Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

What It’s For…

1 Reply

A catalog of toys for the very wealthy features a hammer, so well made and balanced, it costs nearly $200.  It comes with it’s own display box. You can set it on the desk in your office, smugly showing your clients and colleagues that you own a better hammer.  Big deal!  That’s not what hammers are for.

In the previous post, I explained how you can have spiritual wisdom and understanding that surpasses that of a mountaintop guru. (See: Without Boots or Beard)  But so what?  What on earth would you do with such wisdom and understanding?  What’s it for?  It’s not just for putting on display, not even on  some Tibetan peak.

Paul prayed his friends might attain spiritual wisdom…

“…so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…”  –  (Colossians 1:10)

Spiritual wisdom is for using,  for living.  You’ve heard the old saying, “He’s so spiritual he’s no earthly good.”  Rubbish.  If you have spiritual wisdom and understanding, you live better, more fully.  Peyton Manning excels at football because he has studied the game.  He plays with wisdom.  People who have wisdom, from God’s Spirit, understand this gift is meant for living, really living.  Jesus didn’t sit around humming and pondering his belly button.  He lived a robust, energetic life, filled with purpose.

But what does “worthy of the Lord” mean?  It almost sounds as though Paul wants them to measure up so God won’t be mad.  That’s not it.  It means to live in such a way that the advantages of spiritual insight are fully brought to bear in everything you do.  If you own a Ferrari and only drive it down to the corner store for milk, you’re not using it in a manner worthy of the power under the hood.  If you have wisdom and understanding from God and don’t do anything but sit around singing hymns, you’ve wasted His power. 

Spiritual wisdom is for “bearing fruit in every good work.”. That may be as simple as giving a cup of water to someone who is thirsty.  Or, it could look like the good work of a guy I know who goes around the country, helping people clean up after a tornado or a flood. 

By the way, I’ve seen that guy’s hammer.  He doesn’t keep it in a display box…

Without Boots or Beards

1 Reply

It used to be fashionable to travel to some exotic place, climb a steep mountain and sit under the teaching of a man known to be full of spiritual wisdom and understanding.  Did you ever wonder why he was way up there?  You might think someone with spiritual wisdom and understanding would realize just how much people need such things down here in town.  People who don’t own hiking boots and have a couple extra weeks of vacation.

But what if you could have spiritual wisdom and understanding?  What if you could get your spiritual insight directly from God, Himself?  It sounds almost blasphemous  to even consider such a thing.  You would have to have a special, direct connection with God’s Spirit!

And yet, this is exactly what Paul prayed would be given to his friends, not to wise old giants of the faith, but to newbies and rookies who were just getting used to following Jesus. 

Paul wrote and told them:
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,…” – (Colossians 1:9)

Most of those folks didn’t live on mountain peaks and sport long white beards.  They looked about as much like a guru as you do. But what Paul prayed they might receive, as astonishing and unlikely as it may seem, is what Jesus promised to give to anyone who would trust Him fully. 

Jesus said:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and 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)

Imagine that!  Spiritual wisdom and understanding for anyone who would trust and  pay attention.  No hiking boots needed.

Like a Dad

1 Reply

When a baby takes that first step, it’s a natural thing that happens as they grow and mature.  But don’t tell that to Dad, who just posted videos of Sally’s first steps.  He’s over the moon with excitement.

When a new believer begins to change as the Spirit of Jesus grows and develops within them, their friends who first told them about Jesus tend to get just as excited.  Because those baby steps, those changes they see, confirm the new life that has taken hold.  It’s like watching baby steps. Jesus called those changes “bearing fruit.”

Paul saw love emerging from the new Christians in Colossae and he couldn’t stop thanking God for them (see the previous post: The Love Test).  Then he says this:

“…In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.”  – (Colossians 1:6b)

End of story?  Hardly.  Paul, just like Sally’s dad, cheers them on, excitedly anticipating where this new growth will take them. He says:

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,  so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,  being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,  and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” – (Colossians 1:9-12)

Seems like Paul is stumbling over his words in his excitement.  He prays for all the stuff that emerges in the new life of believers as the Spirit fills them and naturally gives them new dance moves in rhythm with God. 

But then, that’s what dads do. they just can’t contain the excitement when they see those first new steps.  Happy Father’s Day, y’all.

When You’re Ready

Leave a reply

My wife and I got mugged in Savannah, not physically but verbally, by a guy holding a sign and yelling Bible verses at us.  He literally followed us down the street, trying to “save” us by forcing Scripture on us.  He probably thought he was earning brownie points from God.  I was annoyed.  More than that, I was frustrated, wondering how many people he had chased away from God’s grace that day.  If you get accosted by someone shoving God or the Bible down your throat, don’t fight back; run away.  Because God doesn’t work that way.

It’s not that God doesn’t care; He really does.  Jesus’ brother, James, wrote of how God intensely yearns for His Spirit to live in us, just as He intended.  (That is my rough and loose paraphrase of James 4:5)  God is passionate that we be restored to the fullness of spiritual life by having His Spirit alive in us.  He wanted that for us so much He paid a terrible price to accomplish it.

