 |
|
Holy Spirit II -
**************
Once again, we turn our thoughts to the theme of the Holy Spirit in our lives; His presence, purpose and power.
Last week we saw that:
- All men are hopelessly lost – except and until they’re drawn by God’s Holy Spirit and they respond in saving faith, saying “Yes” to God. . He desires that none should perish. That’s the reason God is actively at work changing lives all over the earth. And That
- The Spirit saves and seals those who responds with God’s seal of ownership. We are sons of God according to John 1:12. We now call God ‘Daddy’ - Rom 8:15. We also saw that
- He’s our constant Companion, the promised Comforter who solves our problems of loneliness. At conversion, our bodies become his temple; His dwelling place. That
- The Spirit sanctifies. You are set apart. You are holy. He entreats us, Be holy. And we learnt finally, that
- He leads us, Rom 8:14. As many as are led. Philippians 2:13 reveals: It is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. He guides us and shows us the things of God.
True spirituality takes time to cultivate – it does not happen overnight. Paul prayed for the Believers that Jesus Christ be formed in them. Only as we choose to fill our minds and heart with the Word of God, our renewed minds become sensitive to what the Spirit of God wants us to do in various situations. And as we continually yield our wills to what God wants us to do – that’s His will, we are led by the Spirit on a daily basis. There’s so much more for us to experience through the leading of the Spirit in their lives.
One of the areas in which the Spirit helps us in worship.
When Believers allow the Spirit to control their lives He makes our worship services a time of joyous celebration. Worship in Church is a time of heartfelt and grateful adoration of our heavenly Father. No one needs to coax, censure, or cajole true believers into worship. There’s spontaneity of joyful praise to our great God and Savior - grateful expression of self-abandonment and devotion in the presence of our great God. It’s Spirit-fed and Spirit-led for they who worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. It all comes from the inside. It’s the living waters of eternal life which Jesus promised in John chapter 4, of which we’re invited to freely drink and experience living waters springing up into everlasting life!
As the songwriter well says: O the joy of sins forgiven, O the bliss the blood-washed know; O the peace akin to Heaven – where the Healing Waters flow! Praise God.The Spirit doesn’t want you to be religious; but to be like Jesus.
You now belong to His Church. It’s His Church – that Church that’s without spot or wrinkle – washed in the blood of the Lamb. Praise God. And the things you do is a response to the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in your life. In 1 Peter 2:1-3. Therefore lay aside. Desire the sincere milk.
True Christians are the most honest, decent people of integrity you would ever want to meet.
The Holy Spirit does not come to make you religious, but to make you real in God. Christianity shines brightest in our homes – among those who are closest to us. In Ephesians 4:30 we’re encouraged: DON’T GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. We can do this by living lifestyles contrary to God’s Word. The repeated incidence of broken homes is proof positive of the fact that the Holy Spirit is not leading many Believers today.
A statistic of 60% failed marriages and broken homes; and an epidemic of depression spreading throughout the Christian community are staggering statistics that Christians share with the rest of a Christ-rejecting world. That’s incredible!
- Among a people who upholds the sanctity of marriage as God’s design. A great tragedy among the people whom Jesus affirms are the light of the world.
- There is something seriously and radically wrong with church teaching and discipleship training. Pastors, elders, and church leaders should connect the dots and admit “something doesn’t add up here. We’re losing it.
- The Spirit of God brings authenticity, the reality of redemption and relationship with the one true God, - and His abiding presence is a panacea amidst life’s problems.
- We need a new way of thinking church. We need to rediscover the lost Word of God – lost in the Santuary of the Saints.
- We need a renewed emphasis on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our homes and daily lives. I’m fully convinced that all you have to do is be a Christian at home and that would take care of 99% of your marital problems. Yes, many family problems would quickly evaporate if Believers would allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives through applying the Word of God and surrendering our hearts, our wills to God. Our marriages would bring glory to God. Our churches would no longer be impotent, and powerless in the face of the sad statistics of so many family failures as they are today. Yes, we need a revival of right living in Christendom at this very moment.
- Today, church people are prisoners in the Promised Land.
- We need a restoration of righteousness in Christian homes and this must be proclaimed from the pulpits across our land. “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. But pray tell me, why are we producing so much brokenness and death?
