Integrity

 Well done tasks offer praise to God. Many of us work very hard at the tasks we embrace. These tasks are a reflection of our human accomplishments. If these are a godly tasks, they will turn into praise to God in some way. We may never visualize the final results, but (if we ask) the Holy Spirit can help use any activity to offer praise to God, somehow. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." — Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

Mistakes

Life seems to be made up of mistakes. We attempt certain goals or activities only to find that the result is not what we anticipated. We made a mistake in judgement and decision. In some countries, any purchase is final with no possibility of correcting a hasty or incorrect decision. In the USA, there is generally a stated period of time in which we can return the purchased merchandise and receive a full refund or fully functional product. Beyond financial decisions, there are other decisions that cannot be reversed. When we observe or are a part of some heinous act, this cannot be removed from our minds. The trust gained within a relationship can be easily fractured by unforeseen interpretations of words or events. The statement, “Forgive and Forget,” becomes “Forgive and push the memories as far back in one’s memory as possible.” When we decide to accept Jesus’ offer for salvation, this is a decision all of the Trinity honors with full acceptance of our complete background and status. Accepting us is not a mistake. They will not push us away, ever! While they will not abandon us, we have the opportunity to later reject them. Such a decision would be very tragic. The writer of Hebrews warns, “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” – Heb. 6:4-6 (ESV). This is a sobering statement. This is not a picture of a person who has become troubled, indecisive, and dithering for a time. It is a picture of a person who has become fully convinced that they do not want God in their lives. Perhaps they have come to believe whole heartedly that God does not exist, Jesus’ efforts was not effective, the indwelling Holy Spirit has nothing to offer them. It is a complete rejection of the only pathway to please God. If a person rejects this only pathway to God, there is no other way to come close to God. It is a rejection of God.

Mutual encouragement and assignment

When Jesus was on earth, He was Immanuel, “God with Us.” Although the disciples didn’t fully realize His presence, many of the things He did could only be explained by Him being the promised messiah. These men were overwhelmed, as we would be, today. When Jesus went back to heaven, they felt the gap His absence left. Even though they followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they continued to learn more about all that God desired each day. They encouraged each other as the opportunities presented themselves. Paul, likely the most educated of the group, came along later. He had a dual focus, Jews and Gentiles. When agreement was needed, Paul conferred with those in Jerusalem (Act 15), when there were difficulties, Paul challenged Peter directly (Gal. 2). There were also disagreements between Paul and Barnabas regarding Mark. Despite the disagreements, the Holy Spirit bound them together with a common goal to share Jesus with the world. This is the goal of all Christians, today. Some years after all the apostles had died, there were struggles to completely and accurately define who was Jesus, who was the Holy Spirit, and how they existed together, but exercised different actions. After Jesus was accepted as a real person and not some imagination, scholars struggled with how to view this invisible, though powerful Holy Spirit. They were mostly confused by whether or not He should be considered another personality. There are scriptures that describe His qualities as those a person would have, such as one who “testifies”, “intercedes”, or “interprets.” Additionally, the Holy Spirit could be “resisted”, prevented,” “grieved”, or even “blasphemed.” These leaders struggled to understand the source and identity of the three parts of the Trinity. On leader concluded the relationship was described as, “The Father decides and commands, the Son executes and models, the Spirit nourishes and grows.” (Irenaes, Against Heresies 4.38.3). This provides a reasonable description of a relationship we will only understand fully at the end of our unique individual spiritual journey, heaven. Until then, we are to serve the guidance of the one left in Jesus' place, the Holy Spirit, as best we understand.

