If you give a mouse a cookie....are you familiar with these children's books?? Well if not, each of the books in this series is about giving a character one thing and it leading to another thing and another thing and another. How this worked out in my life began several years ago when Rachel Landolt introduced me to an author, Ruth Hailey Barton. She has put together an organization called The Transforming Center and I receive their eReflections email. (You can sign up for free, too.) This weeks eRelection email newsletter is about Staying Awake Spiritually.
The Transforming Center puts out a schedule of verses to read during the time called Advent. I have not really known much about Advent. But I enjoy anything that might be used as a tool to enhance my experience with God, His Son and Spirit. So Daniel and I enjoyed reading the first verses this morning. There are a set for each of the four Sundays before Christmas, some for Christmas Eve and some for Christmas Day. The Transforming Center encourages the process of reading, lectio divina, and I will let you investigate that. Very interesting and very helpful in our spiritual formation. It is all a process and don't let it overwhelm you. Take it a little at a time and enjoy all that God has for you.
Mattew 24:44...the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Enjoy this time on earth as we all expect and wait for Jesus to return and reflect on when He was here in the likeness of men.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
My Spiral
After listening and taking notes on my second lesson about the Holy Spirit I have wanted to take the spiral everywhere I go so I can share what I have learned. The lesson mainly dealt with the fact that the Holy Spirit has been here from the very beginning and then took a front seat in our lives as He was sent to each of us.
After writing this post three times, I have had a hard time really explaining what were new thoughts and why it spoke to me. So I will try once more and see what comes. I had read the verses about the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle, Exodus 40:34, and about the glory of the Lord filling the house of the Lord (temple) in I Kings 8:11. The insight that when we come to Christ that the Holy Spirit lives in me was a teaching that seems to have come way back in college probably. But to think that at one time the plan was for God's presence to be in tabernacles and temples and that NOW the Spirit fills us as His temple was just refreshing. What a powerful thought, God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit doesn't want to be in a bldg. He wants to be in such close contact with me, He dwells within me. WOW!!
Again, I have thought about how powerful Jesus is and yet not noticed that the Spirit was mentioned in scripture so much as Jesus lived here as man!
Jesus is anointed with the Spirit and with power by God, Acts 10:38
Jesus had been conceived by the Holy Spirit Luke 1:35
Jesus begins to baptize with the Holy Spirit Matt 3:11
Jesus' blood through the Holy Spirit offers Himself to God so we can be cleansed Hebrews 9:14
Jesus was raised by the Holy Spirit from the dead, Romans 8:11
Jesus gave orders to the apostles by the Holy Spirit, Acts 1:1-2
Chris Seidman mentions that "we get that Jesus makes me whole and forgives me and I get to go to Heaven, but do we understand and act on the fact that the Spirit comes before we die and is transforming us NOW, before we go to Heaven." He points out that the big deal in Acts 2:38 isn't Heaven, it is the forgiveness of sin and the promise of the HOLY SPIRIT. We are distinguished as His people because we have the Spirit.
After writing this post three times, I have had a hard time really explaining what were new thoughts and why it spoke to me. So I will try once more and see what comes. I had read the verses about the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle, Exodus 40:34, and about the glory of the Lord filling the house of the Lord (temple) in I Kings 8:11. The insight that when we come to Christ that the Holy Spirit lives in me was a teaching that seems to have come way back in college probably. But to think that at one time the plan was for God's presence to be in tabernacles and temples and that NOW the Spirit fills us as His temple was just refreshing. What a powerful thought, God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit doesn't want to be in a bldg. He wants to be in such close contact with me, He dwells within me. WOW!!
Again, I have thought about how powerful Jesus is and yet not noticed that the Spirit was mentioned in scripture so much as Jesus lived here as man!
Chris Seidman mentions that "we get that Jesus makes me whole and forgives me and I get to go to Heaven, but do we understand and act on the fact that the Spirit comes before we die and is transforming us NOW, before we go to Heaven." He points out that the big deal in Acts 2:38 isn't Heaven, it is the forgiveness of sin and the promise of the HOLY SPIRIT. We are distinguished as His people because we have the Spirit.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Come!
