Reflections for November 3, 2011

Matthew 22:29 Jesus answered, "You are so wrong! You don't know what the Scriptures say. And you don't know anything about God's power. (ERV)

Not understanding the Word of God will cause people to mock it, ridicule it, and belittle it. It will also render the power that is inherently in every word to be of no effect. Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed because they have no knowledge. You priests have refused to learn, so I will refuse to let you be priests for me. You have forgotten the law of your God, so I will forget your children. (ERV) The Word of God is not like any other book ever written, because the words come from the mind, mouth, and majesty of God Himself. There is great power in the Word of God. By the Word of God all things were created instantly, therefore, those same words today will create in human hearts the very things they decree. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and full of power, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through and making a division even of the soul and the spirit, the bones and the muscles, and quick to see the thoughts and purposes of the heart. (BBE) At the new birth, the veil over a person’s spiritual eye site is removed and then God the Holy Spirit proceeds to make the Word real and alive to that persons heart and bondage and yokes are broken in that life. Religion or rituals will never allow a person to see the Word of God work in their lives.

1Samuel 3:17-19 And he said, What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee and more also, if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he said unto thee. And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good. And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. (KJV)

Eli wanted to know the truth and nothing but the truth from the Word of God. This must be our hearts today. We must not pick and choose what we shall read from the Bible, but we must desire the whole counsel of God no matter what it says in rebuke or warning to us. To proclaim only half of the Word of God only makes that half a lie. We must endeavor to give people the uncompromised full counsel of God’s Word. Samuel’s words never failed because e only spoke the Word of God. Likewise our words will never fail if we only say what God has already said.

THE INDWELLING SPIRIT

"I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever."-- John_14:16.

THE GIFT of the Holy Spirit was due to the intercession of our Lord, and St. Peter refers to it when he says: "Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit" (Act_2:33). In 1Jo_2:1 (R.V.) marg. the word Comforter is translated Advocate--"One who makes us strong by His presence, as Helper, Guide, and Instructor." Think what this means, to have always beside us, not a vague influence, but a Divine Person, who waits to be our strength in weakness, our peace in trouble, our wisdom in perplexity, our conqueror in temptations, our consoler in sorrow. The Lord meant that the Holy Spirit should be to us all that He Himself had been. This is the meaning of Another. There are two Advocates, or two Paracletes. When the One ascended to the glory, the Other descended into the hearts of His disciples. "He abideth with you, and shall be in you."

"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." Christ had been speaking of sending Another; now He says, I am coming Myself, so that we learn that He is so indissoluble One with the Holy Spirit, Whom He sends, that the coming of the Spirit is His own coming. Do not look for the Spirit apart from Jesus. As the sun comes in the light, so does Jesus come in the Spirit. When we are filled with the Spirit, we shall not think of Him, but of Jesus to whom He bears witness, and when our hearts are taken up with the Lord, we may know that we have received Him, who is the Gift of gifts.

Open your whole nature to the entrance of the Holy Spirit. Unlock every door, uncurtain every window, that entering He may fill you with the glorious indwelling of the Father and the Son. "I will prepare a "mansion," Jesus said; and, "We will make the holy soul Our Mansion."

"'He shall teach you all things." His lesson-book is the life and words of our blessed Lord. We may think that we are fully informed of all that He has said, but as we study the Bible, the Holy Spirit brings us back to them again and again, always revealing new light, and undreamt of depths. Never let a day pass without reading some of the words of Jesus under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER

Thou hast not left us comfortless, O God. May life be renewed in its springs, by the gracious operation of Thy Holy Spirit dwelling within us, and leading us from grace to grace. AMEN.

By F. B. Meyer