Who Is The Holy Spirit?

 by Mike Mobley in Christian Living

Photo by hidesy

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. 

References to the Holy Spirit are numerous in the Bible. The Holy Spirit is coequal and coeternal with God the Father and God the Son in every divine attribute. Each works differently and occupies a different role with respect to the divine work of salvation. 

Although referred to as a source by many, the Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit possesses all the divine attributes of God -attributes such as 

• omnipresence (Psalm 139:7 - Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?), 

He Is - A Refuge

Joshua 20:1–9
In ancient times people often sought personal revenge for a murder, even if the homicide was unintentional. So God provided a safe haven for those who killed someone accidentally—a city of refuge where the offender would be protected from the avenger until a trial could be held.
How often we need that place of refuge! 

Intentionally or not, we sin all the time. 

We harbor angry, murderous thoughts. We lash out with our words. We cut someone else down to build ourselves up. 

Thank God that he provides a safe haven for us—Jesus, our living city of refuge.

Spiritually Alive

 

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall be made alive. —1 Corinthians 15:22

The spirit realm is a world greater and more awesome than this world could ever be. We who are spiritually alive can cross into that realm and hear the voice of God. We can live without fear, for we have eternal life by the blood of the Lamb.

The spiritually dead cannot see what we see or hear what we hear. I have seen them wandering the earth by the thousands: milling in and out of theaters and shopping malls, driving on the freeways, mowing their lawns, and dragging themselves through life. Like weary prisoners who march until they drop, the spiritually dead walk without hope, defeated prisoners of a lie. They believe the lie that they will live and die, and nothing lies beyond.

One day the trumpet will sound, but they will go on with their weary lives-.-.-.-typing, welding, baking, and driving as though nothing had happened. Those who are spiritually alive will hear the sound no one else hears and skyrocket into the presence of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Jesus, I long to live daily in Your spiritual realm.
Help me to live without fear and to obey
Your voice each and every day. Amen.

http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/devotionals/daily-breakthroughs/?devFor=2012-09-29

Playing in the Mud

Written by Kristi Huseby

 Are you struggling with feelings of sadness, loneliness or despair? Need someone to listen? We’re here. Talk to a mentor.

“And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of His face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18, The Message)

What is it about boys and mud? It attracts them like bees to honey! If there was any mud to be found in our back yard, my four boys would find it. They would never carefully step around a mud puddle. Oh no, they would stomp right into the middle of it! I can’t tell you how many times I would go out to the backyard and find them playing in a mud puddle and rubbing mud all over each other. They would often try to clean themselves before I found them but that only made matters worse. The only way to get them clean was to spray them down with a hose and get them into the bathtub for a good soak.

You are important to God

Pauls epistle to the Romans chapter 1 - 8 highlights the following interesting topics.

God is no respector of persons. It doesn't matter what nationality you are, salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ. He is the only way to heaven.


We are to worship our Creator and not creative things.


We are to honour Him and give God the glory and be thankful for the things he has done.


We are to live righteously in a wicked world and not to follow the examples of unbelievers.


Romans 3:23-25 (KJV) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.


We were all born sinners and there is none righteous. We are justified freely by the grace of God by faith in the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other way a man can be saved.

“Can a Christian lose salvation?”

Before this question is answered, the term “Christian” must be defined. 

A “Christian” is not a person who has said a prayer, or walked down an aisle, or been raised in a Christian family. While each of these things can be a part of the Christian experience, they are not what “makes” a Christian. A Christian is a person who has, by faith, received and fully trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Savior (John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-9).

So, with this definition in mind, can a Christian lose salvation? Perhaps the best way to answer this crucially important question is to examine what the Bible says occurs at salvation, and to study what losing salvation would therefore entail. Here are a few examples:

A Christian is a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This verse speaks of a person becoming an entirely new creature as a result of being “in Christ.” For a Christian to lose salvation, the new creation would have to be canceled and reversed.

How Does the Death of Jesus Save?

Chuck Swindoll

One way to understand the meaning of the death of Jesus is to imagine a courtroom scene in which we are on trial for our sins and God is the judge. 


Our sins against God are capital crimes. God Himself is our judge, and according to divine law our crimes deserve the death penalty. Death, in a spiritual sense, means eternal separation from God in unending torment. That's a very serious judgment.


By shedding His blood on the cross, Jesus took the punishment we deserve and offered us His righteousness. When we trust Christ for our salvation, essentially we are making a trade. By faith, we trade our sin and its accompanying death penalty for His righteousness and life.


In theological terms, this is called "substitutionary atonement." Christ died on the cross as our substitute. Without Him, we would suffer the death penalty for our own sins....

"My Time Has Come"

"Maybe my time has come to die," said the old man from his hospital bed.

"Yes, but are you ready to die?" I asked him. "Are you saved and ready to meet God?"

"That is a deep question," he replied slowly and thoughtfully. "I have always tried to do what was right, and I have never done anything really bad in my life."

"Then you don't have a chance in the world of going to heaven," I said.

He stared at me, and I could see he did not believe his ears, so I repeated it. "If you have never done anything wrong in your life, then you don't have a chance in the world of going to heaven. Jesus Himself said, 'I came not to call the righteous'; so if you are righteous, there is no hope for you; you cannot be saved. Jesus said He did not come to save good people" (see Luke 5:31,32).

The old man seemed to be absolutely dumbfounded. He looked as if he had been shot. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he said brokenly:

"Can it be that I have been wrong all my life? I have never in my life heard that before. I thought God saved good people."

"No, Jesus said plainly that he did not come to save righteous people, but sinners. So if you are not a sinner, you cannot be saved." After quoting a number of Scriptures to him, he saw that he was a sinner (Romans 3:23). He also was shown that Christ came to save sinners, and therefore to save him, if he repented of His sin before God and trusted Christ as His Saviour (Acts 20:21). Only the blood of Christ can cleanse from sin (1 John 1:7) and make one fit for God's presence.

How astonishing it is to see people who go through life hoping they are all right because they have never killed anyone or robbed a bank. Then they launch into eternity, to meet God in their sins, and find themselves shut out of heaven forever. Yes, this dear old man had joined some church and been baptized, he told me. He raised his family right, and did all he could to help other people. But he did not understand anything about God's wonderful salvation, which is entirely by grace and not of works (Ephesians 2:8,9). And now literally with one foot in the grave (for one of them had been amputated), and with the other one sliding on the brink, he evidently heard for the first time in his life that he could not save himself.

What about you? Are you a sinner? If not, there is no hope for you, for "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"—only sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). If you are depending on your good life, you will not be saved. When your time comes to leave this life, you will enter into judgment.

—C.D. Carter

http://www.mwtb.org/site/moments-for-you/back-issues/third-quarter-1996/my-time-has-come.html