IN SPIRIT & TRUTH.(A) (14 AUG 2016)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in these times it is certainly important that we do what we do both in the Spirit and in truth.(A) And how do we act in truth & speak in truth? we are taught to speak forth “truth in love”.(B) We began this journey in the Spirit, in the truth, and in love when, we allowed the Holy Spirit to seal our salvation.(C)

LED BY THE SPIRIT. As God’s prophet said, “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.(D) When we call upon Him when He is near, & give our life to Christ to be led by the Spirit, incredible things happen to us…but most new believers are quite oblivious to what God is doing in their spirit, soul & body, and the believer is quite literally forced to “walk by faith, not by sight”.(E) Heavenly Father tells us that He will do nothing unless His spokespersons, the prophets, foretell it.(F) Or to quote it, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”(F) Of course, the Spirit is there to lead us into all truth.(G) The Spirit is fully God, and can’t be boxed in… “the fruit of the Spirit is in all truth”(H) Yes, there is no limit to what He can reveal…except what He chooses not to reveal. Yet, there is much confusion today over things that should be obvious. God’s Word remains forever…and Christ is the same yesterday, today, & tomorrow (I)…so why do we have such confusion that people claim God no longer speaks to His people, that He no longer has His prophets to tell us what He is doing??

INFALLIBLE? As humans we see through a glass darkly, the Biblical truth is that none of us are infallible. The prophet of God Nathan told King David to “Do all that is in thy heart; for God is with thee.” God corrects Nathan that very night, and Nathan has to go back to David and tell him not to build the Temple.(J) Later, when David commits adultery, Nathan had to speak the truth in love to him. David could have said, “Hey you weren’t right before”…but David was a man after God’s heart, and accepted the prophet’s rebuke. Nathan was serving as God’s spokesperson. Today, God’s spokespersons are no different than Nathan, they make mistakes. If they never made mistakes they would be inhumanly infallible, and if they did not make mistakes, then why are we repeatedly commanded to judge their prophecies? (K) We are commanded not to despise prophecies, but to test all things, and hold onto what is good.(L) If we don’t test things, we could end up like the young prophet of God who listened to an older prophet who gave him a bogus message that resulted in the young prophet’s death.(M) So we can’t despise prophecies, but we can’t gullibly swallow them either. This means we have to depend on the Spirit of God to help us sort it all out…fancy that…God is putting us in a position of using His Spirit! Our life is really a “life in the Spirit” as the Word of God calls it.

TRUTH IN LOVE. God’s prophets are stewards of God’s gifts, and if acting in line with the Spirit will minister God’s graces, gifts, love & truth to others.(N) Love is patient & believes all things.(O) When Yahshua told His disciples that Lazarus’ sickness: “is not unto death”, a little while later Yahshua’s disciples had to be bluntly told by others: “Lazarus is dead.”(P)…had Christ uttered a false prophecy? no. There are quite a few other prophecies that on face value seem false or inaccurate, but were not. I say this, because people are tearing apart pastors & prophets. They are forgetting to have love & patience. They forget that one should “Receive not an accusation against an elder, except in the mouth of two or three.”(P) Part of why the churches are lacking strong leadership, is that people are allowing their pastors to be ripped to shreds by wolves. Those who speak prophetically, are to speak according to their measure of faith.(Q) When a pastor tells forth God’s truth, he is carrying out a prophetic act. Sadly, those pastors who will pray & find out from the Spirit what God wants said, are getting fewer. If it is not what the Spirit wants said, the pastor has spoken on his own, not on God’s behalf. So we are right back where we started. Do things in Spirit & truth, and do the truth in love. With that profound but simple message, I cease for now, and turn to our Father…

Heavenly Father, you never force your way into our hearts & minds, but knock at the door, until we let you in. Come in Lord, and take us & use us. Speak to us, speak through us, & use us. Restore our souls. Lead us to the still waters. You know how we suffer, you know what we need. Teach us to walk in the way of Your Spirit. Lead us out of the half-light into the full light, give us your Word of Wisdom…let us hope all things, endure all things, and walk in the Spirit’s truth. Without You we are nothing. In Yahshua ha Messiach’s name we pray, Amen. Until later, be blessed sisters & brothers.

(A) JN 4:23-24 (B) EPH 4:15 (C) EPH 1:13-14, 4:30 (D) ISA 55:6 (E) 2 COR 5:7 (F) AMOS 3:7 (G) JN 16:13 (H) EPH 5:9 (I) HEB 13:8 (J) 1 CHRON 17:1-4 (K) 1 COR 14:29-31, 1 THS 5:20-21, & others (L) 1 THS 5:20-21 (M) 1 KGS 13:14-31 (N) 1 PTR 4:10 (O) 1 COR 13 (P) JN 11:4 (Q) 1 TIM 5:19 (R) ROM 12:6