Sunday: The Spirit of Truth
Have you ever prayed, “Please, God, make me good!” but little seems to change? How is it possible that we can pray for God’s great transforming power to work within us, but our lives seem to remain the same? We know that God has unlimited supernatural resources that He so eagerly and freely offers us. We really want to take advantage of it all, and yet, our lives don’t seem to change in a way that matches what God is offering.
Why? One reason is disturbingly simple: While the Spirit has unlimited power to transform us, it is possible by our own choices to restrict what God can do.
Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com
Read John 16:5-15. In this passage, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of truth” (John 16:13, NIV). What does this imply that the Holy Spirit does for us?
While the Holy Spirit can bring us the truth about our sinfulness, He cannot make us repent. He can also show us the greatest truth about God, but He cannot force us to believe or obey it. If God did compel us in even the slightest way, we would lose our free will, and Satan would accuse God of manipulating our minds and hearts and thus be able to accuse God of cheating in the great controversy. When the great controversy broke out in heaven, our Father did not compel Satan or any of the angels to believe that He was good and just or compel the angels to repent. And in the Garden of Eden, when so much was at stake again, God made the truth about the tree in the middle of the garden very clear, but did not prevent Eve and Adam from exercising their free will to disobey. God will not act any differently with us today. So, the Spirit presents the truth about God and sin and then says, “In view of what I have shown you, what will you do now?”
It is the same when we are in the crucible. Sometimes the crucible is there precisely because we have not obeyed or repented of our sins. For our Father to work in such cases, we must consciously choose to open the doors of repentance and obedience in order for God’s power to enter in and transform us.
| What convictions has the “Spirit of truth” brought to you recently? How well are you listening to His voice? And, most important, what choices are you making with your free will? |
(20)
Darlene Zschech's song, "The Potter's Hand" is well known to many of us. Here is part of the song:
As beautiful as it reads and sounds, It implies a sense of compliance and surrender that we often lack. Clay does not fight back and can be molded into just about any shape the potter has in mind. Many of us don't fit that mold.
My father brought back some timber he called "Guiac" from New Caledonia when he was on military service during WWII. It was knotty, rock-hard, rippled stuff that defied regular woodworking tools. My father worked with this timber using special tools he made himself to craft this wood into ornamental boxes, clocks and so on. It was a beautiful timber, rich reddish-brown with ripples and swirls like wooden agate. The end product was a complete transformation of the rough blocks of heavy timber he brought home. Working it required patience and the skill of a master carpenter.
Clay invokes compliance images, but "Guiac" reminds me that I am like the dense, knotty, cross-grained timber that fights back in my spiritual life. The only way to change me is with patience, persistence and the knowledge and understanding of a master craftsman. And sometimes creating a new useful me is going to hurt.
My prayer:
Good morning Maurice. My only thought to your comment is that my desire is to become like the clay, so that I can be molded and shaped by God. Being compliant, in my mind, only means I am choosing to let Gods will be done in my life. I don’t see it as a bad thing.
Study highlights this scripture ...
The big advantage of faithful Christians today, since Christ's accession, is that Jesus is not on the #outside# of us, but on the #inside# of us, in hearts and minds (godly motivation), through Holy Spirit. It's the law of the indwelling Christ, that Adam and Eve lost, as babies (spiritual babies, mindset) in Christ.
However, the study shows that we must respond and act on his guidance. We test all things on the bases of scripture and the moral law. We bring every though captive to the Christ and pray earnestly for guidance and once we discern this guidance is consistent to God's divine nature of Love, Mercy, Long-suffering and Justice, we are empowered to act, with true godly Motivation.
Have we grown to young men and fathers in the faith, (not dogmas) or still babies/children ?
Keep on trucking (meme)
Shalom in his peace 🙏
“How is it possible that we can pray for God’s great transforming power to work within us, but our lives seem to remain the same? “
It is possible for the Holy Spirit to direct and motivate our thoughts and feelings to motivate our actions. Love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit that is motivational to thoughts and feelings. When God‘s love is motivating us we can do His perfect will. His will is possible to become our will with the motivation of His Love in our minds.
