that was already here.  We have this exact same choice today.  Did part of the above scripture sound familiar?  It's the same as Romans 10:8-9 (Amplified) which says, "The Word (God's message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is the Word (the message, the basis and object) of faith which we preach."  Verse 9 says, "Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
     God has once again presented us with the choice to "choose life and blessing, or death and cursing."  The choice is ours.  John writes in John 3:16-17 (Amplified), "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His Only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal life."  Verse 17 goes on, "For God did not sent the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him."
     If we choose to walk in death and cursing, then that is our choice and God will respect that choice.  If you choose to receive and believe in Jesus, then you can still have blessing and be made safe and sound, by and through Him.  The choice is ours.  The curse is still here, but God has given us a way out of it.  If we don't choose the blessing, then we cannot say, "God put this on me to teach me something," because that would mean that Jesus' sacrifice was a "Band-aid" put on the sin problem and the curse is now stronger than Jesus' Blood.
     Settle it in your heart that when the Holy Spirit reveals the Father through Jesus, that when you see Jesus you see the Father.  There is no curse, no death, no sickness, no rejection, no condemnation, no judgment, no sentencing, there is only salvation and soundness by His Blood and the restoration of our Father's blessing on our lives, through Him.  As the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus, we must keep in our hearts and minds that this is our Father and He isn't the old covenant God, but the new covenant Father.  We're no longer servants, but sons.  We're no longer under the protection of the Law and sacrifice of animals, but by His grace and the protection of the Blood of the Sacrifice of the Almighty God Himself on our behalf.
     Let the Holy Spirit speak to your heart and deliver you from the bondage that the worldly idea of God has placed before you.  Choose life and blessing in Christ Jesus.

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