Ok I know I Suck at keeping up with my blog. I am so sorry! I will try to get caught up. Which means you may see things out of order. Any way I wanted to share with you my favorite Essay! It was on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. I loved these lectures and I learned so much about the Holy Spirit. Our assignment was to write a response letter to "Ashley". First is Ashley's letter then it is my response. I hope you enjoy it!
My dear friend,
Is it possible to drive God away from my
life? I am in a terrible state of fear
that I may have grieved, or even blasphemed the Holy Spirit, by neglecting him
during my three years as a Christian. I
am terrified that he has now left me. I
read a verse in Psalm 51 recently which said: 'Do not take your Holy Spirit
from me', which seems clearly to imply that he could leave. Is this true?
If not, why does this verse seem to suggest it?
You see, although I have been a Christian for
three years, I have neglected God and been so distant from him. Recently I realised that God has much more to
accomplish in my life than just taking me to heaven when I die. This started when I met some other Christians
who seemed to have something I didn’t have.
They urged me to ask God to baptise me in the Holy Spirit - which I did
- but nothing has happened. I know this
because they told me that when it did, I would speak in tongues, and I haven't
done so.
Then I met someone else who told me I had
already been baptised with the Holy Spirit (although I can't think when…
but he didn't think there had to be any outward evidence). He said that I needed to be filled
with the Holy Spirit, but I don't even know what it means, let alone how to
make it happen. It sounds so vague to
me. The baptism idea sounds better
because at least there is something concrete to show for it (tongues - or so I
was told). Do you understand what I am
looking for? How do I get this sense of
being closer to God? Can you tell me
what the bible says about it all, and when you write, could you give me
some verses and passages of Scripture, so
I can study all this for myself?
I am so tired of other people's opinions — I just want to know what God
has said. To be honest, I’m afraid there
may be no hope left for me…….
Please write soon,
Ashley
Dear Ashley,
Thank
you so much for writing me with your concerns. From
you letter I hear you saying that you are concerned with if the Holy Spirit has
left you, if you have grieved Him, if you have blasphemed Him, if you need to
be baptized by the Spirit, if you need to be filled with the Spirit, and if you
need to speak in tongues. Well Ashley I can assure there is defiantly still
hope for you.
Your
first concern was that you fear the Holy Spirit has left you referencing Psalm
51:11. The Spirit has been around since
creation like we see in Gen1:2 and 3:7, but has had different roles though
scripture. In the Old Testament days the Spirit would come upon and leave
specific people to do a specific task from God at specific times. We see this
throughout OT scripture specifically in 1 Samuel 16; the Spirit came upon David
and left Saul because he refused to follow the ways of the Lord. David’s
biggest fear was that he would sin so bad that God would remove the Spirit from
him like we see in his prayer in Psalm 51:11. This is called old covenant
theology. Jeremiah 31:31-34 prophesies
of a new covenant where the law is within us. When Jesus came, Mark 1:10
and Luke 4:18, the Spirit came upon Jesus at His baptism by John. While Jesus is here He foretells of the Spirit
coming to us in John 16: 7. Matthew
28: 20 confirms this also and says “Ashley, I will be with you to the very end
of the age. I will never leave you”. Jesus is making reference to the Holy
Spirit that would come at Pentecost, Acts 2, into the hearts of all who believe
in Jesus. Since the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit no longer comes upon us
like in the OT but lives inside our hearts and never leaves us no matter how
bad we sin. We see assurance of this throughout New Testament scripture
specifically in Ephesians 1:13-14,
we are sealed with a mark of ownership which is the Holy Spirit, and Romans 8:
15-16 the Spirit is the one that gives us assurance we are children of God. Ashley,
because you are so hungry for the Spirit it means He is working in you.
Even
though the Holy Spirit will never leave you it is possible to grieve (upset),
quench (say no to), and resist (stubborn against authority) Him. Scripture
commands us not to do these in Eph 4:30,
1Thessalonians 5:19, and Acts 7:51. This is done by not, keeping in step
with the Spirit, Gal 5:25, and living
the way He wants you to live according to His will. “Rarely do we consider
whether our actions or lifestyle are grievous to the Spirit of the Living God.” We
can also “quench the Spirit by ignoring His workings” among believers. Because of this I am sorry to tell you that you have grieved,
quenched and resisted the Holy Spirit these last 3 years. Please find hope in that none of
these are unforgivable, you just need to repent, ask for forgiveness and turn
from your bad ways.
Although
you have grieved Him I am certain you have not blasphemed Him, Matt 12:22-32. In this passage Jesus
knows the thoughts of the Pharisees as they say His works done by the devil.
The Pharisees know who Jesus is yet they refuse to acknowledge Him as the Son
of God. Thus it’s unforgivable because the Pharisees refuse
the Spirit’s gift of understanding, forgiveness and new birth.
If they had repented and acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God as they
knew in their hearts they would have received forgiveness. Therefore any
Christian that has said yes to Jesus is not in danger of blaspheming the Holy
Spirit. Ashley, if you had blasphemed the Spirit you wouldn’t
become a Christian and you wouldn’t be worried about t now.
