Be Patient, Be Strong

"You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, 

for the coming of the Lord is near."

James 5:8

James wants to encourage Christians to stand firm in trials. He reminds us that the Lord's return is near, and he tells Christians to "be patient" and "strengthen your hearts". The focus here in on the Lord's second coming. It is imminent. It will happen. The coming of Christ is mentioned some three hundred times in the New Testament.  There is a mention of the coming of Christ one time for every thirteen verses from Matthew to Revelation. It is the one single event that every Christian should long for and watch for. The Christian life requires patience and endurance as we wait for the Lord's return. Trials are never ending. One may end, but another will eventually take its place. There will always be something for us to endure. That's true for everyone - believers and unbelievers alike. The difference is that we believers have access to the Holy Spirit, and He is able to empower us to endure tribulation. Our responsibility is to purpose to live with patience and strength, and then to ask the Holy Spirit to help us do so. His responsibility is to give us what we need. He is faithful. He will do it.

The Spirit of Truth

"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, 

that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,"

John 15:26

Is there any doubt that the third person of the Trinity -- the Holy Spirit -- is critical in the life of a Christian? We need His truth to undergird us and give us the strength we need to stand up and refuse to believe the lies the world feeds us every day. God teaches us through the Holy Spirit: " But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him]," (John 16:13 Amplified Bible).

"This strong Succourer and Friend is ‘the Spirit of truth,’ by which is designated, not so much His characteristic attribute, as rather the weapon which He wields, or the material with which He works. The ‘truth’ is His instrument; that is to say, the Spirit of God sent by Jesus Christ is the Strengthener, the Encourager, the Comforter, the Fighter for us and with us, because He wields that great body of truth, the perfect revelation of God, and man, and duty, and salvation, which is embodied in the incarnation and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. The truth is His weapon, and it is by it that He makes us strong." (Alexander Maclaren)

On Our Knees

"Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach."

Acts 5:21

H. A. Ironside told of a godly man named Andrew Frazer, who had come to southern California to recover from a serious illness. Though this Irishman was quite weak, he opened his worn Bible and began expounding the truths of God’s Word in a way that Ironside had never heard before. So moved by Frazer’s words was Ironside, that his curiosity drove him to ask, “Where did you learn these things? Did you learn them in some college or seminary?” The sickly man said, “My dear young man, I learned these things on my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the north of Ireland. There, with my open Bible before me, I used to kneel for hours at a time and ask the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my heart. He taught me more on my knees on that mud floor than I ever could have learned in all the seminaries or colleges in the world.” The Holy Spirit filled the apostles and gave them the knowledge and ability to teach in the temple. He is able to do the same today. Not everyone can attend a theology class or go to seminary, but everyone can open the word of God and humbly ask Him to teach them. Like Andrew Frazer, we can learn on our knees.

Quenching the Spirit

"Do not quench the Spirit; "

1 Thessalonians 5:19

Jesus promised that He would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit,  a "Helper" and "Spirit of truth" (John 14:16- 17), to His followers. The Spirit teaches us, convicts us of sin and empowers us to live the life God has called us to. The Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ. Knowing this, why would we ever want to quench the Spirit? Yet we do. How? "Just don't bother to study the Word. Just don't see the beauty of Christ. Just use the Bible as a means to solve all your problems and don't let it just reveal Christ to you. Don't be humble and admit that you're so far short of the glory of Christ that you desperately need to see His glory and to be moving to a new level of glory. Spiritual pride will hold you back, lack of humility will hold you back...all those things will quench, retard, hinder the work of the Spirit and grieve His heart." (John MacArthur)

Another Helper

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, 

that He may be with you forever;"

John 14:16

The tender love of our Savior never ends. He loved us enough to give His life for us so that we might live forever with Him. And because He didn't want us to ever feel alone while we're here on earth, He arranged for us to have the Holy Spirit living within us to comfort us and help us. To teach us and give us understanding. To strengthen us in our time of need. He is always with us, He never leaves us. And He constantly testifies to us that we are loved, that we belong to Him. 

Bought With a Price

"For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

1 Corinthians 6:20

Paul admonishes the Corinthian church to keep their bodies pure, for the body of a Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He is speaking here of sexual immorality, but since Christ lives within us  -- since our bodies belong to Him -- everything we do matters. If we are lazy. we are certainly not glorifying God. Jesus paid a precious price to redeem us, and our bodies are a part of that redemption. Whenever we make a decision about how to use them, we choose whether we will or will not honor Christ. His Holy Spirit lives within us, giving us the power over anything and everything that dishonors Him. "Your body was a willing horse when it was in the service of the devil, let it not be a sluggish hack now that it draws the chariot of Christ." -- Charles Spurgeon. 

Our Bodies, His Temple

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, 

whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?"

1 Corinthians 6:19

It is a great mystery how Christ lives in us once we receive Him by faith. Yet time and again we see reference to this in the Bible. Paul said our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. I wonder how deeply this truth has settled into all of us who call ourselves believers. Are we so aware of the fact that the Holy One resides within us that we consider Him before we take action on some thought? Do we ask ourselves before we engage in a certain behavior if we are pleasing the Lord, or if what we are about to do will grieve Him? Paul warned the Corinthians against sinning with their bodies, but he addressed other sins, too. For example, in his letter to the Ephesians he wrote: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:30-32) Why would we want to grieve our Savior -- the One who gave His life to save us? Let's live like we remember we are the Holy Spirit's temple.

