(By Derrick)
Here are three points the Holy Spirit revealed specifically for the Body of Christ as we were preparing for 2015 New Year Church Service. Read: Hebrews 3:12-14
1. Believe in His Promises & Act
“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God”.
The Holy Spirit here is encouraging us to believe in the promises of God and the Scripture, for God and his Word are one. In Luke 9:37-41, the disciples are confronted with a man whose son was demon possessed. The man requests Jesus’ disciples to set his son free. The disciples however were unable to do so. And Jesus says to them, “Oh unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you?” He then rebukes the demon and gives the boy back to his father completely healed. It sounds like Jesus is waiting on us to draw on His power and execute His will on earth (Matthew 28:18, Luke 10:19, Mark 16:17-18).
We are living in a time of an explosion of knowledge and literally every day there is a new invention or gadget being discovered in the physical realm. However, the spiritual realm is still seeing dew drops of isolated discoveries and revelation. The church prays and cries out to God to act while God seeks out a person who is ready to believe his Word and act on his promise(s). Help us Lord overcome our UNBELIEF (Mark 9:23-24)
– We are sinning and turning away from the living God when we place our faith in worldly advice/counsel and fail to believe God promises that he died to give us (1 Samuel 15:29).
– We must start meditating on the Word and become doers rather than hearers (James 1:22-25)
– It’s time to revive the fire within us and pursue the things that God has called us in Christ Jesus to accomplish (Ephesians 2:10). It could be in the area of finances, healing, marriage, ministry, praying for your unsaved family members, business etc. Do not give up, but let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess, for He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23)
2. Encourage one another
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
The Holy Spirit here cautions each one of us to edify, encourage and build one another so that we all grow into maturity in Christ Jesus. Galatians 6:2 says “Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”.
We all will certainly agree how our walk with the lord helped us overcome pitfalls, brought healing and deliverance from sinful habits, restored relationships, etc. However, the Lord is asking each one of us to use our testimonies to save and encourage others from falling astray in unbelief in similar areas. The Lord stresses on the word “Today”, as no one has seen tomorrow. He wants us to boldly encourage one another to stay away from the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1).
I recollect the example of King David who was enjoying an evening walk on his terrace and engaged himself in looking at something that was not his to begin with. This little encounter turned into coveting, adultery, lies, cover up, deceit and finally murder! How’s that for the deceitfulness of Sin? God finally had to send Nathan the prophet to rebuke David who then encouraged him that God had taken away his sin. As we know there were consequences that followed David’s actions, therefore all the more we must be careful not to be deceived into disobeying God’s Word which causes are hearts to become hardened.
1 Corinthians 10:11 says : These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us…
3. Return to the first love
We have come to share in Christ, if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first
Finally, the Holy Spirit is asking each one of us to return to our first love (Revelation 2:4-5). This is a wake up call for both young and old alike who believe they have finished their race; the Lord is urging us to be on fire and burn with the same zeal and love we had when we first gave our lives to the Lord.
There are many people asking how do I get on fire for the Lord? How do i rekindle my relationship with the Lord? The answer is very simple, stop doing what you are doing and return back to doing the things when you first got turned to the Lord.
He says in Proverbs 1:23 “If you had responded to my rebuke. I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you”.
The Lord’s prayer for His bride this year is that they explode into revival i.e.“Labor (i.e. seeking and believing God’s promises) to enter His Rest (i.e. the finished work of Christ)” (Hebrews 4:11).
Wish you a blessed and Victorious 2015 in Christ Jesus our Lord!