Body a Temple

At the time the Bible was written, worship of any gods was usually done at a site where that particular god dwelled or lived within. This site was called a "temple." Such sites were considered sacred since once entering them, a follower thought they would be closer to that particular god. This also applied to the Jewish temple for Jehovah God, except entrance was limited to only a priest once per year. Paul used this common understanding to communicate that because of Jesus, the Curtain separting God from the people was eliminated individual people became the temple of God andJehovah God as the Holy Spirit dwells within people, so individual people become temples of God. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Proper worship

When challenged by the woman at the Samaritan well, Jesus shared with her that a time was coming when worship of God would move beyond special places, special people, and special actions to a time when each person would worship God wherever they were whenever they desired. He said, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” - Jn. 4:23-24 9 (NIV)

Remembering

One one of the ways the Holy Spirit communicates to us is via remembrance. We read and study His Word but it seems sometimes we get receive nothing from it at the time. However, when we read His Word, all the information to which we are exposed is retained in our minds. Sometimes when we need to use that information, the Holy Spirit helps our recall and we remember the parts we need at that time. Perhaps we have not yet gathered or experienced adequate supporting information. Perhaps we have not yet read a needed portion of scripture. The Holy Spirit understands this and may prompt us to explore a portion of scripture we have not considered before. When the time is optimum, the Holy Spirit can cause us to remember previously gained information. This is not NEW information, it is just a new realization of the information that was already revealed. This happened to Jesus' apostles, "Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him."- John 12:14-16 (NASB)

Emotions as God would display them

In His life here on earth, Jesus displayed many earthly emotions. Focusing on myself, as I try to follow His practices, it is helpful to know some of the feelings I have were displayed by Jesus. Regarding his physical body, He was tired, thirsty, and hungry. To know that he grew angry, became frustrated, felt sorrow, and even was indignant gives me great comfort. The depth of the emotions of God are difficult to fathom, but they are nevertheless there. Jesus was touched by what he saw surrounding Lazarus' death. He already knew that He would raise him, but the family and mourners didn't. To observe the pain about the lose of His friend had an observable effect on Him, even to tears, "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept."  John 11:33-35 (ISV)

Control

Many of us would like to think we are in control of our lives to some extent. Many times we rely on the concept from Physics, "cause and effect." Our decisions and actions usually produce predictable ramifications, to some extent. We learn to make decisions that usually cause good or bad results to occur based on the expectation that repeated actions produce an expected result. Better, we learn which decisions produce the outcomes we desire. Although this sounds manageable, sometimes bad things happen in a good context, we may call these life-skills. However, events sometimes occur that are totally unexpected and perhaps difficult to grasp, or even shatter our understanding of how to manage life. When these events occur, we desperately seek for explanations guided by a power higher than ourselves. As a race, we are often greatly disappointed when the results of our words or actions do not produce the results we want and expect. However, sometimes really good things happen with no logical explanation. We did not plan or define the way to become a child of God, nor did we deserve it. The gift offered by Jesus is not payment for anything we did; we cannot control it or manipulate it. This is a free gift because of His love, which defies explanation. All people are invited to become children of God, to be born from above. Sadly, some will not give up trying to control their own eternity based on their own understanding; some will not want to receive this wonderful gift for something they cannot personally achieve. "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12-13 (ESV)

