The Fear of the Lord and the Comfort of the Holy Spirit

This morning my reading took me to Acts 9 where I came across this phrase:

And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

I had to stop. In some ways this sentence seems like a contradiction. "The fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit." But this is the way they were walking. They feared the Lord. The believers had seen what happened with Ananias and Sapphira when they had lied to the Holy Spirit. They KNEW the fear of the Lord. Yet they had seen how Stephen was able to stand up to all the Jews and proclaim the name of Jesus and even while they were stoning him. He was able to forgive them AND ask the Father not to hold this sin against them. That is comfort in knowing that God is holding him right where he wants him.

The question arises do I know, believe and act on these two thoughts: the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit? If I were to be truly honest the answer is no. I take the Lord so casually that I go through most of my day without Him. I forget that He is living inside of me; going through everything I go through. He watches as I go about in my own strength not even checking in very often. Fearing Him? I don't think so.

And what about His comfort? In a crisis situation is my first response to cry out to the Lord? More often than not, no. I look for solutions and if none of those work, then it's time to pray. Even then it is wanting an answer my way, not trusting His comfort and realizing that He has allowed this special situation so that it might draw me closer to Him.

Yet these believers walked in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. That tells me it is possible. And not only is it possible but it yields fruit. "They were multiplied." When I am walking in the fear of the Lord and resting in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, I become the witness He wants me to be. People will see a difference.

I was at a women's Bible study this past week and the emphasis was on the cross of Christ. One of the main things emphasized was God pouring His wrath upon His Son for our sins. We have no idea how great and offensive our sins are to a Holy God. If we truly saw ourselves in all of our wickedness, we would fear Him and fall at His feet, crying for mercy. But He has done that! The Lord Jesus took it all! How dare I think I know what's best! How dare I? I dare because I don't always see me for who I am.

Yet the Spirit gives comfort, reminding me I am forgiven in Christ. I have been made new in Christ. I am now seated in the heavenlies in Christ. All of this should cause us to love Him and worship Him more!

Oh, Father, open my eyes! Let me see more of You that I may fear You and worship You! Let me rest in the comfort of Your Spirit that I may bring You the honour and glory of which You are so worthy!

The Holy Spirit to Me

My daily Bible reading is slowly taking me through the book of Acts and for that I am grateful because I am seeing things I have never seen before. Here is what caught my eye this morning:

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit..."  But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Here is Stephen declaring the history of the Jews to the priests and Pharisees. But as he brings them to the current time, he points out who they really are: stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. AND so much so that they resist the Holy Spirit. He on the other hand had chosen to submit himself to the mighty Hand of God and resist the devil. His faith was in Christ alone and because he chose to make that stand, God allowed him to see His glory and the Lord Jesus fully exalted. He is then murdered by those who cannot tolerate being accused of such things.

I was thoroughly enjoying the reading and the Lord showing me the contrast between the two when the Spirit gently poked me. "Which one are you?" Now, wait a minute. This is about the self-righteous Jews and a man who has trusted the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. I definitely fall on the "Stephen" side. But, God, being kind and gentle, pushed a little harder. "You stiff-necked people." I cannot deny it; that is me. "You always resist the Holy Spirit." No, that's not me! But is it?

When the Spirit prompts me using that still small voice of His, do I always listen? And even if I listen do I always obey? Unfortunately, the answer is more often no than yes.

WHY? Because I have pressing matters to which I must attend. I would rather sleep in than spend time talking over things with God before I get going on my day. My schedule is set and there is nothing sinful in it; all the things I have planned to do are good. So I go throughout the day not even thinking of Him, much less talking to Him about what is going on. I deserve this break to watch what I want; I have been busy working for the Lord. I am to exhausted to take time to read and pray before I go to sleep. And the next day has begun. As I was rereading this paragraph, the "I"s really hit me.

Don't get me wrong. I take time each day to spend in His Word. I feel like I can't live without it. I don't say this to boast; it's a fact. But to sit and actually listen to Him? Not usually. A number of times this week different people have quoted the first part of verse Psalm 46:10,

            Be still, and know that I am God...

