Receiving the Holy Spirit

In the five translations I refer to the most, there are four names that Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit: Helper, Counselor, Comforter and Advocate. The four chapters that we are now studying in John were all Jesus' words at the table of His last Passover with His disciples. The phrasing and words He used at that time were directed to His disciples but are for us in the same context at almost every stage of our development into maturity. Every time we face a new challenge in God, we need to go to these chapters and let our Spirit feed on them. We will gain a new insight every time for these are the words of God, our Savior.

Later, when He returned to them, He would give them explicit instructions that were for them, the apostles of the new Church. He would tell them where to go and how to receive the Holy Spirit that was to come into this realm in a new ministry to the new Church. They obeyed these instructions and we read of this in the book of Acts. But now, in these chapters of John, Jesus is giving the expectations and instructions of the New Covenant as part of the covenant making ceremony. Not until later would the disciples understand this was what was taking place at that time. These covenant words are for every one of us and are to be heeded as such if we are to conscientiously give to God our covenant response.

How do we receive the Holy Spirit as our personal, indwelling Guide? Jesus gave us the steps we need to follow. John 14:15-16 (NLT) 15 “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.

Jesus said the greatest commandment was to "love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and strength," and the second, next to it, was to "love your neighbor as yourself". Love and obedience are two of the strongest responses we can give to God. All the money and posessions you have are not equal to these responses. Jesus said we are to obey His commands. The strongest command we have from Jesus is to love one another even as He loves us. These are strong words and even harder to obey. One or two people we can love, maybe, in this way but to love every person in this complete, self-sacrificing love as Jesus loves us? VERY hard to do in ourselves. But Jesus does not demand perfection, only the desire to set ourselves to obey, for Jesus looks on the heart and sees the intent. Then Jesus and the Father step in and send the Holy Spirit into you. He will be your Helper and your Guide. His grace will enable you to do what is impossible in your self. Don't forget, the Holy Spirit is always WITH you to help you. It is when He is IN you that you recognize the difference in the enabling power to do His will.

A covenant response

As Jesus was giving to His disciples the expectations of response and the promises of provision for the New Covenant, we find an insight into the ways of God for our developing maturity into His likeness. Jesus gives us three steps we can take that will result in the indwelling of the three Personalities of God. These three chapters of John have been my study guide for my relationship to God. There is a prgression revealed that we can follow.

John 14:15-17 (NIV) 15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

I chose this translation because of the two Names of the Holy Spirit. Jesus called the Spirit these names with reason. At the stage the disciples were in and the trauma they were facing, Jesus assured them that He was giving them a Counselor to guide them when he would no longer be with them. This was the relationship they knew with Jesus. When you are making disciples, you need to be seen as a counselor--one who has been a partaker of the way you are showing. This Counselor was to be received by them as the Spirit of Truth. Jesus was revealing Himself to them as The Truth and they needed to receive the Spirit as the guide to Truth when Jesus was no longer visibly with them.

These men would understand better later what Jesus was saying to them at this time. It is the same with us--we hear God's Word but we have to "grow" into the undestanding. The Spirit guides us to the place of understanding. The disciples had a measure of understanding of the world's perception of Jesus but there was much confusion. I am sure they could never have anticipated that anyone would actually desire to see Jesus crucified. But Jesus knew the power of darkness that bound people in their blindness. When one walks in the deception of Satan, that person cannot see, perceive or even desire Truth. The religious rulers were as blind as the Roman soldiers. They not only could not see the Truth that walked among them, they refused to know. They would not be able to comprehend the Spirit of Truth that would soon be in these disciples and in their ministry. People today who cling to their religious opinion of the Scriptures cannot see or know the revelation of the Spirit of Truth. They are bound by their own limitation. This world cannot see or know the Spirit of Truth that moves among them.

But Jesus continued showing the progression that God would sovereignly open to this realm. The Holy Spirit was with these disciples but soon He would have the right to be in them. Love is a very strong response. It is God's expectation in His covenant with us. It was His expectation in His covenant with Israel, the nation.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (English Standard Version) 4"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (I chose this translation for it is quoting the phrase that every synagogue starts each gathering: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.") This emphasized the totality of the love God expected each one to have and that it was to be learned in childhood and a part of each life.

Jesus shows the love that is to be our response is connected with obedience just as the former covenant demanded. It is the response that opens the door to receiving the indwelling of the Spirit of Truth.

Jesus in flesh

Isaiah 53:2(NLT) My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.

In my meditations the other day, I began to wonder how much our day shapes our concept of ministry. We see the "big" teleministries, the hype of huge campaigns with thousands saved, mega churches and personalized ministries and see that as "success". Jesus came with nothing that would attract us to Him in the natural. We see pictures of Jesus and they present a very attractive man. But there are no pictures or descriptions of Jesus by those who saw Him. My respect for Isaiah as a prophet is based on the accuracy of his prophecies. Whether he was prophesying to natural Israel concerning the immediate future, or concerning the coming Messiah, there are no mistakes and inaccuracies. The description he saw prophetically of Jesus is as unattractive in the natural. The temptation of Satan to Jesus in the wilderness was to change his image to Israel so he would be accepted.

If we were to view His natural life, I believe we would have seen reason for unhappiness, discontent and discouragement. His siblings were jealous of Him and resisted Him. What would you do with an elder brother who never did anything wrong? He was probably constantly held up to the siblings as an example to follow. But in their adamic nature it would be impossible. The parents had a struggle to understand Him, yet they had no fault with His obedience and nature. He was constantly labeled as "Mary's son" and the scandal would always have been with Him. He grew up in "dry ground".

He had no natural recommendation. The Sanhedrin found nothing to justify His "ministry" or His attraction to the crowds, but could not refute the miracles that drew the crowds. His popularity had no other attraction that they could see but were jealous of it and fearful of what it would mean to their own place.

God gave to this realm every possible excuse to reject Jesus. I see this always in the Word that God "stacks the deck against Himself" in order that man might test his own hunger for God by what he must push through to find Him. Those who followed Jesus did so because of the Spirit of God in Him. They saw what they needed in Him. They met in Him what they could not find in anything of this realm. He filled the vacancy that always gnaws at every human ever born. Mankind will seek to fill that void with anything they can. Food, money, fame or any kind of success is sought to justify their existence and fill that void. Yet the deception of Satan denies that they can find what they seek in Jesus. The only time I hear that "religion is a crutch," is when they speak of Christians who follow too closely to Jesus.

If religion dresses everything up, promises wealth and health, looks successful and in control, people grab for it. It is the way of man to want to look really "good" in the eyes of his peers, but it is not the way of God. God takes us down to bring us up and takes us backward to bring us forward. If we follow the footsteps of Jesus, we can be sure there will be criticism and contention for us on that path. But God does not share His glory with flesh. The beauty people saw in Jesus was the beauty of God shining in Him. He did not justify Himself in the flesh but only spoke of His relationship to the Father and gave the glory to the Father. Our only real ministry is to point to Jesus and let His anointing flow through us to do the Father's works. Nothing else matters or will last into eternity.

I believe people saw the nature of God in Him and that drew them. His nature did not change when He came to this earth. All of His responses were out of His nature. Unfortunately, this is true of us also. If the Holy Spirit has not had the opportunity to change our nature because we cling to the adamic nature, our first response will be out of that adamic nature. What we call the fruit of the Spirit is actually the Spirit's nature being allowed to take over our nature and produce God's nature in us. I remember one of my early prayers was a cry that I might bleed Christ. I wanted my first reaction to be Christ and not my own response. It is indeed labor to surrender and enter into His rest.

Hebrews 4:11 (KJV) Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Philippians 2:12(NIV) 12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

The miracle of Jesus' birth

Less and less do we hear of Jesus' birth at the Christmas season and more and more about Santa Claus and the economy as presents are purchased and decorated. But the percentage of believers among unbelievers is actually growing. It is not uncommon to meet fellow Christians in unexpected places. But the miracle of Jesus's birth is so far out of natural thinking that it is easy to just think of it as an isolated miracle and forget it.

This miracle goes back before creation. In God's wisdom and knowledge, Jesus was the lamb slain from the creation of the world. Revelation 13:8(NLT) And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made—the Book that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered.

Our creation was planned to allow God to come to this world in the likeness of His creation. Our realm is a water realm but God's realm is spirit. Within the invisible shield around our earth is the air we breath that is part water. We need water more than food. Our bodies are part water and we are shaped in a bag of water. That bag of water comes from the sperm as does our blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood. Jesus came into this realm in water not of this realm and with blood not of Adam. But he came born of Mary and probably looked just like her. This miracle of birth is to be respected and rejoiced. Without this miracle, the miracle of our salvation could not exist. It is how God's Life became our life and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead brings the miracle of our being born into the Family of God. By the ministry of God's Spirit within us, we come to look just like our Father.

