It's not enough to exist with the belief that The Father and the Son are first and the Holy Spirit is secondary. They are equal and work in harmony with each other. The uniqueness of the Holy Spirit is His presence within us. Jesus said before he ascended to heaven that the Holy Spirit would come and dwell within us as a believer. With that, He empowers us to live victoriously for the cause of Christ and glory of the Father.
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11) “The Holy Spirit illuminates the minds of people, makes us yearn for God, and takes spiritual truth and makes it understandable to us.” –Billy Graham. The Holy Spirit is a beautiful and powerful part of who God is. We need Him in our life as a conduit to become who God created us to be, and through His power we have aid in all situations. Without Him, we are powerless. Who is the Holy Spirit? Our first encounter with the Holy Spirit is when He convicts us of our sin, shows us that none of us can live up to the righteousness of Jesus, and reveals to us the judgment that is coming to those without a Savior (John 16:8-11). As we repent, confess our sins and receive the gift of Salvation the Holy Spirit regenerates our dead inner human spirit which now becomes sensitive to the spiritual things of God (John 3:1-16; Acts 2:38). There is a second work of the Holy Spirit when He baptizes a believer (Acts 2:1-4). It's available to all (Acts 2:39) and a gift of empowerment, helping the believer to live a holy life. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Helper, we become more like Jesus and are directed to do the Father's will. Furthermore, the gift is primarily for the empowerment to witness to others (Acts 1:8). We are encouraged to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us up on a regular basis. When you feel depleted or need strength, ask Him to replenish you (Ephesians 5:18).
It's not enough to exist with the belief that The Father and the Son are first and the Holy Spirit is secondary. They are equal and work in harmony with each other. The uniqueness of the Holy Spirit is His presence within us. Jesus said before he ascended to heaven that the Holy Spirit would come and dwell within us as a believer. With that, He empowers us to live victoriously for the cause of Christ and glory of the Father.
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“And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt #glorify me.” Rest in full assurance! Life if full of struggles and tribulations. The #goodnews is, in Jesus we always have another shot.. our mediator, the reaching hand, the #savior who pulls us out of the darkness if we call on him! But first, we need #faith that he will sustain us. like the #butterfly emerging from the cocoon, Lent can be a time of #transformation. The butterfly symbolism focuses on representation of our life. The butterfly has a deep connection with the soul and it's spiritual meaning deeply resonates with Christian belief of #ascension in addition to creativity, changes, pulsing joy, endless potential, transformation, and #spiritual rebirth. The butterfly meaning and the concept of the symbolism take root from the cycle of the butterfly life. The cycle itself defines the spiritual meaning of the butterfly and provides a lot of insight. The butterfly births from an egg and initiates life in the form of a caterpillar then retreats into a chrysalis or pupa and undergoes a major transformation therein. When it reemerges from the chrysalis, we see a vibrant, colorful, and gorgeously winged butterfly. This butterfly transformation process closely depicts how our spiritual transformation must process too. When we undergo a spiritual transformation, we retreat from the outer world into our inner being. We must let the cocoon of prayers surround us as we meditate, ponder upon scripture and literature. Just as the butterfly awakens and is ready to fly after transforming, we too must #emerge after being reborn and refined into a new being. Indeed an awakening to glorify!"
The Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot as it’s known in Hebrew, is a God-ordained feast with a fantastic point behind it. Or perhaps a range of very meaningful points. There’s the mysterious command of the four species of plant required, the aspect of inviting guests (ushpizin) into your sukkah, the harvest festival of rejoicing or the water libation ceremony to name a few. But here we’re going to look at one aspect in particular: those ramshackle little dwelling places – the sukkot themselves.
HE TABERNACLED AMONG US Our Earthly life in the flesh is likened to living in tents. so Jesus descended from glory to LIVE in an earthly "tent" of Human Flesh. ‘Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will live among you’—it is a declaration of Adonai. ‘In that day many nations will join themselves to Adonai and they will be My people and I will dwell among you.’ Then you will know that Adonai-Tzva’ot [the Lord of Hosts] has sent me to you. (Zechariah 2:10-11) God, THE LORD, says He’s coming to live among His people. And that God sent Him, if you can get your head around that. And like all of His words, it all came to pass exactly as He said. And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) Jesus, who was God incarnate, came to live on earth with us… and was sent by God. This word incarnate means He in carne, meat, or flesh… God clothed in human skin. Paul the apostle talks about our life in the flesh like this: For we know that if the tent, our earthly home, is torn down, we have a building from God—a home not made with human hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling-- if indeed, after we have put it on, we will not be found naked. For we groan while we are in this tent—burdened because we don’t want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:1-4) But surely that’s not what Sukkot is all about? Isn’t it to do with remembering the time of the desert wanderings after the Exodus from Egypt, on the way to the Promised Land? Aren’t these temporary dwellings to remind us of the fragility and transience of this life? That’s certainly the impression you get from the instructions in Leviticus 23 at any rate: You are to live in sukkot for seven days. All the native-born in Israel are to live in sukkot, so that your generations may know that I had Bnei-Yisrael to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Adonai your God. (Leviticus 23:42-43) TENT DWELLERS In Jeremiah 2, God talks about this time of desert wandering with the Israelites as a honeymoon period, after the official betrothal ceremony of the Sinai covenant. It was a seminal time in Israel’s story, and a part of the journey God doesn’t want us to forget. The building of temporary shelters is a very practical reminder. Not only were the children of Israel tent dwellers at that point, but their God also dwelt in a tent: the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. God had been very clear and specific about how His tent should be, according to the heavenly pattern, which He showed to Moses on Mount Sinai. But interestingly, the writer of Hebrews refers to this tabernacle as “the first tent”. In Hebrews 9:8 we are told that: “the way into the Holies has not yet been revealed while the first tent is still standing.” Initially God’s presence was housed in the desert tabernacle, by God’s own initiative. Later, King David would build the temple for God, but this was David’s initiative, not God’s. However, that same Shekinah glory would later dwell in the earthly tent of flesh – flesh from the house of David, no less. David really did help make a suitable home for God in more ways than one. WHY IS IT THE FIRST TENT? BECAUSE OTHERS FOLLOWED IT. Yeshua the Messiah, the Nazarene from the line of Judah, would be the THE LORD Himself tabernacling among us in a tent of human flesh. But there’s more! There are more than two tents. Before ascending again to the Father, Yeshua promised not to leave us as orphans but to send that same Holy Spirit, the Shekinah, to dwell in US! Yes – WE are now the tents, the tabernacles of the Lord. And Paul was a tent-maker. Like so many other key figures in the Bible (Gideon, David, Peter, and Jesus, to name a few) Paul’s profession was no accident. His income may have come from constructing tents in the natural, but spiritually, his job was to make people into spiritual “tents” too. Everyone he brought to faith becomes a miniature tabernacle, purified by the sacrificial blood of Messiah and made worthy of hosting the Lord of Hosts. The Shekinah, the very Spirit of the Lord, tabernacles in us today. As born-again believers we have all become miniature tabernacles, carrying the presence of God wherever we go. And one day we will tabernacle with Him in glory in the permanent home He has prepared for us. |
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