Watchmen

I recently came across Isaiah 62:6-7; 6 I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, 7 and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.

This day these verses gave me pause. Somehow I found this passage so hopeful; full of instruction; yet so inviting. This word watchmen means to watch over, to protect, to preserve and I take great comfort knowing as believers we have watchmen; watchmen that takes no rest day or night. We have an instruction to call on the Lord continuously and we have an invitation to call on the Lord with any and all things; a Lord who continually works on our behalf no matter this issue.

Oswald Chambers tells us that a great intercession is seen in this passage; he calls it entering into the “Ministry of the Interior” where we become linked with our Lord and the Holy Spirit in intercessory prayer at the throne of God! Chambers states; “One of the first lessons we learn in the Ministry of the Interior is to talk things out before God in soliloquy – tell God what you know he already knows in order that you may get to know it as He does.”

Somehow I get great comfort knowing that I have a God who is so powerful and loving and cares that I know Him and provides such amazing watchmen to help, to counsel, to comfort, to intercede and to watch over me all my days.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tell us; 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

May we rejoice always, pray continually giving thanks for all things.

Grace and Peace!

Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer once asked his wife:

""Edith, I wonder what would happen to most churches and Christian work if we awakened tomorrow, and everything concerning the reality and work of the Holy Spirit, and everything concerning prayer, were removed from the Bible. I don’t mean just ignored, but actually cut out—disappeared. I wonder how much difference it would make?" We concluded it would not make much difference in many board meetings, committee meetings, decisions and activities."

This short paragraph just stopped me in my tracks. Would it make a difference; would we even notice? In the introduction to his book; Forgotten God, Francis Chan writes;

"From my perspective the Holy Spirit is tragically neglected and, for all practical purposes, forgotten. While no evangelical would deny His existence, I’m willing to bet there are millions of churchgoers across America who cannot confidently say they have experienced His presence or action in their lives over the past year. And many of them do not believe they can. The benchmark of success in church services has become more about attendance than the movement of the Holy Spirit."

Powerful words, but even more to think about!

In his book, Chan quotes A. W. Tozer who said;

"We may as well face it: the whole level of spirituality among us is low. We have measured ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit is all but gone… [We] have imitated the world, sought popular favor, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost."

Could this be true? I pray we take this as a challenge; a challenge of reflection, recognition and a realization of the wonderful gift of the Spirit that dwells among us; our comforter and counselor.

Abba Father, may your Spirit move mightily among us, may we never forget, and may we all stop to understand the difference of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Amen.

Grace and Peace!

Sweet Holy Spirit

Have you ever considered just how important and vital the Holy Spirit is? The whole subject of the Trinity can be so complicated yet there are great teachings on the nature and the character of God the Father, there are great teachings on the person and work of God the Son, but when did you last read a book devoted to God the Spirit?

In his book “Knowing God”, J. I. Packer states that “the average Christian, deep down, is in a complete fog as to what work the Holy Spirit does”. I must admit it is a little confusing to me as well. Packer goes on to show that without the spirit there would be “no gospel and no New Testament”. Packer points out you can see it so clearly in 1 Corinthians 2:9-13;

9However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

Packer surprisingly concludes that without the Holy Spirit there would be no Christians. You have to think about that for a few minutes… Examining 2 Corinthians 4:4 we can see;

4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

So clearly without the power of the Holy Spirit we would remain blinded. You know this is really amazing. Still it can be complex; hard to grasp. I did find a great description of the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit and the link to the Father and the Son. It is from a sermon given by Spurgeon and in it he says;

“Christ’s blood and righteousness are like wine stored in the wine-vat; but we cannot get thereat. The Holy Spirit dips our vessel into this precious wine, and then we drink; but without the Spirit we must die and perish just as much, though the Father elect and the Son redeem, as though the Father had never elected, and though the Son had never bought us with his blood. The Spirit is absolutely necessary. Without him neither the works of the Father, nor of the Son, are of any avail to us.”

Remarkable! These intricate workings; so comforting; so necessary, so loving! I am reminded of the words of Christ in John 14;

25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

My friends do not be troubled and do not be afraid; for the Spirit is with you. Father, thank You so much for this majestic plan, thank You for Your Son; our Redeemer and thank You for Your Spirit; our Counselor.

Grace and Peace!