The Spirit of Truth and Life

"We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error"(1 John 4:6).
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2, my emphases).
When we have received Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we know God. God is ONE, and at the same time THREE: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is often referred to as the Spirit of Truth, and rightfully so. However, He is also the Spirit of Life, and we need to preach both.
The way I have learnt to see these two sides of the Spirit, is thus:
The Spirit of Truth has to do with salvation, what the Lord is and what He has done for us. If we preach, teach and act on both these sides of the Spirit, the Word will be rightly divided. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15, my emphasis). What does this mean? It means that when I preach the Word, I am faithful to the Word's immediate context and to the author's intended purpose. I do not add or subtract anything. "Every word of God [is] pure: he [is] a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar" (Proverbs 30:5-6).
The Spirit of Life has to do with the life we live, or rather, the life we're supposed to live as Christians. Signs should follow the preaching and teaching of God's Word. "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with [them], and confirming the word with signs following. Amen"(Mark 16:20). Do signs follow my preaching and teaching of the Word? If not, there's something missing.
"God also bearing [them] witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will" (Hebrews 2:4). The Spirit of Life wants to perform God's miracles much more than we do. Somehow we've become lazy Christians, not going for the full and complete Gospel. It's a prayer in my heart that God will awaken His people to the realities of His kingdom. I pray that my and your experience will be like Paul's in 1 Corinthians:
"And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching [was] not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" (vv. 1-5).
If we preach and teach and believe in the Spirit of Truth and Life, we can and should expect to see the power of God! God is the same yesterday, today and forever. What He did before, He can and will do today, and also tomorrow.

I WILL!

"Now it came about that while the people came pushing to be near him, and to have knowledge of the word of God, he was by a wide stretch of water named Gennesaret; And he saw two boats by the edge of the water, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. And he got into one of the boats, the property of Simon, and made a request to him to go a little way out from the land. And being seated he gave the people teaching from the boat. And when his talk was ended, he said to Simon, Go out into deep water, and let down your nets for fish. And Simon, answering, said, Master, we were working all night and we took nothing: but at your word I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they got such a great number of fish that it seemed as if their nets would be broken; And they made signs to their friends in the other boat to come to their help. And they came, and the two boats were so full that they were going down" (Luke 5:1-7. my emphasis.)

Peter and his fishermen friends had been out fishing all night, but caught nothing. When they came back to shore, Jesus asked if He could borrow one of the boats, and Peter let Jesus use his. When Jesus was finished using the boat as a pulpit, He told Peter to let down his nets again.

Peter was an experienced fisherman, and he knew that fishing was not so smart to do during the day. I guess many thoughts ran through Peter's mind, argumentative thoughts and probably also thoughts about how tired he was and he wanted to go home and sleep. After all, he had been out all night, trying to catch fish.

However, Peter didn't follow his natural, human reasonings, but he said: I will let down the nets. He said: I WILL! Jesus gave him a word, and Peter followed that word.

And here's my message for today:

My personal "I WILL" is a determining factor for how my life will turn out!

What would your response to Jesus' Words have been? Argumentative, negative and humanly? Many people's answer would have been that way. But today we can learn from Peter and say: I will! At Your Word, Jesus, I will do it your way!

What was Peter's experience from doing it Jesus' way?  "They got such a great number of fish that it seemed as if their nets would be broken." That's supernatural! That's above and beyond all Peter could imagine. And if you and I say "I will" to Jesus' Words today, we also will experience netbraking results!

Why do people go to hell?

If you're like most people, your answer to this question is, people go to hell because they sin!

Right?

Wrong!

People do not go to hell because they sin. Yes, sin is what kept Adam and Eve from staying in the Garden of Eden, and sin is what kept people in bondage through all times ever since, and sin is what still keeps people in bondage today. But sin is not the reason people go to hell when they die.

To make it clearer, let me ask you one question: Why did Jesus come to this earth, suffer what He suffered through His appr. 33 years here, and then go back to His Father in heaven? Because God wanted to get rid of the barrier that hindered human beings from having close relationship with their Father God.  He sent Jesus to suffer death for you and me, to take yours and mine and everybody's sin on Himself, so we could go free. Jesus took my sins on Himself, did away with it once and for all, and gave me a free passage to God.

Does that mean that everybody on this earth goes to heaven when they die? That's unfortunately not the case. Let's see what Jesus Himself said about this matter. He talked about the Holy Spirit that would come after Jesus had ascended to heaven.

"When he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:  in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned" (Joh 16:8-11, my emphasis).

What's He saying here? He says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment. And then He says something very important. The conviction of sin is because people do not believe in Jesus.

So the answer to the question we started out with, is that people go to hell because they do not believe in Jesus.

Jesus took all the sin and all the sins of the world on Himself on the cross. Every thinkable and unthinkable sin is paid for in full by Jesus' death on the cross.

How do you and I get to participate in this wonderful work of Jesus? By believing on Him. It's that simple and it's also that difficult. Not difficult because it's not a finished work, but difficult because it requires that we give up ourselves and give ourselves to Jesus.

Why do people go to hell? Because they don't believe in Jesus!

Don't ask why!

Today's message is very short, but profoundly important:

You can trust and believe God even if you don't understand.

Don't ask WHY, just trust God!

Don't draw back!

Have you ever started a project and a few days or weeks later you just didn't want to go through with it? The excitement was gone and the project no longer had the charm of novelty. You just gave up! I guess that has happened to most people on one or more occasions.

When this happens concerning practical or other "human" or "worldly" projects, it may not be detrimental or damaging in other ways than hurt pride or wasted time and money. When this, however, happens when it comes to the things of God, it could have everlasting implications.

Let's look at a verse in the Bible that talks about this.

