Category Archives: Holy Spirit

Is This You?

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The tech guy was baffled about why my computer was having so much trouble.  Then he asked me how I shut it off.  When I told him I just hit the power switch, he reacted with alarm and disbelief.  “You kidding me?  You don’t sign off and let the system power down?”  “Nope, I just kill the switch.”   Apparently, if you don’t let the computer shut itself off, it scrambles up the memory thingy.  It has to do with how the computer is designed.   Who knew?  Not me.  I never read the manufacturer’s instructions.  But once I had been told what to do, and why, I stopped doing it wrong.

God’s creation is like that.  Use it properly, according to the “Manufacturer’s” design and instructions, and it works well.  But, ignore those instructions, violate it’s design, and it breaks.   In the Bible, the short word for not operating according to the Manufacturer’s design and instructions, is “sin.”  Sin isn’t doing something fun that embarrasses God, it’s doing something that fouls up His carefully designed creation.  Sin hurts me; that’s why God warns me not to keep doing it.  That is the message John was attempting to convey with these words:

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.  (1 John 3:4  -NASB95)

That is quoted from the New American Standard Bible because the NIV, which I ordinarily use for quotes, leaves out the word, practices, and says “Everyone who sins.”  The word, practices, is in the original language and leaving it out is misleading.  John doesn’t mean anyone who happens to sin (which would include everyone) but rather, those who practice sin, who deliberately choose to ignore the Manufacturer’s instructions (who practice lawlessness).  

Computers are complicated enough that they come with built-in warning systems to alert us when we are about to do something dumb.  God’s creation is also complicated.  It is not possible for us to avoid misusing it without some kind of built-in guide and warning system.  That system is the Holy Spirit.  Jesus came to connect us to His Spirit, to make it possible for us to live in harmony with the design and instruction of the Manufacturer.

(If that statement confuses you, you can view the posts about the Holy Spirit by selecting that category on the right.  Or, read “Who Can Fix It?”)

That’s why John says:

But you know that he (Jesus) appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.  (1 John 3:5-6 )

Make sense?  I hope so; this is one of the most misunderstood passages of 1 John.

A Mary Christmas

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Like most kids, I had heard about Niagara Falls.  I”d seen pictures of it and believed it was there.  But then one day, my family took a trip and I saw and heard Niagara Falls.  Standing on tip-toes, hanging over the rail, gaping at the awesome power, vibrating with the thunderous noise of it, feeling the mist – the tiniest particles of moisture from a deadly powerful flow of water – for the first time, Niagara Falls became real to me.

I suspect something like that happened to Mary, the day the angel, Gabriel, showed up and told her:

“Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30b-33)

Mary had been told about God and believed in Him, but on this day He became undeniably real – so real that she couldn’t pretend or play along as though the message was some kind of prank.  Mary knew, because it was real, she didn’t qualify; the angel had the wrong woman:

 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34)

Her response shows she was taking this seriously, it was real to her.   In reply, the angel told her that God’s Spirit would enter one cell in her body and complete it, bringing it to new life:

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

Mary’s next response reflected her faith, her humility (she didn’t argue or suggest a better plan) and her full surrender:

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:38)

You have heard that story.  You have been told about God and Jesus.  But one day, you will probably have an experience like Mary’s.  The details will differ, but one day you will go from believing about Jesus to suddenly knowing He is real.  No matter how that happens for you, I encourage you not to turn away.  Press up to the rail on tip-toes. Stretch out and get as close to His thundering, awesome power as you can.

Here’s why:  If you respond as Mary did, with humility and surrender, God’s Spirit will enter into your soul, complete it, and bring it to new life – His life.  To know Jesus is real, is to know He is God, to know He became human to reach you in a way you could understand and that He died to square all your debts with God forever.  And for you to say to Jesus, “Let it be to me, just as You have said,” is to receive from Him full forgiveness and eternal, “living water” life.

That’s the way to a Mary Christmas!

PS – If you would like more information, on the right column of this page, you can select posts by topic.  Select “The Good News of Jesus” and read through those.  Questions?  Send me a note.  Merry Christmas!

Spotting a Fake – Part 2

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This world is full of false preachers, scam artists who seem to be following Jesus but who in reality are working to become wealthy and famous.  John calls these guys by the right name: “antichrists.”  Last time we considered one of the clues to look for in spotting this type of charlatan.  John says watch out for those who do “not really belong to us.”  (See Spotting a Fake).   But there is a better way:

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.   I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.  (1 John 2:20-21)

God designed humans to be intimately connected to Him by His Holy Spirit.  Sin destroyed that connection.  Jesus came to restore it.  (There is more detail about this in many of my earlier posts.  Click on the “New Here?” link above.)  To all those who would believe in Him, trust Him and follow Him.  He said:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—  the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”  (John 14:16-17)

The reason Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of Truth” is because:

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.  (John 16:13a)

John says, if you truly follow Jesus, He has “annointed” you (given you, filled you) with the Holy Spirit, the One Who guides you into all truth.  Listen to Him!  He will show you how to spot a fake!

