A voice in the wilderness: To not walk in darkness. A series. Part 4

Sunday, June 30, 2013

To not walk in darkness. A series. Part 4

A constant irritation

One of my life's irritants is the consistent preaching from the standpoint of guilt and shame. How about instead of focusing on things that tend to promote sinning, perhaps focusing on things like:

1 John 3:4-6 NIV Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. (5) But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. (6) No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Let's be honest; guilt producing expositions (and it does not just come from pulpits) are meant to control and manipulate people. Sure, there may be the motivation to encourage a moral life but the truth is the one speaking is usually the one who is most torn by what they are saying and they do not trust God's ability to do what he said, therefore they feel the need to control you.

Do you not understand that the Holy Spirit of God lives in you. That happened on the day you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, understanding that he died and rose again to give you a new life and hope.

1 John 2:20-21 NIV But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. (21) I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.

Don't get all bogged down in that word anointing, just understand that the moment he saw your acknowledgment and acceptance God poured out his life on you. You might have felt different, (I have heard it described so many ways, such as, it felt like a huge weight came off me.) but I know that over the course of time, and for many that was just hours later, most of the world seemed the same to you. People were still just as lousy as they were before, and for most of us there was no dramatic change in our language; we still had the ability to cuss like a sailor.

None-the-less God placed his spirit inside of you and that same Holy Spirit leads you and guides you into all truth and holds until the day of his return, that moment in which we hope. For some his return comes earlier through their passing from this life.

But thanks be to God! He always leads us triumphantly by the Messiah and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of knowing him. (2 Corinthians 2:14 ISV)

In whom you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope, (Ephesians 1:13 BBE)

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30 KJV)

Far to many struggle over the trinity, so let me give you a heads up.

We all seem to grasp that there is a God who created the universe, and yet John's gospel tells us Jesus was that Word and that Jesus was God. We are not allowed to exclude the Holy Spirit and yet do. Give the creation some serious thought and you come to realize that the Holy Spirit was there also.

Jesus told the guys (120+ of them) that he was going back to the Father but would not leave them. How? By sending the Holy Spirit, the comforter. The Holy Spirit is God, no less than Jesus was.

So make it easy on yourself, all three are God, God's representative, aspects of God, and each has its own character, and methods of interacting with us. The power and purpose are the same, to magnify the Father, God.

But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you. (John 14:26 AMP)