Trust in God

A dilemma perhaps as old as, “why did the chicken cross the road?”, is the struggle people have to believe God exists. For a variety of reasons, some have struggled for understanding about how believers can claim God is powerful enough to create the world, yet lacks the power to manage His creation. How can God be all loving, yet allow so such pain and suffering to affect humans? Many have said this is perhaps the largest stumbling block keeping them from completely trusting God – His leading doesn’t seem right or fair. Yet, strange as it may seem, the pain and struggles in our lives may be the best sign that He truly is good and that through our struggles and pain we realize He loves us dearly. James says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” – Jas 1:2-4 (ESV). Some will say, “this is sometimes not very pleasant.” They might go on to day, “if God is powerful enough to create the world, why is He powerless to prevent bad things from happening to His creation?”, or, “If He created the world and allowed evil to come in, He should be able to correct it, everywhere, why doesn’t He?” People who seek to describe God have overlooked several key elements of reality. First, humans are incapable of adequately describing God. He is beyond our understanding, that makes Him a God to be respected and praised. God refused to provide a name by which He could be described to Moses. Second, humans need to understand, we are servant creatures. Bluntly, this means humans don’t fully understand the best results which need to take place. As humans, we must accept our place in reality, we can never be as intelligent or powerful as God. We need to follow His instructions. Third, we must understand that God knows everything and cannot be manipulated. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) illustrates this, effectively. Although scripture says they tried to lie to the Holy Spirit, this essentially means they tried to lie to God. Nothing can be hidden from God. Fourth, while this sounds rather harsh, we must remember that God loved us so much Jesus came to provide a sacrifice we could never offer. He was the complete solution people fail to recognize. When we accept this sacrifice, we are cleansed from all sin and God, Himself, in the form of the Holy Spirit begins to reside within us. At this point we begin a unique individual spiritual journey toward complete sanctification, or dedication to Him. As we begin this journey, it is common to ask, “How can I recognize the Holy Spirit’s voice when He speaks to me?”; “How can I avoid being paralyzed by uncertainty and doubt about advice and direction from others?” God uses the Holy Spirit and other Christians to share His advice and encouragement. So, “How can I discern the true message from God or the Holy Spirit?” As Christians, we must learn that along our spiritual journey, we must distinguish truth from false diversions. The way to do this is to compare whatever we encounter with Scripture. The same Holy Spirit who supplied the Scriptures over the millennia and empowered Jesus to demonstrate actions God desires, will help us to realize that His guidance will never contradict Scripture. Jesus, Father, and the Holy Spirit never change, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” - Heb. 13:8 (ESV). If what we encounter directs us to ignore Scripture or remove it from the original context to fit our needs, we must accept this opportunity as an attempt to lead us astray. During our spiritual journey, we will be taught to learn and discern the Holy Spirit’s guidance by studying Scriptures, requesting the Spirit to help us via prayer, and attempting to begin doing what we understand should be done. If we will compare our desires to Scripture, He will help us discern the proper choices.

Mutual encouragement and assignment

When Jesus was on earth, He was Immanuel, “God with Us.” Although the disciples didn’t fully realize His presence, many of the things He did could only be explained by Him being the promised messiah. These men were overwhelmed, as we would be, today. When Jesus went back to heaven, they felt the gap His absence left. Even though they followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they continued to learn more about all that God desired each day. They encouraged each other as the opportunities presented themselves. Paul, likely the most educated of the group, came along later. He had a dual focus, Jews and Gentiles. When agreement was needed, Paul conferred with those in Jerusalem (Act 15), when there were difficulties, Paul challenged Peter directly (Gal. 2). There were also disagreements between Paul and Barnabas regarding Mark. Despite the disagreements, the Holy Spirit bound them together with a common goal to share Jesus with the world. This is the goal of all Christians, today. Some years after all the apostles had died, there were struggles to completely and accurately define who was Jesus, who was the Holy Spirit, and how they existed together, but exercised different actions. After Jesus was accepted as a real person and not some imagination, scholars struggled with how to view this invisible, though powerful Holy Spirit. They were mostly confused by whether or not He should be considered another personality. There are scriptures that describe His qualities as those a person would have, such as one who “testifies”, “intercedes”, or “interprets.” Additionally, the Holy Spirit could be “resisted”, prevented,” “grieved”, or even “blasphemed.” These leaders struggled to understand the source and identity of the three parts of the Trinity. On leader concluded the relationship was described as, “The Father decides and commands, the Son executes and models, the Spirit nourishes and grows.” (Irenaes, Against Heresies 4.38.3). This provides a reasonable description of a relationship we will only understand fully at the end of our unique individual spiritual journey, heaven. Until then, we are to serve the guidance of the one left in Jesus' place, the Holy Spirit, as best we understand.

