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Will of the Father

By in Theology

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” – Matt 7:21-22

This is the difference between talking and doing. So it is apparent that as a comparison between what a believer of Christ “says” and “does,” it is not enough to simply name and claim a relationship with Jesus and do good things in His name to enter into heaven. Instead, doing the will of the Father by an indwelling of the Spirit is necessary but not how one may think.

Outward efforts of doing good deeds on your own without the Holy Spirit within you will not bring out the kind of fruit that the Father requires. Good done here and there on your own is not doing the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, must reside within you as necessary to do the Father’s will. That is, to bear fruit as the work of the Father is believing in whom He sent (John 6:29). Namely, His son, our LORD, and King.

Jesus will know you if the Holy Spirit, His Spirit, dwells within you. This dwelling within you will produce fruit. This fruit is a way to express a personal practice of obedience and worship. As John Piper puts it, “the people would be defined by faith in Jesus and the fruit of love.” [1]

This fruit authenticates your faith as a byproduct, but not the source or pursuit of your security and status before God the Father. The Spirit of Christ, His Holy Spirit, must dwell within you to produce obedience and worship of God, our Creator. An absence of fruit indicates an absence of Christ within you.

So this is the will of the Father. That Christ dwells within us and that as an outcome, we bear fruit. We love, obey, and worship. Whereas Christ is our righteousness and our everlasting peace.

[1] John Piper, “What Jesus Demands from the World” (2006 Crossway, Wheaton Illinois) 164.

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Awareness of God’s Presence

By in Theology

When you trust in Christ as your savior, God seals you. He seals you forever as a child of God. The seal itself is the presence of the Holy Spirit. So as a matter of confidence, here is the evidence of your awareness of God’s presence in your life:

1. He is continually in our thoughts. Consciously and subconsciously. It’s like a holy silence within us.
2. We are continually seeking His guidance.
3. We must view Him as our constant companion.
4. We view everything in light of His presence. Whatever happens, has to in the presence of God.
5. We have peace in the midst of storms.
6. We have a hunger in our hearts for the Word of God.
7. We have joy in our hearts.
8. We are more conscious of the good things that God sends us.
9. We feel a continuing dependence upon Him.
10. Prayer is a priority in our life.
11. We continue to have hope, even when things look hopeless.
12. We sift every decision through His will.
13. We view our needs in light of His presence.
14. Our worship is more real and rewarding.
15. We walk in obedience to God as a way of life. You do not have to sin.
16. We have a stronger, intimate relationship with Jesus.

Notes from Dr. Charles Stanley’s presentation: “The Awareness of God’s Presence”.

Awareness of God’s Presence


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Seat of Osmosis

By in Theology

There are times at random when in passing I will just pick up my bible off the desk, hold it to my chest and breathe it in with my eyes closed. There is a unique and centering sense about it. That the totality in the meaning of its words brings certainty about truth, life, assurance, and renewal. The cool of the pages and the holiness of its words reach through to take the heat, confusion, and distress off. To soothe the uneasiness for another stretch of the day. Until back again inside for what it brings. Even better sometimes is my head down at my desk supported by His Holy book. I belong at home in those words.

Cleansing Peace & Well Being
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Risen Above

By in Theology
Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1–14)

Can such things be? In Ezekiel’s vision, he saw before him a valley of dry bones. A multitude of God’s people dead, scattered, and dried out to bones. Then suddenly the bones began to come together among them with flesh, tendons, and muscle. Yet still dead, but just corpses, as a multitude of the dead before Ezekiel. God’s people were dead from their rebellion before Him. Laid to waste without life.

Until thereafter the Lord breathed again the breath of life to them all. As with creation and with Pentecost, to revive them. To give them life. A new life unlike anything before. His promise that He would restore the people of Israel.  That “He would deliver them from the grave of exile, place His Spirit among them, and settle them once more in the promised land.”

A precursor of what was to come as written about in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:2-5). As now the Holy Spirit dwells within His people today. 

Chisholm, R. B. (1998). The Major Prophets. In D. S. Dockery (Ed.), Holman concise Bible commentary (p. 327). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

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Quenched

By in Theology
Parched

Likewise, the Holy Spirit dwells in each believer (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19). Scripture sometimes represents His presence and activity through the imagery of fire, as when tongues “as of fire” appeared at Pentecost and the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3–4). He desires to express His holy work through our actions and attitudes. When believers do not allow the fruit of the Spirit to be evident in their conduct, and when we knowingly do what is wrong, we grieve the Spirit and resist His sanctifying work (Ephesians 4:30; Galatians 5:16–25). We therefore fail to display in our lives the holiness and character that He produces in those who walk by Him.

To understand what it means to grieve the Spirit, we must first understand that this indicates that the Spirit possesses personality. Only a person can be grieved; therefore, the Spirit is not an impersonal force but a personal being who speaks, teaches, wills, intercedes, and may be grieved (John 14:26; Acts 13:2; Romans 8:26–27; 1 Corinthians 12:11; Ephesians 4:30). Scripture also reveals that He is divine, for lying to the Holy Spirit is identified with lying to God, and He searches and knows the depths of God (Acts 5:3–4; 1 Corinthians 2:10–11). Once we understand that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, we can better understand how our sin grieves Him.

Ephesians 4:30 commands us not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom believers are sealed for the day of redemption. The surrounding passage shows that He is grieved when conduct within the body of Christ contradicts His holiness and the unity He creates. Falsehood violates the truth that binds believers together (Ephesians 4:25); sinful and prolonged anger gives opportunity to the devil (Ephesians 4:26–27); theft opposes honest labor and generosity (Ephesians 4:28); corrupt speech tears down rather than gives grace (Ephesians 4:29); and bitterness, wrath, clamor, slander, and malice oppose the kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness that reflect God’s grace in Christ (Ephesians 4:31–32). Sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, and filthy speech likewise contradict the holiness proper to those who belong to Christ (Ephesians 5:3–5). To grieve the Spirit, therefore, is to act against His holy character, His sanctifying work, and the life of unity and righteousness He produces among God’s people.

Both quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit describe sinful resistance to His work, though Scripture uses the terms in distinct contexts. We grieve the Spirit when our conduct opposes His holiness and sanctifying work in us and among the people of God (Ephesians 4:30–32; 5:1–5). We quench the Spirit when we suppress or reject His genuine activity rather than receiving and testing it faithfully; in 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul immediately connects this warning with not despising prophecies, testing everything, holding fast what is good, and abstaining from every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:19–22). In both cases, the concern is not merely that our behavior becomes less godly, but that we are resisting the Holy Spirit Himself—the One who indwells, sanctifies, leads, and forms believers into the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:9, 13–14; Galatians 5:16–25).

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