God Restores our Soul

Our whole being finds fulfillment only in the everlasting arms of our Lord God. His love is better than anything that life on this earth provides (Psalm 63:3); and we cannot help but lift up our hands in praise to Him as we glorify Him with our every thought, word and deed.

Through His salvation, He satisfies our soul and makes us secure in this sin-filled world (Psalm 23:3-4; 63:1-5). Our spirit is no longer dead in sin, but dances through life, alive in Christ forevermore. We bathe in His love, rest in His peace and sing because of His joy in us, as He rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).

Our fellowship with Him is in perfect and complete harmony and unity due to His mercy, love and grace (1 John 4:19). We walk in His light and enjoy fellowship with His Body now and throughout eternity (1 John 1:7).

Clinging to our pride and rebellion, our addictions and our insecurities only brings us trouble and devastation; but surrendering all to Jesus gives us the faith and security to thrive in this war-torn world.

When we reach out to Jesus, turn away from our sinful lifestyle and submit to His authority in our life, we find satisfaction and healing in His love. God heals our pain associated with all of our relationships, even those filled with disappointment and trauma.

He helps us to humble our self and to reconcile with those in our life that caused us pain. We forgive one another and bless each other with God's encouragement and love.

God's perfect love is what our soul longs for and that which heals our broken heart and drenches us like a waterfall in this discouraging and broken society. We live as sojourners and pilgrims until He is ready to take us home with Him for eternity.

Prayer:

Father God, You created us so that our eyes are the windows of our soul. We often answer glibly when someone asks us how we are, because we know they do not really have time to hear our honest answer, nor are most of them concerned with how we really feel. Help us to look into each other's eyes and to see the true feelings emanating from them, to take time to really listen, and to show concern and ask how we may help to improve each other's lot in this life.

Remind us that we have to start by taking a searching inventory of our self in order to understand exactly how we do feel. What does our spirit need to grow in Your grace? How is our body and soul - our thoughts and feelings, which affect our choices? You are patient with us, and Your kindness is everlasting. You love us beyond words. You strengthen us and shower us with so many blessings that those who know us stand in awe of You (Psalm 86:15).

Thought for the Day:

Our success in this dark and pain-filled life comes from trusting in God alone to help us to live victoriously over the evils present all around us; as we call on Him to empower us, so that we can keep a daily, vigilant watch over our body, soul and spirit; this enables us to live serenely in His everlasting arms.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is referred to as the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit bears witness that Jesus was born and died. He is the Spirit of truth. The Father, the Word and the Spirit are all one (1 John 5:6-7). The Spirit directed the pen of the authors of God’s Word (2 Peter 1:21). In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us to know all things (1 John 2:20). This allows us to keep God’s commandments, so that we can dwell in Him and Jesus dwells in us by His Spirit (1 John 3:24, 4:13).

Everyone who confesses that Jesus Christ is God who came in the flesh as the sacrifice for our sins does so only by the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God (1 John 4:2). God dwells in the spirit of every Born Again Believer by His Spirit  (Luke 11:13; John 7:38-39; Acts 2:38). God gives us His Spirit as a down payment of all that He has in store for us (Ephesians 1:12-14). By the Spirit, we have access to God the Father. The Spirit is building us, the Saints, together as a dwelling place for God (Ephesians 2:18, 22).

The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil as soon as he was baptized (Matthew 4:1), but Jesus used the Word of God to resist the devil (Matthew 4:2-11). He calls us to follow His example when we are tempted. The Spirit also leads us to obey God, in order to prepare us for what lies ahead in our life (Acts 13:2,4). Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit of God and proved that the Kingdom of God was then present on the earth (Matthew 12:28).

God anointed certain individuals in the Old Testament to enjoy the depth of the Spirit that every Believer has access to today. David valued his relationship with God so much that when he sinned, he pleaded with God not to remove His presence or to take His Spirit from him. He requested that God restore to him the joy of his salvation and to lift him up by His Spirit (Psalms 51:11-12). David also spoke by the Holy Spirit (Mark 12:36). 

When Israel rebelled against God, they vexed God’s Holy Spirit so much that He turned into their enemy and actually fought against them. But then they remembered the days of old, and how God helped them to cross the Red Sea. Therefore, they asked God to put His Holy Spirit within them again (Isaiah 63:10-11). By the Holy Spirit, God conceived Jesus in Mary (Luke 1:35). When Joseph assumed that Mary had an affair, the Lord calmed him and confirmed the truth to him that Jesus came from the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-20).

John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit of God from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:1). His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied (Luke 1:67). The Holy Spirit was upon Simeon, a devout man of Jerusalem. The Spirit revealed to him that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Christ, and this came to pass when Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple (Luke 2:25-27).

God baptizes us with water, the Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11; John 3:5-6; Acts 11:15-16). At salvation, we are baptized with the Spirit (Romans 8:9). Then we follow Jesus’ example with water baptism (Matthew 3:15-16). The baptism of fire often refers to trials, which God sees each Believer through. The Spirit of God is also represented as fire, because He enlightens and energizes our soul, penetrating our deepest recesses of spirit and soul and transforming us into the image of Christ (John 3:5).

When we come to God for salvation, His Spirit moves into our life (Romans 8:9). This happened to Jesus when John baptized Him (Matthew 3:16-17). From then on, Jesus did not speak His own words, but only that which the Spirit of God spoke through Him (Matthew 10:20). Jesus commissions every believer to go into all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit  (Matthew 28:19). Jesus teaches us that when we encounter persecution, the Spirit of God will speak through us also (Mark 13:11; Luke 12:12).

Jesus said, that if He did not go away, then the Holy Spirit could not come to Believers (John 16:7). He departed and sent the Holy Spirit to us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, comforts us and abides with us forever. He is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive; and He leads us into all truth. He shows us things that are to come, teaches us all things and brings them to our remembrance when we need them. He reveals sin, righteousness, and judgment. He glorifies Jesus and not Himself (John 14:16-17, 15:26, 16:7-14). (More about the Spirit in tomorrow’s post on this blog).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit came to the disciples in the upper room and filled them with Himself, and they spoke in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:2-4, 4:8, 31, 10:44-47). Then they went about praying for others to receive the Holy Spirit as well, and they spread the gospel into the regions all around them (Acts 8:15-19, 9:31, 11:24, 15:28, 16:6-7, 19:2-6). Your words were fulfilled when You gave commandments to Your chosen apostles through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:2). Give us this same filling of Your Spirit and allow us to follow Your disciples’ example.

Thought for the Day:

The Holy Spirit gives power to Believers everywhere to bear witness about Christ in our family, city, state, nation and the world (Acts 1:8, 5:32).