Respond

As Jesus' servants, it is crucial that we try to respond to the Holy Spirit's promptings. When we accepted Him as our Savior, we also accepted Him as Lord, the ultimate controller of all we do. How doe we understand what our Lord wants? Perhaps we ask others for their opinions about what He might want, and they likely have opinions. When we consider the stated or practiced opinions of others, we must remember Paul's words to the searching Corinthians,  "So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit" - 1 Cor. 12:3 (NLT)  The best way to gather opinions about what Jesus wants is to consult his own words from scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand how the words apply to us in this time. As we read scripture, our minds may quickly become overwhelmed. These first words were spoken at a times far removed from today and to a culture that seems “different’ in the ways it valued people and interpreted concepts. We must, however realize that the people of the first century also struggled to understand some of the writings. Nonetheless, they relied on the Holy Spirit to help them understand the core teachings. The concepts written in scripture from God are greater than our greatest thought and are more complex than our most insightful moment can help us comprehend. But there is a promise on which we can always rely: the Holy Spirit will never lead us to say anything untruthful or unholy about God - as Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God convicts us of the truth, gives us insight into the truth, and empowers us to declare the truth. Confessing Christ as Lord indicates a heart full of faith, a testimony to God's grace, and is a declaration of our commitment to our Lord. The Holy Spirit unlocks our minds and empowers our hearts to confess Jesus as Lord!

Presentation

A person may quote the passage from John 16:13, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." But what did this mean to the disciples? Just like today, there were many religious authorities trying to convince people that their understanding of God's desires were correct. The difficulty is they had grossly misinterpreted what God wanted. One of Jesus' goals was to help people understand what God truly wanted from His people. When Jesus completed the sacrifice, He returned to the Father, but left the Holy Spirit within His disciples to continue the spread the truth about what God wanted. This indwelling Holy Spirit was the Spirit of truth. Today, we have this truth revealed, whether that truth was revealed through ancient prophecy, revealed through first century inspired writers, or revealed now. The Spirit is our assurance that we can know, understand, and apply the truth about Jesus. So when we hear true testimony, when people give true witness to Jesus, then the Holy Spirit is present, supporting that message, using that message to convict people of sin and bringing comfort from that message to those in need. When we speak the truth about Jesus, the Holy Spirit is present giving power to that truth. 

Unexpected

Have you ever experienced an unexpected life changing event in your faith journey? Did you sprint to take action to remedy this interruption in your life plans? Something like this happened to Joseph, Mary's husband. “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’” Matt. 1:20 (NIV) One key to this verse is, "after he had considered this." What had happed to him was beyond unfortunate, but Joseph did not act hastily. Why would God allow this to happen to him, a law abiding man? He had waited so long, been so faithful. How could she do this terrible thing? I trusted her; now she can’t even admit the truth, to me. As Joseph thought it over, and according to their law, putting her away was the best way to handle the sticky situation. Then, his plans were interrupted again. “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit’” (Matt. 1:20). Hmm, this still didn't make any sense. Apparently, Joseph had not acted immediately upon his impulse, but had created time and space in his life to hear from God. Through the angel’s message, Joseph discovered things were not really as they appeared. Though others would not understand the why behind his decision, Joseph would keep moving forward and make Mary his wife. This baby growing in Mary was part of God’s miraculous plan. The Son of God was coming to save us from our sin. So despite whatever fears Joseph may have felt, he chose to trust God’s plan. Life on earth is messy and very unpredictable. Returning to the first question, have you ever experienced an unexpected life changing event in your life? Perhaps there has been a time, as a Christian, you sensed a move God wanted you to make, the Holy Spirit was prompting you. But, it didn’t make sense to others, or maybe it didn’t even make sense to you? Yet, you trusted the Holy Spirit knew what He was doing. Now you look back and see the Spirit’s faithfulness to help you as you took one right step after another. Was Mary surprised by the actions of John the Baptist’s mother? Joseph and Mary’s took tedious steps to Bethlehem. more and more people knew their plight. Did they fully understand? No, they probably didn’t understand all of God’s plan, yet they chose to go the way He had revealed so far. Later, Mary is said to treasure these things in her heart. Unlike Joseph, we may not have an angelic dream, but we can resolve to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance regardless of the opposition.

