Pilgrim Heart

The Purpose of the Power

Here's a great quote from Bill Johnson from his book "When Heaven Invades Earth" (p111). This book is one of the best I've read on the Kingdom of God. Why not visit his church's website or buy the book.

Many believe his power exists only to help us ovecome sin. This understanding stops very short of the Father's intent for us to become witnesses of another world. Doesn't it seem strange that our whole Christian life should be focussed on overcoming something that has already been defeated? Sin and its nature have been yanked out by the roots. Many constantly call out to God for more power to live in victory. What more can he do for us? If his death wasn't enough, what else is there? That battle had already been fought and won! Is it possible that the process of constantly bringing up these issues dealt with by the blood is what has actually given life to those issues?

Many in the Church are camped on the wrong side of the Cross. The apostle Paul spoke to this issue when he said, "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 6:11). The word reckon points to our need to change our minds. I don't need power to overcome something if I'm dead to it. But I do need power for boldness for the miraculous and for the impossible.

Part of our problem is this: we are accustomed only to doing things for God that are not impossible. If God doesn't show up and help us, we can still succeed. There must be an aspect of the Christian life that is impoosible without divine intervention. That keeps us on the edge and puts us in contact with our true calling.

Trinitarian Patterns in Scripture 6

"Peter, and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you." (1 Peter 1:1-2)

Here's another quite obvious trinitarian reference, but I was struck by the activity of the united Godhead in this opening blessing from Peter: it is to do with the readers' (and of course) our election.

Peter says we are elect exiles - that it our calling as God's elect, to live as exiles in this world because we belong to another. We have come to be the elect people of God because the Father foreknew us - and that means so much more that just he knew ahead of time: it means that in his great purpose for all creation he has deliberately planned for and chosen us!

We are also elect in the sanctification of the Spirit - we are brought into a process by and of the Spirit by which he is transforming us to be just like Jesus. There is something bigger here to. The Spirit has always been about sanctifying God's creation - even when all creation was "good" it was still immature and therefore in need of transformation. After the fall there was need also for the purging of sin and its effects from creation. Mankind posed such opposition to this work of the Spirit that God said, "My Spirit shall not contend with man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." And a little later, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the earth." (Gen 7:3,7). God's solution was to create a new heavens and a new earth (see 2 Peter 3) through the flood and to repopulate the world through Noah and his family.

The Spirit of God continues to work throughout history not just in sanctifying individuals but in transforming creation so the the glory of the Lord may be seen. It is into this ongoing work of the Spirit that we have been elected: the transformation and glorification of the world through the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Finally we find the why of our election it is "for obedience to Jesus Christ". It is to bring us under his rule and to form a people who will express the Kingdom of God in every aspect of life.

"May grace and peace be multiplied to you." Amen!

Trinitarian Patterns in Scripture 5

Through him [Jesus] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 2:18

Paul is talking about the gospel being to the Gentiles and the Jews (hence "both"). What we find here again is the synergy of the persons of the Godhead and their inseparability when it comes to the life of believers: we come to the Father through the Son and in the Spirit.

"Through Jesus" and "in the Spirit" are phrases that occur again and again in the NT particularly in the context of worship. For example we worship "in Spirit and in truth" (John 4:24) and "through him [Jesus] let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God" (Hebrews 13:15).

Our only access to the Father is through Jesus and in the Spirit. Praise God that the way that is open through Jesus will never be closed to us (Hebrews 9:8, 10:20) and so long as the Spirit of God dwells in you, you will be in the Spirit (Romans 8:9) - so our way to the Father can never be blocked!

Trinitarian Patterns in Scripture 4

This one is a little less obvious, it comes from one of Paul's majestic apostolic prayers:

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe..." (Ephesians 1:16-19)

Here we find the Trinity working in concert to bring the people of God into a fuller reality of the gospel. "Our Lord Jesus Christ", "the Father of glory" and "spirit of wisdom and revelation" work together in a wonderful way. Don't be put off by the non-capitalising of spirit, the whole NT was written in uppercase, so in making a distinction we are doing more than the original text does, and "Spirit of wisdom and understanding" is an OT title of the Holy Spirit (see Isaiah 11:2).

Then we find that the working of God in revelation that Paul prays for is itself three-fold: it is a revelation of Hope, Inheritance and Power.

Hope is to do with our destiny: our destiny is eternity with the Father. Inheritance is to do with the New Covenant by which we are co-heirs with Jesus Christ to all the blessings of heaven and the new creation. Power is for living life today and is the unstoppable consequence of the Holy Spirit living within us.

Hallelujah!