"Now the just shall live by faith: but if [any man] draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10:38).

The just shall live by faith is an established fact. "Everybody" in evangelical circles knows that. It takes faith to please God, and it's by faith that we come to Him, live in Him and will eventually go to heaven to be with Him.

However, the rest of this verse says that if anyone (that's you and me) draw back, God is not pleased with us.

We want God to be pleased with us, so to avoid to get into this situation, we need to know what it means to "draw back".

To draw back comes from the Greek word hupostello, and it means to let down; shrink back from. It is translated draw back here in verse 38; withdraw in Galatians 2:12; shun in Acts 20:27; and keep back in Acts 20:20.

If Christians could not do this, God wouldn't warn us against it. So when this verse says if we draw back, it means that we CAN draw back. We should always check ourselves to see if we've become slack and are drawing back. Revelation 2:4 also warns about this: "Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love".

It's easy to be so used to the things of God that we take our life in Him for granted. However, the Bible encourages us to not be slack, but "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2).

Declaration:

I don't want to draw back from the things of God. I set my mind on getting to know Him better, learning more about God's ways and God's will, and I will "drink" the sincere milk of the Word so I can grow in wisdom and love. Help me do this today, Lord.

God or Allah - are they the same?

Today's contribution is of the more philosophical sort, something I have been thinking about for a long time.
From time to time we see and hear Christian and Muslim leaders argue that they have the same god - the god of Abraham. Since we all originate from Abraham (through either Ishmael or Isaac), they argue that Abraham's God is everybody's god.
However, some time ago God showed me something that settled that question once and for all for me. He showed me that it is not the physical genealogical table that's important, but the spiritual one. Let me explainn.
God promised Abraham a son by Sarah. They were both old, and Sarah had never born children. When the promise did not manifest as quickly as they would like, Sarah suggested to Abraham that he should have a child by her servant, Hagar. Thus Ishmael was born.
Ishmael was born out of disobedience to God. It was a mere physical and natural thing that happened. God had said that Abraham should have a son by Sarah, but they disobeyed God. Thus Ishmael was born out of disobedience. His physical father was Abraham, but the father of disobedience, Satan, was his spiritual father.
Isaac, on the other hand, was born out of obedience to God. Abraham was his physical father, but God was his spiritual father. He was born out of faith and obedience.
Thus it follows that all who follow after Ishmael (the Muslims), are children of Allah (the Muslims' name for their god) and all who follow after Isaac (the Christians), are children of God.
God or Allah - are they the same? No, by no means. Don't be fooled, but know who your God is.
"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?" (2 Cor. 6:14-15).
We should pray for the Muslims to be saved and come into fellowship with God, the Father of Jesus Christ, but we should never subordinate ourselves to their god. That's idol-worship. Worship the ONE TRUE GOD - our heavenly Father.

Salvation is more than just "salvation"

You have probably heard and used the expression "I am saved" or "he or she is saved", meaning that the person has received Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior and is going to heaven when they die.

And that is absolutely one of the meanings of the word "salvation". But do you know that "salvation" is much more than that?

My English Bible, Spirit filled life Bible for students, has lots of explanations and statements about many topics, which give a clearer picture of the true and whole meaning of words and phrases in the Bible. Today I read Luke 7:50 whereJesus says about the woman who came and anointed Him with a very costly fragrant oil, washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair: "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

The word "saved" (or salvation) is explained thus: Saved, sozo (greek): Jesus told a woman that her faith had saved her. Sozo means "to save", "to heal", "to cure", "to preserve", "to keep safe and sound," "to rescue from danger or destruction", "to deliver". Sozo saves from physical death by healing and from spiritual death by forgiving sin and its effects.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and if we receive His offer, we're "saved". The average believer, however, has not understood the vast significance of Jesus' work for us - His salvation. When I am "saved", that means I am going to heaven when I die, but it also means that I am healed, cured, preserved, kept safe and sound, rescued from danger or destruction and delivered here and now, in this life!

That's good news for someone who is sick, who struggles with different issues in life, who is afraid or in danger. Jesus' salvation is sufficient for all of life's problems, His salvation covers all of life's situations.

Just as you accepted Jesus as your Savior from your sins, accept Him as your deliverer from all other issues you are struggling with.

His salvation is more than enough for this life and the next!

Perfect peace!

"Thou wilt keep [him] in perfect peace, [whose] mind [is] stayed [on thee]; because he trusteth in thee" (Isaiah 26:3).

Do you want peace? Not the short-lived, superficial so-called peace that comes from worldly pleasures, achievements and situations, but lasting, real peace. Jesus came as The Prince of Peace. And He wanted and still wants to give His followers the same peace. He said: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful" (John 14:27).

Do you see it? Jesus wants to give YOU peace. But the question is: How do you and I get hold of Jesus' peace? How can we exchange our fear, unrest and struggles with His peace?

Look at the Scripture at the beginning. Who will have this peace? The person whose mind is stayed on God! The person who trusts in God.

Trust is a choice. I choose to trust, or I choose not to trust. And in a human sense, when someone has proven to be faithful and just, I have grounds to trust him or her. We know, however, that few people are trustworthy. They fail, sin, betray others, don't keep their word and does not display a life that's worthy to be trusted.

God, on the other hand, IS trustworthy, He IS just, He DOES NOT sin and He always keeps His Word. I can trust God with all my being, without holding anything back. He can be trusted. And when I trust in Him, He gives me peace. Not as the world gives, but HEAVENLY,  SUPERNATURAL PEACE in the midst of an unpeaceful world.

Who do you put your trust in? Worldly goods? Pleasures? Other people? Don't! Put your trust in God, and experience HIS peace - a peace that far surpasses this world's so-called peace.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace - trust in HIM.