Heart Thermometer

"And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, 

And has raised up a horn of salvation for us 

In the house of David His servant— 

As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—'"

Luke 1:68-70

The Holy Spirit will never direct our praise toward man, for only God is worthy of such devotion. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Zacharias' prophecy does not focus on John his son, but rather the unborn Savior. "Zacharias doesn't even know Jesus yet, but he praises Him, he loves Him, and he is passionate about Jesus. We know so much more about Jesus than Zacharias does, so what can excuse the coldness of our hearts?" -- David Guzik. If we don't feel moved to worship Jesus Christ -- if we have no passion for Him -- then it's time we check the temperature of our hearts.

The Spirit Testifies

"The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,"

Romans 8:16

God's children are those who have been born again by the Spirit of God. They know who they are because the Holy Spirit testifies to their spirit that this is true. He speaks right to their heart and they are confident that they belong to God. Jewish law stated everything had to be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6). There are two witnesses to our salvation: our own witness and the witness of the Holy Spirit. "...the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit when we cry, "Jesus is Lord!" But that is not the only cry the Spirit prompts in our hearts. Another is, "Abba! Father!" In other words, the Spirit produces two profound changes in us toward God: One is a humble demeanor of submission: Jesus, the Son of God, is my Lord, my Master; I am His subject; He is my Ruler, my Sovereign. And the other is the joyful, bold, childlike demeanor of confidence: God is my Father." -- John Piper

Spirit Over Mind

"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,"

2 Corinthians 10:5

Obedience to Christ begins in the mind. To live a life that pleases Him, we must make the decision to accept His teaching and conform every thought to His. This demands a constant yielding of our will to the Holy Spirit. When a sinful thought (a thought that gratifies self) enters our mind, we are to give it over to Christ and allow Him to give us His thought (a thought that glorifies God) in its place. This isn't mind over matter. It's Spirit over mind. 

Rivers of Living Water

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water."

John 7:38

When we come to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. This could not happen had Jesus not first given His life on the cross. "Many feel that salvation would be more of a reality if Jesus were here in person. Even His Disciples felt this way before His death. However, Jesus told them that if He didn't go away, the Spirit could not come into the world, John 16:7. The best thing that could have happened did. Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead and ascended back into Heaven. Then, He sent His Spirit into the world to function as Living Water to all who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.The water of the Holy Spirit not only goes in, it also comes out. Not only does the believer receive blessing, but he becomes a blessing to others." -- Alan Carr

Internal Combustion

"And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all."

Acts 4:33

By today's standards of a successful ministry, the Jerusalem church would look like a failure.  They didn’t own a building, had no programs and very little money. The religious establishment harassed them and their leaders were in and out of jail for preaching Jesus Christ as “The Way” to salvation. But instead of folding under pressure, the church flourished, enjoying “the favor of all people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). The late Vance Havner said, “We are not going to move the world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.” The truth of his words can be seen in the impact the early church had in spreading the gospel of Christ. A small group of believers “ignited by the Spirit of God” turned the world upside down. Holy Spirit power is no less available to us today than it was in the early days of Christianity. If we're not moving the world toward God, maybe it's because there's no internal combustion in our lives.

No Better Friend

         "There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

Proverbs 18:24b

It's good to have earthly friends; the world would be a lonely place without them.  The truest friendship is shown in action. Talk costs us nothing, but action always has a price. Even if we show up just to listen to a friend, it costs us the time involved. Jesus counted the cost of being a friend to sinners and paid the ultimate price -- His life. He redeemed us by the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of our sins.  He sent His Holy Spirit to live within us, to comfort us and guide us. Now Jesus stands before the Father as our intercessor and one day He will return to gather us to Himself. There can be no better friend than Jesus Christ.  The Friend who sticks even closer than a brother.

When We Grieve the Holy Spirit

"Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30

One of the amazing things about this verse is that God would condescend to us in such a way that we could grieve Him. To think that Almighty God loves us to that degree. Is it not proof enough of Christ's love for us that He died on the cross to save us from hell? It is understandable that He would be grieved by those who reject Him. But now we are told in this verse that as His beloved children our sinful actions can bring sorrow to His Holy Spirit. This truth should cause us to stop and examine ourselves and determine how we may be grieving the Holy Spirit of God today. Once we have identified that which grieves Him, we can confess it to God. He will faithfully forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). 

What Does God Want?

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8

Micah reveals to us what the Lord requires of his children. It may sound easy, but if we are honest with ourselves, we know that to act justly towards others and extend mercy to them when they have wronged us is not natural. These are Godlike characteristics that we do not possess in our own strength. It requires the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And how do we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, unless we come before God in humility, confessing our sins and acknowledging our need for a Savior? Micah says, "walk humbly with your God." God must be personal to us. He must be your God. He must be my God. He is not a distant, uninterested deity, but a loving Father who wants us to have a right relationship with him. What an honor and privilege it is to "walk humbly" with Almighty God.

Fruit Production

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." Galatians 5:22-25

A healthy fruit-bearing tree, bush or vine will produce luscious fruit in season. Jesus said the person who follows Him will be recognized by the spiritual fruit he or she produces. The Holy Spirit of God resides in the Christian, and as that Christian yields to the Holy Spirit, more and more of the Spirit's fruit is revealed. It's good to do a self-check every so often to see how our fruit production is coming along. Is our love for others increasing? Are we more joyful? Does peace rule in our hearts? Do we demonstrate more patience? Is kindness evident in our lives? How about goodness? Can we say our faithfulness has grown?  Do we have a gentle spirit? Are we exhibiting self-control? If an honest self-examination reveals that some fruit is lacking, we can call on the Holy Spirit to work in us to increase production. This requires submitting to Him. That is how we "walk by the Spirit".