Month: April 2021

Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38-39

Last week, April 19, 2021, the message I posted was titled “Is Something Missing?”  It was about all the years I was missing a personal relationship with Jesus, even though I’d been in church from infancy all through my teenage and young adult years.  How could I not have heard about a personal relationship with Him?

This week I want to share my experience that is equally surprising and troubling.  How could I not have been introduced to the the truth about the Holy Spirit?

Growing up in the church my family attended, what I had been taught and what I observed left me actually afraid of the Holy Spirit!  I was taught that unless you “spoke in tongues,” you were not a Christian.  I really wanted to be a Christian, so I once made up some sounds that mimicked what I heard from others around me.  But I knew it wasn’t real for me, even then.  There are other examples I won’t go into here, but I didn’t want to have anything more to do with the Holy Spirit!

I realized much later in life that what I had been taught and observed was not biblical. What I know now, and believe with all my heart, is from Scripture.  We are not even capable of living the life God calls us to live without complete dependence on the Holy Spirit.  We can’t experience all God has for us without the Holy Spirit who lives in every believer.

The book Forgotten God by Francis Chan was life-changing for me.  In the introduction, he states “There is a big gap between what we read in Scripture about the Holy Spirit and how most believers and churches operate today.”  He points out that something is missing – “actually a missing Someone – namely, the Holy Spirit.”  He begins the first chapter with the title, “I’ve Got Jesus.  Why Do I Need the Spirit?” I very highly recommend this book! 

A couple of years ago, I studied the Scriptures about the Holy Spirit with the women in the weekly Bible study I lead.  I can only share here a few of the foundational truths that I wish I’d know many years ago.

There are many verses in the Old Testament that say that the Spirit “came upon” someone (i.e. prophets, judges, Saul, David, and others).  That is one of the ways God communicated in the Old Testament.

Hear Jesus’ words to His disciples as He was preparing them for His departure from the earth after His death and resurrection.  This is a foundational truth that I encourage you to receive:

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:16)

(Notice:  He will not just be upon you, but in you!)

Jesus tells His disciples in John 16:7 I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. He was speaking of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit that Jesus promised came on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus was crucified.  Acts 2:38-39 is the message that Peter preached on that day.  It’s the message I needed to hear, and every believer needs to be assured of:  Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to indwell everyone who has received the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus, His death for the forgiveness of our sins, and resurrection which promises us new life in Him now, and for all eternity with Him.

WHY DO WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT?

Illustration of the lamp

My daughter, Kim, got a beautiful mental picture from the Lord about the Holy Spirit’s power in our life.  In her mind, she saw a little lamp sitting on the floor, and the lamp was saying to itself, “I really want to make light… I’ll try really hard… I know I can do it if I just try harder…”  Right next to the lamp was the electric cord which needed to be plugged in to the electrical outlet.  As soon as it was plugged in, the light shone brightly. 

That’s the way the Holy Spirit works in our life.  He is the source of unlimited power to do what God has planned for our life, the power source that we can “plug into.”  Our pastor a few years ago encouraged us to dwell on the theme of “Desperate Dependence.” We need to be depending on the Spirit moment by moment throughout every day! But we have the choice –to depend on the Holy Spirit, or to try to do life on our own. On our own, we cannot accomplish what God calls us to do, to live the way He asks us to live.  It is the Spirit that gives us the wisdom, understanding, the ability, the desire to grow in our love relationship with God, to live in the center of God’s will instead of our own. We need to be “plugged in” by complete dependence on Him.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

As a believer, are you aware of your need for complete dependence on the Holy Spirit?

Are you “plugged into Him” as the source of power to live the life God has planned for you?

What choices do you need to make in order to live in complete dependence on the Spirit?

…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6

Raised in a family that went to church every Sunday, I grew up hearing the Bible stories in Sunday School and attended youth groups through high school.  I learned a lot about Jesus.

