In preparation for our discussion over the next several days please read and meditate on the following scriptures:
“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.””
John 4:21-26 NKJV
“Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.””
Genesis 22:4-5 NKJV
“But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.“
Exodus 34:13-16 NKJV
“Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!“
I Chronicles 16:29 NKJV
“Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe. Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to follow.“
Psalms 5:7-8 NLT
Worship is more than just a religious exercise. Worship is a different dimension in which the boundaries between our independent identity and the Almighty become blurred or totally removed. Through true worship, we can be transformed as we touch the face of God.
Tomorrow we will begin looking into the nature of true worship.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
“So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.“
Philippians 2:12-13 AMP
We have been discussing the fact that the Lord is not only the Source of our salvation, He is the Completer of our salvation. To be sure, He will not leave us “half-baked.”
Salvation, through the blood of Jesus Christ, has put us in right standing before God. The work of the Holy Spirit in us, brings us to spiritual maturity and completion.
“For by the one offering He has perfected forever and completely cleansed those who are being sanctified [bringing each believer to spiritual completion and maturity].“
Hebrews 10:14 AMP
Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we could NEVER be formed into the image of Christ. But with His help, with Him working in us, we can live our life full of His very nature.
“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. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!“
Galatians 5:19-23 NLT
Yes, as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, He will produce the qualities that make us look just like our Father.
In our opening scripture we see Paul explaining that the Lord even gives us the desire for Himself. And—in addition to giving us the desire for Himself—He gives us the ability to know and perform what is necessary to fulfill His will.
Yes, another wonderful aspect of the Lord’s help in transforming us into His very image is that He, by His Spirit, produces in us the desire for Him, the desire for His righteousness, as well as the tools we need to do what He wants us to do.
Child of God, the Lord started something in us that has put us in right standing before God AND given us access to His Holy Spirit. And, we can be sure that what He started, He will finish!
So, stay with Him! Let Him finish!
“Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.“
Philippians 1:3-6 NLT
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.“
Colossians 2:8-10 NKJV
An incident that happened many years ago, has proven to be something I reflect on often as a parable illustrating the Holy Spirit working in us.
I had gotten my first personal laptop and had run into a roadblock in terms of getting my screensaver to work correctly.
I was in complete frustration mode. I was snow-blind from all the advice I had looked up, from the step-by-step help offered by those knowing more than I do, just totally stymied.
As a last ditch effort, I called a helpline, and the person tried to guide me through what I was supposed to do. But it just was not working.
Finally, they said to me, “Do you give me permission to take over your computer?” Well, I had never even heard of such a thing (like I said, this many years ago). I told them I did. And with just a little more information, suddenly I saw the cursor begin to move around on my screen, going from one drop-down menu to another, finally finding a specific place to fix the screensaver, clicked on something, and then said, “That should do it.” And it did!
The disciples were overwhelmed with all the Lord was trying to impart to them before He was offered up. But they were not able to grasp what was going on, much less know how to operate going forward.
Then Jesus promised them that He was not going to leave them alone. He was going to send a Helper Who would guide them into everything they needed to know and do.
“”I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.“
John 16:12-14 NKJV
The Lord spoke of this outpouring of His Spirit on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Yes, Jesus stood before the people and made an astonishing offer.
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.“
John 7:37-39 NKJV
Indeed, as John explains, He was offering that whoever would come to Him and ask, would receive an outflow of the Holy Spirit, from His being into their being.
You see, we could not on our own, receive the Holy Spirit of God. Our sin separated us from His Spirit, with no way for us to access Him, spirit to Spirit.
Then Jesus came, God in flesh, and received into Himself, the Holy Spirit, as a Man, so that we could, as human beings, also receive of the Holy Spirit. As well, His blood cleansed us so that we could receive the Holy Spirit through Him.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.“
John 1:14-18 NKJV
As John put it, we receive from His fullness, from His overflow.
Yes, He Who had all the fullness of God in Himself, dispenses into us, the Holy Spirit of God.
In our opening scripture, we see Paul commenting that we are made complete in Jesus. His fullness, becomes our fullness. His overflow, becomes our overflow.
We have been talking about the fact that Jesus is the Author, the Originator, and the Finisher, the Completer, of our faith.
And, as such, as we have discussed, He doesn’t leave us to walk this road alone. No, He made it possible for us to have the Inner Witness, the dynamo of God: His Holy Spirit, operating through us.
As I began with, I was totally frustrated, trying to figure out the problem with my computer and could not access, and could not make sense of anything I was being instructed to do. Then, the expert took over and did for me what I could not do on my own.
Child of God, it is futility to try to walk as God would have you to walk, and do the things God would have you to do, without His Spirit being given control in our lives. If you want to be completed, if you want to finish well, come to Him now.
Lord willing, we will bring this all together tomorrow.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!