The baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit.

As I've continued my study on the work of the Holy Spirit, I've found it rather interesting as I've looked into the baptism and the filling on the Holy Spirit. These are two very distinct operations. Let me explain.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, when you fill something (ie. a glass) up to the top with water, the outside is still completely dry. However, when you immerse/baptise a glass, the outside is completely covered with water. The two are very different. It is the same when it comes to the filling and the baptism of the Spirit.

While I was looking into these two operations, I found a little chart that was extremely helpful to me to explain why these are different

Many people do confuse the baptism with the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit because on once occasion, the two operations did occur at the same time. On the day of Pentecost, we have recorded for us the initial descent of the Holy Spirit to earth - the coming of the Comforter. Many of the Jewish folks assembled there that day were already believers in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. However, these believers did not yet have the Holy Spirit living within them and were not yet part of the body of Christ, the church, simply because the Spirit had not yet come as Christ had promised. When the Spirit did come, accompanied by the sound of a mighty rushing win, these believers assembled in the upper room were finally "saved" in the New Testament sense of the word. The Holy Spirit baptised them into the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13) and they in turn were baptised with the Spirit of God and were "born again" or regenerated.

However, another very important work of the Spirit occurred at this same time on this particular occasion. According to Acts 2:4, these same believers were "filled" with the Spirit of God for service. This filling was quickly evidenced in the bold and powerful preaching of the word of God that occurred throughout that day with many thousands of people coming to Jesus Christ as Saviour. The baptism with the Spirit that occurred in the hearts of these men was permanent - they were saved for eternity. Their filling, however, was not permanent and was later repeated.

There is no other passage of Scripture that records for us anyone being saved (baptised wit the Spirit) and filled with the Spirit on the same day. Paul comes very close in that he was filled with the Spirit of God three days after he was saved. We see this in Acts 9:17 when Saul/Paul is already a "brother" in the Lord when Ananias comes to see him three days after his conversion and then is filled with the Holy Spirit.

We must be very careful about building a doctrine on one portion of Scripture or upon the initial manner in which the Spirit of God dealt in a particular way - ie. the Day of Pentecost. The events of Pentecost were never repeated elsewhere in Scripture.

The main purpose of the filling of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with speaking in tongues, or providing the believer with a prayer language. It's main purpose is to provide men and women with the power of God to deliver a message from God - Micah 3:8, Luke 4:14, Acts 1:8, 1 Corinthians 2:4, 1 Thessalonians 1:5.

Many people claim the main purpose of the baptism of the Spirit is about laughing in the Spirit, or being slain in the Spirit, etc. This is not the case as it's main purpose, when you look at Scripture and it's uses of "Baptism of the Spirit" is to put you into Christ and the body of Christ.

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit." - 1 Cor 12:12-13

In the above passage, the Greek construction (the verb "baptizo" and the dative of pneuma, "Spirit") is also used in the other six "baptism of the Holy Spirit" passages (Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 1:5 and Acts 11:16) Here it seems clearly to refer to the cleansing and empowering work that the Holy Spirit does in a new convert at the point of conversion. Baptism is used metaphorically here to refer to the Spirit's work within the believer to unite him or her to the body of Christ, which is also the corporate body of believers.

getting crafty

Over the past few weeks, I've been inspired by a few photos on Pinterest to get into my card making again. After having shifted house since been married, my scrapbooking/card-making things are all over the place and there's not a whole lot of room in our tiny home to set up a space for it. Regardless, I spread all my stuff out on the lounge floor and began working. The lounge is still a mess!

So, below are some of my attempts to get crafty... :)

 My first attempt at making my own envelopes. Love how you can match them with the cards... and sooo easy!

 I got some old maps from a lady my mum works with and they worked brilliantly for envelopes.

 Birthday Card for my lovely hubby. I hand sewed the word "Birthday" which took forever... need to get a sewing machine one day.

 Valentines day card.

And a wedding card. With some many friends getting engaged and married this year, I will no doubt find somebody to give this one too.

Christianity IS a religion AND a relationship

"Christianity isn't a religion, it's a relationship" is one of those phrases that you can find everywhere; Facebook, T-Shirts, bumper stickers, YouTube videos. It's way too overused and is doing more harm than good because it's only half right; Christianity is both a religion and a relationship. Let me try and explain.

