The Promise of Joel

 Joe 2:28 ¶ "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
 Joe 2:29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

 Joe 2:32 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.

 Ac 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 Ac 2:39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

I have been discussing the Holy Spirit, specifically, how He works in our lives--convicting us of sin, giving us a deep, intimate walk with God, comforting us, guiding us, and giving us power to live righteously and be bold witnesses. 

What remains, then, is a decision for you my reader--This promise that if you turn from your inclination and control and turn to God, He will remove the power of hate, selfishness and darkness in your life and put His very nature in you, giving you His Spirit--His essence.  You will have the power to know God, to learn to obey Him.    

This promise is for you.  Take it personally.  Take this promise to heart.  The one God is calling is you.  Call out to Him.  Ask for His Spirit.  See what He does.  You will not regret it. 

Repent VS Mindfulness

 Ac 2:37 ¶ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
 Ac 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Last time, I shared how the Holy Spirit had done His job of convicting the crowd hearing Peter preach on Pentecost morning.  Peter told the men gathered there from all over the world that the solution to their heart ache was to "Repent", be baptized and then they would also receive the Holy Spirit. 

What is this REPENT word?  It's not a new concept in scripture.  Peter's preaching text, Joel 2, describes an all inclusive, nationwide movement of fasting, crying out to God and turning from sin.  

John the Baptist and Jesus continually told their audiences to "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!( Mt 3:2, 4:17; Mk 1:15, 6:12; Lk 13:3,5)  Isaiah spoke of "reasoning together" with the Lord. 

Repent in the Greek is the word Metaneo,   meaning "to think differently or afterward, to reconsider, to feel moral compunction. Compunction means: (a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain; contrition; remorse. 2. any uneasiness or hesitation about the rightness of an action. from Dictionary.com) 
 The Old Testament word, "Shoob" means to turn back, retreat,withdraw, not return to the starting place.

Basically, it is making a change in your mind that causes you to go a different way.  It's a mind change with observable effects.  John warned the Pharisees who came to listen to him:  " Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: "Mt 3:8  In other words,  "Show me the change in your life as a result of my message!"



James echoed this idea in his letter:
 Jas 2:18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

So how does this compare with the idea of Mindfulness?  According to Merriam- Webster's Dictionary, mindfulness is: : the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis; also : such a state of awareness



This increasingly popular technique is touted as being able to increase focus, cure depression, improve performance and reduce stress.  Mindfulness, which originates in Eastern religious practices, is taught in elementary schools, college campuses, and on-line to help people cope with their problems and live more fully. 

The problem and danger of this practice is that mindfulness is looking inside one's self and affirming what is there.  There is no change or  seeking out a higher source for change.  Whereas repentance is comparing one's thoughts to God's thoughts and making adjustments that effect real change, mindfulness is affirming one's own thoughts.  It lacks the power to remove the real blockages to our personal joys --the blockage of our sin. 



Mindfulness is a shabby substitute for a real living dialogue with the Creator and Redeemer of the world.  It can never transform a person in the essence of who they are.   Paul said in Romans 12,   And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Ro 12:2

The transforming power of repentance, of changing our thinking and then, as a result, our actions is a life-long practice to deliverance, freedom, and intimacy with God.

      

Camping for an upgrade -- Acts 2

Image: live 10 news



 Ac 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Chapter one of Acts leaves us with a huddled group of Jesus' closest friends and relatives, waiting obediently for something--or Someone that Jesus promised would not only replace His own presence, but would enable them to broadcast the news of how all men could return to their rightful place with God. Soon world changing power was coming in the form of a Person, the Holy Spirit.

Like people in the 60's camping at Canaveral to see history rocketing into space, or( in our day), shoppers camping for days to be the first to own the next new iphone, God's "early adopters", the apostles, were camped together for the arrival of this Person of the Trinity.

What did Jesus tell them about the Holy Spirit that kept them in a room for a week, waiting? 

  

Jesus had first told the Jews celebrating Feast of Tabernacles that He could offer them unquenchable, living water for thirst souls.(John 7:37-39)  Luke the Author notes Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit.  He had also made mention of this soul-fulling water to the woman at the well in John 4. 

But at the end of his life,  he begins to unveil the mysterious member of the Godhead that would soon take His place on earth. He taught about the Holy Spirit during one of the most intimate times He had with his disciples--the Passover dinner talk  recorded in John 14-16

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 He explains the coming transition in John 14:15-17, 25 &26

  "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.

  "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.

 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Later in the evening He describes the Holy Spirit some more:

 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

 "And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 

 of sin, because they do not believe in Me;

 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;

 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.  ( John 15:26,27; John 16:7-15)

Reading these statements over carefully, we can learn why the disciples were to eager to wait for this promise of the Holy Spirit.  

The word Helper has a deeper meaning in Greek  Parakletos:  an intercessor, consoler, advocate, comforter. It is like Jesus asking the Father to send a lawyer, prayer partner, therapist, guidance counselor, and a warm comforting blanket for each believer in one package.

Image: Marvel 

I kind of think of how Jeeves in  the Iron Man suit does everything for Tony Stark: power, flight, logistics, weapons, communication, and personal advice.  The Holy Spirit's mission is to take Jesus and wrap us inside His nature, running all the "app"s of His Spirit inside our renewed spirits. 

Watch how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit's mission:  He is our personal trainer and teacher. He reminds us of what God and others have said.  He is truth and guides to finding truth, He communicates what God the Father is saying to us.  He glorifys Christ, taking our focus off of our problems and putting it on the One who can solve them. He is the transfer conduit of Christ's nature, forming Him in us.  

Next time.  I want to talk about how the Holy Spirit is activated and deactivated, and why we are given this powerful gift.  In the meantime, if you do not have this gift of the Holy Spirit, I encourage you to ask God boldly for His Gift of the Holy Spirit.  He is anxious for you to open it!