Without a Spot

The Holy Spirit disciplines us as He strikes the outward man like lightning. As soon as we are saved, the Holy Spirit begins to dole out what is needed to shatter our pride, our resistance, and our ways. God arranges external blows once, twice, or as many as it takes. All the events of our life in the past 5-10 years were ordered by God for our spiritual development. If we did choose to complain or grumble, then we failed to recognize and appreciate His mighty hand. If God heard us say we’ve been “unlucky,” then we are ignorant of the Holy Spirit and His method of teaching. God does NOT issue luck, He issues lessons with grace. He has ordered our every trial that we can perceive Him in it with us. Submitted to His Presence, keeps us humble and pure. The moment we realize that we can not live by ourselves and for ourselves, we gladly submit to God. It is NOT strange when many unexpected things plague us after our decision to live fully consecrated. His hand be praised, for His Way is welcomed, and ever perfect.

I submit myself wholly to God. Come life, renewal, injury, or death, I hereby concentrate my body, mind, and spirit to Jesus. Daily, I committ myself entirely into the guidance and the needed discipline of the Holy Spirit. By my surrender, I pray that the Holy Spirit accelerates the lessons I need without the restriction of my flesh. Willingly, I unzip my bag of flesh to allow the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, teach, and counsel me through all means of grace. No means of grace ever surpasses the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Sovereignly, our loving Father disperses His grace according to our individual, urgent need.

In the book of astounding Revelation, our Creator considers the Body of Christ as His Bride! As His bride, He gave us the Holy Spirit who points to what is not of God. In 1899 William Booth wrote, “The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.” Mr. Booth founded the Salvation Army to provide the very best Good News.

Lord God, we pledge to You that we will not quit; we will not yield to fear as we choose to persevere. Our love for God, keeps us motivated. Your cause is our cause; Your mission is our mission. We will persevere until we hear “Well done.” We will run the race and finish our course, always pressing toward the end line You have given us. We pray that Christ will have His harvest. Your promises will not go unfulfilled. And we pledge to You that we will not be a generation that falls asleep. Like David, we will serve Your purpose in our generation. We will never stop eagerly awaiting as we expect Jesus Christ to come! The will of our Father be done on Earth!

“The Greatest Words Ever Spoken.” by Steven K Scott is a compilation of every word Jesus spoke by topic. The truth is that wherever a believer in Jesus is, lives, stands, or walks, the Holy Spirit is there. Our Promise Keeper never leaves us alone or without access to wise counsel. The Holy Spirit never departs. He is our ever present Teacher, Guide, Comforter, Wisdom Counselor, and He is the Light that reveals Christ in us, His hope for glory.

Who knows the heart of God? Who knows who is saved? Who knows the future? Who knows when Jesus will return for His Bride? To think that our words can add the icing needed for a soul to change – is to discount the power of the living Word preached. By our humble example of mercy and grace, Jesus is seen operating through us beyond our words. The plan of God is to break through our ways, our emotions, and the tendency to think too much of ourselves. When we filter life through our feelings, we override the Spirit within us. When we stand firmly in His power (not ours), the enemy of our soul can not defeat the Rock of Ages. Our God embues us with the Holy Spirit. When we submit to His grace, we walk in step with the Spirit.

A young kid named Samuel answered God’s call with a willing heart. “Here I am! My heart rejoices in my Lord.” 1 Samuel 2:1 Sad to admit that many today focus on the gifts, and they lose contact with the fruit of the Spirit. Turning from the pressure to hurry, we tune our ears to hear His Word! Dare to submit all to the Holy Spirit for He abides constantly in us. We place too much emphasis on our own understanding. Our ways, our thoughts are totally lost without His lead, His influence, His wisdom – in spite of our feelings. He is the air we breathe, His holy presence waits on our total surrender. Samuel heard the voice and surrendered. The rigid will of our flesh is the most common block to growth. Our emotions run wild along with our imagination as to whose to blame for our sorrows. The root cause of our troubles is our stubborn will. Key: Submit!

Samuel lived with a priest named Eli. The kid grew to become God’s first prophet. Remember that the Holy Spirit came upon king Saul. Saul disobeyed God, and the Spirit was withdrawn. David witnessed the fall of Saul. After David’s sin with Bethsheba, he chose to cry out. “Oh God don’t take Your Holy Spirit from me.” God never changes and the Holy Spirit can be removed if we refuse to trust, submit and obey. Fifty days after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, as promised, after people confess their sins, and receive forgiveness, God fills them with the Holy Spirit and they are reborn, they are made new in Him by His perfect sacrifice.

In the past, to get right with God, folks had to bring a bull, goat, or a lamb without blemish to the temple. Sinners confessed their sins with their hands on the sacrificial animal to transfer their sins to the animal. Then, the sinner took a knife to kill the animal. The priest would sprinkle blood on the altar to atone for the sins. Think about the rivers of blood that were shed in the Old Testament times. God wrote the rules for this ritual with His promise. After the obedient blood shed, “I owe you forgiveness.” Jesus laid down His life, and we repent so that His blood covers our sin. God faithfully forgives.