Since
you are a Christian you do not need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. That
happens when you become a Christian as it is described in Acts 2:38, 1 Cor 12:13, Eph 1: 13-14, and John 7:37-39. All
of these passages say that when you believe in Jesus you receive the Holy
Spirit in that moment. The biblical reference your friends probably used for
the idea that you need to be baptized by the Holy Spirit after you become a
Christian would be Acts 8:4-17. This passage says Phillip preached the gospel
and later Peter and John came and brought the Spirit to the Samaritans who
believed. To fully understand this passage we need to recognize that it is part
of a string of events that are a happening in Acts: Acts 2: 1-4(Jesus’ Followers), 8: 1-14(Samaritans),
9: 1-7 (Saul), 10: 1-48 (Gentiles), 19: 1-7 (followers of John the Baptist).
Each of these events were major breakthrough moments for the Church and “every time the
gospel first breaks a major barrier, something obvious and visible occurs to
authenticate what’s happened as being genuinely of God”.
In Acts 8, this was the
biggest breakthrough moment second to Pentecost, the first Samaritans become
Christians and the Spirit is uniquely withheld until the unifying apostolic
leadership came with affirmation. They wanted ensure that the Samaritan
Christians and the Jewish Christians would unified so there would not be
division. The fact that the Holy Spirit is withheld at the moment of conversion
here is the only time this happens in the NT. What this means for us today is
that our conversions will look like the other conversions in Acts that aren’t major break-though moments and not accompanied
by manifestations of the Spirit such as: The Ethiopian eunuch Acts 8: 38, Lydia
Acts 16: 14, The Philippian jailor Acts 16: 34, Jews & Greeks in Berea Acts
17: 12, Dionysius & Damaris in Athens Acts 17: 34.
This
does not mean we do not need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In Eph 5:18 the ‘all’ that is used in Greek
means ‘all of you must’ it is a plural imperative, a command to everyone. It is
also a present continuative meaning that it is for today and everyday forward,
we need to keep being filled. John 3:34 says that God gives the Spirit without
measure. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit it will look like deeper
fellowship, deeper worship, deeper gratitude, and deeper humility, Eph 5:19-21. The way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to ask the Father, He wants to
give Him to us, Luke 11:13. Although this verse is passive on our part we need
to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, we also need to do our part which is read
the Bible and obey it as it says in John 14:23. Ashley, because you have not be
doing your part in the last 3 years it is no wonder that you do not feel full
of the Holy Spirit. “When He fills us we become vessels of blessing to the
world” and pour out His spirit as he fills us up.
Being
filled with the Holy Spirit does not mean that you speak in tongues or have
other obvious manifestations of the Spirit. Tongues is one of the spiritual
gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Cor 12:8-10, Eph 4:11, and 1 Peter 4:10-11. These
gifts are used to edify, equip and encourage the Church as well as to bring
unity which is the job of the Holy Spirit, Eph 4:3, 1 Peter 4:10, 1 Corinthians 12: 4, 7,17 , Ephesians 4: 12. With all the gifts
we need to test them against scripture to ensure they are being used correctly
and align with the Word of God, 1 Cor 14: 29. “No experience-no
matter how much it may mean to us or how important it may seem to be-must take
the place of God’s Word in our lives.” The list of spiritual gifts is not an exhaustive list, we are all given
different gifts by God according to our purpose in the body of Christ- His
Church, 1
Peter 4:10, Eph. 4: 7, 1 Cor 12,
Romans 12: 5-6. We should all have the evidences of the Spirit in
our lives which is to manifest God’s
character, become increasingly pure, be increasingly devoted to God, have a growing hatred of sin, have
increasingly high spiritual and moral standards, be increasingly committed to God’s service, live with
increasing standards of justice and ‘rightness’, and daily enjoy the presence
of God.
For
me I do not have any of the spiritual gifts listed in the bible except for the
gift of encouragement. I have many friends that do speak in tongues and
prophesy and I have asked for these gifts. I think people that have these gifts
are great and they have blessed me many times from them. In my relationship
with the Spirit if He is telling me something I will have a sudden thought
enter my mind or I may have a gut feeling that won’t go away until I address
what it is He is telling me. Using my gift of encouragement for me means that
the Spirit points out people that need encouragement and usually gives me the
words they need in that moment. I do not try to force this gift but through
other people that have confirmed that I have this gift.
Ashley
I hope this helps you understand and grow in your relationship with the Spirit.
The most important thing to remember is that although there are many different
opinions we need to not be divided and remember Eph 4:3 to fight for unity.
In Christ,
Alyse
York is absolutely my favorite city in all of the UK perhaps the World! I love the charm and feel of York. It is a very old quaint town that is full of history and culture while maintaining its northern English roots. Mom and I got to spend 3 days there over Christmas then we took Drew and Dana back there a few days later because we loved it so much. At school we had the opportunity to go for a day and I jumped on it! It was so fun with my family but equally fun and different with my friends. Our first views of York was the amazing towers of The Minster. The bells were chiming while were there and filled the whole city with their loud scales of notes. We explored the walls around the city and got amazing views of The Minster. Then we had tea in this adorable cafe called Vanilla Tea. It was the exactly what you would think of for a cute English tea house. After that we explored the shops, the chocolate factory, and the Shambles. Which is a really cool street that has a Diagon Alley feel to it. All of the shops are small locally owned and have lots of locally hand crafted items. It is so fun to explore with wonder in all the shop windows while holding amazing dark hot chocolate. My favorite moment of the day was breaking off on my own and sitting in the park behind The Minster on a very comfortable wooden bench gazing at this huge beautiful place of worship of my God! In that moment I felt Peace and so close to Jesus. At the end of the day we were all tired from walking we made it back to the buss and got to expierence one of the brightest most colorful sunsets I have seen in a long time. For me York is always worth the trip!