Have a blessed Christmas!

The fruit of unity

I used the marriage covenant a few days ago to illustrate the unity with Jesus that is necessary in the fruitfull use of His Name. In meditating on this, I began to see a deeper fruitful promise than just the answer to our prayers.

I think one of the most misunderstood experiences we see in the Scriptures is sanctification. For years I thought it was a growing experience and could not agree that one received an "experience" of sanctification. The reason I felt this was the many I saw in counsel who had lost faith in God because they did not see the fruit of sanctification in their lives after they had been told they had received sanctfication. (However, that has also been true of salvation and baptism of the Holy Spirit! If a person has to be told he has received, he may have only a mental acceptance!) But I saw something deeper in this passage after I wrote about it a few days ago.

Seeing the unity of the Father in Jesus when He was in our likeness on earth, I saw the miracle that revelation could bring to us. Seeing that He came to bring Life, and that more abundantly, I saw the flow of God's Life to each person that received a miracle. John 14:11 NIV 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. This verse in the NIV shows a deeper inspection of the miracles than just considering Jesus doing works. The NIV is a balance between word for word and thought for thought and is parented by the American Standard Version, a word for word translation which is now out of print but can be viewed on the Internet. ASV 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. They had seen Jesus doing the works, so it was not that He did the works, but that the works were an evidence of the Father in Him. The very Life of God--the essence of the Holy Eternal Being--was flowing through Jesus into cells of this creation of God to restore and control. When the disciples would come to see it was this Life of God flowing in Jesus, with whose flesh life they had been most acquainted, and realized Jesus was telling them they could do these same works with the same flow of God in them, this would be a revelation that would bring instant change. After the resurrection of Jesus when He breathed on them to receive the New Birth He had purchased for them, Jesus told them to wait until the Holy Spirit had come into them before they went out to witness of His resurrection. On the Day of Pentecost, these men began to do the works of Jesus. They knew the difference of seeing Jesus as a man and seeing Him as the Son of God. They knew the difference of going out to do the works Jesus sent them to do and doing the works because the Spirit of God was in them.

I believe that sanctification is knowing Who Jesus is and who you are in God and resting in that knowledge to be the vessel God works through to accomplish His will. Not only God's Nature is seen in you, but His Power and Love flow through you.

Your control

Do you realize you have a control in your relationship to God and God's relationship to you? Jesus spoke of the "if" in the New Covenant relationship. He was giving to us (His Church) the greatest carte blanche the world will ever know and then reveals the if. John 14:13-15 (NASB) 13"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14"If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. 15"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
There is a relationship in covenant that we can understand because of our experience with the marriage covenant. There is an exchange of names that represents the identification of covenant. You may know my husband's name and use it in greeting, in conversation and even in a business context, but I am identified by his name. I am in covenant with him. That covenant is more than a written permission. It is an every day, every week, every year, lifetime commitment and lifestyle. I know him as no one else does, but every day, all through the years, that knowledge has grown and deepened and developed a deeper love and commitment. His name means more to me now than the day (after our engagement!) that I filled a page with writing his name as my new name. I use his name with reverence and carefulness because I am responsible for its use, not only legally and financially, but because I care for his reputation.

The disciples had known Jesus as their Teacher and Lord, a much greater intimacy than others knew, but that knowledge had to deepen into the commitment the new covenant would open to them. They were responsible for the degree of intimacy they would allow by the response to the covenant they would give. You have the freedom of choice. Will your love for Him consume you? Will it be divided, scattered, passive? Will His glory be the reason you use His Name? What will drive your relationship to Him? Do you follow Him for what you can get? Do you long to be like Him and bring glory to His Name and just live in His presence? Is your greatest reward just to see Him smile?

Asking in His Name is more than just saying His Name. It is a living joy and responsibility of bearing His Name.

New Covenant response

I often speak of covenant response as that which frees God's hand to move in our behalf. In the Old Testament (covenant) the response was obedience to the Law and following it. Jesus is very explicit in John 14-16 as to the response we must have. These chapters are so full that to spend time in them is to enrich yourself.

John 14:10-14(NASB)10"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11"Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. 12"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. 13"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14"If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

Jesus emphasizes the unity of the threefold ministry of God to this realm to bring forth "man in His image." These ministries all have individual personality and all are the essence of Eternal God. It is God working in us. (Philippians 2:13) Jesus is the exact representation of the Father, and the Holy Spirit, filling Jesus without measure, did the Father's works in Jesus. Jesus emphasized His purpose in coming to this earth was to provide the way for us to be in God. He did not do it for His sake but for ours. It was to draw us into God's complete unity that He came. The works He did, we can do. It depends on our faith in Jesus. Not just that He died and provided for us in a finished work, but that even in the likeness of man, He did the Father's works, or rather, the Father was doing His work in Jesus. When you come to believe in the power of this unity and that this unity is provided for us in Jesus when we abide in Him, the Father is able, by the Spirit living in us, to do His works in us as He did in Jesus on this earth. "The world has yet to see what a man can do when he fears nothing but the Lord." I grew up hearing this quotation repeated often. What hinders our faith in Jesus, God incarnate? Is it fear of man, fear of being different, or fear of failing? II Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. We are hindered by the human nature that has yet to be surrendered to the Holy Spirit. The Word is very clear, the works that Jesus did, we are to do also because of our faith in Him. The Father has not changed, He is still doing His work in the earth. He can do it through you if you believe in Jesus Who has made this unity possible for you.

We often forget how vulnerable Jesus made Himself for our sake. He said He was going to the Father. Because we know He was resurrected and ascended to the Father, we take for granted this was what He meant. But He had to go by the way of the cross, the grave and resurrection to get back to the Father. If He had failed, He would not have purchased our salvation but neither would He have gone back to the Father. Jesus put everything on the line for you to join Him in the Father. Don't let fear and doubt rob you of this privilege that is yours.

mountains in covenant

Have you ever noticed how significant mountains are in the Scripture? So many covenants begin on mountains or are finalized there. I was reading John 14 again this morning and I began to see a comparison with the disciples experience, as Jesus prepared them for the New Covenant that would see the beginning of the Church, and Moses, as God prepared him to receive the written part of the Abrahamic covenant that would see the beginning of a nation. The conditions were so different yet the message to the heart was the same. Our conditions today are so very different from both of these, yet the message to our heart is the same. Prepare yourself to follow God's leading. God moves forward into areas that are uncharted for our human understanding. We have to prepare our selves to follow Him.

As I awakened this morning, the Spirit was speaking to me concerning the disciples and their human query of Jesus as they struggled to understand what He was saying to them at that final Passover as described by John. Thomas and Philip wanted an explanation of the Way that they could grasp in their minds. When Jesus said the "way they knew" was not explicit enough for them. But the Spirit was saying to me, the Way can be summed up in two words, and Jesus had given them the two words at the very beginning of their journey. It is the same for us as it was for them, "Follow Me." They became blindsided by their human expectation and interpretation of Jesus' words and actions. We become blindsided by the same human reactions as we try to fit God's words into our circumstances. We do not see the natural circumstances of our day and of our lives as God sees. We can only follow Him as He leads us through them.

The circumstances of the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai and the disciples facing Mt. Calvary were very different. But both were facing the ending of one "era" and the beginning of a new. We stand in the same position today. The time of the church age is drawing to a close. The day of opportunity is closing. God is preparing His people to move on to become a part of His next phase of bringing His purpose to completion: man in His image. The words of Jesus in these four chapters of John are as significant to the covenant for us as His Church as the Law was to the covenant for the nation of Israel. We may not understand completely but the way is still defined by His words: Follow Me.

We are going to begin a study of the teaching of Jesus to prepare His disciples, not only for the trauma they faced, but to be the foundation of the Church. These teachings are for us as we face a similar but different time. But our day is as formed by God as the day in which they lived. We are living in this time by God's purpose and plan.

Recognizing the spirit that motivates

I was meditating on the origin of sin and several interesting truths were revealed that I had known but did not connect before. We always speak of Adam's sin as the original sin. Actually, sin had entered into God's "space" before that.