BUT HE DOES NOT FORCE HIMSELF ON US!  He waits for us to be ready.  James continued his thought with this:

“But He [God] gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6 – my explanation in brackets)

“The proud” in that verse are those who think they have life figured out on their own and who have no use for God.  He waits.  Stuff happens.  Sometimes “the proud” become “the humble.”  In the words of Bob Dylan (Like a Rolling Stone)

You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal

When “the proud” become “the humble,” when they are ready to receive Him, then God approaches.  With grace.  Not with loud, angry shouting.  He sent His Son to find you and rescue you.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17)

Jesus invited people to come to Him and find rest, saying He was “gentle and humble in heart.”  (Matthew 11:28-30)

I remember seeing a video on Facebook about a guy who rescued an abandoned, starving dog.  The dog was aggressive, unwilling for anyone to approach but the guy just sat there and waited him out.  After a long time, when the dog was ready to receive it, the man gave him “more grace” – care, nourishment, healing and a new life.  There was no yelling involved, no signs, no scolding.  It was very much like my own experience with God, Who waited until I was not so full of myself.  Then, when I was ready to receive His grace, without holding anything against me, He gave me the life of His Son, Jesus.

He waits for you, too.

Quotes:  The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Like a Rolling Stone lyrics: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/rolling-stone#ixzz3UwbEdylf

What Corrupts Government

1 Reply

Two words explain the root of what is wrong with our government.  You thought I was going to say Republican and Democrat.  Sorry…   Good guess, but those aren’t the two I was thinking of.  And it’s not just our government.  These two words define the problem with every system of government.  Which two?  Selfish ambition.  The reason governments don’t work well is that those who gravitate to positions of authority over others tend to be people who are ambitious and selfish.  Of course I’m not talking about your favorite leader.  But I am talking about the majority of those who claw their way up into positions of influence and power.  Consider this:

“But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3:14-16)

In the United States, our leaders are supposed to represent and serve the people.  Too often they behave as though the people are supposed to serve them.  But the same root problem exists in repressive dictatorships.  The people who manage to get to the top tend to be self-centered and driven.  That’s not the kind of personality that works best to govern.

Imagine if our governments were filled with people who were described like this:

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. “ (James 3:17-18, NIV)

Next time you start thinking about someone in government, take a moment to pray for her or him.  Ask God to fill them with those qualities which are developed from within by His Spirit, and to protect them from the destructive attitudes of the world.  Then pray, “Thy Kingdom come…”

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

 

A Better Bargain

1 Reply

Budweiser is scaling back on Superbowl ads this year.  Me too.  At $8 million per minute, plus production costs (roughly a million per minute), we just felt it made sense to cut back.  I hope that those of you who were looking forward to the Fresh Bread of Life commercial will not be too disappointed.

But think about how much money must be made selling beer and chips if it is worth it for them to drop $9 million or so to tell you about their product for 60 seconds!  Lots, apparently.  I read an article in Forbes that said buying a Superbowl ad is a bargain.

Maybe so, but here’s a better one:

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.” (Isaiah 55:1-3)

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Inside Out

Leave a reply

Can you control your thoughts?  Don’t think about a red door.  Can you do that?  How about things you really wish you didn’t think?  How can you control those?  Not by willpower, right?  You can’t tell yourself, “I won’t think that…”

Bruce Cockburn had a great line about that: “When thoughts you tried to leave behind keep sniping from the dark…” (from “Southland of the Heart”).   You’ve probably seen things you can’t “un-see.”  Thought things you wish you didn’t.  How can we get rid of those?  It’s not by telling ourselves to be nice, to follow the rules.  You can’t do it from the “outside in.”  It has to happen from the “inside out.”

“Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ ”” (Matthew 15:10-11)

““Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ ”” (Matthew 15:17-20)

In that culture, part of how you became righteous was by strictly following the rules of what and what not to eat.  Jesus said eating pork doesn’t show you to be morally defiled, your words do, since they reflect the condition of your heart.  How about you; how is your heart?  Have you ever entertained or expressed any of the thoughts in Jesus’ short list of examples?  Me too.  We cannot control our hearts and thoughts.  We cannot cleanse ourselves from the inside out.

But Jesus offers to do just that:

“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive…” (John 7:37-39a)

He was making good on this promise from God:

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

If you open up a spring into a muddy pond, eventually the water in that pond will become pure.  When Jesus gives a believer His Spirit, He changes that person’s heart, from the inside out.  We become “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2).

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Bubbling Up with Life

Leave a reply

They’d been using it for thousands of years but didn’t know how it worked – not until 150 years ago.  Talking about yeast.  Did you know it is alive?  And when it’s warm and wet, yeast grows and multiplies so fast it makes rabbits look like amateurs.  One tablespoon of yeast contains over 140 billion little yeastie guys, all ready to get started transforming your next batch of bread dough from a gooey lump of paste into a puffy, yummy wonder, all set for baking.

That’s how the Kingdom of Heaven works, too.  It grows and multiplies because it is ALIVE!  Religion is mostly dead – a bunch of strict rules and boring ritual.  But the Kingdom is alive with the Holy Spirit and growing.  It can take the gooey lump of paste that is dead humanity and gradually transform it into a growing, yummy wonder, filled with new life and all set for heaven.

