School of the Holy Spirit - Part 3 - Study

This morning during my time with the Lord, I was reminded of the fact that one of the responsibilities of being in school is studying, in particular going back through my notes.  I started reading through my notes for the last three weeks and found I had already forgotten much of what the Lord has shown me during my morning times with Him.  I was even more amazed at how I had forgotten things He had shown me, even in the last 5 days.  


I was reminded of a few verses, the first in Psalm 119:11, 15-16 which reads, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you....I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word."  Here the psalmist writes of the need to hide God's word in my heart, and meditate on it, being careful not to neglect His word.  To me this sounds much like studying, delightful studying, but studying nonetheless.


The other verse is Isaiah 50:4 which reads, "The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught."  For me this is very pertinent, as I take my time with the Lord in the morning.  I am encouraged that He says He will waken my ears to listen as one being taught, because I am being taught.


I was thinking about how, so often in the past, I have not taken seriously my study of His word, and learning what He has been teaching me.  Lord, help me to become a real student, and all that entails, of Your word, and teachings!

School of the Holy Spirit - Part 2

This morning in prayer, I was reading the parable of the Sower (Luke 8:5-15) which is all about hearing/listening and responding.  In particular I was focusing my thought on verse 15, which says, "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."

I was thinking about the three action verbs - hear, retain and persevere.  This is exactly what we need to do, anytime we are in a learning situation, where we need to learn something.  If we are in training for a new role at work, we need to listen to what they are saying, figure out some way to retain what they are saying (taking notes, etc) and then through perseverance (repetition) practice what we have learned until we get it. 

Finally, I continued reading and stopped at Luke 8:18 (God's Word Translation), "So pay attention to how you listen! Those who understand these mysteries will be given more knowledge. However, some people don’t understand these mysteries. Even what they think they understand will be taken away from them."

In other words, if you combine this verse with verse 5-15, how we listen is very important.  If we are retaining and understanding God's word, and putting God's word into practice, and bearing fruit, we will be given more understanding and knowledge.  Like any schooling, this takes time and effort (study) and discussion. If we are not actively pursuing, possibly due to our busy schedule, concerns of the days, etc., we are in danger of losing even that which we have learned.

Lord, help me to be a good student - actively listening, working on retaining and putting into practice that which You show me.

The School of the Holy Spirit

Recently I have been thinking about the role of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus reveals it in John 16: 7, 12-13:  "But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you....“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."  As I was thinking about this all, the phrase - 'Going to the School of the Holy Spirit' popped into my mind. 


It is very clear from Jesus' words that it was necessary for Him to go so that the Holy Spirit might come.  My thought is that clearly Jesus was limited by His earthly body in how many people He could reach, but the Holy Spirit is not limited in any way.  John 16:14 continues: "He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you." (Amplified Bible). One of the clear roles of the Holy Spirit is to literally teach us.  Because He knows our very thoughts (Psalm 139:2), He is able to immediately direct us and guide us in a way that is unique for each of us.  


As an example, this morning I was journaling a prayer to the Lord and wrote the following: "Lord open my eyes, ears, mind and heart to what you are saying!"  Within 30 seconds of writing that down, I felt led to read Isaiah 32:3-4 which says, "Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. The mind of the rash will know and understand..."  I was amazed at the intimacy of the instruction and acknowledgement of my prayer and His answer!  He truly was inside my mind, or looking over my shoulder as I thought and wrote those words, quickly answering almost word for word.  Amazing!


Lord, that we all might go to the School of the Holy Spirit, and truly learn from you!  You know us perfectly and know what each of us is needing and looking to receive.  Teach us and guide us to Your perfect plan.

Visitation, Redemption, Restoration and Glorification

This morning while praying, I was meditating on Jeremiah 29:10-14, and thinking about how God moves in the same way over and over again!  I wrote the four words of the title down as a quick synopsis of God's work through out Israel's history, and Jesus' ministry.


Jer 29:10-14 says, "This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹²Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.


Col 1:13-14 says, "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."


I could probably pick just about any verse and point to one of these major themes, evident and clearly described. God is consistent in His love and action on our behalf.  He comes to us (either in word or in person), rescues and redeems us, and invites us into continued relationship with Him!


What other God gets personally involved, personally redeeming the ones He loves, providing for forgiveness of sins, through His own sacrifice!   Truly there is no other God like our God!  To God be all the Glory! 

Thinking Outside the Box

This morning I woke from an interesting dream which has Spiritual connotations.  In my dream I was in a class with several people and our teacher had assigned us several simple tasks.  The first task is the one that really stands out.  He had several bowling pins set-up and spread-out over a large area.  He gave us a tennis ball and asked us to try and get a strike (knock all the pins down with one throw or roll.  All of us tried to throw or roll the tennis ball to knock down the pins but were clearly unsuccessful.  Once we all failed, the teacher stepped forward and said, "Let me demonstrate how to do this task."  He then proceeded to place the ball between his knees, holding it in place, and walked to each pin and knocked it over, simply completing the task.  We were all dumb-struck at the simplicity of the solution.  None of us had thought outside the normal rules of the game of bowling.  


At that time I woke up and immediately thought of the verse from Isaiah 55:8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD."  I thought about how true this was - as a perspective in any of God's actions.  Our perspective is so often limited by our understanding of how God has worked, or the way we think He would work.


Is 43:18-19 says, "“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"  


Lord, help us to perceive Your action and not limit our perception to how we think you should act, or how we have experienced You acting in the past.  You are the creator and never stop creating.  

God's Perfect and Beautiful Plan

This morning I was reading in Eccl 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."  I was also reading Isaiah 52:5-6 which reads, "“And now what do I have here?” declares the LORD. “For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,”declares the LORD. "And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.⁶ Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I."

Isaiah 52 leads into the 'Song of the Servant' where Jesus' death is prophesied, along with the suffering He would endure, and the price He would pay for our redemption and atonement.  I was thinking how much greater God's plan was than the thoughts of men.  When Jesus came, the people of Israel were under Roman rule, and were longing for a Messiah who would come and set them free from this conquering nation.  They wanted a victorious warrior / King who would restore them as a true nation. 

God's plan was that Jesus would come and set them free from the kingdom of the enemy (Satan) and restore them to true relationship with Him.  Jesus established the true Kingdom of God through His death and resurrection.  He made the perfect sacrifice for forgiveness of sins and established a new and better Covenant.  The people of Israel were looking for a simple military victory - God had an eternal victory planned.  

How much more beautiful and perfect was God's plan?  In the history of man, God visited, paid the price for them all and provided a way that all men might know Him and have relationship with Him.  No man could have ever thought up a plan like this, or seen it through to completion!  God you truly are awesome!

Eyes to See

A couple of days ago I was praying and one of my cats, like usual, was wanting me to pay it some attention.  This particular cat loves to chase shadows. As we were playing, I had the thought that his ability to interact with me, totally depends on where he is looking.  If he is looking away, he doesn't see the movement of the shadow.  As I was thinking about this - I felt the Lord say that this is similar to our experience.  We need to be looking in the right place to see Him moving!  Our eyes need to be looking for Him and at Him, not at ourselves, our circumstances, or surroundings!


As I continued meditating on this I had a few scriptures pop into my mind.


Psalm 123:2 "As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, 
   as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy.

Luke 10:23 "Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see."

John 4:35-36 " Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶ Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together."

So based on these scriptures our response should be to look actively to the Lord, rather than ourselves, that in doing so we will be blessed and see the opportunity for advancing the Kingdom all around us!

Lord, help me to see!