BY CALEB JUMA
Just a recap on last week's message.
We need to be aware of the Holy Spirit, not only His indwelling presence but also, His nature as a Divine Person - God Himself. The final thought being, God in all His splendor and majesty, yearns jealously for a relationship with everyone He calls His own. Oh! how awesome is this? Honestly, I cannot seem to get over the joy and confidence this gives me.
This week, I will touch on the Holy Spirit, our Teacher. (I will use a lot of Bible quotations in this text, because today's reading is more of a study, all of them will be written for any further studies)
Just a back story. God created man in His own image, and likeness, and planted them in the garden of Eden where He gave them dominion over all things on the earth. But before all of this, there was a war in the heavenlies, where one who was created to reflect the image and likeness of God, and to worship Him, desired worship for himself, and the Bible says, “iniquity was found in him” (Ezekiel 28:15).
I speak about the one named Lucifer, also known as "the Satan". He was cast down into the earth, this will soon become relevant to the topic at hand. A few days before man was created, the Bible says
“the earth was without form, and void and darkness covered the surface of the deep”.Here is the main point I want to bring out, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,and God said "LET THERE BE LIGHT", and there was light
(Genesis 1:2-3).
Darkness, in this case, can be a representation of ignorance. Ignorance can be defined as lack of knowledge or information, and God expressly said through His servant, the prophet Hosea, “my people perish because of lack of knowledge“(Hosea 4:6). In other words, my people perish because of ignorance. BUT , Christ says He came to give us life, and life in abundance (John 10:10), this kind of life is only made available through knowledge. The Bible says “according as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:4). This means He has already given us all we need to to live a victorious life, but all of it is tied to what we know.
Going back to the beginning. Satan deceived Adam and Eve into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had commanded them not to eat from. Before they ate from this tree, they walked with God, they were in constant communion with Him, and in God, is all wisdom and knowledge, they had it at "their disposal", if I may put it that way. When they ate from the tree, the consequence was death, not physically, but a separation from God. They basically chose to decide for themselves what was good and evil, this meant that they were now prone to err in their decision making because the devil also now had influence over them [by obeying him, they submitted themselves to him by default. we are going somewhere, just hang in there a little longer. God knew that man was separated from Him, so He drove them out of the garden. Many see this as a punishment, but it was actually part of the redemption plan of God which was fulfilled in Christ, now He says “whoever will overcome shall eat from the tree of life.”(Revelation 2:7). If they had eaten of the tree of life in that state of separation, we would have been eternally separated from God, so it was an act of love.
As a result of the fall, man becomes inclined to sin. So, we were now separated from God, we no longer had a standard to follow (all along, as we were in constant communion with God, we could see ourselves in Him as we were made His image and likeness). We had to relearn how to live like God so, He gave us the law to show us how to reflect His image and likeness, but the righteousness was not fulfilled in us because we were still mindful of the flesh. Paul writes for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh (Romans 8:3)... The law itself was not a bad idea neither was it faulty, the vessels it was entrusted to were imperfect and prone to err, therefore, it was robbed of its power because it became religiously followed until it became void of Divine influence and full of human will and power.
Now, moving on to the new covenant, atoned for by Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the redemption plan. Before He ascended to heaven, where He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, He said to us,
“but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring to remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you...”
(John 16:12).
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
(Jeremiah 31:33)
“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.“
(1 John 2:27)
Now here is the point of all of this, we had no idea how God intended us to walk in the beginning because communion with Him was broken. We were given a law, and we failed dismally to connect with Him in that. He sent His only begotten Son (the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world) to not only die on the cross and redeem us from sin, but to show us how to be like God, how to live and function like Him on this earth, in other words, to bring us back to God's original intent when He created us, His image and likeness. I will boldly say this, this is only possible with the help and active participation of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He has come to us, not only as a seal unto eternity but as a teacher, to guide us according to the ways of God. He knows God's original intent for each and every one of us and He is more than happy to walk you through it all only if you are willing to listen and obey.
Looking through the ministry of Jesus, He sat in the office of a teacher, He taught in synagogues, at the sea side, in the wilderness, on the mountain, in the houses, but people had to come to Him from far away places, and many would not get the chance to personally meet Him and speak with Him to clarify things (explains the story of the woman with the issue of blood), but in this dispensation, God has come to us in the person of the Holy Spirit, to abide with us. He (Jesus) did not leave us as orphans. He speaks, He teaches and guides us through the Holy Spirit. He knew that if He left us to do it alone, we would end up right where we started, walking in religion and not relationship. Unfortunately, there are many of us who are still walking in this. He does not want us to be ignorant, He teaches us even of the things to come. He leads us in the prophetic. He does not only teach us what to do but also empowers us to do it and walks with us step by step (Our ever present guide). Like I mentioned earlier on, He has already given us all we need to live a victorious life, but all of it is tied to what we know, our knowledge is limited. This is the very reason we need a teacher, One who knows not only what was, but what is and what is to come (He has declared the end from the beginning, Isaiah 46:10). What better way to live life knowing that the One you're learning from knows exactly what you need and is able to teach it to you in full view of your destiny, specifically according to your unique build and current state?
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth:it is you your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go I will send him to you..”
“when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority,but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things to come,”
(John 16:7, 13)
Believe in Him, receive Him, embrace and yearn for Him and see Him work in your life. There's so much more to Him than what you have come to know.
Questions to Consider
* Have I seen the Holy Spirit as my Teacher and guide?
* Am I allowing Him to renew my mind according to His word?
* How can I actively cooperate with Him in order to become the best expression of God in this earth?
* What has hindered me from expressing the nature (image and likeness) of God?
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