One of the really difficult things to consider is "eternity" and "no beginning" for God. The only way we can fathom it is to realize the completeness of God. He has no need. Time is not in His eternity. These two things are a great limitation on us as mortals. In God's eternity, outside of time, God said, "Let Us make man in our image." What we cannot understand is God's completeness of thought. So much is instantaneous in God that takes process for us. The "Us" in that involves so much more than we can comprehend. God so impressed on Moses the truth that "the Lord, our God, is One," that the Israelites could not comprehend Jesus as God in man. It was the desire for man that caused God to have three ministries for the purpose of bringing the creation of man into fruition. The ranks of angels, created for the purpose of serving man in the process of becoming God's desire, were an instant creation without process. These will not change but always be as they were created. This is Satan's frustration. God's purpose and plan are written in the stars and for this reason, Satan declared he would exalt himself above the stars.
Isaiah 14:12-14 (NLT) 12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. 13 For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. 14 I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’ It is Satan's jealousy of man's destiny that caused his rebellion. With his rebellion, sin began.

In God's completeness, He already had everything covered to attain His desire. He wrote our names in His Book of Life and Jesus became the Lamb of sacrifice. Satan had no knowledge of God before his creation and only knew the Ministries of God in their plurality. To me, the greatest sacrifice Jesus made was not coming to our realm to die for us, but that, forever, He will be as we are. Yes, He is our Lord, but He, the Creator, has become the creation for our sake. We will forever bow to His Majesty and the Love He showed us--the very nature of God. Also, we cannot but honor, forever be grateful, to the Holy Spirit, Who willingly lives in us to guide and shape us into the image of God. How great is the love of God for us!

When it comes to defining sin, we must see God's view as expressed in I Samuel 15:22-23(NLT)22 But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. 23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” Another translation uses "is as" instead of "as bad as". I think it is a little stronger, for Jesus said we must become "as a little child" to see the kingdom of heaven. There is a stronger identification in that usage. I often wake up with the Lord speaking to me, and the other day, He was speaking this scripture and said, Satan uses witchcraft to imitate the Holy Spirit.

Satan certainly uses rebellion (which is a spirit) to resist God and is the heart of his deception to Eve. But there is a seducing spirit to witchcraft and Satan certainly seduced Eve and also Adam. I have often wondered how Adam, who had been taught by God and fellowshipped with God, could have been deceived enough to ignore what God had taught him. But the seducing spirit from Satan is very strong. Satan plays on anything in our mind, emotion or spirit that will open to his seduction. Adam must have had a curiousity about the tree and Satan's explanation must have triggered that curiosity to open the door.

We know God hated witchcraft, homosexuality, pride and idolatry. But Satan has so seduced the present generations now living on the earth, that they call evil, good, and the good they call evil.

opinions

In previous blogs I have mentioned the choice we have to develop opinions concerning anything. These are often about people and relationships but they can also be about God and Scriptures. I was meditating the other day on an unrelated subject and the Spirit spoke to me that God was not limited by my opinions. I didn't realize I was expressing an opinion but that is how subtle an opinion can be. Then the Spirit said that I was the one limited by my opinions. I realized that limitation could be on my prayer life, my relationships to God, family, church family, friends, sinners, strangers, and even Scriptures. Everything that concerns us can be limited by opinions.
When it comes to limiting the Scriptures by our opinion, it is because we are not coming to the Word as the tree of Life but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We want to learn the good, but we are in control of the knowledge. Our opinions are a symptom of our control. There is an arrogance in opinions that is the expression of the self nature. We are all born with self being our world. The infant knows nothing but his own comfort and need. Everyone who comes into his sight is there to please him and answer his demands. Maturity broadens our world and empathy is the measure of our participation in that world. Ezekiel said he "sat where they sat" and was dismayed. When we can identify with another's pain or joy, we begin to understand them. Understanding brings compassion and compassion brings ministry. Jesus is our example to follow. He knew what was in the heart of man and moved by compassion, He healed and forgave.

Our country is divided by opinions. If those opinions become the driving force, the division becomes greater. At any time, if opinion becomes your identity, you have walled yourself into a limitation that others accept.

Our answer is to yield completely to God's provision for us. Let the Spirit lead you into Truth. He will manifest Jesus to you for He is the perfect plumbline that God has dropped into our realm. See His humility and His willing servitude to do the Father's will. It is the channel through which the magnitude and majesty of God's love and power can flow. When we, as Jesus did, seek only His will and fear nothing but failing to do His will, we will know the joy of life without self-imposed limitation.

Thanksgiving

I am grateful that our country still pauses for Thanksgiving Day. I know many just call it Turkey Day but the majority of our nation still gives thanks for their blessings. Thankfulness is one of the responses that is required in all of God's covenants with man. Even nature is required to praise God and is faithful to do so. Jesus said that the rocks cry out their praise. I think it would be wonderful to not only see creation's granduer but hear the harmonious praise it raises to God. It certainly inspires my praise as I wonder at the vast diversity God has created for us.

There is a verse I have often contemplated as an expression of God's infinite provision for fulfilling His purpose. Colossians 3:15 (NLT) And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Jesus said "My peace I leave with you." God gives us His peace to rule (control, overshadow, reign) in our hearts or the essence of our being. Worry, fear and manipulation are the result of not having an abiding peace that comes from God. But this peace is connected to the position we have in the Body of Christ. That position is held and maintained by the faith we have in the completed work of Jesus. We learn (as we yield to the teaching of the Holy Spirit) to not only have faith in where we stand in Jesus, but where each member stands. Our respect for what God has done in them and what He has destined for each one, gives us peace that God is in control and what He says, He will accomplish. The flesh we yet see in our own selves and in each other is a temporary condition that God will lead us to be victorious in overcoming. Repentance for our own condition and for each problem we see in another is a response that leads to peace.

For peace to reign in the Body, there must be peace in our own heart. Our peace with God leads to peace with each other. Religious acceptance of the Word we hear does not deliver us from criticism, gossip or backbiting. Jesus said this was evidence of poor soil. Only when we let the Word abide in us richly, creating worship and praise and thanksgiving, do we see the seed planted to bring forth an abundant harvest.

Covenant purpose

John 14 (NASB) "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

God's covenants with us in this realm have a purpose and move toward that purpose. God's purpose for creation was to make man in His image. As I explained before, covenant is God's way of achieving that purpose with full protection of both God and man. Covenant response allows both sides to progress toward the fulfillment of that purpose. Jesus gave to His disciples the reason for His willingness to pay the price for this New Covenant. We could be where He is. I have heard this explained that He would return to this earth and receive us so that we could be with Him in heaven. That leaves us to live our lives in this realm without the same contact with the Father that Jesus had on earth. Jesus is the Way. We follow Him in the Way. What He did on earth, we can do. My cry is to have the same leading Jesus had--to see and hear the Father. He did it by the Holy Spirit and I have the same Holy Spirit. My surrender must match that of Jesus and I can have the same relationship.

The misunderstanding of the time element in Jesus' words gives rise to the misunderstanding of His words. Jesus was going to the cross. He knew the next three days were going to be traumatic to the disciples. He knew exactly what they were expecting of Him and He knew that they would only truly learn by going through the experience of those days. Our understanding (or lack of it) is not a threat to God. He can lead us to a place of understanding. Jesus knew He would rise from the tomb but He knew this was past their capacity to understand. So He told them He would return and He would receive them to Himself. This hint of their new relationship to Him would be remembered and understood later.

Our being shaped into the image of God requires exposure of God to us and of us to Him.
II Corinthians 3:18 (NLT) So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

The price Jesus paid provides for us to dwell in His realm. We can be as close to Him as we desire. The price we pay for this is our desire. We have to sell everything for the pearl of great treasure. Jesus wants us where He is. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. Paul declares us seated with Him. Everything God desires is already provided, finished, complete. We have to desire it, believe God and rest in Him. To us, process is time. To God process is our response. We can move into the absence of time by our response. Enoch did, Elijah did, Paul did in a different way.

God is about to move on the face of the earth in a new way. It will be new to us as we have not gone this way before. But God has been moving man toward this day for more than 6000 years. We are about to see it happen. Our response is the catalyst for which God is waiting. Revelation 22:17 (NLT) The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.

Finding His comfort

When we read the Bible, we must remember that it was not divided into chapters and verses originally. So I continue reading through chapter divisions to get more understanding. This is particularly true of the chapters (13-17) we are considering in John. The 14th chapter of John is a continuation of the 13th where Jesus is talking to Peter. After telling Peter he is going to deny Him, Jesus continues to say, "Don't let your heart be troubled, trust....." John 14:1-6 (NLT) “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

The key to understanding this passage is in verse 6.."No one can come to the Father except through me."