Ear to hear

The last letter in the Bible, Revelation has some teachings that are very confusing for many people due to differences in background. However difficult to comprehend, there are many messages provided to us by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Think carefully about this: "He who has an ear (metaphor for perception), let him hear (metaphor for understand) what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it." — Rev. 2:17 ESV

Dedicated to God

As Christians, we are told the Holy Spirit works to sanctify us (1 Pet. 1:2; 1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Thess. 2:13). Seldom do we use the word "sanctify" when describing the work of the Spirit in our lives, so what does it mean? The definition is to “make holy,” which means to “make dedicated,” dedicated to God.  These may seem like new words, so how do we understand this concept? When we are dedicated to a cause or a person, that subject becomes an integral part of our thoughts and actions. While we may accept these words, what does the mental picture really look like? As Christians, we accepted Jesus as our savior and now the Holy Spirit lives within us. What more do we need for satisfying God; how do we become sanctified, dedicated to God? Bluntly, we need to think about and adopt the practices of God or Jesus. One good way to describe how we become sanctified is shared by Paul, “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” - Rom. 8:13 (ESV). The point is that God wants each of us to develop His character as we live our lives. This process of change is described as the process of sanctification. Each of us is on a unique individual spiritual journey, we are being molded to be holy, dedicated to God's principles. We are unique because each of us had a different history when we accepted Jesus. It is an individual journey, because each person has different challenges and talents. It is a journey to adopt spiritual viewpoints throughout life on earth. When we attempt to satisfy our fleshly desires above our focus on Godly opinions and actions, we display that we have yet more to learn. God wants us to be His representatives in the world and display His attributes. While this sounds challenging, dependence on guidance by the Holy Spirit can make this happen. We will never achieve perfection, and we each walk this spiritual journey at different rates depending on the obstacles we encounter and overcome. The individual challenge determines how the Holy Spirit helps; details of this help may be different for various people or different for the same person as needed.

Godly Decisions

Sometimes, Christians make decisions quickly and effectively; other times, possible ramifications cause us to pause and consider our words or actions with great caution. When we encounter times that require a decision that is difficult for us, what actions are needed? Some realize that God is all knowing and all powerful - they would like Him to provide guidance to the point of making the final decision for them. This is not something God does; we are responsible for the choices we make, the actions that follow, and the subsequent responsibility for those thoughts, actions, and choices. This can seem overwhelming at times. However, we are not left alone, scripture says, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” - Prov. 3:6 (ESV). As the Holy Spirit works at these times to help those in whom He dwells, help may be realized as remembrances of previous experiences, both good and bad. When we struggle with our choices and ask for help from the Holy Spirit, this doesn’t mean we should be fearful or should just wait around until He gives us some kind of miraculous sign or deep inner conviction. We should confidently make the best decision with the abilities we have and arrive at an acceptable solution. The decision might require some additional research or revisiting our present understanding of the gifts and abilities we have been given. Help could also come from other people sharing their previous or learned solutions to similar challenges. Help may come in a variety of ways, but whatever challenge we are experiencing can be used to make another step along our unique individual spiritual journey as we move ever closer to all Jesus wants from us. If we ask for help from God, or the Holy Spirit, He will provide opportunities at the proper time and these opportunities will never be contrary to principles written in scripture. When we ask for help and attempt to make Godly choices, we and others will be blessed in wonderful ways. Remember, too, that God often guides us only one step at a time - that is all we need to know. So let’s not be anxious. If we trust God to guide us, He will.

