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The fear of the Lord leads to life. And he who has it will abide in satisfaction. He will not be visited with evil. [Proverbs 19:23] It is the promise that comes to you from God’s word this new month. And, may it become your experience in life this month and even for the rest of your life. Studying its procedure, that you may experience life and goodness from the Lord, the apostle Peter writes saying, He who would love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil to do what is good; let him seek peace and pursue it. [1 Peter 3:10,11]
Sonship -through the Spirit:
And, ‘My peace I give to you’, is the Lord’s promise; the word that He spoke to His disciples that still remains unchanged, and will remain so forever and forever. Impossibly glorious it may appear, but it becomes possible in you, as you receive and abide in the revelation truth of your position in Christ; one that is yours when you believe and put your trust in Him. You then receive the right, the authority to be called a child of God. [John 1:12] And you are no longer a slave to fear, but have the Spirit of God in you, through which you call God, Abba Father, to become a heir and joint heir with Christ, a privilege that finds all that is His becoming yours.
Transformed by the Spirit:
His peace comes to you, even as your mind is governed by the Holy Spirit, for it is a mind that is led by the Spirit, that leads to life and peace. [Romans 8:6] It is a transformation that happens as your mind is renewed by God’s word and His Spirit, not instantaneously, but steadily from one degree of glory to another, towards the glorious image of Christ, and experiencing peace that is beyond all understanding in your life’s circumstances. It is the perfect peace that becomes yours when your mind is stayed on Christ, the Spirit of Christ, who is now living in you, for you are a child of God. Christ in you is the hope of glory. In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon the prophet, priest and king, when the situation called for it. But, in the dispensation of the new covenant, that you now live in, you are a prophet, you are a priest, you are a king, and above all you are a child of God, with the Holy Spirit in you as a deposit, guaranteeing your full redemption, His abiding presence in you, a seal of His approval and everlasting love.
Anointed by the Spirit:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me, to preach the gospel to the poor..’ [Luke 4:18] They were the words from the mouth of the Savior, when He found the place where it was written about Him in the scriptures, as He stood up to read in the synagogue. It shows very clearly that the anointing of the Spirit, is much more than an outward act of physical frenzy. It is a divine enabling to do godly things; one that brings glory to God, is a blessing to others, and brings fulfillment within you as nothing else can in this world. Anointed to preach the gospel, was the Lord’s mandate to Him from the Father, and He declared it’s fulfillment, on that memorable sabbath day. But to you and I, anointing of the Spirit, has an added glorious dimension to it. For, it is a partaking of the gospel, followed by a proclamation of it.
And, why is it so?
The gospel is good news, that in one word is ‘Jesus Christ’. And, Christianity is a living relationship; a walk with the Lord where you taste and see that He is good. It is much more than hearing and declaring the goodness of God in your life. For, salvation is not something that you market or try to sell to someone. It is a beautifully life transforming experience. And the truth can be easily visualized in the physical realm, in the material things of life. For, there is a lot of difference between the one who owns a car, and being the one who markets it in the showroom. And living now, in the times of the internet, has seen even the varieties of food in the restaurants being reviewed in order to attract customers, and that definitely involves a tasting of the food that is listed and displayed! It is what makes the review authentic and credible. And when it is about the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, you are called to be a witness. In judicial terms, a witness is a person who was there at the scene, physically present in order to validate what is said to have taken place. It is then that his testimony stands in the court of law.
Revelation from the Spirit:
But, when it comes to the gospel, you and I were certainly not physically present to see Christ being crucified, and were not there in the Upper Room, when the Spirit was poured out in power, in glorious tongues of fire, and the church was born. It is where revelation from the Lord comes, as the apostle Paul describes his personal experience saying that he was passing on what he had received from the Lord Himself; that on the night that He was betrayed, the Lord took bread and broke it saying, ‘Take, eat, this is My Body, broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me’. [1 Corinthians 11:23] You were not there at the crucifixion, but as you partake of the Lord’s Table, that revelation truth of the divine exchange on the Cross is birthed in you, and therefore you are anointed to proclaim the gospel.
Anointing -a divine enabling:
You are anointed to preach the gospel, for you are enabled as a child of God to partake of the gospel. The gospel is a word that means ‘good news’. And, in a world that is increasingly being plagued with news that is not good, you have good news to share with others. It is the good news of the gospel, that is in one word ‘JESUS’.
The gospel of Jesus Christ:
And, it is the Name above every other name, the Name to which every knee must bow, and tongue confess, the Name that makes the demons flee, and brings healing that makes you whole, experiencing His peace. Therefore, if you have been saved by receiving Christ as your personal Savior, you are indeed a mobile broadcasting unit , sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, through your word, and through your life, wherever God has placed you! Challenges will arise certainly, but you will overcome, as you stay yielded and focused in the Lord’s hand, for His Spirit abides in you.
Your story and your song !
And today, you are a witness of Christ, and of His finished work on the Cross, because you have tasted His goodness, having partaken of the gospel in your life. To you therefore, it is not merely hearsay. But, having been enabled or anointed, to partake of the gospel, and having experienced the great blessing of salvation in your life, one that came to you by grace and through faith, you cannot help but proclaim the gospel.
Gospel -to experience and express:
For, God never asks you to do, what He has not done for you already. His commandments are not burdensome, because, they are also His enabling and empowering. It is after experiencing the joyful release of forgiveness of your sins that you are called to express it towards others. Forgive, even as Christ forgave you, declares the word of God. [Colossians 3:13] And you love Him, because He first loved you. In fact it is how you will know what true love is. And His love never fails. Thus, when there is a breakdown or failure in a relationship that professes to be love, it only goes to show that, it was not true love in the first place.