To say Christianity is not a relationship ignores the many relational words used to describe God and His people. He is our Father, and we are His children. We know Him and He know us. He speaks, and we listen. We are meant to constantly relate to our personal God.
But to also say that Christianity is not a religion is disregarding what scripture clearly says:

"If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." - James 1:26-27 ESV

The Greek word for "religion" is "θρησκεία" and defined as:
"Reverence or worship of the gods, worship as expressed in ritual acts, religion." 

In a biblical sense, there's true/pure religion and false religion. That's an important distinction we need to remember. We can't just disregard ourselves from religion entirely when we have a "belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods" - Oxford American Dictionary definition of "Religion." That also sounds like a relationship to me! They go hand in hand.

We add to our relationship with Christ by reading His word, going to church, praying, loving others, excercising faith, bridling out tongue, visiting widows and orphans and living holy, unstained life - by our religion.

On the contrary, to be so routed in religious practices and rituals (like the Pharisees) is empty and lifeless and no amount of works is going to save us. Sadly, many false religions do adhere to this BUT it is by grace that we've have been saved through faith. And this is not our own doing; it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8).The same also goes with a relationship. We can't just go chasing after the next feel-good relational moment and mountain top experience only to turn away from God with things get hard.

Christianity is both a religion and a relationship, but it's not about either. Neither word is strong enough to explain Christianity. Only the Gospel can do that. The Gospel alone is the power of salvation for all who believe (Romans 1:16).
The Gospel is what Jesus has done, not something you and I do. The Gospel is about God’s free gift of grace; religion and relationship are part of our response to that grace. Christianity is about the Gospel, but it is expressed in religion and relationship. The Gospel alone is what saves; no amount of our religious duty or relational feeling has the power to save.

How married life seems to have changed me.

How married life seems to have changed me.

Yup.

It's a mystery. I  don't understand.

Before I was married, I was a regular plain Jane for the most part and liked to dress up every now and then. But now, things are different and I just don't get it.

My nails always, yes, always need to be painted. French manicure even. So, I had to go out and buy some pink and white nail polish to make this possible. What? My nails were always bare before.

Now, my hair. I've experimented with braids, with quiffs and other such nonsense. What happened to the "wake up and brush it" girl I used to be? As of this past month, I've decided to grow my fringe/bangs out, so I've currently got my fringe in a french side braid (which I just learned to do this minute!) and I love it.

I've also been on the hunt for cute dresses, cute earrings and the like.

Anyway, that's beside the point.

What I would like to know is why this is happening? Why am I becoming so girly? Anybody care to shed any light on this for me?

I'm just so confuzzled.

The government shall be upon His shoulders

I've been thinking a lot lately about this marriage equality bill (or rather the definition of marriage bill) that's right through the news at the moment.

"By passing this legislation we not only change the definition of marriage, we change it’s meaning and the fundamental basis of marriage. This change will have enduring ramifications for future generations."

It passed it's first reading last week with 80 for it and 40 against it. With a result like that, it immediately got me thinking about the times of Noah...

"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." - Genesis 6:5

"Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth" - Genesis 6:11-12

"For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." - Matthew 24:7

and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah...

"But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly." - Genesis 19:4-6

Sure, we are still a long way off from what it was like back then, but it's changing and it's inevitable. Sigh, what is the government doing? If anything they are leading this country astray. They need prayer and lots of it.

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way" - 1 Timothy 2:1-2

Sure, the Lord is sovereign and these things are bound to come as it's been prophesied to before the coming of our Lord. But what are we to do when it feels like we're loosing all hope, and feeling like our "Christian" nation is heading downhill. What's going to happen next? Will our national anthem declaring that "God defend New Zealand" be changed? Who knows.. but we have hope.

Isaiah 9:6 puts it nicely.
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

I used to think that this verse (the part underlined) referred to Calvary and that the government was upon his shoulders by oppressing and crucifying Him. However, as I looked a little further, I noticed that this wasn't the case.
This child shall bear the burden of reigning the government. This child is the Son of God who will reign over every power imaginable. All the world is subject to the rule of this Child. Wise men from the East came to worship this child. The angels of heaven broke out into glorious praise when He was born. King Herod could not outsmart the hand of Almighty God in carrying out His perfect plan.
One day, Christ will reign and it will be an increasing government because the bounds of his kingdom shall be more and more enlarged, and many shall be added to it daily. And it will be a peaceable government agreeable to his character as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:7). Praise the Lord!