After getting married, my husband and I realized there was something missing in our lives.  I thought we were both Christians at the time, but we met with a man at church who we thought could help us figure out what was missing.  He listened to us, asked us a few questions, and here was his conclusion:  We had both been in church all our lives and had taken in a lot of information about the Bible, but we weren’t giving anything out.  We were like stagnant ponds, he said.  He told us what we were missing was a job in the church. They happened to need Sunday School superintendents.  We were very young, still teenagers, but we figured we better take the job if that’s what was missing.  We did that for a couple of years and fulfilled our duties. But obviously there was still something missing!

After my husband graduated from college, we moved to another state for graduate school. We didn’t know anyone, and no one was expecting us to attend church. Away from family and the church we had attended, it became easier not to attend church at all.  There was a part of me that felt somewhat guilty for not being in church, but after a time, it became easier to just stay home on Sunday mornings and spend time with the kids.

After graduate school, we moved again.  I soon got acquainted with our new neighbor. Linda and I were driving together one day doing errands, and we happened to see a sign up on a hill for Cathedral Oaks Christian Church.  That started a conversation about our past experiences and why we hadn’t been attending church for several years.  We agreed that it was time for us to start taking our kids to church again.  A few weeks later, we did. 

Whatever I had been missing, I knew that first visit that the pastor had it. He was different than any other person I knew. He talked about Jesus like he really knew Him. The pastor visited me in my home a few weeks later.  I told him about my experience of feeling something was missing.  After telling him the rest of the story, he very wisely concluded that what was missing was not a job in the church, but a personal relationship with Jesus.  Attending church my whole life and knowing a lot of information about God and Jesus did not save me. The pastor explained that the Lord calls us to a loving relationship with Him as Lord of our lives, willing to turn our lives over to Him and follow His will instead of our own. 

After a couple more months of listening to his teaching, I realized I had never truly committed my life to Jesus.  It became clear that God was calling me to do that, to love Him and follow Him, whatever the cost. I came to understand that was what was missing all those years. A few weeks later, I made that decision to invite Jesus to be my Savior and Lord. I was baptized, and began a lifelong relationship with Him. There is a vast difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Him personally, His love, His forgiveness, His plan and purpose for my life.

It still amazes me how I could sit in church week after week in my early years and not hear the message of the need to be saved and have a personal relationship with the Lord. I had never been in a Bible study before, to learn God’s truth from His Word and apply it to my life.  My new pastor encouraged that and taught me how to study. I began to grow more in love with Jesus and follow His will for my life.  Thankfully, God promises that He will complete the good work that He has begun as we turn over our lives to Him (Philippians 1:6). It’s a process that will continue our whole life until we see Him in heaven.

More recently I discovered that there was still something missing. I’ll write about that next week! 

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Can you identify with the feelings I had about feeling that something is missing in your life, even if you thought you were a Christian?

You may have been a believer for a long time. Have you made that personal commitment to seek His will for your life and follow wherever He leads you?

Are you growing in your love for the Lord through studying His Word and getting to know Him more?

You can ask God to show you if there is more He wants you to experience in a personal relationship with Him.

God So Loved the World that He gave His only Son…

John 3:16

“Compassion that leads to action.”  I came across that phrase recently.  I wish I could remember where I read it!  But it stuck in my mind, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. 

There can be no better example than the recent Easter season that we just celebrated.  God was willing to give His own Son, and Jesus willingly sacrificed His own life to save us from the death penalty of sin that we all deserve.  Matthew 26:53 tells Jesus’ words “do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” Jesus knew His Father’s will and He was willing to die instead of saving Himself.

True compassion goes beyond just feeling sympathy or pity for someone who is suffering. I’m thinking of the time Jesus took a boat to a solitary place where He had gone to be alone (Matthew14:13-21).   The people heard about it, and “when He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.” You are probably familiar with this story.  When evening came, the disciples came to Jesus and reminded Him that it was late and the people were hungry.  They told Him to send the crowds away so they could go to the villages and buy themselves some food.  I’m sure that was the only solution they could think of.  Instead, Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” An impossible situation!  There were 5,000 men besides women and children!  The only food they could come up with was five loaves of bread and two fish!  But Jesus said, “Bring them to Me.”  In Jesus’ hands, it became enough to feed the entire multitude with 12 baskets of food leftover!

