holy spirit – Nazarene Prayer Fellowship

God was speaking to king Cyrus the king of Persia Ezra 1:1-3. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed….I will go before you and make the crooked places straight “I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, …that you may know that I the Lord,….Am the God of Israel. (Isa 45:1-5). Darkness resembles putting things away which God didn’t like in us. God visits each of us in very special way. Darkness is not always the consequences of sin, but if it is due to sin, you find, there is a treasure of forgiveness in it. If we are faithful and repent of our sins, God is just and faithful and he is willing to forgive. Even in darkness there is a treasure of forgiveness, but always remember one thing, when we are sinning we are dining with the devils.

Apostle Paul said, all things are good but all things are not profitable. So try to renounce those things. In Rom 13:11-14 he emphasized that this is the time, Awake from sleep. Now is our salvation. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Try not to make any provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light. Christian life is not easy life but it is a wonderful life. Hidden darkness treasures make our life worthy to live as Christian life in God. Take sincere step in your life and God will surely bless you.

When we are going through dark times, we need to seek the Lord. Darkness sometimes means sorrow, problems, weaknesses of human nature, loneliness, loss of the loved ones, and so on. Our Lord allows such things from time to time. Each of us experiences these dark moments in life (problems) but it is only God who makes a way out. God teaches us new ways of life in these dark times like repentance, not to repeat the sins and to learn new spiritual lessons. Every day we encounter the spiritual warfare. We are not always on the mountain tops or in some deep valleys. In either situation, we need to look to our Lord from the depth of our soul and we need to wait patiently in the secret place, until we receive answer from God. It’s no use trying to find a way out to escape out of these troublesome, painful, heart-breaking situations.

Whatever darkness you’re facing today, You can be assured that God is holding your hand. God’s always at work in your weak areas. Everything works for the good of those who believe in Him (Romans 8:28). The only thing we can do is, ask god’s grace in these dark times. He is moulding us and making us to match his own image. The image of our savior, Jesus Christ.

Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God (Isa 50:10)

Look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourself with sparks: walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—This you shall have from My hand: you shall lie down in torment. (Isa 50:11)

Bro. Jonah Ravinder briefly illustrated these above verses. You must fear the Lord and obey our Master (Jesus) and trust in his name and stay with God in our darkest of times. The bible says, He that believeth on Him shall not be disappointed.

Verse Eleven is where the hardest situation is. If some problem comes upon your life don’t try to find a solution yourself. Don’t try to light your own World. If we try to go in our own ways, we will face the consequences. So therefore, wait patiently upon the Lord till he brings you out of that darkness. As the psalmist said, “Truly my soul silently waits for God; …..(Psalm: 62:1& 2) Encourage yourself to do like this.

In 5^th verse King David has no choice but to wait patiently and silently longing for the Lord. Christian life is always ‘look forward’ life, meaning that we need to ask God to strengthen our souls and pray. We need to rely more upon Holy Spirit than ourselves.

Dear children of God, trust Him all the time, even when we don’t feel Him, or see Him. When you are going through some dark times, pour out your heart like Hannah (Prophet Samuel’s mother) and there’s nothing more enjoyable (in spiritual sense) than a sorrowful spirit in God’s presence.

God spoke to Moses through the dark clouds (Exo: 20.21). When he was out of Egypt, I am sure he went through his own dark times. Even while he was on that mountain, he had to wait upon God in those dark clouds. It was only then that his face was supernaturally radiant (Exodus 34:29-35).

Whatever darkness you are going through in your life, don’t worry, God is with you. In Psalm 18:11, God makes darkness His hiding place. Jesus said “my soul poured out before the Lord”. We got salvation through the cross. Jesus went through the darkest hours while he was in pain and agony on that cross. (Ninth hour at about 3 o’ clock) At this very moment, redemption was paid and the treasure of our salvation came out of that darkness.

For this reason Jesus said in verse 45 My God My God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt 27:45 & 46). Here, Jesus clearly illustrated on how one would feel when he is walking through darkness. I am sure even we felt like that sometimes but look at our redeemer now who sits at the right hand of our almighty God.

We need total dependence on God and obedience to his teaching in those dark times. So, wait patiently upon God until he redeems you and brings your out of your darkness.

GOD BLESS YOU

– Bro. Jonah Ravinder

Two terms used by theologians
1. Imputed righteousness
2. Imparted righteousness

Imputed righteousness: Says that we are unrighteous and there is nothing in us that deserves me the favour of God. But what Jesus does is, He comes and covers us and when God looks at us He doesn’t look us but Christ and declares us righteous. It is imputed to us on the merits of Christ, he covers, overwhelms us and God looks at it and says “I see Jesus there and because of Jesus I don’t hold anything against you, you are now my child.” But imputed righteousness itself is incomplete.

Imparted righteousness: Jesus doesn’t only cover us from outside and leave us unclean inside. God says “yes the imputed righteousness is come to you, but I want to impart my righteousness in you.” Meaning that Christ not only is going to cover you but He is going to come inside you and He wants to clean you from the inside. Hence the sanctification is also called baptism of the Holy Spirit. Therefore holiness is simply the life lived under the total lordship of Jesus Christ.

Holy Spirit is simply Jesus in the Spirit form. And He has come to indwell us. And so the distinguishing mark of the person filled with the Holy Spirit is basically and essentially the reflection of the character of Christ, because the character of Christ begins to be reflected in our hearts and the image that we lost in the garden, the image that God has created now begins to be restored and the process begins.

There is a marked distinction between a pure heart and a maturing character. The pure heart is the result of sanctification. But the result of what has happened in the sanctification is the growth that now begins the maturity that now begins to come who is filled with the Holy Spirit. The maturity of character comes after the self been crucified and after everything has been surrender to Christ, as we go moment by moment in our lives, the maturity doesn’t come instantly, overnight. A baby cannot be expected to leap and jump in an early age. The baby has to fall down sometimes, taught, instructed, supported and the baby makes mistakes. Same way we as sanctified believers make mistakes and fall down. And falling down is not the problem, but staying there.

There is a difference between a sinful nature and human nature. Sinful nature is simply the self-centredness with which we were born. It is a condition that we live in. Therefore the sinful nature is a broken relationship with God. This condition has so permeated our lives and hearts, but in sanctification God has purged us and taken out the self-centred element at our kneeling down and surrendering it and asking Him to crucify it on the cross for us. But what we are left with is our human nature. It will not be eradicated; this will have its personality and its characteristic traits. Some people have the humorous personality. God is not going to take that humorous heart but He will purify it by taking out the self-centredness out of it and use it for His glory.