Because God is Elohim, I Am Alive – Continued
JESUS: By dying.53
ME: Dying? You can’t really mean that. How cruel! You can’t be serious!
JESUS: That’s the only way you can completely get out of the way, isn’t it?
ME: Well, I g-guess so-o. But, how can I take my own life?
JESUS: By laying your body on the altar, the same cross where I died, presenting your self as a living sacrifice, following my example.54 For you see, that’s something you have to do as an act of your will in presenting yourself to me, in making me Number One, or LORD of your life.55
But, be of good cheer. I have good news for you! YOU HAVE ALREADY DIED. You have already been crucified with me. I not only died for you; you died with me that day.56 And now, you will be a living, breathing, dead person, dying daily,57 in order that I may truly live in you by My Spirit.58 Do you believe that is possible?
ME: I know that all things are possible with you, Lord,59 but I don’t understand.
JESUS: You must believe and obey in order that you may understand.60 It is the work of Mr. Holy Spirit to reveal this to you in your spirit. As you begin to walk in faith, the understanding will come.61
ME: Then, Lord, how do I receive Him by faith?
JESUS: Let’s read I John 5:14-15 together:
And this is the confidence that you have in Me, that if you ask anything according to My will, I will hear you. And if you know that I hear you, whatsoever you ask, you know that you have the petition that you have desired of Me (emphasis added).
In other words, for Me to hear your request is for Me to answer, and you can be confident I hear you when there’s no sin or dirt blocking the way.62 You certainly know this is my will for you by now, so what’s your request?
ME: That you release Mr. Holy Spirit from that corner over there. Allow Him to fill me to overflowing. Just fill me up, Lord!
Some days later:
ME: Well, Lord, aren’t you going to do it? I don’t feel any different than before. I’m still the same old me and it’s been days.
JESUS: Look at Luke 11:11-13. If your 2-1/2 year old son, Kurt, should ask bread of you, would you give him a stone? Or, if he should ask a fish, would you give him a serpent? Of course not, if you, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?
ME: Now, I understand. I can see! I can see!63 If I know it is your will to fill me, then I know you have heard me, and if I know you have heard me, then I know you have already answered me. The problem isn’t with you, Lord, it’s with me, not receiving. That must be what Mark 11:24 means, when it says to “believe that you have received it, and it shall be yours.”
Okay, Lord, I thank you that you have done what you said you would do, because your Word says so, no matter how I feel about it.64 Thank you that you have already released Mr. Holy Spirit from the corner and that He is beginning to fill my whole house.65
YES, Jesus, You Are Alive!
As soon as those words66 were uttered, an unspeakable joy and laughter filled my soul. I felt a tingling sensation that began in my fingers and ended in my heart with joy. One-year-old Francy awoke from her nap, eyes wide, as she thought her mother was crazy. She had never seen her so happy before-and dancing around the house.
Mr. Holy Spirit continually reminds me to daily identify my “self” dead with Christ67 and to ask for His continual filling68 in learning to be a disciplined disciple. One thing is for sure;
His housework is never done.69
Jim and I learned to speak to our mountains in Jesus’ name, as they appeared in our marriage, finances, and job situations. All of them miraculously came tumbling down through steadfast patience and endurance. Through those victories of faith we came to experience for ourselves the unspeakable love, joy and peace of God through His indwelling Holy Spirit.
Mr. Holy Spirit continues to reveal Jesus to us as we follow Him in faith, one day, one step at a time. Many of those steps have been through valleys where we were left having to relearn spiritual truths that were once dear, but we still find that Mr. Holy Spirit is patiently waiting for us to acknowledge Him and continue on.
As a family, we eagerly await the return of our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, when we will no longer “see through a glass darkly, but then face to face (I Corinthians 13:12a KJV).”
“Yes, Jesus, You are Alive!”
Facing the deadness of my life allowed Elohim to create in me His Life that opened my eyes to be able to see Jesus. When it had been days since I went to Jesus and asked why He had not done anything–relying only on how I felt, not on faith–I was reading The Living Bible. It is a green, padded, paraphrased, and easy to understand Bible. Mad at God, I slammed it shut. The darkened words, Living Bible, seared into my soul, saying to me, “Live the Bible!” This unexpected answer from God was a mystery to me until four years later, when I came to the end of Hagar’s road that left me with another choice to make.
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ENDNOTES
1. A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania: Christian Publications, 2001), p. 109.
2. Anne Graham Lotz, The Vision of His Glory, (Dallas, London, Vancouver, Melbourne:Word Publishing, 1996) p. 10.
3. Spiros Zodiates, Th.D., Executive Editor, The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, (AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, TN, 1990) p. 1711.
4. Ibid., p. 10.
5. Acts 9:8 Amplified
6. See John 3:3-6; Romans 8:9; 1 Peter 1:3-4
7. See Revelation 3:20
8. See Hebrews 13:8
9. See Matthew 10:37-38
10. See John 14:16-17
11. See John 16:13
12. See John 15:26
13. See John 16:14-15
14. See Acts 19:2 (KJV)
15. See Ephesians 4:30
16. See 1 Thessalonians 5:19
17. See Romans 8:27
18. See 1 Corinthians 12:11
19. See Ephesians 4:30, I Thessalonians 5:19, and Romans 15:30
20. See John 16:13
21. See Galatians 3:14
22. See I Corinthians 2:9-12
23. See Colossians 2:15
24. See Ephesians 4:8-10
25. See Ephesians 1:18-21
26. See I Corinthians 12:13 and I John 4:13
27. See Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:5-6; Luke 10:19; Matthew 16:18-19; I John 4:17
28. See Mark 11:23; Exodus 15:1
29. See Romans 5:17, 12:21; I John 5:4-5
30. See Ephesians 6:12
31. See John 16:12-13
32. See 1 Corinthians 2:15-16
33. See John 6:63
34. See Psalms 119:25, 133
35. See Isaiah 42:16; Psalms 32:8-9
36. See John 14:26
37. See John 14:26, 16:13.
38. See Psalms 80:18; Romans 8:26-27
39. See I Corinthians 12:1-11; 27-28
40. See Galatians 5:22-23
41. See Deuteronomy 18:10-13
42. See John 16:8
43. See Acts 19:19
44. See Acts 1:8
45. See John 15:11, 16
46. See John 1:33
47. See Acts 2:38
48. See Colossians 1:17-19, 2:9-10
49. See John 15:3-5
50. See Galatians 5:16-17
51. See Acts 1:8
52. See Luke 9:23-26, 14-26-33
53. See Romans 6:5-6
54. See Romans 12:1, 6: 13
55. See Philippians 2:13
56. See Galatians 2:20
57. See 1 Corinthians 15:31
58. See Romans 6:8; II Corinthians 4:10
59. See Luke 1:37
60. See John 11:40
61. See Galatians 5:25
62. See Isaiah 59:1-3
63. See Acts 9:18
64. See Hebrews 11:1
65. See Philippians 4:4, 6; Hebrews 13:1567.
66. See Isaiah 57:19; Matthew 12:37; Hebrews 11:3
67. See Romans 6:11
68. See Ephesians 5:17-18
69. See Psalms 139:1-4, 23-24
Mr. Holy Spirit? Is that what Holy Spirit really is? Is He not God? I believe that is conscending and irreverent to God. The fear of the Lord calls us to be careful how we relate to Him so also that others following us don’t become too common in our approach. He did say : “To whom will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare unto Him”?