Jesus and the Spirit

One of the best ways to understand the relationship
between Jesus and the Holy Spirit is to look at the
relationship between the Father and the Son (Jesus)
found in John 14: 1 Here Jesus tells his Disciples "Do
not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; Trust
also in me. He further says in John 14:6-7 No one can
come to the Father except through me. Here Jesus
clearly states that in order to come to the Father you
have to come through him. Were Jesus goes next is
extremely important in understanding the relationship
not only between the Father and the Son but also between
the Spirit and the Son (Jesus). Jesus says in John 14:9-11
that if you truly know Jesus than you also know the Father
but not only this but also you have actually seen the Father.

Clearly you can see that Jesus does not understand why
Philip can not see this. We really need to grasp that Jesus,
the Father, and the Spirit are so close in purpose and to
each other that we can see both the Father and the Spirit
in Jesus. But also in the Spirit you can see the Son and the
Father as well. You can clearly see this if you compare John
14: 6 to John 14: 17 In John 14:6 Jesus says that I am the way
and the truth and the Life. In John 14:17 Jesus calls the Spirit
the Spirit of truth. Please read John 14 very closely and you will
see that the Spirit is like having both the Father and the
Son (Jesus). Praise God the Spirit comes to us by the Father sent
by Jesus and will be with us forever. John 14: 18

Praise God again clearly in John 14:22-24 we can see that Judas
ask the question we are all thinking. Is the Spirit promised only
for the Apostles? The answer is no the Spirit is promised to anyone
who loves Jesus and obeys his teaching and these words come
straight from the Father!!!!

Come Rescue Us

The Apostle Paul uses the word Spirit (125 times).
More than any other New Testament writer.
Paul also understood the great need for God's Spirit
as we can see in Romans 7: 14-18
Paul understood firsthand what it was like to have a
very good knowledge of God's word and a strong desire
to do what was right but somehow ended up persecuting
the early christians and even Jesus himself.

Thank God who delivered both Paul and us from the law
of sin and death. Now through Jesus Christ we live by
the Spirit. Romans 8: 1-4
Paul knows that the Spirit must control our minds if
we are going to please God. Paul further knows that
the Spirit of Christ must be in us in order for us to
belong to Christ. He also states that it is only through
the Spirit that we can put to death the misdeeds of
the body. Praise God!!! Those who are led by the Spirit
of God are sons of God or children of God.
Romans 8: 6-16
Next week we will be looking at who is the Spirit?

I Long For Your Presence....

Check out this new song link:
The song link is the Newsboys song I long
for your Presence (This is my hearts desire).
This is what all christians should long for is God's
Presence. Especially when we consider the
love God expressed to us by allowing his Son
Jesus to endure the death of the cross to save us.
So we ask is it possible for us to recieve God's Spirit
In the below verses you will see that the answer is
a resounding yes!!
John 14: 15-18, Acts 2:38-39
You might be asking has the Holy Spirit been
promised for all believers even ones that believe
in Jesus 2000 years later. Again the answer
according to the verses below is yes!!!
Acts 2:39, Act 2:17-18
Now that Jesus has returned back to the Father
how can we feel the presence of God with us now?
We can feel God's presence thru his Spirit living in us
promised from the very words of Jesus himself
recorded by the apostle John and then reaffirmed
again by the apostle Paul.
John 14;17-20,23, Romans 8:11
Knowing that the Spirit lives in us should cause us to
long to know everything about God's Spirit. So lets
start the journey together looking to the writings of Paul
and John for insight!!!

Alone, Abandoned and Powerless

For way too long christians like myself have felt alone abandoned
and powerless. We believed that Jesus is the Christ the son of God.
However we also knew that Jesus went back to the father shortly
after his resurrection. Because he went back to the Father we at
times would feel like we where orphans that had been left behind
to carry on the work of God. This is exactly how Satan wants us to
feel. In the following passages both Paul and Jesus describe what
one is like if we listen to Satan and try to go at it alone.
2 Timothy 3:5, Matthew 5:13, Matthew 23:27-28

Satan deceives us with two powerful lies. The first lie he wants us to
believe is that the Bible is not the inspired word of God. However Paul
tells that this is not true in the following verse:
2 Timothy 3:16
The second lie Satan uses alot is that God does not love you and that
you really do not need God. Or you can do it yourself. Again we can
see examples of this in the following verses that Jesus confronts these
lies and also tells us what Satan is really like:
John 5:39-40,John 8:42-47
This is not what God intended and he never intended for us to go at
it alone or without his help. God intended that the Holy Spirit would
be our guide and counselor and we would work hand and hand with
God (His Spirit). This is clearly mentioned by Jesus in the following
verses: John 14:15-18!
We Need God's Spirit more then ever and it is time that we learned
all we can about his Spirit and quit denying our need for God's Spirit.
The next lessons will be focusing on how do we receive the Holy Spirit
and getting to actually know the Holy Spirit of God.