Sunday, March 6, 2011

For me...

"Where  can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me."

Psalm 139: 7-10


Last night, as I soaked my feet in the tub, I read this:

The Spirit's work is of "...furthering the Father's pleasure by leading us to glorify the Son in adoration as we respond to the Spirit's glorifying of him by declaration. No pneumatology is fully Christian till it exhibits all his many-sided work from the standpoint of, on the one hand, the Father's purpose that the Son be known, loved, honored, praised, and have preeminence in everything, and on the other hand, the Son's promise to make himself present with his people, here and hereafter, by giving his Spirit to them."

"The essence of the Holy Spirit's ministry... is to mediate the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus' presence... should be thought of not in spatial, but rather relational terms. What I am pointing to when I use this phrase is an awareness of three things. The first is that Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of the Scriptures, once crucified, now glorified, is here, personally approaching and addressing me. The second is that he is active, powerfully enlightening, animating, and transforming me along with others as he stirs our sluggishness, sharpens our insight, soothes our guilty consciences, sweetens out tempers, supports us under pressure, and strengthens us for righteousness. The third is that in himself as in his work he is glorious, meriting all the worship, adoration, love, and loyalty of which we are capable. Mediating Jesus' presence, therefore, is a matter of the Spirit doing whatever is necessary for the creating, sustaining, deepening, and expressing of this awareness in human lives."

(From Keep in Step with the Spirit by J. I. Packer)

Also, I read Jesus' words in John 14: 16-23. Verse 23 says, "Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.""


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