There's No Wonder

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #123k Re-Written 06APR08 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw

No Wonder: Part Eleven—There’s No Wonder

by dave c

First Thessalonians 5:16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil (NIV). These verses from First Thessalonians are like a “string of pearls” regarding Godly living as written by the Apostle Paul not just to the Christian fellowship at Thessalonica, but to the Church Universal for all time and for all places. During times of questioning God’s will in our lives, it would serve us well to remember God’s standing directives for His children “to choose joy no matter what, to talk to Him about everything, and to express gratitude in the face of all manner of situations”...and to do all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. We are then told, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.” Verse 19 is more literally translated, “Do not quench [or extinguish] the Spirit.”

Paul reinforces this idea of the Holy Spirit (and His accompanying fruit, gifts, and power) being a “fire within us” when he writes to Timothy, ...I remind you to fan into flame [or “re-enkindle,” or “stir-up”] the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (2Ti 1:6&7; NIV). Once again, the word “power” is translated from the Greek word, “dunamis;” i.e., miraculous power, or a miracle, itself. Like actual fire that must be wisely controlled so that it can safely warm us, so that we can cook, so that we are protected from danger, and through which metals are purified and tempered—the Apostle to the Gentiles shows us that the power of God is not loosed within or from without us as a raging conflagration. We do not have a God of disorder (1Co 14:33), consequently, power from the Holy Spirit is purposed in our lives by love actualized (Mt 22:37-39 & Jn 13:34&35), and it is contained by practicing self-control through Christ (1Co 14:32&33, Ga 5:23 & 2Pe 1:3-8).

I fear that the Church of today is more concerned with self-control (with the emphasis on the word “self”) than with either love as delineated by Jesus throughout the Gospels, or with the spiritual power that facilitates the bringing of souls to Jesus and disciplining them as they mature. Unlike David who danced before the Lord in his undergarments and who told his embarrassed wife, Michal, “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor” (2Sa 6:22; NIV), we have become much too dignified and much too sophisticated to express our love, our gratitude, and our joy to God with the reckless abandon of a child. Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:3, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (NIV). Oh, we have become so very grown-up in our worship of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. No wonder there is no wonder in our lives and in our fellowships.

As we mistakenly strive to doctrinally extinguish the fire of the Holy Spirit personally and corporately, Lord, please help us to take the words of Revelation, Chapter Three, to heart: 14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, `I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (NIV). We must remember that Jesus is here speaking to the Church, not to the world. Even as believers Jesus does not impose Himself upon our lives, rather He stands at our door and knocks.

Through his letter to Timothy, Paul warns us, ...Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them (2Ti 3:1-5; NIV).

I pray that out of his glorious riches [God the Father] may strengthen [us] with power [dunamis/miraculous power] through his Spirit in [our] inner being, so that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith. And I pray that [we], being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that [we] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen (Ep 3:16-21; NIV).