Jesus was in the process of cutting the New Covenant. He was going to the cross to be the sacrificial Lamb of Passover, the Feast of deliverance into the Promise. He was telling Peter, and all of us, we will fail Him in our own nature, but "don't let your heart be troubled," believe or trust in God and in Jesus to make the way of escape into His promise for us. His promise of the New Covenant is one of royalty. The promise of the Abrahamic covenant was of possession. Can you see the progression?

In the New American Standard Version, verse 2 is translated, "In My Father's house are many dwelling places." One day as I was reading this, the Spirit reminded me of the royal way of speaking of their royal family heritage as "house". The "house of Tudor", or "house of Stuart", etc. All through the scriptures you see reference to this, i.e., "the house of David", "the house of Saul." The "house of the Father" is a royal House. Jesus was going to prepare a place for us in His House as His family. He was going to the cross so we could go to His Throne. There is no way to the Father except through Jesus and His sacrifice. We follow in the Way by leaving our human Adamic nature at the cross and follow all the way He leads us. He will return to this earth to rule the nations and we will be ruling with Him. He had to go to the cross for our sake and if we want all He has provided, we, too, must take up our cross and see our human nature die and His Nature live in us. It is a covenant response.

Jesus returned to them as He promised and breathed on them. Thus He ministered to them the New Birth He had won for them on the cross. John 20:22 (NLT)Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit." It is one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit to minister the New Birth to us. We are born into the Father's royal family.

Knowing our weakness

I have always loved the scriptures that speak of our coming to know God and having understanding of His ways. Paul speaks of this often as his prayer for the churches. But in studying the reactions of people when God speaks, I am beginning to realize we need first to understand our human limitation and weakness. Unfortunately, our weakness is thought to be our strength. I am coming to believe that in our human control, that is the essence of the Adamic nature, we cannot recognize what is our weakness unless God reveals it to us. Peter had no idea that he would deny Jesus. I don't think Judas had any concept of the result of his actions. Their opinions of who they were and what they wanted were so strong in their eyes, they could not hear or see what Jesus was saying and doing.

This deaf ear and blind eye are very much a part of all human nature. In the 14th chapter of John, Jesus meets this also in Thomas and Philip. When what God is saying and doing cuts across our opinion, we reject what God is saying. Actually, we reject the person that is speaking because we do not perceive God in the message. We automatically think we know best. Our opinions are more important than what anyone else thinks and we set about to correct. The disciples felt they needed to "help" Jesus see something differently or they discussed among themselves things Jesus said, trying to find their own understanding of what He meant.

If I were to find the most common weakness we share I think it would be our inability to empty ourselves to take on His nature. Jesus did it perfectly. Philippians 2:5-8 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Pride is a very subtle thing. It exhibits itself in making us feel we are more than we are. Jesus addressed this weakness when He told us we must approach everything concerning the Kingdom of God as if we were little children. When the scripture says, He humbled himself, it means just that. He became willing to be humiliated. It is the only way He could take our place. II Corinthians 5:21 (NASB) He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

If we continue eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we will continue in our own way choosing a knowledge source that is not life. When we come to the Spirit, confessing we are lacking, He will teach us and lead us into all Truth. When you read the Bible, let the Spirit bring understanding and don't let prior knowledge or experience direct your thoughts. He will make the Word live and bring new revelation until you will feel you had never read that before. But tomorrow, don't live on yesterday. Be as a little child and let Him direct your path. The Word is given for our protection and sustenance, so let the Word abide in you richly. Psalm 100 is a way of life. Meditate on it and follow the Lamb.

Emotions of Covenant

We see many emotions in covenant response as people meet the challenges of covenant. Some emotions are part of the covenant expectation such as praise, resting in faith, and thanksgiving. In the chapters of John (13-17) where Jesus is preparing His disciples for the cutting of the New Covenant, we see Jesus moved by various emotions as He positioned Himself for the hours that were pivital for our eternity. This is very important for us to understand for we must do the same every time we approach God for a covenant transaction. You see it in many of the men in the Old Testament who were petitioning for God to move in their behalf. There is a positioning of yourself in the act of cutting a covenant and, also, in the act of petitioning the promised covenant provision. John 13:1, 3 NASB 1Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God,

Know who you are in God. Know His purpose for you. That was what Jesus was doing. It is a part of covenant participation to know what you have in covenant and know your position. Establishing Himself in the authority over all things, even the hours of trial and crucifixion and the final surrender of His Life into the hands of the Father, Jesus began the ceremony of covenant. The disciples must have been awed by the authority with which He began the ceremony of the Passover, not realizing it was a New Covenant ceremony Jesus was initiating. This is a very human experience we all share. We do not know at the moment when God is leading us through a trying time, the eternal importance of that experience. This is why trust is a very important covenant response. Give God the glory in all you experience. Yes, Satan and people may be the instruments, but God is allowing you to experience the hate, rejection, hurt and humiliation so you can overcome them and experience the triumph of Jesus' victory over these "knee-jerk" reactions to the enemy's attack. Live your life from the position of victory and not as a victim of the enemy. This is your covenant privilege. Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 10:19-20 (NIV) 19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,...

Everything God had provided and commanded in the Covenant and the Prophets concerning His first coming, Jesus fulfilled. The expectation of the New Covenant He also fulfilled by taking us into Himself and nailing us to the cross and bringing us with Him to His exalted place in the Father's Presence. He provided the means for us to dwell in Him. His obedience opened the way for the Holy Spirit to inbide us. Our response of obedience and trust will allow us to come to the Father in a relationship not known before this Way was opened to us.

Jesus took our human nature and nailed it to the cross. Our response is to let go of it, and take on the nature of Jesus. The Holy Spirit will bring this to pass as we yield the control over to Him. Our emotions must yield to Him. Your first reaction to a situation will undoubtedly be your human reaction. But by the blood of the Lamb and your own testimony, you will overcome. Repentance (the blood of the Lamb) and a victorious shout of praise (your testimony) might be your second reaction but it will override the first. Just be faithful to respond with a covenant response until you find that His nature is responding first and yours is no longer strong enough to be heard. That day will come because you are His workmanship!

Covenant Identification

In earlier studies, we saw the exchange of names as covenant identification. But in Christ we see that brought up to a higher form. He emptied Himself to take on our identity. He made it possible for us to empty ourselves of human nature and take on His likeness. He came to live in our realm so we could be where He is and dwell in Him, living in His realm so we are in this world but not of it. Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians, "for he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son...." The King James Version says, "translated". The meaning is clear, we are enabled to live in His Kingdom.

After Judas left the table and went out into the night, Jesus began to prepare the disciples for the coming hours. It is interesting to see how much like children we are in our humanity through the reaction of the disciples to the words of Jesus. They seemed to bypass some of the most profound teaching of Jesus to question Him on the one thing He said about leaving and they could not go with Him. John 13:33-37 Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” 36 Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.” 37 “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.” Jesus made it clear (to us!) that He was talking about His death and that Peter would follow Him at a later time. This is so often the way we communicate with the Lord. He is speaking from His viewpoint and we are answering from ours. I have often thought how wonderful it would have been if the disciples would just have listened to what Jesus was saying to them. And then, I realize, we too, get so involved with our own opinion of what is happening that we lose our "hearing aid". We slip out of our rightful place in the Kingdom of Light and stumble around in our own darkness for a period of time until our Guide can get our attention and direct us back to the word of the Lord.

The patience and long suffering kindness of our Lord as He listened to them and continued to give them hope in God's provision for them. The next three chapters are a discourse on the ministry of the Holy Spirit that is the covenant promise of the earthly Presence of God with His covenant friends. He is as close to us as our breath. The promise of covenant is that the Spirit of God is not only with us, but, if we will receive Him, will indwell us. He is with all who call upon the Name of Jesus, but if you are willing to empty room in your being, He will fill it with His presence. If you give him the reigns of your control, He will direct your path and lead you into all Truth. He will reveal the Personality and the Victory of Jesus to you and help you follow in His steps. His Personality will become yours, if you let Him. His Power will be expressed through you if you identify with Him. He will speak for you with your tongue, He will minister with your hands, and He will take your feet where the Father wants you to go. But the most important of all, He will love with the Father's love through you.

Walking in Light

If we are mindful that in the thirteenth chapter of John, Jesus is preparing the introduction to a covenant ceremony, then everything He says takes on the depth of "covenant language". John 13:10 (NLT) Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” John 15:3 (NLT)"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." Jesus knew the authority of His Word and the power receiving that Word generated in a person. He also knew they had opinions and desires that were of human understanding, but only Judas had determined to take into his own hands the control to make things happen to his will. His response was not to Jesus but to his own desire to use Jesus for his own means. All through the Scriptures we see "imperfect" people whose hearts are turned to God to give Him covenant response but make great "sinful errors". God keeps His covenant responsibility and moves in to bring change to keep them in His purposed path for them. But when that error was spawned by a turning away from a direct covenant command, they lost their covenant connection. Again, our understanding of sin causes us to make a judgment call, but God, Who looks on the heart and the intent, shows mercy.