I know the Spirit is wanting to get my attention. I am a mediocre Christian. But I am not a great Christian. I am stiff-necked, wanting to have my own way and freaking out when it doesn't go the way I think it should. No, I don't throw tantrums. No, my way of freaking out is much more quiet and internal. I hold it in and then my body pays the cost. You see, I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. When I worry and panic, my body hurts and I have no strength. I become useless. But there is one way that I can be useful; I can spend that time before my Lord, talking and listening to Him. The question is will I?

I don't want to be like the Pharisees; I truly want to be like Stephen. I want to see God in all His glory. I want to see the Lord Jesus standing by His side. I want to be yielding completely to the Spirit of God. The great thing about all of these wants is I know that is what He wants too. The question is still the same, will I yield and be full of Him?

The Church

Acts 2:42-47 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, andmany wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 

I read the above passage this morning as part of my daily reading and it hit me: Are any churches this way? The group I fellowship with has a tendency to pride themselves in believing that they are a New Testament church. But after reading the above passage, I seriously doubt anyone is.

Let's break it apart. "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching." Many churches have great teachers; I won't deny that and I thoroughly enjoy listening to many on radio or Sunday morning or Tuesday nights. BUT it doesn't say listen; it says devoted themselves to. What does that mean or even more important what does that look like? I'm reminded here of the Bereans who after hearing the Word preached, checked for themselves the Scriptures to make sure that what was being taught was according to the Word of God - THE OLD TESTAMENT. The New Testament hadn't even been written at that point in time. Do we examine the Scriptures after we have been taught, or do we glibly accept what has been said? I have to admit that I don't very often. 

It's also not just checking out what they said to see if it lines up with Scripture, but it is then applying it to their lives. They were praising God and having favour with all people! And God was [adding] to their number day by day. We definitely don't see that. How much of my life is praise to God and being in favour with ALL people? Do I see anyone saved?

...the fellowship... I can't speak for all fellowships but the ones I am familiar with, there is a great lack in this area. Our idea of fellowship times are the break times between meetings or any potluck "fellowship" times. The thing is I believe that true fellowship is based on the Lord Jesus and knowing Him. How much of the time when we spend it with other believers is spent actually talking about Him and what He is doing in our lives? We are so afraid of being vulnerable that we hide behind our "busy"ness. It is easier to not open up to others about what God is teaching me for fear I might be misunderstood or even worse might be wrong about what I'm thinking. I'll just keep my Christianity between me and the Lord. No wonder we don't know our brothers and sisters in Christ. No wonder there is so much hurt in the Church. No wonder there are mega Churches exploding - it's easier to go there and hide and be accepted when I want to be.

I'll come back to the breaking of bread in a moment, but first I want to talk about prayer. Prayer: the easiest thing to do. Prayer: the hardest thing to do. It's easy because we can do it anytime, anywhere, about anything. It's hard because it means taking the time to talk to God AND to let Him answer. It's easy to fill up our lives with other things, but to take the time to talk to God, that's hard. But it's what He tells us we need to do. The Saviour was in constant communion with His Father and even then took deliberate times to get away so that He could just talk with Him alone. Oh that we might see our need of spending the time with Him alone. 

The Breaking of Bread. A beautiful time of remembering Christ sacrificing His body and His blood so that we might be redeemed. Our group pride's itself that we do it on the first day of the week, every week. But I noticed, "day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes..." It was done every day in their homes. I don't know of anyone anywhere that is doing that. Were we to do it that way, wouldn't there be a change in our lives? Wouldn't there be more fellowship as we would be hosting people in our homes, remembering the Lord? We would definitely be talking about Him! And with so much daily emphasis on Him wouldn't there be a difference in us? Wouldn't the people around us notice the difference? Would our neighbours become interested in what's going on in our lives and see the difference Christ makes?

As I write this I am greatly challenging myself. I need to change in so many ways. I am asking, Father, change me to make me pleasing to You in all ways. Not for my sake but so that You may be praised and receive all glory.

