Love of God; Mercy & Voice of Cross 
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WELCOME to the Feb - 2009 edition of the Shalomindia.com E-Info Service.
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The Holy
Spirit Giving Life
It is the Spirit who gives life . . . [God] also
made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant,
not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter
kills, but the Spirit gives life." (Joh_6:63 and
2Co_3:6)
The Lord's new covenant of grace is a covenant of
the Spirit: " [God] also made us sufficient as
ministers of the new covenant . . . of the Spirit."
Any approach to God other than by the Spirit results
in spiritual deadness.
People need life, initially and continually. We need
it initially, because all of us began spiritually
dead due to our sin and guilt. "And you . . . were
dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once
walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in
the lusts of our flesh . . . and were by nature
children of wrath" (Eph_2:1-3). The only remedy for
such spiritual death is spiritual life. "But God,
who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with
which He loved us, even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by
grace you have been saved)" (Eph_2:4-5).
People also need life continually, "for the letter
kills." If we were left to our best efforts after we
were given new life in Christ, we would be
struggling under a human performance bondage of
rules and regulations. That is spiritually
deadening.
Jesus came to earth to offer people fullness of
life. "I have come that they may have life, and that
they may have it more abundantly" (Joh_10:10). Jesus
taught that if we looked to Him for our spiritual
nutrition, we would find ongoing life. "And Jesus
said to them, 'I am the bread of life'" (Joh_6:35).
Jesus did not refer to Himself as a leader
establishing a new religion. Rather, "Jesus said to
him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life' "
(Joh_14:6). When the early disciples were freed from
prison, they were not told to recruit members to a
movement. Instead, they were instructed to "Go,
stand in the temple and speak to the people all the
words of this life" (Act_5:20).
The life Jesus came to provide is His life expressed
in and through us: "Christ who is our life"
(Col_3:4). That life produces a lifestyle marked by
His love, His joy, His peace, His wisdom, His
courage - - and whatever else is of His holy
character. The new covenant of His grace holds forth
this life, and the Holy Spirit delivers that life
into humble, trusting hearts. "It is the Spirit who
gives life."
Lord Jesus,You are my life. I have no other hope or
source for finding true life. I praise You for Your
patience with me when I try to produce a Christlike
life by rules and regulations. Lord, just as You
gave me life initially, please flood me now with new
measures of Your life, as I humbly rely upon Your
Spirit, Amen.
Hoekstra, E-sword.
Nah 1:3 The
Lord is slow to anger,....
He is not in haste to execute it; he takes time for
it, and gives men space for repentance. Nineveh had
had a proof of this when it repented at the
preaching of Jonah, upon which the Lord deferred the
execution of his wrath; but lest they should presume
upon this, and conclude the Lord would always bear
with them, though they had returned to their former
impieties; they are let to know, that this his
forbearance was not owing to want of power or will
in him to punish: since he is
great in power, and will not at all acquit the
wicked; he is able to execute the wrath he
threatens, and will by no means clear the guilty, or
let them go free and unpunished; though he moves
slowly, as he may seem in the execution of his
judgments, yet they shall surely be brought on his
enemies, and be fully accomplished:
the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the
storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet; he
spoke to Job out of the whirlwind; he descended on
Mount Sinai in a storm and tempest; and the clouds
are his chariots; in which he rides swiftly; and
which, for their appearance and number, are like the
dust raised by a multitude of horsemen riding full
speed, The wrath of God may be compared to a
whirlwind, and a storm, which is sometimes hastily
and suddenly executed upon men: respect seems to be
had to the armies of the Medes and Chaldeans against
the Assyrians; who, as the Babylonians against the
Jews, came up as clouds, and their chariots as the
whirlwind, Jer_4:13; and the figures beautifully
describe the numbers of them, the force with which
they came; and in an elegant manner represent the
vast quantity of dust raised by an army in full
march; at the head of which was the Lord himself,
ordering, directing, and succeeding, before whom
none can stand.
“His bow abode in strength, and the
arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.”
- Gen_49:24
That strength which God gives to his Josephs is real strength; it is not a
boasted valour, a fiction, a thing of which men talk, but which ends in
smoke; it is true-divine strength. Why does Joseph stand against temptation?
Because God gives him aid. There is nought that we can do without the power
of God. All true strength comes from “the mighty God of Jacob.” Notice in
what a blessedly familiar way God gives this strength to Joseph-”The arms of
his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.” Thus
God is represented as putting his hands on Joseph’s hands, placing his arms
on Joseph’s arms. Like as a father teaches his children, so the Lord teaches
them that fear him. He puts his arms upon them. Marvellous condescension!
God Almighty, Eternal, Omnipotent, stoops from his throne and lays his hand
upon the child’s hand, stretching his arm upon the arm of Joseph, that he
may be made strong! This strength was also covenant strength, for it is
ascribed to “the mighty God of Jacob.” Now, wherever you read of the God of
Jacob in the Bible, you should remember the covenant with Jacob. Christians
love to think of God’s covenant. All the power, all the grace, all the
blessings, all the mercies, all the comforts, all the things we have, flow
to us from the well-head, through the covenant. If there were no covenant,
then we should fail indeed; for all grace proceeds from it, as light and
heat from the sun. No angels ascend or descend, save upon that ladder which
Jacob saw, at the top of which stood a covenant God. Christian, it may be
that the archers have sorely grieved you, and shot at you, and wounded you,
but still your bow abides in strength; be sure, then, to ascribe all the
glory to Jacob’s God.
“But Jonah rose up to flee
unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to
Joppa.”
- Jon_1:3
Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade him,
Jonah disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape from it.
There are occasions when God’s servants shrink from duty. But what
is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his conduct? He lost the
presence and comfortable enjoyment of God’s love. When we serve our
Lord Jesus as believers should do, our God is with us; and though we
have the whole world against us, if we have God with us, what does
it matter? But the moment we start back, and seek our own
inventions, we are at sea without a pilot. Then may we bitterly
lament and groan out, “O my God, where hast thou gone? How could I
have been so foolish as to shun thy service, and in this way to lose
all the bright shinings of thy face? This is a price too high. Let
me return to my allegiance, that I may rejoice in thy presence.” In
the next place, Jonah lost all peace of mind. Sin soon destroys a
believer’s comfort. It is the poisonous upas tree, from whose leaves
distil deadly drops which destroy the life of joy and peace. Jonah
lost everything upon which he might have drawn for comfort in any
other case. He could not plead the promise of divine protection, for
he was not in God’s ways; he could not say, “Lord, I meet with these
difficulties in the discharge of my duty, therefore help me through
them.” He was reaping his own deeds; he was filled with his own
ways. Christian, do not play the Jonah, unless you wish to have all
the waves and the billows rolling over your head. You will find in
the long run that it is far harder to shun the work and will of God
than to at once yield yourself to it. Jonah lost his time, for he
had to go to Nineveh after all. It is hard to contend with God; let
us yield ourselves at once.
Spurgeon
Shalom India Prayer Cell
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