I’m convicted as I read this Scripture.  I realize that often my initial reaction when I hear of someone suffering and in need is similar to the disciples “Lord, send them away.”  Their situation seems impossible, and I don’t know how to fix it!  Maybe someone else can meet that need.  

We read the parable Jesus told about the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.  A man had been attacked and beaten and left half dead on the road.  Two religious leaders, a priest and a Levite, saw the man but passed by on the other side of the road.  It was a Samaritan, despised by the Jews, who took pity and stopped to meet the need.  His compassion led to action.  He was willing to set aside his own agenda and sacrifice his time and money to meet the needs of this injured man.

The Lord has commanded that we love Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  (Mark 12:28-31) The parable of the Good Samaritan was Jesus’ answer to the question asked of Him, “Who is my neighbor?” What is the response that would please the Lord when a need comes to my attention?  First, I want to follow the example of the disciples — bring the need to Jesus.  I can pray and ask Him if there is something specific He wants me to do to meet the need. I may not have the answers myself, but I can trust Him. The Holy Spirit living in us can enable us to compassionately reach out to those in need with the wisdom and the resources He will provide abundantly.

Lord, I pray for I pray for your love and  a heart of compassion that is willing to sacrifice to meet the needs that you bring to my attention — a heart of compassion that leads to action.

He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain watering the earth.

Hosea 6:3

Living through several years of drought in California gave me a new appreciation for rain.  I used to think of rain as just a nuisance, something that would spoil my plans for a tennis match or a hike.  Those who have lived in drought conditions remember the changes that occur — landscaping dies as strict water rationing is enforced; the hillsides that were once lush and green turn dry and brown, and the danger of fire increases dramatically. Things we once took for granted, like washing the car, taking long showers, even flushing the toilet after every use, become strongly discouraged luxuries.

            Have you ever experienced a spiritual drought?  God seems far away.  The desire to spend time with Him is gone.  The time spent with Him out of sheer obedience seems unproductive and ineffective.  I remember times like that when I even began to question whether or not I am really a Christian.  Surely a true Christian would not feel so out of touch with God or have so little desire for fellowship with Him.  Unfortunately, the problem is magnified as we follow our feelings and choose to isolate ourselves, not only from God, but from church, Christian friends, or other opportunities for fellowship.

            Many have experienced this feeling of distance from God at some time in their Christian life.  For me personally, it has been the result of disobedience.  I made the choice to go my own way instead of listening to God. I began to think that God wouldn’t even want me to come back to Him.  I didn’t deserve to ask Him for help.

            These thoughts could not be further from the truth. One thing is certain:  God does not intend for us to continue in a spiritual drought. Scriptures tell us that God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22).  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).  Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son whose father welcomed him back with great joy (Luke 15:11-24). 

            Isaiah 41:17-20 clearly shows God’s desire to restore life to our dry and thirsty souls:

The poor and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongues are parched with thirst; I, the Lord, will answer them Myself; as the God of Israel I will not abandon them.  I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land fountains of water…that they may see and recognize, and consider and gain insight as well, that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

We have just celebrated the resurrection of Jesus! As He was raised from the dead and ascended back into heaven, He offers living water, His Holy Spirit, to live in all who believe and receive Him as Lord and Savior. He will never leave us, and we can experience life in His presence daily, no matter what season of life we are in, no matter what our circumstances are. We can trust Him for His lifegiving living water!

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Is your current walk with the Lord better characterized by “spring rain” or “drought?”  If your answer is “spring rain,” take time now to thank God for the refreshing sense of His presence you are enjoying.

If your answer is “drought,” ask the Lord to reveal anything that needs to be confessed and forgiven.   Ask Him what He wants to teach you during the drought period.  These desert experiences can provide rich times of learning. Trust that He will restore you in His time and create fountains of renewal and refreshment.

Consider writing a prayer of thanksgiving for His living water, the Holy Spirit.