The work of the Holy Spirit - Part 3

In my previous posts, I've shared thoughts on the Holy Spirit's work in the Old Testament, the Gospels, the Acts, and touched on the 21st century.
Below are some thoughts on the work of the Holy Spirit in the 21st Century after salvation.


The Spirit maintains our salvation.

• The Spirit indwells the believer permanently (John 14:16)
• The Spirit seals every believer until the day of redemption (Eph 2:13-14, Eph 4:30)

  The Spirit helps us maintain our fellowship with God.

• He helps us daily to gain victory over the of sin before God (Romans 8:2, Romans 8:12-13, Galatians 5:16-17, Galatians 5:22-23) and Praise the Lord for that. 
• The Spirit gives us strength to obey God (1 Peter 1:22)
• He strengthens the inner man before God (Eph 3:16)
• He fills us with qualities that help us to properly fellowship with God (Romans 14:17, Romans 15:13)
• He helps us to worship God properly (John 4:24, Phil 3:3)
• He assists us in our prayers to God (Romas 8:26-27, Eph 2:18). One thing I've been thinking about lately is whether it's right to be praying to the Spirit as he is the one who actually intercedes for us (Romans 8:26). We don't see Christ praying to the Spirit, but rather, we see Him teaching us how to pray to the Father.We likewise, don't see anything else in scripture about praying to the Spirit.
• The Spirit comforts (John 14:16, Acts 9:31)
• The Spirit teaches (John 14:26, 1 Cor 2:13)
• He leads and guides us into all truth (John 16:13, Romans 8:14)
• He also reveals, interprets and applies to us the things of God from his word. (1 Cor 2:10-13)

The Spirit helps the body of Christ - the church. 

• The Spirit supervises the leadership of the church (Acts 20:28)
• The Spirit directs the worship of the church in preaching (1 Cor 2:3-5, 1 Thess 1:5-6, 1 Peter 1:12), in prayer (Eph 6:18, Jude 20) and in singing (Eph 5:18-19) 
• He directs the missions outreach of the church by empowering (Acts 1:8), and calling and sending forth believers (Acts 13:1-4).
• The Spirit enlarges the church (by convicting sinners of their need to repent and saving their souls - John 16:8)
• He binds the church together (2 Cor 13:14)
• Note that for any of these to happen, the believer needs to be solely focused on God and to actively spend time praying to the Father and reading His word that He has blessed us with. We need to be in tune and ready to obey God's will and not our own desires. 

 How can we be so sure that it's the Holy Spirit working and not a demon or the anti-christ or something else? John 16:14 puts its clearly and plainly when Jesus says "He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you." The Holy Spirit GLORIFIES CHRIST! The Spirit will also never contradict what is written in scripture.

My next post to come: the filling and baptism of the Spirit. 

The work of the Holy Spirit - Part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. As I have progressed along in my study, I've looked into the work of the Holy Spirit in individual believers in the Gospels, the Acts and lastly, the Church of today.

The Gospels:

• We know from Luke 1 that the Spirit filled John, Elizabeth and Zechariah. 
• The Spirit was received by the Apostles in John 20:22 when Jesus said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Note that through the context, we find that Jesus was specifically talking to 10 of the 12 apostles and their receiving was still not permanent.
• The Holy Spirit couldn't be given until Christ was glorified. (John 7:39)
• The Spirit coming was also dependent on Christ leaving earth (John 15:26, John 16:7)

The Acts:

The Spirit was introduced to the Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 2), the Samaritans (Acts 8), the Gentiles (Acts 10) and the Old Testament converts to John the Baptist (Acts 19) in different ways. The Spirit was received in different ways and evidenced his effects in different ways.

