April 03, 2009
Relationships
Jesus had to leave in order for the Holy Spirit to come (John 14 & 16). I imagine if the disciples were given a choice, they would have elected to keep Jesus and forgo the Spirit. After all, they knew Jesus and it was with Him that they had built a relationship. Even today I think many of us have a stronger relationship with Jesus than we do with the Spirit. Not that it’s a negative thing, but I wonder if we are underestimating the importance of developing a personal friendship with the Spirit. Jesus is gone and He wasn’t given the prerogative to return, “He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything…” (Acts 3:21a NIV) The Spirit however, is here with us right now. I’m thinking the Lord would be pleased if we were walking side by side with the Spirit just as the early disciples walked side by side with the Jesus.
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Gail;
-----Thank you! The Holy Spirit doesn’t get it’s just recognition in most churches. Everything is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, always Jesus, probably because He built of Himself the bridge to the Father that supports our feet. And that is a mighty significant accomplishment! But the bridge is to the Father, and the direction one moves upon it is guided by the Holy Spirit. Without these other two personages of God, the bridge would be mostly like Ted Steven’s bridge to nowhere.
-----Jesus said the Spirit would come to comfort and guide us. John said that we need no one to teach us, for the anointing we received from Him abides in us, and it is His anointing that teaches us. Not that God does not give us prophets, preachers, and teachers. He does. But their place is below that teaching place of the Holy Spirit within the heart of the individual believer. When Paul wrote, “One man esteems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike. Let everyone be convinced in his own mind…Then let us no more pass judgment on one another, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother…The faith that you have keep between yourself and God,” he addressed those prophets, preachers, and teachers as well as everyone else in the church, including the elders, deacons, presbyters, cardinals, Popes, and whatever other office we gin up for authority.
-----The reason he wrote this is because the individual who is sincere to his call upon the name of Jesus has Jesus’ anointing, and in accordance to its comfort and guidance he has his relationship with Jesus. This places big responsibility upon the individual to know His Word and His voice. All those who do will walk in accord, though not in complete doctrinal unity nor in identical purpose and function. For as one would expect, from this highest office within the heart of each believer, God exercises His final authority over conscience and belief through His Spirit, not to cookie-cut everyone, but to safeguard each.
-----If this seems backward from the flavor of the church’s two thousand year history, it is because the church has had these two stations backward for about that long. I believe John prophesied about the church’s early stray from emphasizing the Spirit’s place in the heart of each believer. We all know man’s nature. Give an inch and he will take a mile. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The display of this nature has hung in the church as well as in government. And it was hung there very early in church history.
-----In as much as the seven torches before the throne of God provide light from oil and are the seven Spirits of God, they in number intimately relate to the seven lamps which are the seven churches. Those seven Spirits went out into the world as the churches moved out into the world, and as the torches provide light from oil, so do the lamps. Remember the anointing in I John; it is of oil. When the Lord told the messenger of the church at Ephesus that He would remove his lamp from its place, He did not say he would take it away - just remove it from its place. Observe church history from the second century until today. You will see people following leaders like Paul told them not to do in I Corinthians chapter three. The leaders have become puffed up in the hearts of the followers. Indeed, church leaders removed the Holy Spirit from its place in the church as their Biblically given authority grew in human nature rather than godly nature. Power corrupted the leaders, doctrinal differences became more important than unity in peace and love, and individual conscience became a threat. Romans 14 and I John 2:26 prescribe individual conscience led by the Holy Spirit. It is no wonder church leaders emphasize everything in terms of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, always and only Jesus. The Holy Spirit in its proper place in the heart of the individual believer is a threat to the church leader who has been distracted by power’s candy. How crafty is the Deceiver!
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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