Judas had given Satan an opportunity to use him as an instrument to vent his hatred of Jesus. A lesson we can learn from Judas is the difference of covenant response to God and self interest. Judas received hope from what he heard Jesus say, but it was a hope centered on his own interests. He never intended to do harm to Jesus but, I believe, wanted to force Jesus to proclaim Himself king and get rid of Roman power. When it did not do what he had believed would happen, he had remorse but not repentance. He took the guilt to himself and found an answer to that guilt in himself. We must guard ourselves from self involvement. Making a judgment concerning anyone else makes us the judge. Self takes over and our own opinion becomes the plumbline. Hurts, rejection, disappointment and discouragement can isolate us from that connection that covenant makes between us and God. The strength of covenant is connection. We are in covenant with the greatest power in all eternity. Because the purpose of this covenant is so awesome, God does not rely on feeble human efforts to make covenant with Him. He cuts covenant on our behalf. We are the object of His love, but the weight of covenant is on Him and not us. So it is not about us but all about Him. Our response is to trust and obey. Believing He loves us and trusting Him to take care of us, takes the anxiety out of the most terrible of circumstances. If we repent when we move in our own self and do not trust Him, He moves in His compassion and mercy that are greater than we can comprehend. Remember, we are in "child training" for something much greater than we can comprehend now. When we keep our focus on Him and praise Him for His control over all things, we can view the present circumstance through light and not our limited vision. Turn to His Word and let Him direct your thoughts. It is the best "foot washing" you can imagine.

Understanding commands

We are viewing the chapters in John that reveal the nature of the covenant Jesus made for us. The chapters 13-17 are filled with covenant expectation and actions as Jesus prepared His disciples for the testing His covenant ministry would be to them. Such brutality and violence that would be loosed against their beloved Messiah were totally beyond their ability to comprehend. Jesus knew their human reaction would be the testing of their lives. Their human expectation of a kingdom and their place in it filled their minds and emotions, leaving no room for what they were soon to witness. This opened the door to their discouragement and defeated fear of what would happen to them. Turning to anything that would be a comfort and distraction from their unhappiness was natural to human nature. It is still a common reaction to events in a Christian's life that cannot be "explained" in their expectation of what they want God to do. Coming to the end of human understanding and seeking God to reveal His will, gives the Spirit the opportunity to lead us into spiritual wisdom and understanding.

The Holy Spirit gave new meaning to the days of agony and confusion the disciples had passed through. Peter's message gave new meaning to those who heard him of the terrible cloud that had blanketed that Passover. John was led to give us the account of the words and actions of Jesus as He prepared for His sacrifice in covenant.

Jesus began to give them the "expectation of covenant" that would be continued by the revelation to them by the Holy Spirit. As His chosen apostles, they would continue the New Covenant's expectations as the doctrines they would teach the Church. The Holy Spirit continues this as He writes on our hearts. Expectations of covenant were a part of the covenant ceremony when two people met to make a covenant. When God makes a covenant with man, the expectations of that covenant are not revealed to man in that one ceremony, but they continue in the generations to come. It was not until Moses, in his obedience and response to God's commands, that God gave the written "expectation" of the Abrahamic covenant, and, as covenant procedure demanded, were written by His own hand and sealed with His own blood.

The New Covenant has "expectations" of God and demand covenant response. A failure to give covenant response is sin. That was Adam's sin and it brought terrible consequences to every human being born since that time. We are born in sin and come into a realm of darkness, cut off from God and destined to judgment. But God made a way of escape. If we ignore His covenant provision, we simply go on in our dark destiny. The chapters 5 through 7 in Romans were always difficult for me until I became acquainted with covenant meaning. Paul is speaking of his own experience of trying to live under the Old Covenant expectation. He understood the inescapable penalty of broken covenant. He also understood the human inability to never fail and always live up to God's expectation. The "expectation" of God's covenant are called "commands". Man has no idea of God's holiness or His purpose for mankind except through His Word. Therefore, man has no idea of how his actions and manner of life are viewed by God. Man has no idea of God's justice and mercy and His great love for us. Only when God reveals this to us do we begin to understand. Getting only a glimpse of His great love for us creates great joy in us and suddenly we see through eyes that are enlightened by His light. To walk in His love means a growing light. Proverbs 4:18 (NLT) The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day. This continuing action of following Him as He leads us deeper into His Nature is a response that God needs to lead us as He desires. Hosea 6:3 Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” This growing revelation or light is necessary if we are to "see" where God is leading us and we are to know the day in which we live. He gives understanding as we walk in His Way.

What God reveals and the way in which He reveals to us is dependent on our Covenant response. However, Satan, the great deceiver, knows our human reluctance to walk in continual response and so he hold out an "easier" way and makes religion of the revelation by lulling us into our comfort zone. We still want God and we still want the results of following God, we just don't want to become "fanatics" or seem too zealous. We give God a portion of our lives and continue living the rest the way we desire. I have no problem with comfort and relaxation and fun. There is a way that we can enjoy what God has provided for us. Colossians 3:15-17 (NLT) 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. 16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. What this means to me is simply living an undivided life. My whole life belongs to Him. That means when I am cheering my favorite football team, or visiting friends, or enjoying my family, I am joined to Him. He "reads over my shoulder" the book I am enjoying. He listens to all my conversation and I am aware of His Presence. I am instantly aware of that which I do or say that does not please Him and I instantly repent and change my course. It isn't difficult. What is difficult is turning away from His peace and going back into the stress of my own way. People feel guilty about enjoying life. Don't forget He made and has provided "all things to enjoy" in this realm He has created for us. He wants us to laugh and enjoy and be happy. He created the sense of humor. Satan has degraded and vilified everything in our culture with suggestive language and filthy humor. That does not change what God has given. We can have all that God has provided and revel in His love and peace.

Acting on the Word

While Jesus said, "Follow Me," to the men who were to become His disciples, the Spirit assures us that we can hear the same invitation today. While they followed Him without understanding the full import of Who they were following, we fight the tendency to not see where He is leading us because we have so many distractions. The way to combat this is to focus on the simplicity of His commands. "Love one another," "forgive and you will be forgiven," and "judge not." These commands can be practices in any circumstance we may be at any time. Work, school, home and at play, we are among people and we can be responding to His Word.

In the 13th chapter of John, we saw Jesus getting Himself and His disciples ready for the process of cutting the New Covenant. We began last time to see how His washing their feet is an ongoing lesson for us. I want to show you how, in our following Jesus, this can become a means of fulfilling His commands. Our spiritual feet pick up much of the filth of this realm and of the day in which we live. Our reactions to people and to circumstances add to this as well as our opinions of what is ongoing in our lives, work and nation. If we are not careful, these harden our hearts and deaden our sensitivity to the Spirit's voice. This is where "foot washing" becomes very important in our lives. There are some Scriptures I want you to consider. They speak of how we can wash one another's feet in the spirit.
Ephesians 5:25-27(NIV)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.In the Old Testament, God counseled His people to speak the words of the Law and rehearse them in the ears of their children. There is a cleansing to the speaking of God's Word to one another. If the Word of God were included in the conversation between husband and wife, there would be blessing in their marriage, as much of the stress would be removed. In all our conversation there should be that which glorifies God and honors the Lord. We have no idea how this can wash away the effects of this realm. Malachi 3:16-18 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name. “They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

There is also the vicarious repenting we do for those who do not know, or are not aware, of the necessity of repenting. II Chronicles 7:14 (NLT)Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. We need to repent, not only for the sins of abortion and homosexual sins, but the attitude of withdrawing from God in every facet of our national life. These can affect our reactions to daily contact with these conditions or people who justify them in their acceptance. We are to love the people while repenting for the sin.

There is tremendous power in the act of forgiving. John 20:23 (NLT)If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Be a forgiver. As you have been forgiven, forgive. Do not hold grudges or the memory of hurts and rejection. This makes a great difference in the relationships you have in your family, in your church and at work. Retaining even the memory of sin against you, only hurts you and robs you of His joy. Let the Word wash away the effects of hurtful actions and words.