Faith of a Child

This morning I am struggling with the concept of faith. Not that I've stopped believing in God or anything like that. It's just I say I believe God, I believe in Him, but I know that my actions don't always say that. It's so easy for me to tell someone this is what you should do because that's what the Bible says, BUT when it comes to me, the story is different.

Yesterday I read about the woman who came up to Jesus, believing that if she just touched the fringe of his cloak, she would be made well. And she was! But He wanted her to come to Him. So He asked, "Who touched me?" Knowing that she had been discovered she came forward and confessed everything. Why did He have her do that? So that she could know she was more than just someone to be healed; she was someone special to Him and she needed to know that.

I have the flu right now and have not been able to sleep well for days. Yet it didn't hit me until this morning to ask the Lord to heal me. Why? Because I don't believe He can? No, I do believe He can, but as I thought through it even more I began to think do I have any right to ask Him for that. I have an uncle who was just diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. His sister just died from that same disease 4 months ago. I have a dear, dear friend who has ovarian cancer. Her mom and sister have both died from it. The doctors have told her there is nothing they can do for her anymore. I cry out to God for them. They need healing - they need it now. But me I'll get through this.

Or is that the problem: "I'll" get through this. I'm not looking to Him, but looking to me and to the meds that I'm taking. Has this generation of Christian become so dependent upon the "healings" that we offer through meds, that we don't even consider the Great Physician any more.

I was talking to my daughter about this and she reminded me of some scenarios when she was a child. She said, "Mom, do you remember when I was little and cut myself near my eye? You took me to the ER to get it taken care of right away. Do you remember when CJ came to you crying about his finger really hurting and you couldn't even see anything wrong? Both of us needed care and you gave us both the love and care that we needed. CJ got a band-aid even though he didn't need one. and I got my stitches. But in both cases you were the mom who loved us and gave us what we needed. Don't make God more complicated than He is. He loves us all as His children and He gives what we need."

I'm very thankful for my daughter. It was what I needed to hear. I am asking for healing from the flu, thankful that I can go to my Father with my little cares and that He still cares even about the little things. I'm thankful too that I can go to Him with the big cares like my uncle and my friend. Will any of us be healed? That's His decision; my part is to just trust Him with us all.

Where Are the Missionaries?

I just read the prayer letter from some dear friends. The husband is planning a trip to the Philippines to help a missionary there and encourage some others. At the close of his letter he had a photo of a tribal man with this written underneath.

"Over 100 people groups have asked for missionaries and are waiting!"

What a sad state in which we are living. People are asking for missionaries to come and teach them about God! Why aren't they going? Where are they?

Today in North America Christians are wealthier than they have ever been. They own homes, 2-3 cars, have time-shares, and are taking the most extravagant vacations they can afford. Why? Because, "we have earned it." The money that is given to the Church is used for making the place where we worship more comfortable and providing the things we need for "ministry here at home." Take a look at almost any Church Budget in North America and that which is set aside for missions is pathetic.

The problem is that we don't believe people are really going to hell. We don't believe that people really have a need for a Saviour. We don't believe what the Bible is saying. We don't believe God. We have become selfish and are "looking out for number 1!"

We've lost the view of the Church from just over 100 years ago; the time when they sent out missionaries like Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael and George Muller. A time when people gave sacrificially because they knew there was a lost world around them and they could not sit idly by.

I pray that we may have a change of heart; that we would see the world the way God sees it. Our eyes would be opened to the sinful state around us and that we would be brought to our knees in repentance and then be willing to do whatever and/or go wherever He wants us. May the Lord wake us up from this sleep that we have chosen. May it even begin today with me.

Ignoring God

The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.

This was a part of my reading this morning and the severity of the phrase hit me - they paid no attention.
We as Christians in North America have a tendency to take the things of Scripture that we like and apply them to our selves. We like being "saved" because we won't be going to hell. We go to Church because that's what a good Christian does. We even read our Bibles; we have done our duty. But do we know Christ and what He requires of us.

For the past year the Lord has been emphasizing in different ways Who He is and who I am. He is the One, True, Eternal God, the Great Redeemer of mankind. I am the weak, sinful, lost one who has no right to demand anything from Him. I keep forgetting.