Acts Chapter 2 (The Jews in Jerusalem)

• The apostles were "baptised with" the Holy Spirit.
• They were also "filled with" the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:4) Note that the words "baptise" and "fill" have two very different meanings. Baptise means to completely immerse into something, while fill means to insert, or stuff until full. These however, are two different operations by the Holy Spirit.
• The apostles received the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:29, Acts 2:38. Acts 11:16-17)
• The Spirit dealt primarily with the Jews as it was the day of Pentecost. Pentecost was a Jewish feast in a Jewish city (v14, 22, 36) of only Jews present (v5)

Acts Chapter 8 (The Samaritans)

• The Spirit was received through the prayer of an Apostle. (Acts 8:14-15)
• The Spirit was also received through the laying on of the hands of an apostle (Acts 8:17-18)
• Please note that the Samaritans were a distinct people group from the Jews as they were half Jew and half Gentiles.  Therefore, this method by which the Samaritans received the Spirit was entirely different from that of the Jews or the Gentiles. 

Acts Chapter 10 (The Gentiles)

• The Spirit "fell" upon the Gentiles immediately after they were challenged to believe in Jesus. (Acts 10:43-44, Acts 11:15)
• The Spirit was "poured out" upon these Gentile believers (Acts 10:45)
• They "received" the Spirit. (Acts 10:47). Acts 15:8-11 takes this point one step further and states that these people were given the Holy Spirit and thus had their "hearts purified by faith" and were "saved."
• The point of this whole chapter was that God had opened the door of salvation to the Gentiles. He did so in such a way that there was no doubt to the Jews that this was indeed the hand of God Almighty. 

Acts Chapter 19 (The OT converts to John the Baptist)

•  The Spirit came upon them (in much the same way as the Samaritans) by the laying on of the hands of an apostle.(Acts 19:6)
• These men were believers without the Holy Ghost. (Acts 19:2). We need to remember the context of this verse as taking it out of its context implies that a person can be a believer and not have the Holy Spirit. This, however, is NOT the case in this chapter. In the context, we should note that these men were entirely unaware of the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the Christ. They were not believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but merely believers in the gospel of John the Baptist - that a messiah would be coming. Having never put their faith in the finished work of Christ, they were not saved from their sins in the NT sense of the word until verse 5 when they were informed of the facts by Paul. 
• The Spirit was dealing with OT Jews.

 We now see that the Spirit dealt with these four people groups in slightly different ways. This shows us that the initial works of the Spirit in Acts are not a pattern that we should seek to copy. There is no indication anywhere in Scripture that these experiences are to be repeated. The book of Acts is not a doctrinal treatise for the church, but a historical record of the progressive work of the Spirit with respect to the church. . Once this work had been established, all of the loose ends are tied together in Pauls inspired, doctrinal teachings to the Church, the body of Christ.

The Church of the 21st Century

Before salvation

• By convicting men (John 16:7-8)

At salvation

• The Spirit came to live inside you - You received the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:9, 1 Cor 3:16, Gal 4:6) Note that some people put an emphasis on the need to receive the Holy Spirit after a person has been saved. The word of God however, makes it clear that just as every believer receives and is indwelt by the Father and the Son at salvation, this same fact is true of the Holy Spirit of God. This means that the determining factor of whether or not a person belongs to God rests in whether or not they have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. One can not separate the presence of the Holy Spirit and salvation - you either have both or neither. To speak of receiving the actual presence of the Holy Spirit as a separate event from being saved is simply not consistent with the word of God.
• The Spirit comes to abide with the believer and to dwell with him forever (John 14:16-17)
• The Spirit gave you eternal life and therefore is the One who made you "born again" (John 3:5-8)
• The Spirit becomes the seal or promise of your salvation - you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. (Eph 1:13-14, Eph 4:30)
• You were baptised by the Holy Spirit into Jesus Christ/the Church. (1 Cor 12:13, Gal 3:26-28)
• You were baptised with the Holy Spirit (Matt 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:17)
• All of these verses refer to the work of the Holy Spirit initiated on the Day of Pentecost and subsequently performed in every person today who comes to Jesus Christ.
• At salvation, the Holy Spirit washed, sanctified and justified you. (1 Cor 6:11)
• He imparted one or more spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:7,11). I'll touch more on this topic in more detail in a later post.

After salvation

• You'll have to wait for my next blog post to hear my thoughts on this. Still compiling my thoughts and studying at this point. Please bare with me. 

Thanks for reading!
Mel

Gecko Goodness

Isn't this just incredible? This "Satanic leaf-tailed gecko" was found camouflaging itself in a national park in Madagascar. It was hidden so well that when I first saw the photo, it took me a few moments to realise what I was actually looking at.

Depsite it's devilish name, I think the following Bible verse sums up this photo just brilliantly. 