And, what is the love of God?
God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son to die for the sins of the whole world. And Christianity is not about trying to accomplish things, or trying to do the will of God in your own strength. For, it will only end ultimately, in frustration and failure. Rather, it is about putting your trust in the One who has done it all for you on the Cross of Calvary, to arise from the grave, victorious over sin and death and the evil one. He is the victor, and the victory needs to be enabled in you. The smart phone, that has become a symbol of internet technology, and is an integral part of social networking these days, has many special features, that need to be switched on, or enabled, in order to become operative. It serves to illustrate a great and powerful truth; the need for what Christ has already accomplished to be enabled within you, so that it may be a blessing that you experience, and go on to express towards others.
Anointing -a divine ability:
And for God to bring about the enabling, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you. He has anointed you, so that you may receive divine ability in Christ, that lifts you up, to a new realm of possibilities, that were not possible earlier, but now possible because of the finished work of Christ on the Cross. Therefore, when you are in church, hearing the word, or studying the word of God elsewhere, it would be as if a light is switched on within you, that makes you see and handle your life’s circumstances, in a very different and more powerful manner. And, it is the light that only Christ can switch on, for He is the true Light, that enlightens any man. ‘Let your eyes see, and your ears hear’ is the counsel of God, that refers, not to your physical eyes and ears, but to something deeper within. It is the need for the eyes of the heart to be opened to see what has been already prepared by God, so that you may receive it by faith, to be blessed.
How does it become possible in you?
To know and receive what the Spirit says to the churches, as mentioned in the book of revelation, becomes possible in you, for you were once dead spiritually, in your transgressions, unable to perceive what is of the Spirit, but not now. You are now saved, to be a new creation in Christ, heir and co heir with Him. And, seated together with Him in the heavenly realms, your eyes can now see, and your ears can hear, what no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or mind has conceived. And, it is what the Lord has already prepared for you, of which you can declare, “This is the Lord’s doing; and it is marvelous in our eyes”! It is an ongoing process that happens as you receive more and more of God’s word, which in other words, are the thoughts of His mind, until you can say like Paul, that you have the mind of Christ. And one day when you see Him face to face, you will be as He is! But, the gospel is preached to the ‘poor’, declares the One who embodies the fullness of it, the Lord Jesus.
Who are the ‘poor’?
One can be rich financially, and yet be poor in physical health. Being poor therefore, has much more connotations, than what it is generally assumed to mean. It is experiencing inability or lack of any kind, and it could be in any area of your life. And, being poor in the spiritual realm, means something much more. It is a total depravity, a wretchedness in your soul, that Paul describes so clearly, applying it to his own sinful condition, that needed the enabling of the Spirit, to experience in him the victorious and rich life that Christ has already accomplished and prepared for every child of God. [Romans 7:24,25]
This good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ though, is what only the poor, the one who acknowledges his spiritual poverty or bankruptcy can receive. For, to the one who thinks he has it all, and trusts in his own self sufficiency to make him complete in his spirit, salvation remains a distant dream, as he continues to decline in his poor condition. And the sad reality is, as the Lord describes the lukewarm church in the book of revelation, it would be a self deception, far removed from the truth, and would earn a stringent rebuke from the Lord. [Revelation 3:16,17]
It is not your lot though, when you have the blessed realization, to acknowledge your inability and lack in being able to experience salvation, the sum total of all the blessings of God by your own self effort. For, it is that revelation, and your acknowledgement of it, that will lead you to restoration and blessing. It was not the rich Pharisee, who trusted in his own piety, but the poor publican who acknowledged his own inability, and called out for God’s mercy on him, who went home justified in the sight of God. It is the parable of the Lord, who conveyed the truth of the kingdom, often through parables. For, our righteous acts are as filthy rags. It is the Cross and nothing but the Cross, that saves you and I. And it is the revelation and realization of the truth, the acknowledgement of our inability that leads to blessing.
The poor in spirit:
Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. [Matthew 5:8] The Lord has made, acknowledging your own unworthiness, in order to receive what His Father has made freely available, very clear. And for it to happen, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
Revelation –> realization –> restoration
The truth of your spiritual bankruptcy, could be initially painful to accept, but in the end it will be a blessing that is truly profitable to you, a restoration of all that the evil one has destroyed or hindered in your life. For, it is when your feet do not tread the ground, and your entire weight is carried by the water, that you feel light and easy as you swim, to emerge refreshed and renewed, to face a new day! Sin is a dead weight that pulls you down, but grace lifts you up. It happens as you are enabled by the anointing of the Spirit, to trust in the Lord who has carried away all your sins, making you feel light and free. Your chains are gone! And, you have a blessed Savior who has carried away the sins of the entire world. ‘What must I do to be saved?’, the trembling jailer asked Paul and Silas, when God worked a mighty miracle, to break their chains in the prison, to set all the prisoners free. [Acts 16:30] And no prisoner ran away; for now they were truly free! It is the power of the gospel! And they replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved; you and your household’. [vs 31] The gospel of which they had partaken, was what Paul and Silas preached that day. And today, it can be your experience too.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you:
When you partake of the Lord’s Table, may blessed realization that leads to restoration be your life’s experience. And, if you are in the midst of trouble and turmoil, the Lord bids you to stand and be still, to see the manifestation of His glorious power in your life, as you put your trust wholly upon Him and the finished work of the Cross. For now, the weak can say, ‘I am strong’ and the poor can say, ‘I am rich’, because of what the Lord has done, for us. In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
