Messages from Above devotional 2012

Week 5 - The Trinity - The Holy Spirit

Week 5 - The Trinity - The Holy Spirit

Day 1 

Matthew 3: 16 'And Jesus, when he was baptised, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.'

We all have choices to make, every single day we are faced with innumerable choices, whether to wake up when the alarm clock rings, what to wear, whether to pray, what to eat, the list is endless. Each choice we make has a consequence some we don't notice straight away, so we do. If we want to make good decisions we need to rely on God and listen to what He has to say to us. In the bible Jesus promised to leave His Spirit, the comforter with us, to lead us the same way the Holy spirit lead Him while He was on Earth.

Before Jesus begun His ministry, he was baptised and the Holy Spirit came to live in Him. Many people don't understand the importance of the Holy Spirit, but in a world that is filled with chaos and evil, we all need the Holy Spirit to come and live in each one of our hearts just as Jesus did.

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 Day 2 'Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me'

In this day and age it is very easy to feel isolated, or out of place. One must keep up with latest fashions, lingo (which isn't even in anymore), houses, cars etc. Many people will do whatever it takes to get what they feel it is they want. 

The story is told of a minister who kept preaching to his congregation about the joys of having wealth. He would tell them of all the vast wealth he had and what they could have if only they sowed a seed in his ministry of X-thousand amount of dollars. Jim a member of the congregation, could really use some extra money and he wanted to receive this blessing, so he prayed to God to provide a means for him to get that money. The next sunday the minister continued his message of the prosperity gospel and he said that God wants to see people of faith use their actions and do whatever it takes to get the money. This message continued for a number of weeks all the while Jim was in the congregation listening. Every day his mind was just focused on getting the money, so one day he decided that he would get the money by hook or by crook. So early he set out and waited for people to go to work and he robbed a number of houses and collected enough to sow in the ministry. When he did so the pastor gave him a book called how to get rich quick worth $26. He said to the pastor 'do you know what I had to do to get this money and this is what you give me?' The minister replied 'it is simple enough if you are that greedy then there must be a price to pay'

Poor old Jim and the Minister both need the spirit of Psalm 51 where David asked God to create in him a clean heart and to renew a righteous spirit in him, he then went on to ask that the holy spirit be not removed from him, so he could remain in the presence of God.

In life when we take God out of the picture we can go to some pretty low places, we need to ask the holy spirit to come into our hearts daily, so we can do what is right.

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Day 3

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 1 Corinthians 12:7-8 Adesh was a young boy who grew up in India, his family were christians and kept a Jewish Sabbath. So every week when all the other students would be studying during Sabbath hours, Adesh would be at church or praying with the family. When exam season came around Adesh saw that one of his exams finished during sabbath hours, so he had a 3hour exam and half the time was in sabbath so he spoke to the teacher, who knew about his situation but said to him that there is nothing we can do you'll have to finish the exam early. Adesh went home and prayed to God that everything he studied he would remember and that God would help him answer all the questions he needed to pass. So the day of the exam came and all of the students were sat in the hall ready to take the exam, when Adesh opened the paper he was so happy to see all the questions that he knew how to answer, so he wrote as fast as he could and was just about able to finish the whole paper. When the results came out, the teacher was so surprised that Adesh had managed to get full marks on the paper. When he asked Adesh how he managed to finish the paper, Adesh replied ' my God is all powerful, all-knowing and he is faithful to His children, He has given me His spirit to excel in everything I do.' This is a wonderful testimony of what the Spirit of God can help us to do if we put everything in the hands of God. He can help even in the bleakest of situations. 

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Day 4 

'Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.' Matthew 12:32

Forgiveness. One of the central points of the Christian faith. The idea that a person who does what is wrong comes to God and asks for forgiveness. Which if done with a sincere heart is granted. Accepts Jesus and is given eternal life. The thought that no matter how many times one may fall they may return to the Lord, Proverbs 24: 16. So how then can the bible say that a Sin against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable, shouldn't this be an out of character statement from God? When we look at the role of the Holy Spirit it is possible to see that the main function of the Holy Spirit is to work on each and everyone of our hearts and to prompt us to make that step towards Jesus, the step of change and the step towards total surrender. When someone says that they don't need God or that they'd rather just have fun now and die later, it's like saying that not only do they not care about the sacrifice that God has given but they're also not willing to make a change no matter how the Spirit may try to help them change. When a person makes this stand, they have completely turned their backs on God and they have closed their own probation. What a sad position to choose. I admonish everyone to examine their lives and really think about what they want their eternal destiny to be.

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Day 5 

'Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.' 1 John4:1

I once watched a movie in which there was a young man who was extremely bright, he had a natural flair for science. Also in his class was another student who too, was considered talented but he used to memorise everything that was written and recite it for the exams. He didn't understand the concepts of science. One day a number of boys decided to play a prank on this young man. He had a very important speech coming up in a language which was not familiar to him. So when someone had written the speech they swapped it for another, which to say the least wasn't the politest of speeches. This young man went up and gave the speech which insulted all the board and the student president. He was in severe trouble and was actually made to think about what he was memorising in the future. 

Sometimes as christians we are just like this young man, everything we are told we just accept we never think to read the scriptures for ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to impress God's will upon our hearts so we can live fulfilled lives for Him. The chapter of 1 John 4 goes on to talk about how the Spirit of God will testify of Jesus. This goes to show that when you hear messages about self- glorification, the gain of riches and wealth, earthly possessions and even salvation by works to not preach the about the saving power of Jesus and these we are told are not of the Holy Spirit.

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Day 6 - Our mission on Earth

'The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;' Isaiah 61:1

The book of Isaiah 61, really shows the life of a Christian person once the Spirit of God is living in their hearts. A truly converted person will be telling others the good news of Jesus to everyone, our message is not one of despair and doom and gloom. Our message should be one of hope, one of the eternal joy and bliss available to one who will accept Jesus as their own personal saviour. Think about it, most people like to invest their time in things they feel will bring positive results. Why then do we sometimes, present our faith as the worst thing going?

It's time for us as Christians and believers to take the Lord at His word and invite the Spirit of God to come into our hearts to work in our lives and help us to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.