John the Baptist said, “There goes the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Thank God today that you do not need to bring an animal to kill to get your sins forgiven. God provided the Way to pay off all the I owe you promises with the pure blood of Jesus. Today, Scripture tells us that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and we exercise our faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. When we humbly confess our sins, all our guilt, shame, and doubt is transferred to the Lamb of God, and the blood of Jesus atones for our sins. When we come to the Cross by faith, and confess our sins, we believe God at His Word. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us. Jesus could only be in one place at a time. BUT GOD, made a Way for all people to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Teacher of necessary lessons.

Jesus said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” Matt 5:3 Humbly, we submit our thinking soul and our emotions to the Teacher. “No servant is greater than their Master, nor any messenger greater than the One who sent them. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed in your submission to serve and do the things the Master asks.” John 13:17. The virgin Mary was told, “You are going to conceive a child. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and that which He will conceive in you —will become the Life of the Son of God. ” Mary submitted to the angel of the Lord, even though her mind did not fully understand. “Be it unto me according to God’s will.” In her awestruck humility, Mary conceived within her the physical life of Jesus.

We come to the Cross of Christ by FAITH. We confess our sins, ask God to forgive us, then with an open heart, we invite Jesus to come into our HEART. At the moment we surrender our ways to His, we CONCEIVE the holy spiritual life of JESUS in us. We become a new creation as Jesus enters in the Person of the Holy Spirit. We are adopted as a child of God and SEALED by His Spirit. Faith is believing in what we can not see. The world promotes beliefs in VISIBLE evidence. Our faith in Jesus sets us apart. We live in a visible world, but as new creations, we begin to see beyond the physical with our new spirit led eyes. Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 Yes Lord, I gladly insert my neck into the yoke You offer. For You are gentle and humble. As I walk beside You, as Your little child, I humble myself to learn from You as we go. Matt 11:29 and Matt 18:-4.

Psalm 139:8-15 “If I go up to the heavens, YOU are there; if I make my bed in the depths, YOU are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,even there YOUR hand will guide me.” Lonliness came knocking, but we refuse as we cuddle with our Comforter. If you awaken at 3 am, the Spirit of God has a word for you. Our Lord initiates at a time of quiet communing. Psalm 63:1-5 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek You; I thirst for You, my whole being longs for You.” In this dry and parched land where there is no living water, You have shown me a glimpse of Your glory within my innermost being. Because Your love is better than life, my lips glorify Jesus as my Savior. I praise You for giving me new eyes to see, and the Holy Spirit to teach and guide me. I open my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. Oh Lord Jesus, thank You for fully satisfying all my needs. For He who abides in me is able to do greater things than I could ever do on my own. Thank You, Jesus, for the opportunity to serve. I commit my spirit unto Thy Spirit. Lead me into eternal life with the King of glory.

“There is a clear separation between our spirit and our soul’s feeling nature. God crafted us in three distinct parts. Our visible body, our eternal thinking and feeling soul, and the invisible space within where our spirit is. When a believer has gone through all of the Lord’s dealings, their soul enters into a life of the FULLNESS of FAITH. A spirit filled person is a BELIEVER that arrives in a determined stage of DAILY submission. They experience a life of rest that is co-mingled “in Him”. The fire of the cross has eliminated pride, greed, suspicion, competition, and spiritual denial. The HOLY SPIRIT has HUMBLED them with many revelations and life lessons. At this MATURE stage, they have learned that only GOD’S ’s WILL is of any value. Whatever we may naturally desire is NOT the highest, so we are happy to lose everything. Our Lord gently withdraws any hindrance or distraction to His purpose. Like in birthing pains, we sign, wail, and cry out for our struggle to end. The pain of birthing a pure life in Christ comes as we submit and obey. Although we have LOST all of WHO WE ONCE WERE, we are completely SATISFIED because God’s will has been wonderfully accomplished. Nothing hidden, we YIELD to the santifying HAND of GOD.

The perfect will of God is in union with His Spirit. God’s will for us is that we submit to His Spirit –‘ all of our emotions. Our former life of little faith included many ups and downs. God gave us emotions of joy, anger, frustration, however, our emotions are regulated. Abiding in His sinless perfection, we are prompted from within to let go and let God. Compare your present spiritual condition to your past. The former confusion, anger, anxiety is definitely gone, but we will occasionally be affected by our emotions, and we will cry out during the birthing pains. We watch and pray for a reprieve and rest. God will give birth in us, in His perfect timing. We will continue to feel happy, upset, or sad. Our soul’s emotions serve up sorrow, darkness, and dryness. However, all these only affect the outward man. Feelings do NOT affect the inward man because there is a clear separation between our spirit and soul. Therefore, no matter how much the soul suffers outwardly, our spirit remains peaceful and secure as though nothing has happened. Praise God.

Today I choose to be a light:
❤️ I submit to Holy Spirit
❤️ I honor my Lord Jesus
❤️ I discipline thoughts
❤️ I issue mercy
❤️ I will not be offended
❤️ I forgive others
❤️ I bless others
❤️ I overcome evil with good
❤️ I defeat enemy threats
❤️ I pray for others

Many folks hope for a new insight from a new leader or administration. No man can solve all the crimes and devisions of hate. Just doing life according to our flesh, we get the results we deserve. The Answer is not found in a new poll. If we humble ourselves and issue mercy instead of judgment, what would be our gain? A revival of peace! If we choose not to be offended, then we can rest in the yoke of Jesus and let Him lead.

Luke 23:43: Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 6:27-28: “To you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”