Speak to me

As a believers, do you desire for God to speak directly to you? Jeremiah also struggled with this and was told, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV) One quick answer to this is to say read the Bible and God has just spoken to you. While this is certainly true, your real desire is for God to speak to you in a way you can understand. In order for this to occur, you must realize that the communication is likely not to be teaming with praise and accolades toward you. God is perfect, you are not. Communication from Him is meant to help you become more of what He wants you to be, meaning much of what He communicates may be corrective. But that leaves the question how do I understand what He wants me to understand? You might compare this to a recorded conversation with another person. When you replay the recording, you will likely perceive ideas or concepts that you did not when you first heard the words. Sometimes, time and reflection is needed for the communication to be understood. This is especially true for the things that God communicates. In order to help overcome this communication difficulty, God has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and clarify His desires for our understanding. So how do any of us receive His communication? Every day, God, speaks to the Christian through the Holy Spirit in some way. One challenge for us is that He may speak at different times and different ways to various people. At times He invites us to draw close and listen as He reveals Himself, His character and His direction. Other times He calls us to participate in His purposes. Still other times He my simply whisper, reminding us of His amazing love for us. Hearing from God is one of those topics that can easily stir up confusion and frustration. A critical question to ask is, "How do I know if God is speaking to me?" "How do I discern whether it is His voice speaking or just my own ideas and desires?" "What if I feel God telling me to do something that doesn’t seem logical? A basic truth is, there’s no magic formula for discerning God’s voice. We learn to recognize it the way we recognize voices of those close to us: by knowing Him. And when we know Him, we can tell if what we are thinking or feeling led to do is from Him or not. At only one time, I had a direct communication from the Holy Spirit. It was a dark time in my life, after some life changing events. I was seeking relief and solutions for issues that troubled me. As I was driving and praying "when is this going to change", a voice as if from the passenger seat came into my mind saying, "When it is time." I was so shocked, I pulled to the side of the road to examine the other seat. Was there a voice that caused my eardrums to vibrate or did the thought skip that sense? I am unsure, but the Holy Spirit used the necessary means to cause that information to sear my mind. It is an event that I have not forgotten for 17 years. I treasure that thought and I have been blessed in many wonderful ways in the years since. Communication from the Spirit can be startling and reassuring. When struggling to interpret communication from the Holy Spirit, these questions may help arrive at a clearer answer: 1. Does what I perceive line up with Scripture? God will never speak to us or tell us to do something that’s contrary to His Word. But unless we know Scripture, we will not be able to discern whether or not what we hear is consistent with the Word. We will learn the will of God when we read and pray the Word of God. 2. Is what I perceive consistent with God’s character? God’s Word also provides rich information regarding His character. Just as God always speaks in accordance with His Word, He speaks in accordance with His character. God will not say anything inconsistent with who He is. The longer we know Him and the more we experience Him personally, the more we learn about His character. 3. Is what I perceive confirmed through messages at church or in my quiet times? When God speaks to you about a particular issue, you cannot escape it. Around every corner there’s a sermon or Bible study lesson or speaker’s topic or conversation with a friend that’s consistent with what you’ve been hearing from God in your time alone with Him. When you invest in time spent alone with God, He will speak to you. Listen for His voice, and then look for the message to be confirmed. 4. Is what I perceive beyond me? Sometimes the Holy Spirit may call you to do something big that you can’t do in our own strength -- either it is beyond your ability or beyond your natural human desire. Perhaps this thing can only happen through the Holy Spirit's divine intervention. Don’t look at your inabilities and dwell in insecurities. Look at what God wants. See this call as your opportunity to watch Him work in you and through you. 5. Is what you perceive pleasing to God? Depending on many personal pressures, it is sometimes easy to reject the idea that we have heard something from the Spirit. In these situations, especially if the information is not pleasing to us, we might use any excuse to convince ourselves it is not His voice so we don’t need to act. If what you’re doing pleases God, then even if what you thought you heard from Him wasn’t His voice, you are still pleasing Him. You should always seek to do those things that please God. When these 5 questions align, the Holy Spirit will help you accomplish the task. Please remember, God's word says much about His desires and character; immerse yourself in learning more about Him. The Holy Spirit will provide understanding over time.

Perseverence

Paul was frustrated with the Christians in Galatia. They had accepted Jesus as Lord, were indwelled by the Holy Spirit, but were attempting to return to the pathways they had chosen to give up. "So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?" Gal. 3:5 (NIV)

Waiting

We wait for traffic, we wait for a doctor, we wait for our turn at the cash register, we wait for friends. It seems like most of us are always waiting for something every day. More challenging, we wait for entrance into our eternal home; our place is decided, we must wait until it is time. Like us, even the world waits for salvation (Rom. 8:19). The indwelling Holy Spirit can help comfort us as we wait for our eventual and permanent home. If we we will only ask, He will guide us in the ways we need to go to please the Father, a foretaste of our eventual celebration.

Help

William Barclay said, "Love always involves responsibility, and love always involves sacrifice. And we do not really love Christ unless we are prepared to face His task and to take up His Cross." The Holy Spirit is waiting to help us take up that Cross and carry it. 

Protector

 The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. — Psalm 121:7-8 (NIV) We observe this promise in action when we consider the life of Joseph, son of Jacob. The overarching theme of Joseph's life was that no matter what circumstances he faced, God was always with him. Whether it was dreams about the future, struggles with his brothers's poor treatment of him, whether his work was in slavery, his ability to explain dreams, his abilities ot manage the food source for millions of people, or reconnecting with his family, God was with him as He promised. Those of us who have accepted Jesus as our saviour also have a promise. It is a promise that He will never leave us, and He will supply what we need spiritually, and He has prepared for us a place with him in heaven for eternity. We also have a demonstration of God's ability to protect and use us so long as we are faithful to Him.

Good

Jesus responded to a man by saying that none is good except God alone (Mk 10:18, Lk. 18:19). From this we need to understand that when we allow the Holy Spirit to direct us, the result will turn out to honor God, when our values are similar to God’s we will be satisfied that the results are “good” for the Father, not necessarily what we may define as good for us. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” — Romans 8:28 (NLT)

Choices

Our lives on earth is all about choices. We can choose to learn about good and evil; we can choose to use good or evil words; we can choose to do good or evil acts. We can choose to encourage others, or not. Our spiritual life is all about choices as well. The first choice is to believe in Jehovah God, the second most important choice is to accept that Jesus is His son and our pathway to redemption. Beyond this, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide and sanctify our choices. Evelyn Underhill said, "The spiritual life is a stern choice. It is not a consoling retreat from the difficulties of existence, but an invitation to enter fully into that difficult existence, and there apply the Charity of God, and bear the cost."  

