There are so many beautiful promises in The Word of God, that it would be almost impossible to remember all of them. Promises made for those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord. If we only knew how abundant those promises are and how essential to the health of a spiritual Christian.
It is impossible to live a Christian life without knowing and implementing such promises. These promises are the corner stone of the temple we are building, for we are a temple which needs to be filled with the One we worship. It this does not happen, then the temple is empty and something else will come in and take the place of the One who is missing.
Even when this promise is the most vital to a Christian’s success, it is not the only promise we must ask, seek and knock for, (Mathews 7:7). It is essential and primordial that the temple be filled, it is essential that the Christian learns and it is just as essential to put into action these promises. (Daily lifestyle)
How can we put into practice what we are unaware of? What no one has taught us? What we ignore?
The promise given to us in Luke 11:13 is conditional. Why is it conditional? Because there is a need to… Ask.
Our confession of the need for salvation is no guarantee of the Holy Spirit, it is our need to be forgiven. After this is an accomplishment, then we must proceed according to what has been established. The Lord has provided The Way to paradise, but we must travel that road, otherwise we will not receive the reward.
The promise is, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
The Lord Jesus Christ gave us a clear understanding of what is required in the parabola of the Widow and the Judge. (Luke 18:1-5)
There may be some whom The Lord will bless in the same moment of their conversion, but most will have to ask, seek, and knock. The Lord is He who knows best what… we… require, and He is sovereign God.
Regardless of ideas or questions, or doctrines, the Word states clearly the need for us to be filled with the promise of The Holy Spirit of God. (Acts 1:8) It is without question the beginning of the road we must travel and without this promise, we will stumble repeatedly and accomplish little, if anything.
It is the great difference between a congregation that worships and one which remains silent. The fullness of such promise cannot be silenced.
It was of such an impact in the first congregation that The Word states that the ground shook when the Holy Spirit filled the temple they were in. (Acts 4:31)
It is also true, that this promise is the “seal” of approval and the first “gift” of many. (II Corinthians 1:22) (Ephesians 1:13) Which states clearly that it is after we believe that we can receive such promise. (Ephesians 4:30) And it is the visible sign of our salvation, effectuated by The Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 14:22)
There is no written word of this promise being fulfilled where the person does not speak in another “strange” language. (Bible)
What we should understand is, that this promise is barely the beginning, and even a Holy Spirit filled believer can… sin. Can leave, forget, and just plain be lost once more. It is barely the beginning of the road we must travel, barely the beginning. A good start, the right start, but barely the beginning.
The Holy Spirit will give us spiritual strength, He will help us understand, He will help us in our need to remain faithful… but… He cannot choose for us, He cannot change our minds, He cannot violate our freedom of choice. He is in the original Greek a “Paracletes” a helper, not a master.
A master tells you what to do, a helper, is there to assist you in what you are already doing.
The Lord Jesus Christ is Master, He tells us what to do, The Holy Spirit will help us accomplish what The Master requires, but he will not interfere if we decide not to do what The Master has commanded.
Most of the time, The Holy Spirit speaks through the illumination of a need, a commandment, a requirement. For example, (Very basic) “You need to pray” “You need to pray more often” It is a thought in our mind. “You need to stop spending your life in front of the television”. The Holy Spirit will illuminate a part of our life style which needs to change. It is our choice to obey and change or to be rebellious and keep whatever it is we don’t want to change. For example, we seek The Lord once a week, or we pray only at night. We enjoy looking at the opposite sex, we like gossiping. Etc.
If we continue to ignore His voice, (Illumination) He will eventually cease to speak to us. (I Timothy 4:2 & I Thessalonians 5:19)
The Holy Spirit is “oriented” and will “orient” us towards those writings, commandments, and “good” things which bring us closer to God. It is His mission and it is The Lord’s desire.
To learn what the gift of salvation is about, that is The Holy Spirit’s desire. As stated before, the confession of our sins and the new birth is barely the beginning of our journey. To learn and implement the new birth in our lives will require commitment. Therein the commandment in Luke 14:33… Romans 12:2.
The very clear commandment in The Word of God as to the change in the believer, from the “old man” who is “corrupt” to the new creation in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ro. 6:6 & II Co. 5:17 & Eph. 4:22 & Col. 3:9) This “renewal”, this change, this new birth, must be accomplished, and it is something we must choose. It may be a “grain of sand” we put into the huge pile of undeserved favors, still, we must put in that little grain of sand.
Even after the “new birth” and even after the Baptism in The Holy Spirit of God, there is an abundance of warnings in The Word concerning the need to remain faithful until He calls.