Jesus tells us He is standing at our door knocking and if we open the door to our heart He will come in. And that is a promise from Jesus. If we ask him into our mind he will motivate our thinking and our feelings to produce righteousness that is pure and clean and perfect. This is the work of His Holy Spirit.
The answer to the question above is that we don’t ask Jesus to come into our hearts and believe that He will do what He says He will do. When Jesus comes into our hearts He brings His love, His light, and his Spirit with Him.
Amen !
Righteous motivation in hearts and minds by The Holy Spirit to counter the unrighteous motivation by our adversaries, self, sin and Satan.
James 4:1-8
Todays lesson starts to 'lift the lid' on why "our lives don’t seem to change in a way that matches what God is offering" when "we know that God has unlimited supernatural resources that He so eagerly and freely offers us" and "we really want to take advantage of it all".
The lesson then goes on to note that the change God is offering us is a collaborative process that involves our active participation and co-operation. As the lesson well states, "...if God did compel us in even the slightest way, we would lose our free will, and Satan would accuse God of manipulating our minds and hearts..." And as Jesus pointed out, we are either for God changing us or, by default, we are against such change - there is no middle ground (Matthew 12:30). Is it possible that we can want the benefits of change, but not actually be willing or prepared to be co-operatively involved in God's change process? Can we want the results without participating in the 'workout' (Philippians 2:12-13)?
But what about when we are genuinely willing to be co-operatively involved in God's change process - and yet change doesn't seem to be what we expected or perhaps what others have portrayed that we should expect? While the principles of change are similar, the specifics of God's change process can vary substantially from person to person. For some, change seems a rather straightforward journey - for others, far more convoluted. Change is a process that is progressive more often than not and therefore, unfortunately, typically involves and therefore requires development of patience and perseverance. Both Paul and James speak of crucible experiences as the stuff that actually helps us develop, by repeated practice, this vital patience and perseverance (Romans 5:3; James 1:2-4).
I really wish the change process would be easier. But, unfortunately, under our (temporary) sin-infected reality, there are no easy options back to wholeness* (John 16:33). Regularly reminding ourselves of this, including in our prayers to God, can help strengthen our resolve to keep pressing on in God's strength when things get tough, tiring and/or discouraging - which they all too often do.
----------
* This is why it was God's original intention that we would not personally 'know'/experience evil, but only good.
I think the only way to repent truly is by the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to give us right motivation. God wants to give us His motivation—which is His Love, to motivate our thoughts and feelings.
The fruit of God‘s Holy Spirit is Love. His love produces all his thoughts and feelings which altogether make His Character. This is what He wants to write on our hearts by His Spirit of Love.
He can do it but he needs our permission to do it properly because His Love is His motivation—not selfishness as we so often accuse Him as we look through our selfishness clouded eyes. His Love needs our permission to motivate us because His Love does not force itself upon us. We must choose always NOW if we want His Love for our motivation. Make it as much a habit as breathing.
One huge problem is told us by EGW that, "We can never equal the pattern." However, each and every time we come to "The Potter," via His Holy Spirit, claiming the blood of His Son in our behalf for forgiveness and grace etc, He says to us, "Like as a Father pities his children, I pity you." And, "As far as the east is from the west, that is how far I have removed your transgressions from you." And over and over and again and again, He sees us as never having sinned at all. Wow! what a God we serve!
Yes, the fruit of God's Holy Spirit is "love," etc. and etc. These characteristics that God wants for us is "The Work of a Lifetime." It is also called "Sanctification." But only God's Son Jesus manifested these characteristics without a flaw whereas we always come short of manifesting them like Jesus did but yet, God still says to us when we come to Him in humility every morning and evening claiming the Blood of His Son, as having our sins put aside by God as far as the east is from the west and as never having sinned at all etc. and etc.
God loves us so much thus why he sent the holy spirit to reveal him in this World .If we allow him to dwell in us we must be transform But If we continue to do sin he will not dwell in us and we will not be transformed So total surrender is only the solution for transformation by holy spirit .Holy spirit means holy not otherwise so hearing the voice of holy spirit is very important for Christian.