"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." - Romans 1:20 ESV

God's creation at times just leaves me speechless.

Flooding gone wild

 It's been a crazy couple of days of rain, rain, and wait for it... more rain!
This is the road up to Mum and Dads. Yup! They were trapped in.

 Ben and I went for a drive up to Primrose Hill yesterday which happened to be where everybody was last night. Notice the bridge in the centre of the picture. Flooded road after it. They closed it off.

 This is out in the Karangahake Gorge which they also closed off and is still closed off.

 And this is why. There have been slips and water right over the road in some places which have resulted in some people getting stuck out there.

We live on a hill so we've upgraded to some nice water views at our place but thankfully the rain has eased off in Paeroa and the rivers are calming down some now too. Crazy days.

Grace, at it's finest.

Ben, Steph and I watched The boy in the striped pajamas a few weeks ago and I found that it was one of those movies that at the end, you just sit there, staring at the wall in silence, and taking in what you just saw. I was appauled at the level that the Nazi's went to kill the Jews and without even realising, killed the commandants son along with them. Discrimination. Hate.

On the flip side, Ben and I watched the Passion of the Christ on Sunday night and I found that although, it was likewise, one of those movies that at the end, you just sit there, staring at the wall in silence, and taking in what you just saw, in this case, I was just dumbfounded by the grace of God. Yes! Even though I've known this for many many years now, it was great to be reminded of the level of pain that Christ undertook for me. We stand in the grace of God!  Joy. Love.

Romans 5:1-2 "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we  rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

Although the Passion seemed to be highly Catholic based by having Mary just holy at Christ, the movie still really struck me. Jesus knew that what he was doing was the Father's will and he did it with joy (Hebrews 12:2) and completely submitting to the Father. Even though God the Father poured out His wrath on Christ, he didn't lose hope in his Father altogether as he suffered divine judgment for the sins of his people.  He stood in my place. That pain, that anquish, and being forsaken by God, was meant to be mine. He took on himself the curse that lay upon me.

Galatians 3:13 - "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"

Isaiah 53:5 - "But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
 
Why oh why, Lord!? 
Needless to say, His grace is sufficient for me! :) Hallelujah! Glory to God!


  “Grace, then, is grace,–that is to say, it is sovereign, it is free, it is sure, it is unconditional, and it is everlasting.” ~ Alexander Whyte

Something much greater.

It was one year ago today that I set foot in the US of A to meet up with my now, beloved husband. Wow, how time flies.

Ben and I were reminiscing a few nights ago about our numerous airport/train station moments after what seemed like eternities apart, yet they were only ranging between 1 week and 7 months - far from anything eternal. Still to this day though, we've spent more time apart in our relationship than together, but hopefully in the months ahead, that will reverse.

However, that time apart changed and challenged our relationship for the better. We couldn't cuddle on the couch watching movies, we couldn't play tennis, and we couldn't even take a walk on the beach together. Instead, we talked on skype, talked on the phone and wrote letters, more letters and even more letters. We were forced to talk, to communicate, to get down to the nitty gritty deep issues and put our relationship in the right place, with God and without the physicality getting in the way. It was communication or nothing, but it was an excellent way to start our relationship and we've most definitely continued to develop what we learnt through that time.

In some ways, we felt distant (no pun intended) and at times, it put a strain on our relationship. But what relationship doesn't have it's struggles anyway? They either make you or break you. In this instance, it made us. We had to be disciplined to set time aside to chat even during our busy schedules and even during those times when we didn't really want to talk to anybody. But when we didn't, we found ourselves slowly growing apart. Our relationship at that stage was soley based on communication while at the same time, we earnestly desired to be in each others arms again and being with each other face-to-face developing out relationship into something much greater; marriage.

I remember the day after we got engaged, Ben compared a long distance relationship to that of the Christian and God. Jesus is no longer walking on this earth with us and it takes a unusual commitment to pursue a relationship when you physically can't spend time with somebody. Our relationship with Jesus is likewise based on communication; prayer (phone/skype conversations) and the word of God (love letters). When we don't communicate with Him, we also found ourselves slowly drifting away, and our relationship becoming more and more distant by the day. We likewise long to be face-to-face with God one day soon and also developing our relationship into something much greater; marriage.