Indeed, Marriage is hard work.
- It’s been said, love is a dream and marriage is the alarm clock. But with the Spirit of God, you can be wide awake and loving every minute of it, if you are led by the Spirit in your marriage.
- Their ought to be a significant difference between a marriage in which a couple is controlled by the Spirit of God and marriage that’s without the Spirit. Indeed it requires all your sacrifice, your unselfishness and kindness.
- A friend said to me, I thank God for my spouse. I have learnt to be kind, peaceful, patient, loving and forgiving; all the things I would not have needed, had I remained single.
- And praise God these are precisely the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of all Believers. And Love is service: What can I do for you, Dear?. It’s a verb. It’s not a noun. If you’d have flowers in your garden, you must pull up the weeds, and then tend it: plant flowers. A fulfilling marriage is like that. It’s a diligent labor of love; and unfortunately too many people are too self-centered to make it a beautiful thing. Are you, as a couple, tending your garden?
Love does not keep score. “I gave the last time, so now it’s your turn.” That’s not the spirit of love! Is your marriage like a flea and a dog – all taking and no giving?.
Problems become insurmountable when you have 2 fleas and no dog.
But marriage should be, “what concerns you concerns me too! I hurt where you hurt. I’m interested in what interests you. I care for you.” Love is stronger than death. Many WATERS can’t drown love. And God is LOVE! Your MARRIAGE can be a Heavenly union instead of a hellish experience. It’s possible; for as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the people of God.
- Is your marriage bliss, or hit and miss? Is it a duet or a duel? Are you both making beautiful music together or duking it out?
Indeed, YOU can have a heavenly marriage, right here, on earth.
Psychologists say that 90% of divorces are predictable, even before marriage. If you don’t speak to your spouse with loving interest and concern, your marriage is already in trouble or soon will be.
" You can not change your spouse; but the Spirit can " that task is the Spirit´s responsibility.
- The Spirit makes forgiving and loving again possible.
- The Spirit brings joy. Let the Spirit lead you.
- Jesus says, ‘My peace I give to you. 1Cor 4:17 reminds us that life’s testings and trials are just stepping stones the Spirit of God uses to refine, purify and perfect our lives.
Our testings and trials are seen as ´light afflictions´ when they are put in proper perspective. It says : "Our light affliction .. . . only a moment.
- Your husband is not making you happy? Light affliction.
- Your wife is acting up again? Light affliction.
- That child is giving trouble again. Light afflictions.
Being nice, forgiving and kind will calm the troubled waves. And with the Spirit’s leading, you will smile at the storms. Yes, you can have victory in Jesus! Because the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.. 2 Cor 10:4
- The Spirit of God says in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."
- What we do in time echoes in eternity.
- The Holy Spirit is the Comforter who gives us a PEACE which is beyond human understanding. And that peace guards, and protects your heart and mind in Jesus Christ.
- The Spirit fights your battles. We see life from a spiritual perspective – with eternity in view. We don’t look at the things which are seen, but we look at the unseen. We have eternity in mind. The Spirit, our Comforter helps us to see the invisible, hear the inaudible, comprehend the incomprehensible and know the inscrutable.
- Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God and so must you. For eyes have not seen, nor eye heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared from those who love Him. But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. Phil 3:20,21 For our citizenship is in Heaven. Actions done in time will echo in eternity.
- So husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. Do you love her that much? If the answer is no, then it’s time to get working your marriage.
- And wife, make sure that you reverence your husband, and love that man into the Kingdom of God. For you both are called to a life of PEACE and JOY in the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:31 – 32 urges all husbands and wives: to let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, clamour, malice and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all:
V.32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ´s sake hath forgiven you.
Right here is the solution for Christian couples.
Can you imagine a marriage with Eph. 4:31, and 32 as its foundation?
Do you now see how the Spirit can make your marriage a beautiful picture of heaven on earth – a beautiful thing?
Indeed, you do not have to be another statistic;
God has designed your marriage to be "Heaven on earth." And you can have it.
Let the Spirit of God have His way in your life today! Amen.
Write us at:
pastor@wisdomforlivingministries.org
| Home | The message | Archive | Previous | Next | Top |