The shepherd’s rod and staff
are a comfort to the sheep. They could be used to defend the sheep from
predators, but usually used to gently guide the flock and redirect individuals
to safety. Here’s the point; that is what God does with us. There are times
when we don’t feel like doing something or like going our own way, and God says
“this is the way that is right, so we need to react in faith and trust. Pastor
Kyle is trying to give us some “north star” constant and guiding principles
that we can know and understand which give us confidence that the Holy Spirit
is helping us overcome situations in life that arise, and the fact that He is
leading us in one of them. Once we have been gently led and are experienced,
then we can gently lead others around us. We often get frustrated when people
are not listening to us, so sometimes we are not gentle and ruin our witness.
This is a great moment for us to look deep inside ourselves and ask: “Are we
gently leading like the Holy Spirit or taking a heavy-handed approach and
calling it faith?”
The next thing to know is
that the Holy Spirit enables us to overcome by returning good for evil, letting
God settle the score and living in peace with all. When Jesus was reviled, He
never reviled in return. Instead, He entrusted Himself to God the Father. Jesus
same and endured the evil unto death so that we could be healed. That means
being healed of our sins and finding our true home in Heaven when we die. Jesus
endured the wickedness of men and the sins of the world on the Cross, so that
the Holy Spirit could come into anyone’s life who would simply repent and
believe in Him as their Savior and Lord. It is totally natural to desire and
seek payback and revenge for wrongs done to us, but it is the power of “God the
Holy Spirit” to return good for evil, to let Go settle the score and make the
choice to live at peace.
John 14:15-17 “If
you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He
will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees
Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in
you.”
Pastor Kyle reminds us that
the Holy Spirit is not “God the Son” or “God the Father”. The Holy Spirit is
the third person of the Godhead of the Trinity – “God the Holy Spirit”. The
Holy Spirit indwells every Believer with the breath of eternal life. When God
breathed life into Adam’s lungs, the Hebrew word used there is “ruach” – the breath of God. Because of
what Jesus Christ did on the Cross, we are healed of our sin separation from
God and we have our citizenship in the kingdom of Heaven.
The Holy Spirit is who grows
us as Christians. The Holy Spirit wrestles with the sin nature of our flesh
that we may walk in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit points us to our Heavenly
Father. The Holy Spirit is always acting in submission to the Father and the
Son. The Holy Spirit teaches us to submit as we model the Spirit’s submission.
The Holy Spirit is the power that enables us to overcome. The Holy Spirit is
the power in your life and the church in the name of Jesus Christ. The Holy
Spirit has made you an overcomer.
In Christ, Brian
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