When Christ called His disciples, He said, "Take up your cross and follow me," and NOT "Follow me and I will bless you abundantly!" Don't get me wrong - Christ does bless. He blesses in ways that I could never imagine. He has promised every spiritual blessing according to Ephesians 1. But that's not how or why I am to follow. I am to take up my cross and follow Him."

When He told His disciples that, He had not died on the cross yet. But the disciples were familiar with crucifixion. It was a normal thing during the Roman Empire. They knew that taking up a cross could lead to only one thing death.

And that's why Christ is calling us. We need to die. Die to this world. Die to the things around us. Die to ourselves and to our selfish desires and wants. There is nothing good in us, so why would we want to keep ourselves alive?

It's very easy for me to look at some of my friends and think they are not living for Christ. They go on cruises and have all these nice things and are constantly "moving up" in the world. It's very easy for me to judge them and their hearts by what I see. Am I right or wrong about them? It doesn't matter. Christ's concern is with ME and how I am dealing with things.

I need to die to self; I need to take up my cross and follow Him. My problem is I don't fully believe that. Because if I did believe it I wouldn't hold onto things that are not beneficial to my walk with Christ. I'm not saying these things are sinful, BUT they are things that distract me from the mind of Christ.

I find it so easy to get caught up in playing games. I'm serious; I love computer games. I can spend hours going from one game to the next. Are they bad for me? Noooo. But I get lost in them and can play and play and play.

What Christ is showing me is what consumes my time is my idol. Unfortunately, it's me. And yielding to Him, learning more of Him, asking Him, "What would You have me do, Lord?" moment by moment of the day, is all that He requires.

I may be hearing Christ, but the big question is, AM I PAYING ATTENTION?

Denied Blessings

This morning my Bible reading was in 1 Chronicles 25 & 26 and in both of these chapters it speaks of the blessing of the Lord. Do you know what the blessing was? CHILDREN! The first was a promise to Heman to exalt him. How did God do this? By giving him 14 boys and 3 girls! The second was a man named Obed-edem; he had 8 sons and this was God's blessing! God used children to bless these men. But not only were they a blessing to their parents, they also became blessings to the nation of Israel because God used them in the temple to lead the people in praise and worship. AND they were recorded in the Scriptures as being a blessing to their parents and being used in God's temple! How much more can a parent ask for?

My question for us in North America, is: have we denied ourselves blessing because we "decide" how many children we will have? My husband and I have 3 children and each one is a blessing. But we decided not to have any more because my emotions during my pregnancy scared me and I was fearful of what I might do. I didn't trust God. I let my own fears dictate my future, our family's future and even the future of this world. What have I denied the world of by being selfish and not trusting God? What blessings have I denied myself of for a lack of faith?

Our reasons can be different, but the source is always the same: we don't trust God to do what He says He will. Children are a blessing and He needs to be the One Who decides how many we will have. I have a dear friend who wanted children desperately. And for a number of years she and her husband tried. There was no physical reason why they shouldn't have children. One day, out of the blue, she became pregnant! I remember she told me one of her co-worker who asked her how it happened. She said she was kind of embarrassed but had to answer, "The regular way." It was awkward for her and yet kind of funny at the same time. She has 2 beautiful daughters, one who is graduating from high school shortly, and that is all the Lord gave her.

We also have some very dear friends who have 9 daughters! These are some of the sweetest most charming young ladies I have ever met. Yet these parents have also faced sorrow within the past few years they have had 2 miscarriages. Should they have stopped? Some would definitely say, "Yes - A LONG TIME AGO!" But they have chosen to trust the Lord and let Him lead in this area. They are truly blessed and yes each one of those girls is a blessing! And God has carried them through the hard time of the loss of not seeing those 2 little ones on this earth. But they know they will see them again soon before the throne of God where they will not have to have dealt with this sinful world.

He knows what we can and cannot handle BUT He allows us to choose if we are going to trust Him or not, whether it be for our emotions or our finances or whatever. The choice is ours. May we stop being selfish and allow God to do the good work He wants to do for us. May the parents of North America wake up and see that children are a blessing and not a burden.