Trinitarian Patterns in Scripture 1

I am sure that most Christians will agree that God is revealed to us through his Word. Whilst I have no time for bible codes, sometimes there are deeper layers to the revelation of Scripture, for example the significance of different numbers or the various forms of parallelism in the OT.

One of these slightly "under the surface" aspects of Scripture seems to me to be the trinitarian nature of some passages. Paul is the most obvious in this way with scriptures such as:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6)

Here we see the unity of the work of the Spirit, Lord (Son) and God (Father). This emphasis in the unity of work and purpose of Father, Son and Spirit are of great importance to us today when many Christians seem to have 3 Gods rather than one, where as the Bible says:

"Here O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One!" (Deut 6:4)

I plan several short posts showing some of these trinitarian passages and what they reveal about the oneness of our wonderful God!

The Messiah and the Seven-fold Spirit

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. (Isaiah 11:1-2)

Jesus conducted his earthly ministry in the power and under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. When the Bible wishes to emphasise the fulness of the Holy Spirit, he is called the sevenfold-Spirit or Seven Spirits of God. Jesus himself claimed to have "the seven spirits of God" (Rev 3:1).

In this prophecy of Isaiah we see that the promised Messiah would have an anointing of the seven-fold Spirit; this is how the Holy Spirit is described; he is...

• The Spirit of YHWH - the true Spirit of the Eternal God, the Spirit who is God
• The Spirit of wisdom
• The Spirit of understanding
• The Spirit of counsel
• The Spirit of might
• The Spirit of knowledge
• The Spirit of the fear of the Lord

This is the same Holy Spirit with whom we are filled today; and so we can expect him to impart of these things to us: Spirit to spirit! What an awesome God!

The Desires of the Spirit

I've had a couple of days away waiting on God. I spent quite a bit of the time meditating on the first 3 chapters of Ezekiel. I was stuck by the relationship between the Living Creatures and the Spirit. First we read...

"...wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went." [Ezek 1:12]

This made me think of our relationship to the Holy Spirit - do I go everywhere the Spirit goes, and do I do so without allowing myself to be distracted, without turning?

A few verses later there is a similar statement, but with a subtle difference...

"...wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went..." [Ezek 1:20]

Now we need to see that the Holy Spirit has desires, he wants things. Oh to know the desires of the Holy Spirit and to go in response to them. Oh to feel the desires the Holy Spirit feels and to follow them, going in the perfect will of God.

This will change the way I pray, not only to pray "Lord what do you want me to do, where do you want me to go," but "what do you desire today - Lord let me know and feel your desires!"

Filled With The Holy Spirit

God never asks us to do something he doesn't enable us to do! So when the Word says, "be filled with the Holy Spirit" (Eph 5:18) then we can be confident that the Word also tells us how to do it! Being filled with the Spirit is enjoying a constant dynamic relationship with the Holy Spirit - experiencing him flowing and welling up within us.

So here are 7 ways to be filled with the Holy Spirit:

1. Worship Together (Eph 5:19a)
2. Worship Alone (Eph 5:19b)
3. Give thanks always (Eph 5:20)
4. Submit to one another (Eph 5:21)
5. Ask God (Acts 4:23ff)
6. Speak in tongues (1 Cor 14:2-4, Jude 20)
7. Live on the edge (Acts 4:8, 7:55, 13:9, 13:50ff)

The Real God Channel

I had a great weekend with my friend Arne Skagen from Norway. He came with me and the children to watch the mighty Coventry City beat Sheffield United 2-0!

The main reason Arne was with us (as if watching the Sky Blues was not reason enough!) was to help equip the church in evangelism and following the lead of the Holy Spirit. At one point he refered to the Holy Spirit working through us as "the real God channel" - to quote a famous Norwegian phrase, "I like dat!"

Why not have a look at Arne's blog - there are some great stories on there of what God is doing around the world.

Praying to the Holy Spirit cont...

Well thanks to Chris and Todd for their comments on praying to the Holy Spirit. I posted it because of a great insight I heard last Thursday evening in a cell meeting in Coventry. One of our wonderful Coventry folk, Alison, said, "well I don't pray to the Holy Spirit face to face."

This statement got my attention, Alison went on to explain, "I'm yoked to the Holy Spirit so we are looking in the same direction."

We'd been discussing the fact the the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has called us into a partnership with him to see God's purposes achieved. This fits so well with him being the Paraclete, the One Who Comes Alongside us: our Counsellor, Comforter, Guide, Partner. Partnership with the Holy Spirit is an awesome concept, and not to be taken lightly, but is what I believe we are called to in the purposes of God!