Tag:

holy spirit

The Power

by TerryLema

Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples. They were to go and make disciples, baptizing and teaching them. It is found in Matthew 28:19-20. That Commission is still the fundamental essential command of Christianity.

But Jesus told them, before you go you need to wait for the Father’s promise. That promise was the power needed to fulfill that Commission. [Acts 1:4-5]

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [Acts 1:8 HCSB]

If the Great Commission is still valid, then the essential power to fulfill the Great Commission is still needed. The power of the Holy Spirit is necessary and required. We must still wait for the Father’s promise!

And yet, we have in many places driven out or tried to silence the Holy Spirit in our midst. We have returned to that old way of thinking that we can do the LORD’s commands in our own strength. Down through the ages that has proven ineffective.

The Holy Spirit directs us with the wisdom of God. He leads us to opportunities. He gives us the wisdom to speak. He gives us the power to love. He gives us the strength to persevere.

Without Him, our testimony will be without power – for the Holy Spirit also prepares the hearts to receive.

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Pentecost Sunday

by TerryLema

We were blessed to go to church with our California family last Sunday. It was Pentecost Sunday, a remembrance of that first Pentecost promised by our Lord Christ Jesus following His resurrection.

Power. The funny thing about the church in California on Pentecost Sunday was that the church (and neighborhood) was experiencing a “partial” power outage. They were able to power up some lights, but not all. The coffee bar was closed, the screens were dark, so no words could be displayed. There was a piano and guitar, and they were able to power a few mics. It was like being in church decades ago!

We were also warned that the power company to restore full power might shut down all power any minute, and if the room got dark, we should use our cellphone flashlights to find our way out.

Power. Full power. Partial Power. No Power. With all that talk about electrical power, I could not help but think about heavenly power and the church on Pentecost Sunday.

Following Jesus’ resurrection, He gave His disciples instructions. First, He told them to go into all the world and make disciples. We call this the Great Commission. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  [Matthew 28:19 HCSB]

Then He told them to wait where they were until the Father sent them the power needed to carry out the Great Commission. “I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.” [Luke 24:49 HCSB]

Jesus then told them that the Holy Spirit would provide the power to be witnesses through the entire world. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [Acts 1:8 HCSB]

Everyone agrees that the Great Commission is still in force today. We have not yet taken the testimony of Christ Jesus into all the world. So, it always seems funny to me that we often dismiss the spiritual power provided by the Holy Spirit that first Pentecost as not necessary in our day and age. If anything, we need it even more!  Full power, not partial power, is necessary to reach our world!

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New Direction for Me

by TerryLema

I have been reading through my Bible at least once (almost every year) since 1985. I have a specific Bible-reading plan that I like. I have read through my Bible once already this year (a plus of “adjusting” to retirement).

I am about a third of the way through the second reading, but I noticed that something is off in this second reading. I am skipping over some things, rushing through others, looking at passages with an eye on devotions rather than on my own heart’s needs and desires.

I talked to a friend who recently came back from a two-week vacation visiting others. One of the persons she visited remarked that his reading had become “routine,” so he changed the way he read. He decided rather than just reading through, he would search out topics or themes and study that way.

That is what I need to do also. As I thought more about that this morning, I realized that God had already dropped the theme in my heart. I need to study the Holy Spirit – not in a superficial way leaning on others’ discoveries in books, but an in-depth study of my own through my Bible.

I think the Holy Spirit is being pushed aside in our churches. It is far easier (and less dangerous) to study what other churches have done or are doing and employ their ideas than it is to turn the Spirit loose and let Him do as He wants.

Maybe, also, we carried the “decently and in order” [1 Cor 4:40) way past where Paul intended, so much so that we are rigid and obstinate to anything the Spirit wants to do.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 contains a series of things we often quote, “Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” but how much attention do we give to the next verse, “Don’t stifle [quench] the Spirit.” [HCSB]

If we want to see God move, if want to see miracles and multitudes of people come to the living God, we must stop stifling (quenching) the Spirit of God in our midst.

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Be Filled by the Holy Spirit

by TerryLema

In that lovely passage in Ephesians 5, titled Consistency in the Christian Life in my Bible, Paul reminds us of a number of things imperative in our Christian walk. First, we need to make the most of our time, and second, we are to avoid any action or thought that leads us away from God as His beloved children.

Third, we are to be “filled with the Spirit” of God. In case we might not know what being filled with the Holy Spirit means, Paul goes on to show us just a tiny bit of what the Spirit does in us.

“…speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.”  [vs 18-21 HCSB]

Being “filled with the Spirit” involves action. It is not a passive event but one that promotes activity in our own hearts and in the lives of others. Look at those verbs … speaking to one another, singing, and making music, giving thanks, submitting to one another.

There is so much in the Scriptures regarding the Holy Spirit. There is fruit born through Him. There are gifts that He grants to flow through us. He teaches us how to pray. He is our Helper. He is the guardian of our inheritance. You could spend a year or more just searching the Word of God for all that the Holy Spirit does.

For me, I love those verses in Ephesians 5. He enables us to sing and make music from my heart to the LORD.

LORD, let me always make music in my heart to You! Amen

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Sealed

by TerryLema

A few years ago, we replaced a fiberglass shower in our master bathroom. The shower was worn when we moved in years before and did not improve over the years after we bought the house. It was time for a change.

