Holy Spirit

Last night in our Bible Study, my husband, MTM asked us to comment on the Holy Spirit. We were reading the following scripture, a very nice bit about the Trinity.

13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. -1 John 4: 13-15

I think he meant to focus on the outward "proof" that we are 'of God' because a.) we testify that Jesus is the Son of God, b.) we testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior, and c.) His Holy Spirit is in us. So we looked at the "Fruit of the Spirit" Gal. 5:22 ff. We also looked at other aspects of the Spirit of God:

• John 14: 16-17, the Helper, and Spirit of Truth.
• John 14:26, the Helper who will teach all things.
• John 16:13, the Spirit who guides.

A young couple who have just joined us were concerned about our views on the subject of "baptism of the Holy Spirit." It's understandable, since this is a topic of much debate in many churches. They had left a church where "Spirit baptism" was quietly used as a means to seperate leaders from other members.
Our take on it is this: it's in the Bible. Acts 10:44-47 shows the Gentiles to whom Peter was preaching have the gifts of the Holy Spirit "poured out on them." So, I think, when a person accepts Christ as their Savior, they receive the Holy Spirit. At times, they receive the Gifts of the Spirit at the same time. However, this wasn't the case for me, or people in my church. You were saved, and had confidence of that salvation. But there were no manfestations of Spiritual Gifts such as in Acts 10. Years later, after my initial conversion as a child, I asked God for more of Him, for the Gifts of the Spirit to manefest in my life. About 24 hours of praying later, I was overcome by the Spirit of God during worship. I had a CD playing ("Heart of Worship") and was singing, when I had to start praying. It felt like a pressure inside, and tears welled up in my eyes and spilled over my cheeks. For many minutes, the length of a song, I poured out prayer in some other language. It was very intense and emotional, which was really strange, because I wasn't feeling either before. I mean, I was just doing the household chores, when *BAMM* it overcame me.
Now, in my private prayers, I often find myself speaking like this. We have had experiences with wild church services where everyone was going :lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalal all at the same time. And we've had people pray over us, one at a time, in quiet tones of reverance, and give an interpretation imediately. I can only say, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and He gave gifts to the early church folks, and He can still give those gifts today.

New Book this week, Virtuous Woman

Although I haven't finished "Captivating," by John and Staci Eldredge, (even though it's wonderful), I bought a new book (full price too) at Hasting's yesterday. Now, first you have to know, I was raised Presbyterian: Soveriegnty of God, John Calvin, Francis Schaeffer, catechism, sit still, be quiet, wear panty-hose and semi formal dresses, sing those hymns which are written in bizzare keys for operatic sopranos with solemnity and reverance... nothing wrong with any of that, mind you, but in me, as a young person, it fostered rebellion. The "Betty Crocker" type of "Virtuous Woman" that was held up as a model was a.) unattainable, and b.) repulsive. Even though, in my own searching the scripture, I found "Little Miss Perfect" in Proverbs 31, and all the other references to being a submissive wife, I just couldn't force myself to believe that I should grow up to be what the women in my church were modeling.
Now I know that some of them were not submissive, they were just door-mats. Some of them were not virtuous, they were just content with the status quo. Some of them were not pious, they were just educated. I want to grow to be more and more like Christ, but he wasn't a wife and mother, exactly. Hmmm.
One of the many books I looked at while at the store is this book that I bought, "The Virtuous Woman: shattering the superwoman myth," by Vicki Coutney. I wasn't really sure about it until I flipped to the middle and found this passage:

I realize that many women my be somewhat hesitant to embrase the concept that a virtuous woman ould have a feisty side to her when it comes to fighting for noble causes. In fact, I was amazed to discover that the actual Hebrew word used for "virtuous" in Proverbs 31:10 is chayil. . . . Most often when chayil is used, it is translated "army" and "valor" or "valiant." Other English owrds substituted for the word chayil are "host," "forces," "power," "might," "strength," and "strong." -page 80

That was enough for me to buy it. I'll see how it goes.

Different Template

I didn't like to read white on black anymore. :-)

What is Hope?

Our Bible Study “homework” questions for June 8th, were:

"What is hope?" and "To what are we called?

Another Blogger, “C Grace” asks these same questions on June 14, a week later.