Trust

 Trust is sometimes a difficult feeling to develop. It is a feeling and it is one that begins with something from each person’s past and grows in some direction, either greater or lesser depending on words and actions experienced by each person. Some people have an approach of trusting anyone until they do something or say something to break that feeling of trust. Others, usually due to past broken events of trust, are very cautious to allow trust to develop. A large part of developing trust is the perceived risk in some way to a person’s safety and security. When two individuals meet or come in contact, each needs to develop a sense of acceptance and expectation of the other. This is sometimes most clearly visualized in children. The ultimate example is found in Jesus. What kind of trust must He have had when, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil," Matt. 4:1 (ESV). There is a story about a man and his dog. Through time spent together, the dog trusted his master completely. In this story, the man was in a room in which the dog had never entered. When the door was opened, the dog sprang without hesitation to his master. The presence of his master overpowered any unforeseen dangers. Another story is told about a Father attempting to get his daughter to jump into his arms while he was standing in a swimming pool. While the little girl trusted her dad, his surroundings terrified her; she was afraid of something damaging her. Undoubtedly, she had been in bathtubs before, but this water source seemed much larger and more dangerous. She had done new things her Dad had asked her to do before, but this was different somehow. Her feelings of self-preservation overpowered the trust she felt for her dad. Although she had water rings on her arms, she needed coaxing and encouragement to take the step toward trusting her dad and setting aside her sense of self-preservation. When she set them aside an trusted her Dad, everything turned out fine and she enjoyed playing the water with him. Sometimes, our trust overpowers our our sense of self preservation. These are two examples of entities depending on trust. Trust allows us to move past unknowns and insecurities into better relationships with God and the Holy Spirit. It is true, there are many things about God, the Holy Spirit we are not capable of understanding. But is we read scripture and learn to trust Him, we should not be afraid to step forward when we understand He requests it. Whether we think of the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit as one greater than us, LORD, in Proverbs 3:5 applies, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding". (NLT)

See, hear, act

Sometimes one can find themselves opposed by a person or group of people whose objections make little rational sense. When these times are driven by emotional opinions and diatribes, they may be little that can be done to make one’s rebuttal. These times can display an attachment to present satisfactions with no concern about future implications. Paul once found himself in such a position with those who were attached to the Jewish law in efforts to please God. Instead of presenting a united case against what Paul was saying, they began disagreeing and arguing with one another. In such a situation, there is little more to be gained with rational discussion until calm can be gained. In this discussion, the people began to leave the discussion. Because of his concern about his ethnic brothers, Paul made a final statement to prompt them: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: “‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”- Acts 28:25-26 (ESV) This should prompt us to realize that many times the things God says through the Holy Spirit are not easily grasped. God’s ways are not the  ways we might readily accept. While God’s ways are ultimately best; adopting them may take some time to fully integrate them into our practices. We must attempt to grasp God’s word and rely on it for our actions. We must “see” it, or realize it; we must “hear” it, or put it into practice.

Hated

 Generally, people do not like to be corrected, that is, revealing their wrongs and guiding them to better practices. This is rejection, non acceptance. Bible students can be quick to point out that in scripture, "hated" may really means "loved less."This is highlighted in God's example of Jacob and Essau (Mal. 1:3; Rom. 9:13). However, in some cases nonspiritual "hated" means more than "loved less." And with such opinions come ramifications. [Jesus said,] "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause,’" - Jn. 15:18-25 (ESV). Jesus makes a profound observation in this passage which is, if He had not come to clearly explain their sin, the people could not be held accountable. Because Jesus was rejected, his disciples will also be rejected to various extents. Today, when Jesus' disciples follow His instructions to take the faith with them “as they go” (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 8:4), they may not face rousing welcome, but face rejection or persecution, hardship, and hatred because of their faith. They need to know that they are not alone. Heb. 12:1 speaks of believers being surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. Further, confident believers need to realize it is not them personally being rejected, but because they stand for Jesus’ principles they are rejecting these and being distanced. Jesus also faced these things as did other Christians before us have faced these things. Believers are accompanied by a God who lives inside them via His Holy Spirit and promises never to leave them or forsake them. Jesus' disciples must not take their mistreatment and persecution personally; they're not being rejected, but God, His will, and His grace are being rejected. As Jesus' disciples, we need to be faithful, and our testimony will affect other people in some way. Hopefully, because of our faithful actions, others will share the victory crown of life that awaits us!

Witnesses

 Every day our lives, we display a witness of something, whether joys or tragedies. In most cases, we can choose what that witness will be by deciding how to act, or attempt to act. When adapting our response to the things that happen around us and to us, we must remember that we have experienced God's saving work and are experiencing sanctification. We have been adopted as His children. We have the Holy Spirit living within us and can expect a mighty deliverance in the future. When we consider these blessings, how can we remain silent? Our lives will testify to our trust in His guidance. Yes, we experience daily challenges, but contemplating our present status via being indwelt by God, the Holy Spirit and our future home, should overpower feelings of discouragement, bitterness, or pessimism. We need to display our confidence in the God who raised Jesus from physical death. He is our Savior and he has set in us a deposit, promising to always love us. We should remember that besides the Holy Spirit inside us, Hebrews 12 reminds us we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses for our encouragement and 1 Peter 2 reminds us that we are here as witnesses to "declare the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light." And Isaiah also reminds us about Jesus, "I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.  I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.” - Isa. 43:11-12 (ESV).