The replacement shower walls are all one piece with one long silicone seal in the corners and around the shower base. It looks like white subway tiles but thankfully there is no grout to deal with.  Over the years, however, the seal around the base seemed to have loosened its grip and mold and mildew began to build up.

Bob is almost 82, I am 75. We do not get down on the floors anymore. (We can’t get up!)  Our wonderful son showed up last week with new silicone seal, tore out the old and replaced it with the new. The shower is once again pristine.

As I looked at that shower after he left, I thought about that silicone seal–and I thought about the fact that it will probably need to be replaced in another few years as it once again loses its grip. Then I thought about another seal—one that will never lose its grip. “When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” [Ephesians 1:13 HCSB]

When we heard the good news of truth about the salvation God invited us to in Christ Jesus, we believed Him. When we believed, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our down payment on the Promises of God. “Now it is God who strengthens us, with you, in Christ and has anointed us. He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts.” [2 Corinthians 1:22 HCSB]

This Seal will never lose His grip on us and one day we will stand in the presence of God Almighty, blameless, sinless because of what Christ Jesus has done for us.  “You were sealed by Him for the day of redemption.” [Ephesians 4:3 HCSB]

HALLELUJAH! AMEN!

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Two Witnesses

by TerryLema

I have been encouraged by thinking about the wonderful truths found in Romans 8:14-16. First the solace of seeing I am a child of God, led by the very Spirit of God. Then the comfort in knowing I have received all I need to overcome fear in my life … the Spirit of adoption whereby I can call out to my Father God, “Abba” and know that He will provide through the power of His Spirit the courage and strength I need to overcome. [vs 14-15]

Then this morning, as I looked at that last verse [16] I saw that I have the testimony of not one, but two witnesses that I am God’s child.

“The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children.” [Romans 8:16 HCSB]

When I was saved nearly five decades ago, my own spirit felt God’s grace come into my heart. I knew I was different than I had been. While I had always known about God, I had never truly experienced God. In that moment of surrender everything changed.

Of course, over the years as I traveled through difficult times and trying circumstances, or when I allowed the world to influence my thinking, there were moments of doubt. There were times when I doubted my ability to be a true follower of Christ Jesus. There were times of doubt when I wondered if God was aware of what was happening to me – or even cared!

It was when those times arose that the second witness, “The Spirit Himself,” spoke loudly and clearly, confirming the reality of my position as a child of God. He reminded me that my position was not based on my meager efforts to follow, was not based on what circumstances I was facing, nor was it based on what the world was telling me.

My position as a child of God was based on God’s adopting me into His family through the power of the Spirit, and nothing in me or in this world had the power to change that!

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It Is Finally Gone …

by TerryLema

I have been able to do short worship walks lately, just about a mile. I have been enjoying the cooler weather and less smoke-filled air. On my last worship walk, my MP3 player died. I cannot really complain, I bought it used 10 years ago for around $35 so I have gotten my money’s worth. But when it died, it took with it all the worship music that I had uploaded over the years from CDs I had. Now I must figure out what to do about worship music and future walks.

I think the latest thing is a playlist on my phone, but I am not up on the most recent technologies. I was comfortable with my old MP3 player. Now I am out of my comfort zone.

I think God likes me out of my comfort zone. He must because I often find myself there. New things pop up constantly that need my attention. New technology. New problems. New pathways. New issues.

This year probably has all of us out of our comfort zones. I doubt any of us has ever experienced a year like this. We are struggling with ideas and demands that are foreign—masks, closed schools, social distancing, empty sports stadiums, hateful politics, rage in our streets, and a virus and vaccine challenge. My comfort zone in 2020 is nowhere in sight.

As I write that, I realize that is true in one way, but false in another. My comfort zone in this world may be nowhere in sight, but my true and eternal comfort zone is always right with me. “The Counselor [Comforter], the Holy Spirit—the Father will send Him in My name—will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.” [John 14:26 HCSB]

The Holy Spirit dwells with me and within me. He is my Comfort Zone. I do not know what will happen around me, but I know I am secure in Him who will teach me, remind me, speak to me the wonderful words of my Savior. Amen.

 

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Separate

by TerryLema

How do we go from being like the church at Pergamos, the compromising church, to the church that God intends us to be? How do we live our lives differently from the culture around us?

We cannot do it without the power of the Holy Spirit in us … and in our churches. (As Christians, we should not be living in a way that looks exactly like people who do not have the Holy Spirit living in them.) If we are going to live abundant and supernatural lives as God has called us to, then we must live those lives in the power of His Spirit. He alone can give us the power to be separate from the world. And, it is evident, that the world does notice those who live differently from them.

I remember shortly after I was saved that someone made the comment, “The Holy Spirit is a gentleman.” I was a bit baffled by that originally but came to understand that what they meant was that the Holy Spirit will only go where He is invited. He will not break down the doors of our resistance by force. He will woo, He will remind, He will lead us into godly sorrow, but He will not push His way into our hearts.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 reminds us that the “Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit and with full assurance.”

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is more than words. It is more than great teachings or insightful philosophies. It is alive and powerful, and used by the Holy Spirit to make us like our Savior. It is The Spirit’s assurance of not only our salvation but also of our sanctification – if we allow Him to work His work in us.

I do not want to be part of the compromising church. I do not want even one iota of compromise in me. I ask God’s Spirit to convict me, cleanse me, and make we like the One Who Died for Me! Amen & Amen.

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