There is no greater blessing, than the blessing of being eternally with The All-might God. The Word states, that not even our imagination is capable of visualizing the glory our Good God has reserved, for those who will be eternally with Him. If we have seen even partially the glory of the world we live in, then we can surmise that the glory God will bring about after this is all over will be… divine.
For those who strive for this wonderous privilege, there is one more commandment we must keep. It is number one, because it is the second closest to the heart of our Lord. “To love our neighbor as we love ourselves.” The Lord’s desire, is for ALL mankind to be with Him, it is the reason He created us and the purpose of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.
He did not come to this world to condemn the world but that the world should be saved through Him. That so many ignore His great Love, is the greatest pain in God’s heart. We, who have accepted His love and are fighting to remain faithful… must… share this great blessing we have been granted.
It is the power behind the promise of Acts 1:8, where we are given power, power to do what? Power to witness. Power to tell our neighbor that God loves him and wants him to be there where everything will be peace, joy and contentment. Power to share the “waters of life” which we have been blessed with.
The promise of Mark 16:17-18 has nothing to do with our faith, it is HIS promise, it is HIS doing, it is His word. “And these signs shall follow them that believe.” Is the promise of Jesus Christ being always ready to defend or help us.
But do we need to believe in miracles? Yes, it is the hard part in the promise and the one we fail to fulfill. For we must believe in God’s promises, we must have faith in His Word.
We don’t understand most of it but we must believe that it is His will that we be born of The Spirit, that we be filled with The Spirit, that we speak in another language, that we learn about the road we must travel, that we witness to our neighbors, that even when we are unworthy, He will find a way to save us, if we keep the faith, and follow His commandments. (Revelation 14:12)
The world will never understand the Gospel, because they do not believe in God, and even those who have “heard” about Christ are easily “derailed”. Deceived by their own sinful desires, seduced by the world’s enticements, destroyed by the evil darts of mankind’s enemy.
Still, for those who do believe, faith is the hardest part of the road we must travel, because The Lord will place our faith on trial. Each step closer to Him will require “a leap of faith” for God is beyond our normal world, and He does not want to come down to us, He wants us to come up to Him. To step into that reality which bends the laws of our reality and the deeper we travel this road, the greater the “leap of faith”.
The Baptism in The Holy Spirit is the beginning of the road, a road which will eventually lead to the gifts of The Spirit, it is then that faith begins to grow. But most of Christendom stumble when they have barely touched the gifts and are confounded by something so trivial as speaking in tongues. If we stumble in the small gifts, how can God give us anything greater? For speaking in other tongues is a prelude to anything which may come after. A small test of our faith, which the church of Jesus Christ has failed miserably.
Too many are the congregations, councils, etc. which believe themselves to be Christians but are just deceiving themselves, for The Lord Himself will deny them entrance into His kingdom. (Mathew 7:22-23)
The gift of salvation is a mighty gift, it is a great gift, it is given freely, it is the greatest blessing bestowed on any living being… but… same as Adam and Eve, we must trust The Lord, we cannot eat of that which The Lord has forbidden. We must follow His commandments; we must keep the faith.
Believing is an action. Trust is an action. Faith must be accompanied by an action otherwise there is no manner of proving our faith. It is the reason there was a “tree of knowledge” in the Garden of Eden. There had to be a manner of proving their faith, their trust.
The believer must also prove his faith, his trust, and this is accomplished by following the commandments given to us, those which are written in The Word of God.
Another great promise to those who are sincere in their quest to become a child of God is found in the book of (John 14: 13-14). The believer is guaranteed help; anything he needs pertaining to his salvation or the salvation of others has been guaranteed by He who can keep his promises.
We are told to… ask, and have faith.
The church of Christ has been always “derailed” by the enemy, who has been very astute in hiding such promises from the church. Obscuring them so that the church cannot access that which brings uncontested victory to the church. Victory is guaranteed, if we ask, seek and knock.
There is a very powerful promise in The Word of God which the believer is ignorant of and does not utilize. It is such a powerful promise that if the church were to utilize this promise effectively, we would have won the battle a long time ago. It is found in the book of Mathew 18:19 and The Lord Himself promised that if two or three believers were to agree on a need for salvation, it would be granted. Anything asked under this promise would be granted.
If two or three believers agree that their children are destined for salvation, it will happen. It is a solid promise, one which is backed by the power of an All-might God. Our part in this is… believe, take action, have faith, for the One who promised will not fail.
The ramifications of such a promise can boggle the mind, for there is no limit to the possibilities of this promise. It is a guarantee to victory, it is a guarantee to salvation, it is a guarantee to access all of the might of an all-powerful God who has promised victory to those He loves.
To claim victory for a church who is faltering in its responsibility to a world heading towards suicide.
Wake up the Bride!
The Groom will soon be here!
Shake her awake!
Rise my dearest… for the Groom is calling you!
DHD
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