Desire

Creatures God created are driven by desire. An animal, fish or bird is driven by at least two primal desires, to exist (food, and water, safety, companionship) and to reproduce. Humans also have these, followed by a desire for acceptance by other humans. Beyond these needs for existence is the desire to reproduce. A significant part of this process is attraction of one gender to the other. Satisfaction of reproductive desires can escalate into cravings, a strong desire to solve the need in a particular way.

Similar to the other parts of creation, God made the bodies of His human creation to alert them to needs for survival. At times, a dry mouth or thick tongue becomes a signal from the body that hydration is needed. A growl from the stomach is a signal that sustenance is needed. As these needs increase, intensity to satisfy them escalates. These needs are critical to our bodies for survival, but they must be controlled. A really thirsty or dehydrated person can attempt to drink more water than their body can absorb quickly; thus they become sick. The same is true for hunger. This bodily alarm indicates that cells need energy. When one attempts to satisfy intense hunger, one may eat more food than can be timely digested and distributed to body cells; sickness ensues.  The end result is actually worse for the body than a slower pathway to gaining the needed result. Beyond this, some bodies signal a need for solving bodily needs by a strong desire for a particular food or drink, a craving.

Like Jesus, humans exist in this environment we call the world. We live in the world, work in the world, and function as human beings in the world with other human beings. This is God’s will for humans. Jesus didn’t pray that His disciples would be removed from the world, but they would be kept from the world (John 17:15), or essentially being controlled by the world’s values. There is nothing wrong with going to work, enjoying a sport, buying a house or a new car. We may even enjoy having and wearing beautiful clothes. Those things are part of living a fruitful life in our environment, earth. These desires are not wrong unless they consume and preoccupy their thoughts, pushing God’s interests aside.

Desires and cravings extend to other aspects of their physical lives, as well. Companionship is a fundamental need for humans as are their psychological, emotional, and sexual needs. These needs are some of the most difficult to monitor and control. Our minds works at an amazingly fast pace and actions caused by these needs and desires are often difficult to rapidly understand and fully manage. A Christian has a huge advantage since they have the Holy Spirit (God) dwelling inside them. Sometimes this seems like a complete solution, however, we must realize that although we have the greatest entity that exists living inside us, He does not overpower our personal choices, (good or bad). Like Jesus, God does not force us to make any particular decision. 

The struggle we humans face between good and evil or flesh and spirit have been described and debated for millennia. There seems to be absolute answer for many items, but many others have several acceptable answers considered “good”, and righteous before God. In the social aspect of human life, attraction and bonding can defy logical explanation. Humans of both genders can be filled with strong emotions of anger, envy, and hurt; these feeling can cause opinions they never thought possible and actions that follow, may be astounding. Competition between acquaintances can be similar to lower class animals.

Humans also have spiritual aspects of their lives. Humans also desire to know the reason they exist; due to this, many pursue locating a supreme being.  Some find Jehovah God. This desire leads to expectations.  Desire+expectation=Hope. Hope that He will always love them and protect them spiritually. When the biblical writers focused on the physical interests, they generally referred to them as concerns of the flesh, or dominated by non-spiritual elements. When a person decides to accept Jesus as their savior, all their past physical and spiritual mistakes are erased before God; they are as pure as newborn infants. Not only this, but the Holy Spirit begins to reside within them. This indwelling prompts them to remember what they have learned from scripture. Those who are sealed by God and are His children are expected to increasingly act as He desires. Paul would say, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Gal.5:16 (NIV) or “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.” Gal.5:16 (NLT)

Hidden

Many people become uncomfortable when information or actions are hidden from them; they want to know more information about many things. When information is uncertain, humans create explanations. Jesus was careful to instruct His disciples about His coming death, but they did not understand without the help of the Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit helps us to understand at a rate we can comprehend, the only pathway to an eternity with the Father. “But God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God. Is there anyone who can understand his own thoughts except his own inner spirit? In the same way, no one can know the thoughts of God except God's Spirit. Now, we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we can understand the things that were freely given to us by God.” 1 Cor. 2:10-13. (ISV)

Fear

Fear is a compeling emotion. First, one needs to believe there is something that exists to fear. Once this has been established, one should attempt to understand the item that is feared. Some people many fear rattlesnikes since they can be lethal. With some knowledge, great fear can evolve into great respect. Many people say they "fear" God, but God does not desire poeple to fear Him in this way; He wants the respect He deserves. When people really fear (or are afraid of) God, it is likely because they do not know how much He loves them. Those who know more about God, recognize He only disciplines people when nothing else has achieved the results needed. He loved us so much he sent Jesus to die a cruel death to provide a way for His children to be near Him forever. "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him." — Psalm 103:13 >> Remember He loved each of us enought to seal us with His Holy Spirit, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit." Eph. 1:13 (NIV)