I appreciate your tuning in to this “blog,” chewing over neat things from the Bible with me.  I hope you will share it with people you know who have never developed a “taste” for the Bible.  Let me wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!  God is so good.  His blessings, His faithfulness are experienced new each day.  I’ll be taking a few days off from writing this as I spend time with family.

Deep Lyrics

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How many people do you know who break into song when they are trying to teach you something?  Me either.  It’s pretty rare, I’d think.  But pretty cool, too. Hanging out with an old guy who did that would be pretty interesting.  Guy like John.   John’s been laying out all this astonishing stuff in his letter –  stuff about the Word of Life, the Holy Spirit, overcoming sin, and loving in a radical way.  Then, unexpectedly, he breaks into song!   Like most good songs, the lyrics are pretty simple on the surface but carry a mother-lode of deep meaning for the one who stops to ponder what they say.  Here it is:

     I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
     I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
     I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.  (1 John 2:12-14)

Don’t be fooled by how apparently simple this is.  Chew on it and try to tease out what John is trying to  sing/say…

Hate is Blind

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They say “Love is blind” but John says they got it wrong.  Hate is blind.  Here it is:

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.  Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.  (1 John 2:9-11)

Love, as Jesus taught it, is a radical choice to put aside what I want so I can take care of what you need.  Hate is the opposite:  taking care of what I want instead of ministering to what you need.  Thus, the default attitude of the world – take care of number 1, in effect is hate.

The interesting thing, is that John says people hate  because they have been blinded by “the darkness.”  The darkness, in John’s words, is the attitude of people in the world who have not received the Holy Spirit.  They live in the darkness and are blinded by it.

Jesus, on the other hand, John says, is the Source of “Light.”

In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (John 1:4-5)

John’s logic (and Jesus’ “logos”) leads us to this conclusion:  If we understood reality the way Jesus does, if we had not been blinded by the ways of the world, we would naturally love.  Self-sacrificial love, Jesus’ kind of love, would make more sense to us than selfishness or hate.   Trouble is, people don’t like to change.  Radical, “upside down,” ideas are threatening to our comfortable rhythms as we live in the “same-old same-old.”    That’s why Jesus said:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.   (John 3:19)

This is a tough teaching.  Tough, but true.  How is it with you?

The Light You Shine

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John wrote in a confusing way about an “old command” that is a “new command.”  (For more about that, see: John vs. John Lennon)  The “old command” (Love your neighbor) is made new, by Jesus redefining what love is.  Jesus’ kind of love, the “new command” He gave, is simple to describe but impossible to do.  Love, He taught, is a choice to put aside what I want in order to minister to what you need.   Sounds simple, but it is impossible on our own, because we are wired by our experiences in this world to “take care of number one” as a number one priority.  Jesus’ kind of love doesn’t make sense in our world; it only makes sense when you see the world through His lenses, His “logos.”  That Greek word, weakly translated in English as “word,” really goes way deeper.  It describes a whole mindset and understanding of reality.

When you read a book, and are observed doing so by your dog, your “logos” of what you are doing is very different from your dog’s “logos” of what is happening.  See that?

Jesus’ commands fit beautifully when you understand His “logos.”  In a very real sense, His commands are a part of His way of seeing reality.  That is why, in 1 John 2:7, John wrote, “This old command is the message (that’s the word, “logos”) you have heard.”

When you live in Jesus’ logos, His kind of love emerges in what you do, not from self-effort but from the Holy Spirit, living within you.   (See: Who Can Fix It?)  That is why John wrote about this “new command”:

…its truth is seen in him (Jesus) and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.  (1 John 2:8)

John said that the light of Jesus shines in those who have come to Him by faith.  Already.

You are probably thinking, “If this means I must perfectly resemble Jesus in every way, I’m so far off that mark it’s hopeless…”  Don’t freak out.  Instead, look carefully at the verbs in verse 8 above:

… its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness  is passing and the true light is already shining.  (1 John 2:8)

When someone surrenders to Jesus by faith, receiving His gift of forgiveness and fellowship with God, the Holy Spirit begins to live within his or her soul, as God always intended.  (See: Who Can Fix It?)  In John’s words, “the true light is already shining.”  However, that person is still profoundly shaped by all of life’s experiences and illusions.  Those habits, personality traits and outright addictions don’t simply vanish.  John says “the darkness is passing.”  

Picture a bright light shining in a room full of smoke so thick you can hardly see it.  A window is raised for fresh air to blow through the room.  The smoke is passing, but the light is already shining.

Jesus shines through the life of those who have fully trusted Him.  They are not perfect; they may not even be aware of how He is doing so at any one moment.  However, “the truth is seen,” John says, in Jesus and in you, too.    That’s how we know we know Jesus.  That’s how they know, too.