Receiving understanding

Today, we are going to be comparing the Scripture passage, John 13:6-20 with Colossians 1:9-14. Keep in mind, Jesus did not give us doctrine but IS the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. He purchased and created the Church and is the plumbline to the foundation and the building. The Church is built on the apostle and the prophet. We have the apostles' doctrine and the prophets' revelation of Jesus Christ as the foundation, but we are His Church. How we understand and live is as vital to God as any ministry that has ever participated in any era. When anyone speaks of the perfection of the Church, the power of the Church or the ministry of the Church, it means you and me. The world may never know our name or see us as important, but God does.

How you understand and what you understand is vitally important to God. Adam had been taught by God and he lived in Light, but he gave it up to gain understanding and control his way. We struggle with this in our adamic nature. These two passages of Scripture address this struggle and God's invitation to us to choose once more God's way. In Colossians, Paul shows us God's intent for us to live in Light and be taught of God.

John 13:6-10 (NLT) 6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” 8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” 9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” 10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean....." Human understanding takes us back to the custom of washing feet because of necessity. Spiritual understanding does not always come with defining words. We just know in our being. Just as Jesus told Peter, "you don't understand now...but you will," we face this same dilemma over and over. If we try to reason it out and make explanations for ourselves, we only have human understanding to rely on. If we just trust Jesus and "lean not on our own understanding, but in ALL our ways acknowledge Him," the Holy Spirit will guide us into His understanding.

Colossians 1:9 (NIV) For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.Paul prayed for the saints at Colosse to be filled with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Paul was writing to them, but he was relying on the Holy Spirit to minister this understanding. Paul had not yet met these saints nor had he ministered to them personally. They, like us, had to rely on the Holy Spirit's ministry to understand what Paul was saying to them. Paul had the understanding in his spirit, but he was not depending on his words or wisdom, but on the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth, or spiritual understanding, of God's Word that he was giving them.

The Holy Spirit will guide our feet but He also ministers to us the cleansing of the water of the Word. Our "feet" pick up many of this realms ways and it is filth that must be washed off as we enter His House. We never bypass or "outgrow" this. Only His Word reveals and cleanses the inner motivations, the intents and purposes of the heart that can lead us astray.

Understanding of God's ways is the key to walking in His will and purpose for us. He does not "hide" for any other purpose than to bring us to the Tree of Life. In all our testing and struggle with circumstances, we are brought to the choice: our way and our will or God's way and God's will. This cleansing is vitally important to our fulfilling our response to the covenant Jesus made for us with the Father. He took our place in cutting the covenant, but we have the responsibility of giving to God the response He desires. Our human nature stands in the way of producing the fruit God is desiring. Jesus is the prototype of the creation of man in God's image. His Life is the pattern to which we are molded. His works are the example of the works we are enabled to do. Don't sell yourself short or let Satan deceive you. Don't live beneath the plane that has been provided for you.

Colossians 1:10-14 (NLT) 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

Approaching Covenant

When Jesus was answering His disciples concerning their question of the future (Matthew 24), He spoke of the deception of the evil one and of man. The writings of the apostles warn of deception. For many years, as I listen to people quoting Scripture without understanding the foundation of covenant, I have felt that Satan's robbing the world of covenant understanding has been the greatest of deceptions. To believe in covenant to get riches and blessing without understanding covenant response has also been a deception. Covenant response keeps us from making a religion of God's Word and so robbing ourselves of His Life.

We saw in Genesis 15 the approach by God to making a covenant with Abraham. I see the same approach in the first three verses of John 13. Before a covenant can be cut, there must be a receptive response. Human nature had to give way to His Lordship over its response and control. You see the total unity with the Father in Jesus as He entered the covenant mode in these verses. John 13:1-3 (NLT) 1 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.

The wording in this is very important. The New International Version says, "the evening meal was being served". This implies it had not yet been eaten, so the ceremony of the Passover meal had not yet started. I don't want to distract you from the main message to be seen in this portion, but John most clearly gives us a time sequence that is only hinted at in the other gospels. Notice it starts out "Before the Passover celebration". Jesus had instructed the Passover feast be celebrated one day earlier than the time everyone else would be keeping the Feast. As the Lamb of God, He would be giving His Life for us at the same time the lambs were being slain for the keeping of the Passover by everyone else. I just threw that in so you could see how important it was to God that His Feasts were kept as the vehicle of His Will being carried out to complete His purpose. John wanted us to see the whole covenant procedure and so He includes this approach for us.

Jesus entered the covenant mode and deliberately interupted the "normal" Passover procedure to wash their feet. Nothing hits the old human nature as hard as foot washing. This was not an uncommon procedure for these men, but washing feet was given as a duty to the lowest ranking of the slaves. They met each person at the door to wash the filth of the street off of the feet of those who would enter the house. For Jesus to take this role was offensive to the men who respected Him as their Messiah. It brought out responses from their human nature. We see it cemented Judas' attitude and forced him into action. Jesus was preparing these men to face what was to come but also introducing a teaching of humility that would serve them as leaders of His church. I do not believe Jesus was establishing a new ritual for the church but a necessary attitude for receiving His Power and Authority to establish and minister to His church. There are times when the Spirit leads and directs a time of foot washing but I do not see the ritual as a command but the attitude of heart certainly is a command.

Just as Abraham had to be instructed and met by God before he could enter covenant with God, so these disciples had to be prepared for the New Covenant that would be cut for them. We need to be very alert in the Spirit and heeding every Word that comes from God as the Spirit prepares us for The Day of the Lord. We are in precarious times. Spiritual warfare is greater than ever as Satan knows his time is short. God is bringing His Church up to maturity and perfection. The two forces are producing trying times for us much as the disciples faced at the meeting of the two forces in their day. Trust and rest in Him are our greatest defense and also our greatest offensive weapons.

Covenant exposed

John 15:7-8(NLT)But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

Not until the Holy Spirit revealed the covenant language in the words of Jesus, did I begin to understand His message to us in John 13-17. He was defining the New Covenant in His blood that was to be offered in only a few short hours. The verses you just read go back to the Abrahamic covenant when the blessings (the inheritance of the Israelites) were defined. All the "promises" of God are covenant blessings defined in the covenant.

God's covenants with man, being open ended, are given and expanded over time and generations of men. The Law and the Prophets were all part of the Abrahamic covenant that Jesus walked out in our behalf. The words of the Prophets must all be fulfilled in Jesus. Some of those words are fulfilled in His body, the Church. But their fulfillment is absolutely necessary before Jesus can return to bring the covenant we are now under into the third great covenant that will rule our eternity. Acts 3:21(NLT) For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentecost is a defining of the expansion of the New Covenant out of the Old.

During these hours of the "Last Supper", Jesus brings the blessings and expectation of the covenant with which these disciples were familiar, into the greater blessings and expectation of the covenant He was about to cut in their place. One of these was the division of the inheritance of tribes of Israel when they arrived in Canaan.
All of the tribes were to receive land except the tribe of Levi. This tribe was to receive God as their inheritance and they were to have the privilege of serving God from generation to generation. Where they were to live was designated by God. Their abiding place was to be in cities designated as offerings to God. Many of the prophets were priests from these cities. Samuel from Ramah and Jeremiah from Anathoth, Micah from Moresheth Gath and Amos from Tekoa were some who were born to the priesthood. This is important to us who are born into the priesthood of God by our second birth. We receive the blessing of the priesthood by the privilege of abiding in Jesus Christ. Acts 17:28(ESV)for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said,"'For we are indeed his offspring.'"

The priests who served were also to be partakers of the sacrifice. The bread that was laid out on the table in the Holy Place was to be eaten daily. The Word of God is to abide in us....eaten daily. The covenant of bread is a mighty covenant and is with us today as we take communion. But to live in The Word of Life and to eat daily of His Word until it abides in us, lives in us, and we move and have our life in Him, is a privilege beyond description. It is so much more than the priests of the Old Testament knew. As marvelous and productive as this is for us, it is still only a promise of what is to come.

What fruit are we to produce? I believe it is a twofold harvest. The first, and most important, is the Life of God shining through us. It is what God looks for in His vineyard. His Life is the "seed" sown in us and is to produce His likeness. The second, and vitally important to us as His ministry on earth, is to bear witness of His Life to the world and to be light in a dark realm. We are witnesses of His resurrection. We can only be that if the Spirit that raised Him from the dead also abides in us. That was what made the witness of the apostles so effective. Many have tried to carry out the commission as a religious duty and it has not been fruitful. But when His Presence is abiding in you richly, you cannot help but bear witness of Him. Then you are bearing much fruit and God is glorified in you.

