Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Things of the Spirit


1 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB)
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
1 Corinthians 2:14 (Amplified Bible)
But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing,  understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.

"[T]he gifts and teaching and revelations of the Spirit of God" are not separate from the person of the Holy Spirit, but part of Who He is and His occupying presence in my life.
Therefore, since the "things of the Spirit" are not separate from Him, the presence of the Holy Spirit must be cultivated  over time: "progressively... becoming better acquainted" with Him.  

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Friday, August 17, 2012

And the rest is details

Philippians 3:8 Amplified Bible

Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly].
In English, we have one basic verb, "to know," that covers both "to have knowledge about" and "to know by experience."  The Greek verb in Philippians 3:8 (and 3:10) is a word that means "to know by experience." I love reading and re-reading this passage in the Amplified translation because it attempts to expand our word, "to know," into the fullness of the Greek word.

And the rest is details.

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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Hope does not disappoint

Romans 5:1-5 (New American Standard Bible)

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
3  And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:5 [Amplified Bible]

5 Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.
The sort of hope that the world has does disappoint, does delude, does shame us.  It is placed in fellow human beings and in the physical world we live in. They will fail. Church "leaders" are all fellow, fallen human beings. We cannot put hope into a pastor, an elder, a prophet, a teacher. Into a politician, a celebrity, businessman, whatever.

Where does our hope come from? 

It is first rooted in our salvation, by faith, through grace. The result of salvation is worship from the depth of our beings. We are alive with gratitude for being set free from our sins, for being forgiven.

Then we have something none of us likes to talk about: tribulation, troubles, suffering. If we persevere in the face of troubles, the result is proven character. THEN we get to God's type of hope.  Our hope in the world, the people of the world, the things of the world has been abraded away.

We experientially know God's love for us in the person of the Holy Spirit. He is alive in us and we have been immersed in Him.  This is the hope that does not disappoint because it a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in us.

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