Facing the Truth about Sin

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There was no “Delete” key in the first century.  So, when John wrote: “and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 john 1:7b), he needed to clarify what he meant.  John knew people would read that and ask if he was claiming that followers of Jesus become sinless.  So he explained:

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.   (1 John 1:8-9)

There are people who claim to follow Christ and also claim to be sinless.  John says those folks are deceiving themselves.  More than that, he says  “the truth is not in [them].”  It’s important to understand that John is warning such people that they have not truly begun a relationship of faith with Jesus.  How can he be sure?  Jesus gives the Holy Spirit,  the “Spirit of Truth,” to everyone who truly believes and follows Him (John 14:17).  Jesus promised his followers, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”  (John 16:13a).   Someone who is self-deceived about sin is almost certainly also self-deceived about his relationship with Jesus.

But those who have the Spirit of Truth, will experience His Truth as it pertains to their condition, whenever they sin.  They will be painfully aware that they have sinned again (and again)!

John reassures such people that, as we acknowledge our sin (confess, or agree with what the Spirit has shown us), God is faithful to forgive us.  “Faithful” means we can count on Him to do so.   God also is “just.”  How can it be just for God to keep on forgiving us?  God forgives us with complete and perfect justice because “the blood of Jesus”  (v.7) has paid the full penalty for our sin.  Do you struggle to wrap your mind around that?  Me too.  But it is the truth.

And it gets better:  John says, God, Who faithfully forgives us with justice, then “purifies us from all unrighteousness.”   When you screw up and sin, don’t you feel dirty?  Don’t you feel as though you are smeared with a stain that you cannot wash away?  Despite how you feel, the truth is, God lovingly washes you clean.  He restores you and gives you a clean slate.  It is hard for us to feel clean, and yet, in truth, we are clean.  Amazing…

But, you may be wondering, how often can we expect God to keep doing that for us?  Look back to the quote above and see it for yourself:  He cleanses us from “all unrighteousness.”  The word, all, literally means “each and every one.”   More amazing…

The more the Spirit makes us aware of how often we sin, the more the message of God’s forgiveness, His justice and His washing seems.  Amazing and very, very humbling.  But true.

What’s Your Gift?

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When the Bible talks about a “gift of the Spirit,” it might sound all spooky and hocus pocus to you.  You might wonder if it involves flipping into a trance and exhibiting weird behavior.  But, in reality, the Bible explains what a spiritual gift is in pretty down-to-earth language:

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:7)

To put that in other words, everyone who has the Spirit living in his or her soul (i.e. everyone who has trusted Jesus) will begin to show the evidence of that Spirit, as He begins to transform their mind, emotion and will (the soul) from the inside out.  Romans 12:2 calls this process being “transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  The evidence of those changes are “the fruit of the Spirit.”

Each of us has been designed by God to show (manifest) the influence of the Holy Spirit in a particular way.  We do not all have the same “gift.”

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Romans 12:4-5)

Each of these unique “gifts” do have something in common, however: they serve the common good (of the body of believers).

Paul goes on, in verses 6 through 8, to  illustrate some of the possible ways this gifting will look, such as wisdom, strong faith, leadership, etc.  This is not an exhaustive list, just examples.  However the Spirit transforms what you do in a particularly effective and helpful way is your gift.  Those gifts call attention to Him, not you.  Paul says, when you find your gift, use it!

I know someone whose gift is to provide a calming influence in meetings in which several strong opinions have been expressed.  It is amazing to watch the Holy Spirit work through that man.   I know someone else with the gift of making brownies.   If you ever tasted those brownies you wouldn’t wonder if that was really a spiritual gift.

So, what’s yours?  When you open a Christmas gift, it is fun to experience the anticipation, the surprise and the joy that follows (assuming its not a tie…).  If you keep it simple, “unwrapping” your gift from the Spirit can be a lot like that.  Enjoy!

The Holy Spirit in a Flood

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If you have wondered why these posts have been more intermittent lately, it is because our church in Lyons, Colorado, has been greatly affected by the horrendous flooding.  There is much to be done.

Here is a first-hand account from one of the women in that church, a vivid example of how it looks when the Holy Spirit lives inside us.

http://www.therivercolorado.blogspot.com/

If you would like to help with flood relief, please visit this home page for The River Church:

http://www.therivercolorado.org

Thank you.

The Good/Bad Meter

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There is an old electronic meter, hanging on the wall of a recording studio near here.  It’s just for decoration; kind of looks like something out of Frankenstein.  Big old needle that swings back and forth – one side says “Good” and the other says “Bad.”  Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a meter like that in life?

We’ve been talking about what we can expect when we put our faith in Jesus and He installs His Holy Spirit in our souls.  We now have an “online” communication with God, causing us to live more in line with the way He designed us to operate.  Trouble is, we also have years and years of old, deeply ingrained habits, that compete with the Spirit.  Good and Bad, Spirit and Flesh (See: “Can I Do New Stuff?”).  Question is: how do we know when we are operating by the Spirit and when we are operating by our old habits?

The Bible has a “Good/Bad” meter of sorts in the book of Galatians.  Basically, it says you will know whether you are living by the Spirit’s direction or by the Flesh (they call it “sinful nature”), by looking at the end results of our behavior.

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,  idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,  envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. …

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.   (Excerpts from Galatians 5:19-23 New Living Translation)