Revelation 22:17
"The Spirit and the bride say, "Come " And let the one who hears say, "Come " And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost."
I'm listening to Chris Seidman's lessons on the Holy Spirit and I love listening to some new thoughts and seeing verses new as if I have never seen them before. This verse in Revelation, I had never noticed the Spirit along with the Bride (us, the church) both say COME!
Do you think of the Spirit being God manifested on earth at this time? What we think of the Spirit will effect how powerful He will work in our life. Jesus did leave and when he left he said, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:16-18
As we become Christians we receive the Spirit. The Spirit was there in the beginning Genesis 1:1-2, the name for God in verse one is Elohim - a plural form of God, meaning the Father, Son, and Spirit were there. I had understood that but beyond the story of creation I had not really noticed that the Spirit was mentioned as "US". Two examples of "US" are in Genesis 11:7 and Isaiah 6:8. Of course in the NT the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are mentioned in Matt 28:19. So the concept of there being three in one is a teaching in the Bible. We may see it as a mystery and some use the word Trinity (although that word isn't in the Bible). God's ways are different than ours and we only know impart at this time.
Chris Seidman encourages his student to not think of the Spirit as God's intern or a step down on the ladder from God. The Holy Spirit is God. He uses these verse:
Colosians 2:9 "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (all 3).
I Corinthian 6:19 "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?"
Ephesians 2:22 "in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit"
I John 3:24 "The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us."
Acts 5:3-4 "But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit ... You have not lied to men but to God." They are referred to as the same.
All of these tell how God is relating to us now through the Spirit. The Father and Son are present, but right now on earth God relates to us through the Spirit who lives in His people.
The Holy Spirit will always lead us closer to Jesus and the Father.
The Holy Spirit will lead us to unity. In my past there were times I felt that some people wanted to speak of the Spirit and some wanted to only use the name of God or Jesus. Satan wants us to not speak of the Spirit. Understanding the difference between His power and the person that the Spirit is will help me grow. There is no division of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. The Spirit will draw us closer to one another as we share who the Spirit is, it's like talking about God, He is God!!
"The Spirit and the bride say, "Come " And let the one who hears say, "Come " And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost."
I'm listening to Chris Seidman's lessons on the Holy Spirit and I love listening to some new thoughts and seeing verses new as if I have never seen them before. This verse in Revelation, I had never noticed the Spirit along with the Bride (us, the church) both say COME!
Do you think of the Spirit being God manifested on earth at this time? What we think of the Spirit will effect how powerful He will work in our life. Jesus did leave and when he left he said, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:16-18
As we become Christians we receive the Spirit. The Spirit was there in the beginning Genesis 1:1-2, the name for God in verse one is Elohim - a plural form of God, meaning the Father, Son, and Spirit were there. I had understood that but beyond the story of creation I had not really noticed that the Spirit was mentioned as "US". Two examples of "US" are in Genesis 11:7 and Isaiah 6:8. Of course in the NT the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are mentioned in Matt 28:19. So the concept of there being three in one is a teaching in the Bible. We may see it as a mystery and some use the word Trinity (although that word isn't in the Bible). God's ways are different than ours and we only know impart at this time.
Chris Seidman encourages his student to not think of the Spirit as God's intern or a step down on the ladder from God. The Holy Spirit is God. He uses these verse:
Colosians 2:9 "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (all 3).
I Corinthian 6:19 "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?"
Ephesians 2:22 "in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit"
I John 3:24 "The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us."
Acts 5:3-4 "But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit ... You have not lied to men but to God." They are referred to as the same.
All of these tell how God is relating to us now through the Spirit. The Father and Son are present, but right now on earth God relates to us through the Spirit who lives in His people.
The Holy Spirit will always lead us closer to Jesus and the Father.
The Holy Spirit will lead us to unity. In my past there were times I felt that some people wanted to speak of the Spirit and some wanted to only use the name of God or Jesus. Satan wants us to not speak of the Spirit. Understanding the difference between His power and the person that the Spirit is will help me grow. There is no division of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. The Spirit will draw us closer to one another as we share who the Spirit is, it's like talking about God, He is God!!
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