Covenant in you

The covenants of the Old Testament are often relegated to the past. Nothing God does is past or future. He is I AM. Enoch and Elijah reached into the "future" of God by believing in His Present Tense. God deals with us in this "time capsule" that is the day of salvation. Therefore He uses time tenses when He speaks to us. But note the tenses He uses, for instance, concerning healing, and compare the Old and New Testaments. Isaiah 53:5 (English Standard Version) 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.
I Peter 2:24 (EST) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

In studying the covenants of the Old Testament, I found that those who responded to God in covenant were those who lived by the covenants. They were not lessons taught by the priests or rituals followed by rote, but they were a part of their life lived in faith to God. It shaped their relationship to God. They knew they were in covenant with the Eternal, Almighty Jehovah. Their response to God was their answer to the demands of covenant with Him. I have it in my head that twice God demanded that a person eat the pages of the book that was handed to them. (Ezekiel in the O.T. and John in the N.T.) I have often pondered those passages and realized that I "eat" His Word also. I digest it and live by it. It is the only way our reactions become a reaction of faith and not doubt. This world and the diet it offers us spawns doubt and disbelief. I have at times talked to some Christians about the marvelous power of God shown to us and met with a blank stare.

Another way of absorbing God's Covenanted Word in you, is by focusing your eyes on Him. Keep His Words and His ways always before you. David is an example for us.
Psalm 16:8 (ESV) I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Psalm 101:3 (EST) I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.

Another is by identification. He identified with us so we can identify with Him. I like the translation of the New American Standard Bible (NASB) in II Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. It shows most clearly the identification. You expect to see yourself when you look in a mirror, but if you see Him, you will reflect Him. This means that in every situation you see Jesus taking care of it and not your own effort, expertise or experience taking control. This is covenant response that is automatic. This is walking by faith. This is having His Word in you as your first response. This is giving God free reign in your life. You have become as a "little child" and now others can see the Kingdom of God in you.

The Judgment of God

John 16:7-11(NLT)7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

We last viewed the ministry of the Holy Spirit in this world to convict of righteousness. Jesus is the plumbline that God dropped into our realm so we have a measurement of His view of righteousness. John 16:14-15 (NLT)14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’ Another translation says "reveal it to you".

Another revelation to you by the Spirit is the judgment Jesus made as a man while in this realm. He made this judgment on many levels. It must have begun in His childhood for we see the jealousy and resentment His brothers expressed on different occasions in His ministry. How painful for his siblings to live in a household where the eldest never sinned in thought or deed. Their resentment must have been a daily burden to Jesus Who could not retaliate nor be hurt for that in itself is an expression of an adamic nature. He overcame it. Even as children we can follow the Lamb and overcome, by His Spirit, what is natural to our nature.

After His baptism by John on the Day of Atonement, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Here He met the temptations we meet as we follow Him. The only temptations that Luke gives us were at the very last of the 40 days He fasted and prayed. They were temptations to move in our own will to be expressions of God to the world. These temptations we face when filled with His Spirit to "use" the power of His might for our own benefit. (Luke 4:1-13) Jesus judged the devil by the written Word of God which was given by the Spirit to the prophets who lived under the hatred of Satan yet gave us His Word. Daily in the following three and a half years, Jesus met and judged Satan's attempts to twist His words and destroy His ministry.

What Jesus faced of agony in the garden of Gethsemane we cannot understand. But I do not agree with most who say He wanted to bypass the cross. He said it was for that very reason He came. But I believe it was the cup He had to drink. Holy, pure and sinless, perfect in submission and union with the Father, He had to take our sin into Him. All of our sinful nature and failure, willfulness and hardness, our selfish protection of our prideful ways, the sin of the whole world in any generation, the darkness of despair and hopelessness were in that cup. What He endured in His body, soul and spirit we can never know. But He judged the prince, the ruler, of this realm.

The Holy Spirit will manifest this victory into us. We can know, without a shadow of doubt, that the prince of this world stands judged. We can throw off his attack of temptation to rely on our old human nature to control our situations. We can follow the Lamb and please Him in every way. It is now our choice. The Holy Spirit will minister this knowledge to us and through us manifest it to the world. The world has yet to see what God can do through a people who fear nothing but Him.

The judgment this world will face must begin in us. We must see a death to the human nature and His Life revealed in us. The Church that Jesus died to redeem and create is to be brought into full maturity, spotless and shining in His Life. That will be the beginning of the judgment the world will see. We must not continue a "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde" revelation to the world. What will happen to bring this about I do not know, but I know the Word says He will do a quick work and end it in righteousness.

If we can believe with all our being that the ruler of this realm is judged, then we must see His victory manifested in our lives by the Holy Spirit. Let each appearance of our old nature be brought to the cross. Keep your focus on the Victorious Christ and let His victory be yours.

The righteousness of God

John 16:8-11 (NLT) 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged. Last time we were speaking of the Holy Spirit's ministry to convict of sin. Today we will go into His ministry to convict of righteousness.

Most translations agree on the word "convict". Satan knows this is a very important aspect of the Holy Spirit's ministry and he comes quite close to it with his "condemnation". Unfortunately, many Christians do not know the difference. One way to know is to make friends with the Holy Spirit, talk to Him and let Him talk to you until you know His voice. Worship is the atmosphere the Holy Spirit enjoys, so be a worshipper. Ask His advice and let Him know you depend on His control of your thoughts. Another way I employ is to wait and check out my motives. Am I in control of the situation or am I asking God to be in control. The Holy Spirit knows the will of the Father and He will reveal it to you if you wait.
Romans 8:26-27(NLT) 26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

We will discuss the advantage of speaking in our prayer language (unknown tongue) at another time, but for this discussion, it is important that we are able to bring anything we are questioning to God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He always beholds the face of the Father and is given to us to guide us into all Truth. He will manifest Jesus to us so we follow in His footsteps. This is how we know we are being convicted by the Spirit and not condemned by Satan.

It is interesting that the translators use the word convict. We always think of the word in terms of "sinning", but this is used in the terminology of the Holy Spirit's ministry to us. It comes to us in our spirit and is a type of revelation knowledge. It requires faith in God's love for us and in His eternal Being.

This brings us to the next very important aspect of this verse. Our faith is in what we do not "see". Abraham was approached with covenant language to cut a covenant with the unseen Eternal God. His faith, that the Almighty God, unseen by him, was willing and able to cut a covenant with a mortal man, made him qualified to stand before God as righteous. Many have said his faith that he would receive a son made him righteous. I believe that God intended to give Abraham a son (mentioned long before to him when God called him to leave his family) but mentioned it at the time of His covenant approach because Abraham was using it as a reason he could not be a recipient of an eternal covenant. After God's reassurance of a son, Abraham's faith was unconditional. He only asked how it was to be done and then faithfully carried out God's demand for the ceremony.

Jesus spoke of the blessing we receive when we believe, when He spoke to Thomas. John 20:29(NLT)Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

Our concept of righteousness, according to human understanding, is laid on us. We feel we are responsible in the way we dress, act and the works we do, to appear righteous. Each group of believers has a different slant on righteousness and so has different "rules" in how it is be achieved. But Paul was very clear in his description of righteousness to us.
Romans 9:30(NLT) What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.
Romans 10:6-10(NLT) 6 But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven’ (to bring Christ down to earth). 7 And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” 8 In fact, it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

Righteousness is right standing with God. Jesus knew the human heart and mind. He knew that these men perceived they knew righteousness because they were watching Jesus. But the Holy Spirit would "convict" (penetrate their conscious minds and opinions and their spirit) with a right standing with God through faith when they would no longer see Him. The ministry of Jesus on earth was to fulfill the Law and bring it to a complete satisfaction to the heart of God by a man. This is one reason Jesus continually called Himself "the son of man" and was not declaring Himself openly to be the Son of God. He fulfilled the Law as a man, for the righteousness God was seeking in man went beyond the "doing" of the Law and was to be a submission by faith to the One Who gave the Law. But the disciples, living and walking with Jesus, saw Him keeping the Law, which to them was the "normal" way to please God. The apostles' faith was challenged by the Holy Spirit's revealing commands that went beyond the Law. Peter receiving the command to go to Cornelius' house to minister to a gentile was a challenge to his reliance on the Law to please God.

