Showing posts with label The Holy Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Holy Spirit. Show all posts

Sunday

Sunday Scripture - Romans 8 v 25


Sunday Scripture is just simply a thought or two on a Bible verse that may have struck me afresh or maybe for the first time or has always been special to me.


Today I am looking at Romans 8 v 25




As soon as I saw this verse I was drawn to the two words hope and patience.

Hope is a word I would use often and have grown to love the true Bible meaning of this word, whereas patience is not a word I like to talk about much probably because I feel I do not have a lot of it.

However while I was trying to memorise this verse some time ago, I realised that the Biblical word hope leads us to this patience.  If we have the hope of life eternal through Jesus then we will have patience as we wait to see this hope fulfilled regardless of what comes between because that Hope is worth everything.  




Background Photo credit to Yash H Dubal via DealFuel



If we simply looked at verse 25 on it's own would we come to the right meaning?

As usual the verses in this chapter should be read together to give the right context so let's consider verses 18 - 26

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.


verse 18  
reminds us that what we have now is nothing compared to what we will have when we are in the presence of God.

verse 23  
reminds us that we are eager to see the fulfilment of his promise of sonship and full redemption

verse 24  
reminds us that our salvation is because of this hope we have in Jesus


Some people may think we are all like children who when they are eager for something to happen get impatient and cannot wait - it just has to happen immediately, but we have more understanding than children and we know that when something is worth having it is worth waiting for and our experience and the Word of God tells us we can trust it will happen.

But of course God has not left us on our own to wait


26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.


How wonderful it is that even though we are 
eagerly awaiting the outcome of our hope;
 we can do so patiently by the power of the Holy Spirit.



PRAYER
Lord I pray that all who read this will either be rejoicing in the knowledge of the hope they have in you or led to examine your word further until they put their trust in you and gain this hope of life eternal.
Amen.









Thursday

Acts Chapter 19 - Questions Are Important.

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Today we are starting into chapter 19 of Acts.

We briefly heard about Apollos in chapter 18 in A Godly Couple (the previous blog post in this series), when Aquila & Priscilla met him and helped him.

It seems as if he and Paul are travelling in different directions and we have no mention of them having met yet.

So today we are back with Paul who now has come back to Ephesus and there meets 12 men who are described as disciples.

But who were they disciples of?


verses 1 - 7

The interesting thing here is that Paul needs to ask some very important questions.

The first one is found in verse 2


He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? 


and in the same verse we have their answer


And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.


Now I have to mention here that at a certain time in my life if I had been asked this question my answer would not have been too dissimilar to their's.
I was brought up in a church where the work of The Holy Spirit was not taught about in Sunday School or not immediately obvious in the sermons (which I did try to listen to as a young teenager) but I had heard mention of The Holy Spirit in the Bible and at one youth meeting I had gone to in a different church.

So yes I knew there was a Holy Spirit but I was not knowledgeable about the work of The Holy spirit.




These 12 men had no idea at all about the Holy Spirit.
They really were missing out on knowing about the Triune God.

So Paul asks another Question in verse 3


And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? 

and again they answer him in the same verse


And they said, Unto John's baptism.


Perhaps they had been converts from the ministry of Apollos as we read about his lack of full knowledge of the gospel and how Aquila & Priscilla had helped him learn more.

So in verse 4 Paul explained that their baptism was because they had learnt about their need of repentance but they also needed to know about the Saviour who had come after John and was the one they needed to believe in.  (Reminds me once again of that favourite verse of mine in Act 16 v 31 - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, and all you household.)

We do not know just how much Paul said to them but we do know that after listening to Paul about Jesus there is the correct response and obedience from the 12 men in verse 5



When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.


Obedience is always a sign of true belief.

But Paul did not leave them with just knowledge and understanding of the Holy Spirit about which he had first asked them.

They had now heard the full Gospel but he knew that they needed the experience as well.

And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

What a day for these 12 men

  • Full understanding of the Gospel of Jesus
  • True belief and obedience to God
  • Baptism in the Name of Jesus 
  • Baptism in the Holy Spirit

A great example of the importance of questions and of course the right questions to get the clear picture in all circumstances.  We can never presume what another person thinks or knows or fully understands.










Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
Then Try these commentaries




Or this Bible Study



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It's Not about Us, it's all about God! - 31 Days in Acts

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After the last 3 days on chapter 9 we now move to a whole new chapter in just 1 day.

We are still seeing the work God was doing through Peter but yet another city is involved this time.

Yesterday we left Peter in Joppa after 2 miracles, he had remained for a while as a guest of a man called Simon.

Now at the start of chapter 10 we meet another man called Cornelius who was a Roman Centurion, and some things about him immediately jumped out at me as I read the first paragraph.

He was  (from verse 2)

  • a devout man
  • a man who feared God
  • a man who shared his feelings with the whole family and servants
  • a charitable man
  • a man who believed in prayer


This is a man who because of the qualities written about him would have no doubt earned people's respect and love.

God spoke to him and told him to send for Peter giving directions about where Peter was and Cornelius did not question what he was told to do but acted on it straight away (see verse 7)


Now the focus of our story goes back to Peter in Joppa and it is the day after the event we just read about Cornelius.

Peter goes up to the rooftop to pray and sees a vision from God where something like a large sheet comes down to the space in front of him bringing us to verses 12 - 16


12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”
14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”
15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. 


We do not know how long Peter thought about the vision but The Holy Spirit then tells him that 3 men are there to talk to him and he must go down and talk with them not doubting anything about why they have come there.



Peter obeys immediately, hears about Cornelius' invitation and the following day he leaves with the men to go to Caesarea even though he does not know why Cornelius wants to see him


In verses 24 - 33 Peter arrives in Caesarea and  meets Cornelius.

We notice two things here
  • Cornelius acts in a worshipful way towards Peter
  • Peter does not accept worship for himself

Cornelius knows Peter is a man of God but Peter does not want acknowledgement and I think Peter is like this because he truly is a man of God and hence all honour must go to God and he requires none for himself.

When we pray for someone and we see the answer to that prayer it is nothing to do with us it is all to do with God, there is no need for anyone to know that we have prayed because that draws attention to the person and not to God.


It's not about us, it's all about God!



It was not right culturally for Jews to visit non-Jews like this but Peter knew this invitation was from God and not just from Cornelius.  So now he wants to know what God and Cornelius require of him.  Just a simple answer from Cornelius ends in verse 33 with

33 So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.


Now Peter is ready to teach the whole household what they do not yet know and that results in a brief summary of the life of Jesus



which ends with the message of salvation - this is what the invitation was all about.

The Holy Spirit was at work among them all while Peter spoke and they were saved, baptised in the Holy spirit and baptised in water.

The man (Peter) who was sent by God to speak to these Gentiles was not the important person he was simply the person who trusted in God and was obedient allowing God to use him.  All the work is done by God not by man.


It's not about us, it's all about God!



I'm trying to read and write about the Book of Acts for 31 Days so please come back and join me for some notes & some thoughts each day. 

As the month goes on each Day's Link will be added in 













Saturday

Good out of Evil - 31 Days in Acts





Yet again a new chapter  Acts ch 8 and the introduction of another believer who also had those 3 Characteristics of Service and was also very willing to speak out for Jesus just as Stephen was in yesterday's chapter.


verses 1-3
Here our attention is brought to Saul who is very active in persecuting the believers but he is not the focus of today's blog post.
Due to Saul and others this persecution led to many believers leaving Jerusalem and going elsewhere.

This meant that along with these believers would be The Holy Spirit, wisdom and good character worth respect.  If people respect you they are more willing to listen to what you have to say and also to trust your words.


verses 4-8
The believers, who were now scattered to many different places, were preaching God’s Word wherever they were.

Philip is mentioned here again; he had been one of the seven chosen in Acts ch. 6 with the 3 characteristics of being filled with the Spirit, of good reputation and wise.
He is the person we are looking at today and he is now in Samaria preaching about Jesus and doing miracles and the result was a city full of joy.

Do we know of any cities today about which we could ever imagine people saying they were full of joy?
People living in a city will have a different opinion of that city compared to visitors and I often remember when we lived just outside Brussels I would hear or read about tourists saying it was a dirty city.  I however didn't see it quite like that.
Different people will see things in different ways as we have already seen in a previous post here where there was 1 event but 2 viewpoints but to have a city described as full of joy must have meant that many people felt that way.