But don’t take my word for it; Jesus said it first:

“He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”” (Matthew 13:33)

You don’t have to know how yeast works to make bread.  You simply mix it into your dough and wait.  The yeast does the work because it is alive.   You don’t have to know how the Holy Spirit works to be transformed by His life and become part of the Kingdom of Heaven.  You simply have to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God, trust Him and surrender to Him.  He causes the Spirit to be born in your soul and bring you into eternal life.  The Spirit does the work, because He is alive.

That’s why this thing is called Fresh Bread of Life.

Quote: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Seeds of Truth

1 Reply

Jesus frequently left people scratching their heads, trying to figure out what He meant.  But when He told the parable of the sower (see: Sow What) he explained what it meant:

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:18-23)

Jesus was talking about you – “anyone,” He said, anyone who hears the message about the Kingdom.  And that’s you.  The message of the Kingdom is the message of Jesus, how He came to give people eternal life.  But there’s a couple of things to pay attention to.  First, it’s not simply hearing the message, but how you process it that makes all the difference.

Next, it’s important to realize that when the message is not understood, it bounces  off  hearts have become hardened to it.  But it does not simply lie there.  Jesus said it is “snatched away” by the “evil one.”  There is a very real battle going on over your heart and soul.  Another name for the “evil one” is “the father of lies.”  If you turn away the truth, you open yourself up to believe lies.

Thirdly, receiving the message with an emotional rush – perhaps joy – is frequently ineffective, because sooner or later the joy wears off.  Trouble comes (because of the real battle for your heart) and the joy fades.  If you latched onto Jesus because you think He will always make you happy, you will inevitably be left empty and disillusioned.  This is important to know, since so many people try to use emotionalism to convince people about Jesus.  Watch out for that.  The message of the Kingdom makes sense when you truly understand it.  You don’t need to be manipulated into believing it.

You should note that some receive the message but the “deceitfulness of wealth” and various worries of life choke it.  Jesus said you cannot worship God and money.  Again, there is a battle going on, and the evil one wants you to think you will be happy if you are rich.  Some people have a tenuous grasp of the truth but they let go of it to chase money.  Pay attention.

The only seed that matters to a farmer is the one that grows, matures and produces a crop.  The only “planting” of the message about Jesus that makes any difference, ultimately, is the one that results in life (the birth of the Holy Spirit in a soul), growth (heartfelt changes that emerge from the Spirit’s life inside) and a “crop” (new life in Christ is infectious, it rubs off on others.)

There is a lot to ponder in this parable and its explanation.  Taking the time to understand it is well worth it.

Quotes from: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Where Credit is Due

1 Reply

Jesus said every sin could be forgiven – except one!  He freely associated with people who were caught up in sinful behavior that shocked the religious leaders.  He was accused, Himself, of being a drunkard and a glutton.  He told a woman who had committed several serial acts of adultery that He did not condemn her.  Jesus was a compassionate and forgiving and taught that God the Father was also forgiving.  And yet, He said, “Watch out!  There is one sin that cannot be forgiven – ever.”

“And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)

What was He talking about?  What did He mean?  We don’t have to look far to see.

” Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” (Matthew 12:22-24, NIV)

Jesus demonstrated the compassion and power of God in a healing of spiritual and physical dimensions.  It was clear to “all the people” that He had done so by God’s power.  Indeed, “all the people” began to suggest that He was the “Son of David,” the Messiah King, promised by God.  But the Pharisees told the people that Jesus was acting on behalf of Satan (“Beelzebub, the prince of demons”), not because of what they saw Him do, but in response to what they heard the people saying about Jesus.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the act of publicly attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the influence of Satan, when you know it is not true.  Those guys had deliberately tried to diminish what God was doing, so they could control the people and protect their own reputations.  They said, “That’s not God doing that, it is Satan.”  Jesus said, “Watch out; doing that is unforgivable!”

Now, maybe you are thinking, “I don’t have to worry about that; I’m certainly no religious authority and nobody is going to be influenced by what I say.”  Maybe so.  But in the light of the severity of what Jesus taught, perhaps it is appropriate for us to be cautious about what we think whenever we see something that God does.  For example, during the last several months, The River Church in Lyons, CO has experienced several astonishing acts of rescue and relief, as they were recovering from a devastating flood.  Their well went completely dry.  The experts determined that the ground water had shifted and that the only thing to do was to drill another well – something the church had no money to do.  But a volunteer work crew, assembled from churches all around the country, gathered around the well house, joined hands and prayed that God would restore it.  That afternoon the water began to flow – pure water that passed the county’s stringent health standards.

How do you understand that event?  Who did that?  How did it happen?   There are many physical explanations you could use.  Most of them would need to include the word, coincidence.  Or, you could shake your head with awe and humility and give the credit to God.  I’m pretty sure that is the safest course.  And ultimately, it matters little how God pulled it off.  The main thing is to understand why He did it.  And to give credit where it is due.

Bible quotes:  The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.