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." - Ephesians 5:31-32 ESV

Wedding Bands

This past weekend, Ben & I headed to the beach (yup, in the middle of winter - it was a nice day okay!), had a picnic and took some photos of our wedding bands. Was such a blast and he gave me a few tips in photography.  It was a lot of fun seeing the people out for a stroll taking a nosy at what we were doing. Got all sorts of funny comments and looks. These were a couple of my favourites that we took

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

Lately, I have been looking into the Holy Spirit's role in believers today. From John 16:8, we know that it is the Holy Spirits role is to "convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgement." From verse 13-14,  we know that the Spirit guides you into all truth and that He will glorify Christ.

We see from Galatians 5:22-23 that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." With the Holy Spirit living within us, these attributes should be displayed.

We all know that the Spirit came and permanently resided in the believer at Pentecost. But what about before then? What happened during the Old Testament? Was the Holy Spirit there? If so, what was His role?

We know from Mal 3:6 that the Lord does not change. His nature now is exactly the same as that from the beginning and before the beginning of the world. The first mention of the Spirit in the Bible is found in Genesis 1:2 - "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." We know that God (the Spirit) is just as holy and loving now as he was when he first appeared in the Bible. Again, His nature doesn't and never will change.

However, the ways in which the Spirit deals with mankind does change. We know this primarily through the way in which God dealt with man under the Old Testament versus the New Testament.

We find that the Spirit came upon these men in the Old Testament:
Othniel in Judges 3:9-10
Jephthah in Judges 11:29
Balaam in Numbers 24:2 (note: Balaam was a pagan soothsayer (Joshua 13:22) who was killed for his wickedness, yet the Spirit of God came upon him for a while)
Amasai in 1 Chronicles 12:8
Azariah in 2 Chronicles 15:1
Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24:20
In these places in the Old Testament, the Spirit coming upon these men was always for some special work of God and not a permanent condition. We find that the Spirit of God would repeatedly come upon Samson in Judges 13:25 and Judges 14:6. A similar thing happens to Saul where the Spirit came and went and came back again (1 Samuel 10:6, 16:14 and 19:23-24).

We find that the Spirit of God dwelt in these men in the Old Testament:
Joseph in Genesis 41:38
Joshua in Number 27:18
Moses in Isaiah 63:11-12
Ezekiel in Ezekiel 2:2 and Ezekiel 3:24
Again, we find that the Spirit was never a permanent condition or event as opposed to what happened to the believers at Pentecost.  We know this because Ezekiel had the experience of the Spirit entering into him on numerous occasions - see references above.

 We find many other ways in which the Holy Spirit worked.
He fell upon Ezekiel in Ezekiel 11:5a
He remains among men in Haggai 2:5
He upholds men in Psalm 51:12
He covers men in Isaiah 30:1

We also note that King David was afraid of losing the Spirit of God as he prayed in Psalm 51:11, "Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me." No Old Testament believer was guaranteed this permanent indwelling of the Spirit that we have now.

Glory to God in the Highest.
Amen.

Married life

Our wedding was such a joy.

Married life is such a joy and I can't believe we've been married about two months now! Our wedding seems like just yesterday. So glad that the craziness and stress is all over now though.

Ben and I have read through the book of Proverbs a couple of times since we have been married and I am just continually amazed at how often Solomon/Agur talks about wives.

"An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life" - Prov 31:10-12

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord" - Prov 18:22

"It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife." - Prov 21:9

"The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down." - Prov 14:1

"A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike." - Prov 27:15

"House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord" - Prov 19:14

I'm striving to be the best wife that I possibly can to Ben.

Mel

update...

1. I traveled to Canada last month, saw lots of friends from Capernwray and lots of pretty places. Customs was a piece of cake. It made me glad. Oh, the Commonwealth. Thank you God for keeping me safe.
2. I've now driven in the States, on the right hand side of the road and the left hand side of the car. It was strange figuring out the positioning of the car on the road.
3. I ran away from a deer after climbing to the top of a waterfall. It scared me... for no reason at all.
4. I am thinking about heading down to California in the next month or so. This excites me.
5. I'm feeling a little hyped for the Rugby World Cup and I'm not really that big of a huge fan! Go the All Blacks!
6. That is all. I'm tired (It's 11pm here) and can't think of anything to write.
Peace,
Mel