The first step in the restoration of the Church of God at the close of the "Dark Ages", was the revelation to Martin Luther that the "just shall live by faith." Right standing with God does not come by our efforts but faith in what Jesus accomplished. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to lead you deeper into that right standing by challenging your faith in One Who loves you and gave Himself for you, but Who you cannot see with your human eyes. When the circumstances all around you would make you doubt, the Holy Spirit comes to "convict" you of your right standing with God and helps you "see" the unseen by faith. You make the choice to believe in the face of all that stands against faith. You give a covenant response with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Peace administered

We cannot view any covenant of God with man without understanding the necessity of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of God to make us in His image is stated in a plural case. "Let US make man in OUR image." The process involves all three ministries of God. The bottom line of the Judaic concept of God is "The Lord our God is One." This is why it was so difficult for the religious rulers, students of the Law, to receive Jesus as God in man. The Holy Spirit must give us understanding of Scripture or we have no other choice than to give it human interpretation. Human interpretation of the Scripture is the power of deception which is the strength of false cults. Opinions formed in this way are very hard to change.

The Holy Spirit is not only the vehicle for God's Word to come to the prophets and give us His Word, but He is the One Who opens the Word to our spirit and soul to give us understanding. The teaching Jesus gave concerning the Holy Spirit's ministry to believers was given to His disciples at the Passover table just before He left them. John 16:8-11(NASB) 8"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged."

The Holy Spirit convicts in these three crucial areas where human reasoning makes the most error and Satan can bring the most deception. First, let us understand that we, as human beings living in the darkness of this realm, do not understand sin. Adam and Eve, the first to sin, did not understand the power of darkness they had unleashed. They only knew they were naked. I do not think they fully realized they had been covered by Light which had been ripped away. Not until Jesus came into this realm, the Light of the world, was it possible for man to, not only come into the Light, but walk in the Light. The Holy Spirit was coming into the world to become resident in those who would receive Him. This powerful new ministry of the Holy Spirit to this realm could only be possible if Jesus completely fulfilled His ministry. Jesus must go to the cross, be buried, rise again and return to the Father before this ministry of the Holy Spirit would be released to this realm.

Because we do not understand the power of unbelief, we do not understand God's view of sin. Abraham's complete yielding to Almighty God to make a covenant with him, and his surrender to enter that covenant unconditionally, was accounted to him as righteousness. When we do not glorify God as the Almighty, eternal and omnipotent, omniscient and ever present Father to us, and doubt His love and mercy, we sin. He has made the highest covenant with us by sending His Son to take our place in broken covenant. To accept Jesus in His sacrifice, but not understand the Father's role, is to "hamstring" our faith. We believe that we are healed by the stripes Jesus took on His back, but we do not believe it is the Father's will. We confuse the surrender of our will to the Father's will being done on earth with the complete work accomplished by Jesus on the cross. I will pray for the sick and believe for their recovery because it is the promise sealed at calvary. Too often the "will of God" is used to cover unbelief. I bow my knee to the Father's will and know He can use any method He chooses to bring us to His perfection. I also know it was His love for this world that sent Jesus to bear our sin and sickness. My unbelief as well as any sickness is swallowed in the victory Jesus won for us. Now it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to administer not only the knowledge of my sinful state, but the cleansing Jesus purchased. By the Holy Spirit I can live in Jesus Christ, abiding in His victory over this world.

This ministry of the Holy Spirit is to believers who will receive Him. We know the Holy Spirit has the ministry of convicting of sin to the world. But the Holy Spirit was coming to indwell the believer. The power of the Holy Spirit is released in you to become a part of this ministry. You may battle the sin of unbelief because you do not understand the completeness of God's finished work in Jesus, but you are only being shown "finer points" of faith by the Holy Spirit. There can be no shadow of this human failing within us and so the Holy Spirit works with us to reveal and overcome unbelief in any area. Be a quick repenter and be full of faith that it is forgiven. Walk in the light of a finished work. You are God's workmanship. The Holy Spirit in you is working with you to bring you into the completed work of manifesting God to the world as did Jesus Christ. This is one of the works Jesus did that we are to do, also. You are the light of the world. The Holy Spirit in you will do His work. As you believe with the power of the Holy Spirit, those who do not believe will be convicted of their sin of unbelief. God wants you to share in His ministry to the world. We become workers in His vineyard.

The very presence of Jesus and His words and works became an obsession to the religious rulers to obliterate. Jesus said that if they hated Him, they would hate you. The more evident the work of the Holy Spirit in us, the more the world will hate us. We, as Abraham, accept His covenant unconditionally. Where He leads us, let us set ourselves to follow.

Is it Peace?

My personal experience has been, from a very small child to the present, one of respect for those who sacrifice and fight in battles and wars in my behalf. I heard "stories" from my father of his father who fought in the Civil War. My sister did a great deal of research into the past generations of our family and wrote down many of the stories of their heroic deeds. There has not been a war our country has faced that I did not have an ancestor fighting in it. That makes me feel patriotic and protective of the flag that represents our country to the world. But I have a far greater allegiance to the King Who has made me a citizen of His Kingdom. The peace He won over the greatest battle ever fought, is the peace that rules my heart.

Peace can be a word or it can be an energy force. Our country has signed a "peace pact" after each war. But the Bible warns of "wars and rumors of wars" continuing until our King returns to this earth, and even that will be with a tremendous war with His victory assured.

We have a war going on in our own lives. Within us is "human nature" that wars with His divine nature. The only peace we can have is with full surrender. In studying the Word of God and seeing man's reaction to His Word and Covenant under which they lived, I see a pattern that men make. That pattern is consistent and is dual natured. Every man who gave to God the covenant response He was seeking, had a same reward. Every man who turned away from responding to a covenant demand had a same reward. God meets us when we turn our face to Him and He leaves us alone when we go our own way so we can learn what disobedience means. Now that picture is clear, and "fully developed," when we keep a consistency of obedience in our lives. But unfortunately, no matter how much we intend to follow Him absolutely, we learn best by our failures and not our triumphs. We, like Peter, have to learn the hard way. The honest photo album of our lives has pictures we wish we could destroy, but that is how we have come to this hour of our lives. Our repentance and response to God have formed us. What we are is how we will be judged by the One Who looks for the fruit of His likeness.

In this realm in which we live, we see varying truths in the words we use. After the first World War, a peace treaty was signed that would end all wars. The world went into a "party spirit" after that and forgot what war was all about. Peace became an illusion that refused any possibility of another war. Self-deception gave room for an enemy to prepare for war. I see Christians who do not recognize the enemy within and they let their human nature have a "party spirit" that does not recognize they are giving the enemy room to prepare destructive weapons to be used against them. Even Christians do not recognize the eternity of the soul. You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body. Two of those elements will live on after you put aside the body to go back to the dust from which it was made.

When I am teaching children about this, I show them how important the soul is to their life by using the illustration of a transplant. If a person needs a new heart, the doctors can put into them a heart of a person killed in an accident. It will go on beating and giving life to another person who has a soul in their body. When God made Adam, He formed his body and organs of dust, but when He breathed into Adam's nostrils, Adam became a living soul. He could stand up and feel and see and hear. When the soul departs, none of these are possible in the body.

Why am I dwelling on this? What gives you pleasure now? What do you turn to when you need to relax and "enjoy" life? Is it the TV, a good meal, a cooling drink, or as to some, a smoke, a visit to the bar, a view of pornography, a book, a visit with friends? You see not all of these things we turn to are "bad" or useless. They are simply what our nature sees as "that was what I needed!" These "tastes" come from our soul. It is our soul that desires the way we "relax" or "wind down". If it were only our body, we would simply go to sleep. The everlasting part of you may desire things that will not be available in eternity. That soul will not find peace in eternity.

If you have trained your senses to find your comfort and peace in eternal things, you are becoming mature in the Lord. You discern what is good in eternity and what is passing and only of a temporal nature. You have trained your soul to desire what is good for you. You desire His Presence above anything else. Your soul delights in the Lord and longs for His fellowship. You will step out of this body doing what you love most and you will have all of eternity to do it. This awareness of eternity is missing in many Christians. The delight of worship (an eternal activity) is only known rarely and some never lose themselves in it. The book, Song of Solomon, is not in the Bible accidentally. It is the song of the Bridegroom and He yearns to hear it echoed in His Bride.

Why is this an emphasis in what seemed to be about war and peace? Everything around you in this realm is a parable of the unseen realm of spirit. If this realm and the things of this realm are more important to you than of His realm, you need a reality check. Is the peace you feel His peace or is it a lack of battle? Do you lose the sense of peace when things go "downhill"? Is worry, panic, fear and discouragement waiting outside your door to rush in when trouble opens the door? God's Covenant with us is not only when you feel "spiritual" or when you have a need. We live under the covering of being friends of God. That is covenant language. When you are "in covenant" with someone, you are "friends" with your covenant partner. It is a life commitment and goes on to your kids and their kids, and on and on.

John 14:27(NLT) “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid."

Romans 5:1(NLT)Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

Philippians 4:7(NLT)Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.