"What is the goal of our salvation? What are we hoping for?

My initial reaction is to define Hope as looking forward to something which may or may not happen.

To think about the questions, “What is hope? Or What are we hoping for?” I read ahead to 1 John 3 and found these verses.

1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
1Jo 3:3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
1Jo 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. (ASV)

3. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own. (MSG)

John Gill’s notes say this:

“though they are sons, they do not appear now as such, as they will do, when they shall be introduced into their Father's house, . . . besides, they will appear then not only to be kings' sons, but kings themselves, as they now are; they will then inherit the kingdom prepared for them, and will sit down on a throne of glory, and have a crown of righteousness, life, and glory, put upon them. . .”

So, this makes me think of two things. The first relates to the Eldredge Books P.T. let me borrow. (I am grateful and indebted to him for that!) We have hope because we have been made (by being called) children of God. I hope for the future because, even though I don’t look or always act like a princess, or ruling Queen, I will! I look forward to Jesus’s return, not only because I long to see him, but because I long to be what he’s promised to make me. I imagine it’s how Lucy felt when she was in England, longing for the promised return to Narnia. It’s how Eowyn felt, doing menial chores, taking care of women and children, or trudging miles to arrive at a seemingly hopeless battle. But her hope was that the King would return and be victorious, and she would be set up as a ruling Princess.

Robertson’s Word Pictures says that in verse 3, the word is “resting upon” as a location, as opposed to “looking to.” The foundation of the dream, or hope, is Jesus. We follow him and walk as He walked, because we remember that through his love, we have been made children of God. Verse 2 even says, “when He appears, we will be like Him.”

The second thing I thought of was the parallelism between verses 3 and 4.
Paraphrased:
“Everyone who has hope founded on Jesus purifies himself, because Jesus is pure.”
“Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness, because sin is lawlessness.”
It seems as though hope and purification go together, and are further defined by what they are not. Someone who has this hope of seeing Jesus and completing the transformation into a Child of God will not practice sin, but will use Jesus’ life as a model of purity.

My friend Doc said: (see Grace-Study.blogspot.com)

A quick thought on hope. To hope is to be in a position of dependence. If the desired outcome or the finished product was within our power/ability to accomplish, it wouldn't be hope.

Here too hope is a position of openness and vulnerability. That which is hoped for may or may not occur. It seems that it comes back to dependence. If hope is a position of dependence, the question is: On what or on whom are you depending? I guess that brings us to faith.

So:

What is hope? It is the eager anticipation of abundant, eternal life, both now and after the death of the body, based on the foundation of the redemptive work of Jesus.

What are we hoping for? The fulfillment of the call/invitation to abundant, eternal life.

What is the goal of our salvation? To what are we called? Life, abundant, eternal LIFE.

Some more verses on hope:

Eph. 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

Eph 4:4 - 6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called (invited, bidden) in one hope (anticipation) of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Joh 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jesus says.)

Tit 3:7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

I wish I knew What I'm Supposed to Do

"Sometime later, the voice in our heat dares to speak to us again, more insistently this time. Listen to me- there is something missing in all this. You long to be in a love affair, an adventure. You were made for something more. You know it."

--John Eldredge, "The Sacred Romance"

Yes, I am longing for the adventure. Our Pastor spoke on taking risks. An email came to me that said this:

If you do not cut the moorings, God will have to break them by a storm and send you out. Launch all on God, go out on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and you will get your eyes open. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the smooth waters just inside the harbour bar, full of delight, but always moored; you have to get out through the harbour bar into the great deeps of God and begin to know for yourself, begin to have spiritual discernment.

Chambers, O. (1993). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year.

I haven't been sleeping well. Waiting is so hard. What is it I am supposed to be doing with my life? What risk am I to take? What ministry is my calling? It was May 21 when MTM and I talked about buying a large house to turn into a B&B. THAT is crazy, a huge risk. But is it our calling? I'm not 100% sure. Not even 50%. I know its something we've always wanted to do.

I just wish I could be certain of what it is I'm supposed to do.

Hello, Another Blog

I mainly joined blogger.com so that I could post on the Bible Study page we've got. http://grace-study.blogspot.com
But perhaps I'll use this space for something having to do with the Journey through this life. It might be a good spot for musings from life at VWPC.