Philip and the Holy Spirit were responsible for the joy in that place.


What an impact on that city because the people heeded what Philip spoke to them.


Do we make an impact where we are?

Sometimes we will know believers have made an impact when we see joy-filled people but other times we will know believers have made an impact when we see opposition to them and attacks on them as has been seen in the last few chapters.





Let's go further in this chapter to see more of the impact Philip had.

verses 26-39
Philip doesn't just stay in one place.
Now we have the meeting with the man from Ethiopia.
Philip is led to meet the man at the exact right time and Philip does not waste any time when he gets there, no Philip gets straight to the point.
Does he know his time is limited?
Is he following the guidance of the Holy spirit?
Perhaps both but I certainly believe the second is true.
There is an urgency for him to know that this person understands what he is reading.
It's not just enough to read the Bible we all must understand the gospel from it.

The Ethiopian is a learned man but yet he is ready to accept that he can't understand without some help and this is why Philip was brought to this place.

What's the result then of Philip being in this particular place?
A man understands the Word of God, believes in the Gospel and gets Baptised.
Again the Gospel and the Holy Spirit have opened a man's eyes because a believer was willing to go and to talk and help him understand.

The Ethiopian was not going to remain there but was going back to his homeland and the understanding he now had was going to go with him.

 "he went on his way rejoicing."  

Yes those were the words written in verse 39 and rejoicing means he was full of joy just like the people in that city in Samaria.


What an impact there could be on another city and country because the Ethiopian heeded 
what Philip spoke to him.


verses 40
Philip's work was not done now because he was then taken off by the Holy Spirit to several other places where I am sure he acted and spoke in similar ways to this.


The Gospel and The Holy Spirit opens the eyes of people.



From the persecution of the believers at the start of this chapter to the rejoicing at the end of it we can see Good out of evil.




I'm trying to read and write about the Book of Acts for 31 Days so please come back and join me for some notes & some thoughts each day. 

As the month goes on each Day's Link will be added in 













Wednesday

The Waterwheel - A Dose of Encouragement


        Some years ago a friend of ours was going through a very hard time in her life.  


She came to stay with us for a couple of weeks and needed a lot of understanding, sympathy and encouragement to help her see that she was loved.




        
One Sunday morning when we took her to church with us there was a time of prayer and ministry for individuals and my husband Fred asked her to go forward for prayer for God to bless her.  

I stood beside her and prayed that God would use someone there to really pray into her specific situation and that did happen as the Holy Spirit revealed to the people there that she had a great hurt to deal with.  



Then God showed me a picture of a waterwheel turning slowly round 
on the side of an old mill. 



As the wheel turned the sections of the wheel were filled up with water and this turned the wheel round and round.

This waterwheel was moving very slowly and we could think that it was moving so slowly that it would not make any difference to anything.  But something happened as the water was continually flowing through that wheel and turning it - there was energy created.  Even though the water was not very forceful and moving slowly through the wheel, the mill was still receiving power. 







Of course we would think that the mill required either a swift flowing current or a good head of water and with all the sections of the wheel intact the water would then provide the power that was needed.  Also if there were sections of that wheel missing it would be noticeable in the working of the mill. 

However that wheel was gradually going round and round and increasing in speed as it was letting the water do the work it was meant to do.



Sometimes we need to remember the waterwheel



Our friend needed to allow God to keep her in the flow of His love and care and settle in the security of knowing that He has enough love to encourage and keep her going. 

She needed to remember what she had once known but was forgetting to hold on to. She needed to remember that God has promised His Holy Spirit to each of us who have trusted in His Son, who have truly believed that Jesus died in our place, taking our sins on Himself.

When we acknowledge the role The Holy Spirit wants to have in our lives then we will be like the waterwheel gaining strength and power and being used to help others as well as ourselves.

For our friend the hurts might have seemed like they were almost immobilising her and she might have thought she could not cope but with God she could count on the fact that all He did by the work of His Holy spirit would matter and He would help her cope with it all no matter how long it would take.

Sometimes I can feel the same way and need to remember that waterwheel myself.