4/29/2013 0 Comments We Have Help!So I was teaching Sunday School yesterday on the subject: The Arrival of the Holy Ghost. Ya' know the day of Pentecost and all that. (If you've spent any time in church it is highly likely that you've heard of it and if not keep reading!) As much as I love God and as as much as I know the bible and as much as I know ABOUT God and that he is a 3-part being this was NOT an easy lesson for me to teach. Why? I don't know exactly. Maybe just because I didn't really look at God that way. Ya' know in 3 separate parts that is: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. When I talk to him and when I pray to him and spend time with him - I just look at him simply as God and he is that - BUT, just like us - he is a three part being and has different aspects to him just as we do that makes up who he is. I suppose in that sense, it does makes sense that I didn't separate him. Because just as I am a mind, a soul and a body - I am also just Christina. I don't think of myself as 3 separate parts because I act and think and do everything as one - yet when I don't - I am not at peace (that's a whole other blog) So when I was broached with the task of talking about the arrival of the Holy Ghost's presence in the earth - what was I going to say?? In my effort to study the lesson throughout the week - nothing that I read in the scripture reference seemed to resonate with me. Frustrated, thoughts of "Why did I agree to teach Sunday School??" & "I don't like the fact that I have to teach what they give you!" etc., etc. (Instead of looking at it as opportunities to get to know the word of God). I didn't know much about the Holy Ghost except that he existed quite frankly and he was (as the bible lists) a comforter, a teacher, a helper, etc. But I didn't have any experience with him (or so I thought) - so how could I teach it?? As a teacher - you have a job of communicating information to your students as clear and succinct as possible and not jumble your way through things if you can help it, and I DID NOT want to jumble this up! So I resigned to teach on another topic that I could speak on more fluently. So the week waned on, Thursday into Friday and Friday into Saturday but I had still not chosen another topic to teach on and I kept looking at the text of Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-13), when slowly but surely certain things began to stand out to me such as: 1.) A Promise FulfilledThe very fact that the Holy Spirit arrived in the earth was fulfillment of a promise: a.) A direct promise in the fact that it corresponded directly to the promise that Jesus referred to Acts 1: 5 & 8 when he said: "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" - Acts 1:5 b.) Yet not only that, but it was also another fulfillment of the more complete promise spoken earlier to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 31: 6 in which God himself promised that he would never leave or forsake us. "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" - Deuteronomy 31:6 The Holy Spirit is still God himself - just in another form. God the father communed with man in the early days of the earth, then God was manifested as man in the form of Jesus Christ, and then the spirit of God was made available to everyone after the day of Pentecost. There are other meanings to this scripture (I will never leave or forsake you) as well (which I will elaborate on further in future articles), but in this instance, it is the realization that God is just showing us another aspect of himself in the form of his spirit being with us on our journey here on this earth. It is God not only sharing his power with us to and doing great things through us in his name with his spirit on us, but the holy spirit is EVERYTHING we need: our teacher, our counsellor, our comforter, our friend, our guide, our leader, . . . . the list goes on on. (After all, how can one list everthing than God can and will be to us?) 2.) Diverse GiftsWhen the Holy Ghost arrived - it manifested in a number of diverse of tongues that sat on the heads of the 120 disciples that were in the upper room (Acts 2: 3-4) and what stood out to me about this point was the fact that when the Holy Ghost manifests itself - it may do so differently in me than it does in you. Rightly so because when the disciples were speaking those different languages - they weren't speaking to every man in the house, however, to the one that specifically spoke that language! So the one who was speaking French spoke to the one that was French and the one that spoke Spanish was speaking to the one that was Spanish - so their individual gifts resonated with different people! And likewise so it is in our own lives - our gifts will resonate with different people. In my gift, as GOOD as I may be operating in it - I will never reach the people that YOU could reach when you operate in your god-given gift. Hence the meaning, of the scripture (The harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few. . . - Luke 10:2) This point also stresses the importance of following our gifts!! Our in other words, what are you good at?? Because when the holy spirit comes on you it is only for the distinct purpose of saving souls. ( In the case of Pentecost 3,000 souls were saved that day! - Acts 2: 41 ). When we think of witnessing - we tend to think of it as Standard Operating Procedure; that being, knocking on doors or approaching people directly and asking them about if they know Jesus and if they are saved. However, I like to think of it differently. While witnessing may be that (as referred to above), opportunities to speak to Christ and the help of the Holy Spirit in your life are also created when you are good at what you do. Because, when you are good at what you do and your "gift or talent" is perfected, you will get others' attention! It's just a fact. But unfortunately, many of those who name the name of Christ are not doers and do not operate in our god given gifts for one simple reason: 3.) FearYep! We think we're all by ourselves. For some reason many of us Christians think that we're by ourselves. This point is directly attached to point number 1: Fulfillment of Promise The Holy Spirit came into the earth as a direct fulfillment of God's promise to us that we were never to be left alone. Yet many of us do not pursue our individual dreams and desires for the number one reason that we think we're alone and we think we do not have help and that we have to do it all by ourselves, so we give ourselves the following excuses:
And so we reject our help - the very help that God has sent in the form of the Holy Spirit because we don't believe. Because we go off of what WE alone know and limit it to our 5 senses - we conceive the idea that we won't be successful at what we try to attempt! So if we look to the Holy Spirit for help it thus raises the age-old question of : "What would you attempt if you knew that you could not fail? " Because in God's eyes the only way that you fail is if you don't try - because he has enabled you to do what YOU think you CANNOT do through the help of the Holy Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 9:8 we see another promise from God: " And God is able to make all grace abound towards you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." - 2 Corinthians 9:8 And this only confirms, that we have help for the good works that we attempt in Christ! God will enable you with grace. Dictionary.com defines grace as unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification. Unmerited. That's an excellent word to define grace. Make no mistake that the grace of God is unmerited because we don't deserve his help, we never have, but God is willing to send grace towards us that we may prosper in the things that we attempt for HIS namesake and HIS namesake alone! You must remember that when we are successful in our endeavors to not foolishly take credit for things that only God himself has done through you. After all, the Holy Spirit is sent into the earth to foster God's mission and not ours and that is the saving of souls. God is using us through the accomplishment of our desires and and us living a good life for his glory. Would you be more inclined to do more if you had a living/ breathing person standing next to you telling what you need to do and where you should go?? Well - we DO have a person standing next to us telling us what to do and where we should go! He's more real than any of us could ever be. Because in Zechariah 4: 6 it says: " . . . Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" - Zechariah 4:6 So it's all God, the spirit ALL THE TIME we're not doing anything that we do anyway! Let me stress that again, in everthing that we do - it is the spirit of God that enables us to do it! "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring" - Acts 17:28 We're just not relying on our 6th sense because we're unfamiliar with it and don't recognize God's voice. 4.) How to be filled with the Holy SpiritSo you might ask - I'm saved, but how do I know that I have the Holy Spirit? To be filled with the Holy Spirit is such a broad topic even the topic of the Holy Spirit itself is quite comprehensive (this article won't even begin to touch it.) and I won't even attempt to go into any depth here, except to say that being filled with the Holy Spirit can happen instantaneously (as it did here in this passage of the Upper Room) or over a period of time. And one way that you can know if one is filled with the Holy Spirit is through their words "....speaking as the Spirit gives you utterance." (Acts 2:4). So, if you are filled with the Holy Spirit you will speak of "the wonderful works of God" (Acts 2:11) . Whatever is inside of you will come out. "....for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."(Luke 6:45) and we believe therefore we speak. ".... believed, and therefore have I spoken..." (2 Corinthians 4:13). So in other words, your speech will often refer to God which would make sense because that is the source of the Holy Spirit and he [the Holy Spirit] will speak what he hears from God.
So now that you know what it sounds like IF you are filled with the holy spirit - you wonder how might you be? It's quite easy. Spend time in the word of God and study the scriptures. That's the only way to get the word of God in you and your way to access your help by hiding the word of God in your heart that you might not sin against him. (Psalm 119:11) And the Holy Spirit will bring things to your remembrance (John 14:26) but how can he - if you never knew it in the first place?? You must read the word of God, because to follow the Holy Spirit it takes faith and faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Because the spirit of God is an unseen but very REAL force and presence in the earth, but if we are to believe that he will help us - then we have to ACT as though we have faith and DO things believing that we have the help of God. A quick analogy? If you have a cup of coffee that you want emptied and filled with water. One way of emptying it would be to dispense of the coffee quickly in the sink and refill it with water but another way of refilling your cup would be to flush out the coffee with water by continually filling the cup with water until the coffee is completely out and the water now stands in the cup in place of the coffee. So flush out the things of your old man with the spirit by continually pouring into yourself the word or God and thus exchanging your old ways for new ways of thinking and new courage by filling yourself up with God's words because God said that my words are spirit and they are life (John 6:63). The holy spirit and his help are yours, he came into this earth thousands of years ago just for you. All you have to do is open your bible, read and and take him for yourself. As I mentioned before the topic of the Holy Spirit is quite comprehensive and I may have only touched on the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the aspects of the him: what he can do, and how he can be recognized etc, but these were some points that I thought could help you in your perception of him. They have most definetly helped me. The Holy Spirit helps me and he'll help you if you only ask him too. God sent him for us. We are not alone. We never were and never will be. Don't let the Holy Spirit's coming be in vain - he's willing to help you! Let him! Comments? Questions? I'd love to hear from you! Happy Living! Chris
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