Safety

Most of us may cringe or shake our heads in amazement when we view or hear of tragic happenings to various people when their physical safety has been compromised. There are beatings, knifings, and shootings revealed in graphic visual or descriptive verbal detail. How could this person or persons do such things reported? The best answer is that we live in a fallen world and the actions of fallen people often reveal the brutal choices they make. As Christians, we would like to believe the relationship we share with Jesus will protect us from any physical harm that might come to ourselves or our family – we want physical safety. However, varying degrees of physical illness, pain, and death is a reality for all humans. Jesus told the disciples that following Him would cause them difficulties, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – Jn. 16:33 (ESV). In order to encourage them toward inner peace, He reminded them that regardless what happened around them, or to them, He had overcome the world. Scripture does not include an example of Jesus being physically ill, but while on earth, He suffered emotional pain, and at His crucifixion pain and rejection most of us cannot fully grasp. When we are faced with things that shock and distress us, as Christians, we should be encouraged that we are protected. This protection is not from the evils pervading the world which surrounds us, but is targeted at our spiritual status with God. The indwelling Holy Spirit will protect us from any outside Satanic harm, but should we choose to do things which are spiritually dangerous, He will not overpower our decisions; thus He may not be able to protect us from our own poor decisions. While He will not remove Himself from Christians, He may be very disappointed or grieved because of our actions. “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. – Eph. 4:30-31 (ESV). While there are myriad promises targeted at those who follow Jesus, physical safety is not included in these. We may not even partially understand the reasons God allows bad things to happen to His people, but we can still declare that He is God and He ultimately provides good results. Paul had both physical infirmities (Gal. 6) and abuse (2 Cor. 11), but he was able to look beyond those to not only the promise of heaven, but also how he might help others accompany him to that end. Like Paul, we too, can be certain that eternity with the Jesus is well worth any hardship here on earth. When troubles arise, Christians should try to allow the indwelling Holy Spirit the lead them along their individual unique spiritual journey toward a closer relationship with Jesus. As implied, this journey may be radically different for various people. However, by doing this, we will have greater personal peace and provide a critical example for others to follow. As we depend on the Holy Spirit for guidance, we can experience feelings of safety, spiritual safety, regardless of worldly tribulations.

Decisions

Simply stated, based on Holy Spirit guidance, Christians make decisions by rational reflection on their life-situation, helped by wise and godly advice, within the parameters that the Word of God establishes.

Redemption

What does "redemption" mean for people? The concept of redemption describes "buying back, releasing, ransoming." When people realize they are in a condition in which there is no escape, they seek help for a way out of this condition. When the condition is sin, there is only one way out, Jesus Christ. Accepting His offered gift provides not only redemption from this sinful condition, but also an indwelling helper for the journey ahead: the twisting, undulating journey of life ending in eternal bliss with God. This can be described as a unique individual spiritual journey, led by the Holy Spirit. "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." - Rom. 5:5 (NIV)

Holy Spirit working

As a Christian, have you ever doubted the Spirit was working in your life? Do you remember a time when you recognized a need in someone's life, then made a decision to follow through and help them? Or, do you remember a time when you recognized some situation was probably not what Jesus would want you involved in and decided to bypass the opportunity? Those were your own decisions, no one forced you, but you may have been prodded to realize the true meaning or ramifications of those of those events and were able to make a better decision about your life. These could be examples of the Holy Spirit working in your life. The Spirit didn’t make the decision for you, but He may have prompted you to think through the possible results and ramifications of your actions before you made the final decision. Many times the Holy Spirit guides subtly, but effectively along your unique individual spiritual journey! "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Rom. 8:14. (NLT)

BFF

The acronym BFF is supposed to mean Best Friend Forever in modern texting communication. It is hoped to mean someone who accepts you as you are and attempts to ease any pain or share any joy experienced in life - someone to share life with you. Sharing life can mean shared celebrations or direct trusted correction when needed. Both of these are part of being a best friend, and knowing that whatever challenge arises, they will never turn away. The indwelling Holy Spirit goes far beyond a BFF; He is a part of God. "I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can't take him in because it doesn't have eyes to see him, doesn't know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you! I will not leave you orphaned. I'm coming back." — Jn. 14:16-18 (MESSAGE)