If he only knew...
However, I find it a shame that there are still many who do not know God's Spirit has been poured out on all flesh. In my travels, I meet people from a diversity of backgrounds. There are some religions in which the Bible is never read by their members; it is only translated from the pulpit. Others insist on the letter of the Law, but refuse to believe in the gifts of the Spirit, therefore quenching what God could do among them.
Hearts cry out for God to reveal Himself, yet how can He if there is a lack of faith and understanding?
However, I find it a shame that there are still many who do not know God's Spirit has been poured out on all flesh. In my travels, I meet people from a diversity of backgrounds. There are some religions in which the Bible is never read by their members; it is only translated from the pulpit. Others insist on the letter of the Law, but refuse to believe in the gifts of the Spirit, therefore quenching what God could do among them.
Hearts cry out for God to reveal Himself, yet how can He if there is a lack of faith and understanding?
Did God not promise? Does He not make good on His promises? "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" (John 7:37-38). Jesus said this concerning the Holy Spirit, whom His believers would receive.
Ezekiel prophesied of the Spirit's indwelling when he said, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God" (Ezekiel 36:26-28).
A heart of stone represents something dead. A heart of flesh represents life. What could possibly turn a dead stone into a living stone? This can only be done by the Spirit of the living God poured into the heart of man.
Ezekiel prophesied of the Spirit's indwelling when he said, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God" (Ezekiel 36:26-28).
A heart of stone represents something dead. A heart of flesh represents life. What could possibly turn a dead stone into a living stone? This can only be done by the Spirit of the living God poured into the heart of man.
Paul encouraged us to rely on, and perceive as truth, the ability of Christ's indwelling: "If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you" (Romans 8:10-11).
Do not underestimate the power of the Spirit within you -- or the mere fact that you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, are filled with His Spirit. Jesus was once dead, but is now alive because of God's indwelling Spirit. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, BEING PUT TO DEATH IN THE FLESH but made alive by the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18).
Do not underestimate the power of the Spirit within you -- or the mere fact that you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, are filled with His Spirit. Jesus was once dead, but is now alive because of God's indwelling Spirit. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, BEING PUT TO DEATH IN THE FLESH but made alive by the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18).
Jesus died an actual physical death. You and I have not suffered the consequences of death as of yet. Therefore, Jesus is our example of God's ability to take the dead and raise them to new life by His Spirit. He has promised to give strength and quickening to our mortality. How? By His Spirit which has a fixed position of co-habitation within us.
This news of God's Spirit within us is true and not a lie. We must believe in and walk in this truth. "You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. [This] anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is TRUE, and IS NOT A LIE, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him" (1 John 2:20, 27-28).
This news of God's Spirit within us is true and not a lie. We must believe in and walk in this truth. "You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. [This] anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is TRUE, and IS NOT A LIE, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him" (1 John 2:20, 27-28).
Jesus gave gifts to mankind in the form of pastors, evangelists, teachers, apostles, and prophets for the purpose of building up His body. Yet, none of us have the privilege of walking 100% of the time with those anointed by God for this task. So God saw the imperitiveness of providing One who would walk with you daily, teaching you all things. This not unlike a mother or father explaining this or that to an inquisitive child, in response to their wonderings of things unknown to them.
Paul was an apostle. His letters to the churches were for the purpose of encouragement and teaching. In one such letter, he said, "Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This 'letter' is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:3, NLT).
Paul was an apostle. His letters to the churches were for the purpose of encouragement and teaching. In one such letter, he said, "Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This 'letter' is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:3, NLT).
The same is true for you and I today.
God's law was once carved on stone and put in the hands of His servant. Now His Spirit has been branded on the door of every heart that will believe on Him for salvation. This indwelling of the Spirit of the Living God replaced the tablets of stone which proved to be heavy and burdensome for the carrier.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17).
"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17).
We have discovered God's Spirit was poured into every believing heart. Therefore, "...where the Spirit of the Lord is..." -- our heart -- "there is freedom!" Liberty and freedom are the complete opposite of bondage. Before Christ, our hearts could be likened to waste places forsaken and overgrown with briars. After Christ, the terrain changed. "The Spirit poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness became a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest. Justice will therefore dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field. The work of [this] righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever" (Isaiah 32:15-17).
The Spirit's indwelling in our heart became both fact and feeling. Assurance depicts a refuge. Refuge is in fact a place of security, and a sense of trust. "Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them" (Numbers 11:29)! Moses experienced God's assurance through His Spirit and greatly desired others to know Him this way also. He had a desire for God's people to know peace that passes natural understanding. He had the same desire God had.
The prophet Joel spoke on behalf of God's heart when he declared, "It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh" (Acts 2:17). God accomplished His desire.
The Spirit's indwelling in our heart became both fact and feeling. Assurance depicts a refuge. Refuge is in fact a place of security, and a sense of trust. "Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them" (Numbers 11:29)! Moses experienced God's assurance through His Spirit and greatly desired others to know Him this way also. He had a desire for God's people to know peace that passes natural understanding. He had the same desire God had.
The prophet Joel spoke on behalf of God's heart when he declared, "It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh" (Acts 2:17). God accomplished His desire.
Gone are the days of wishing God would put His Spirit within all men. The work has been accomplished. No wonder Jesus said, "It is finished."
Daphne Delay
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