I am not "it"...

Years ago I attended a weekend seminar and I remember waking up the one morning with these words in my mind:  

"I am NOT it..."

As I was contemplating where these words came from and what it meant, I realized it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me.  That was the morning that I realized - not thinking of the actual implications of the words - I had always talked about the Holy Spirit as "it" whenever I spoke about Him.  Peculiar, as I have been taught from a young age that the Holy Spirit is a person and yet I would not have a conversation with Him as a person but rather as "it" - maybe as a power rather than anything else, but certainly not really as a person.  

That weekend changed my life profoundly for a number of reasons, one of which was that my relationship with the Holy Spirit started to change from a non-personal one to a relationship with a person.  One that can, and wants, to be known.  One that invites us into an intimacy that is closer than our heartbeat.  Let's read a few scriptures today that confirms the personhood of the Holy Spirit for us:

John 14:26 speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person with specific qualities, characteristics, and a mission  to represent Jesus on earth.  

But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.

A comforter, counselor, helper, intercessor, representative, and One who teaches and helps us to bring to remembrance everything Jesus taught, cannot merely be a power - this is clearly speaking of a person with a special mission in your and my spirit. 

In John 15:26 He is called the Spirit of Truth and it is said that He will testify regarding Jesus.

But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He [Himself] will testify regarding Me.

Although a spirit can have power, a power alone cannot be a Spirit of Truth  since power alone cannot have discernment.  Neither can a power testify of Jesus since testimony is something only a person can give.  

There are many more scriptures we can quote on this matter but I am going to suffice with these two. I want to challenge you today with the question, "Who is the Holy Spirit to you?"  I think it is fitting for us to contemplate this question in the light of the fact that we are  celebrating Pentecost in a few weeks' time.   

Come Holy Spirit, come once again and meet us in person.

 

Holy Spirit you are welcome here - Bryan and Katie Torwalt

 

The fire of God

As you may know, there are devastating fires raging on Table Mountain presently, driven by warm berg winds, causing people to have to evacuate their houses and causing much damage to property and nature. As we were praying into the situation yesterday and last night, I was reminded of how many times God spoke to His people in and through a fire.  Here are a few examples:

Daniel's friends refused to worship the idol as instructed and were thrown into the fiery oven from which God saved them.  However, they did not know if God was going to save them or not, consider what they were saying to the king beforehand:  

Daniel 3:17-18 ¹⁷ If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."

Even if God did not save them from the fire, they were not going to compromise their faith in God.  

God spoke to Moses in a fire from a burning bush in Exodus 3:1-17 ² And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³ Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”⁴ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

Moses had to turn aside to pay attention to the burning bush - and when God saw that he had turned aside, then God called to him...

When the Holy Spirit was poured out there were tongues of fire.

 Acts 2:1-4 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

It is clear from these scriptures that God very often speaks to His people in and through a fire, but this kind of fire from God is a fire through which He ignites our spirits with passionate love for Him and commitment to His calling for us.  Consider the words of those on the road to Emmaus when they said:

Luke 24:32  ³² And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

How passionately is the fire of God burning in our hearts today?  Are we losing our passion for Him?  Maybe it is time to consider the question and ask God to pour out the fire of the Holy Spirit on us as individuals, in our city, and as a nation.  We are in the countdown to Pentecost - are we asking, praying desiring the Holy Spirit's fire to fall on us?

While we are keeping the firefighters, residents, students, UCT etc.. all who have been impacted by the fire that is still raging on this morning, in our prayers and thoughts, let us ask the Holy Spirit to fill us anew with His Spirit and set our hearts ablaze with a hunger and thirst for a deeper relationship with Father God and Jesus His Son.  

Lets worship with Kim Walker Smith

"Not this Shepherd"

The past weekend I was reminded of a story from my own walk with Christ that really had a profound impact on the way I view God. Since childhood days I was really struggling with the image used in the Bible of the Shepherd. I was struggling to identify with a Good Shepherd because in my mind a shepherd in the natural takes care of the sheep basically for two reasons. They are a source of wool and meat. So caring for the sheep is there, yes, but in the end the shepherd takes care of the sheep to gain something from them - and sometimes it means that he is going to slaughter the sheep and feed them to his family! Sheep means clothes at best and food at worst ... and then the Bible uses this image to describe God's nature to us and it is supposed to make me feel cared for and safe? This did not work very well for me.  

So for years I was walking around with this uneasy feeling about The Shepherd, I think knowing I am missing something here, but not knowing what the missing link was.  Guilt increased because I was feeling guilty that I don't get it and that I apparently could not 'die unto myself' enough to see the love and caring in the 'being a to-be-slaughtered-sheep in the flock of Jesus The Great Shepherd.  As we so often do with issues like this, I was also not talking to the Shepherd about this, because I was thinking I certainly do not want to bring this thought to His attention since that may just trigger the "Yes - and now it is your turn" - answer!  So I mistakenly thought that if I ignore it, it will go away, or at least never get to that point - hoping that maybe I am a "wool-sheep" and will have the grace to live as long as I produce good wool for the Shepherd.  

Ai jai jai... but then the day came that I had to have this discussion with God and I risked to tell Him how I think and feel about the way this image portrays God's nature in scripture.  To my big surprise at that time God actually answered me.  It is pretty ridiculous how I tried to hide the issue from Him - as if He does not know anyway.  He waits for us to take our fears and doubts to Him and risk talking to Him about it in spite of our reservations.  God answered me with only three words - but it was three words that radically changed my understanding of Him as my Shepherd.  Those three words were:

NOT THIS SHEPHERD 

God knew this was all He needed to say, because He knew that through His Spirit over many years, He has built enough into my spirit that I would be able to connect the rest of the dots once I had this missing puzzle piece in my reasoning.  This missing puzzle piece meant that I missed the fact that the nature of God as The Shepherd was completely different from my idea of His nature.  This Shepherd sacrificed Himself for the sheep.  He did not require His Sheep to be sacrificed but came as The Lamb to be slain on our behalf.  In our place.  He became the ultimate Good Shepherd that gave His life so that we can have life - life eternal and life in abundance (John 3:10).  

Let us celebrate this morning the Good Shepherd who loved His sheep so much that He would give His own Son in our place.  (John 3:16)

Psalm 23 - Lize Wiid