Part II
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEART

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

WHY A CHRISTIAN PASSOVER?

GOD'S PROVISION         A KEY to  ANSWERED PRAYER ~ FORGIVENESS

GOD'S PROVISION TO BE SET FREE FROM THE PAST

GOD'S PROVISION   FOR PROSPERITY, SUCCESS & HEALING

LOVE, ACCEPTANCE,  FORGIVENESS

God has a plan for spreading the gospel and for reaching out to a lost and hurting world. His plan is for the five-fold ministry to prepare God's people for works of service. Therefore, the "ministry" will be multiplied as it is developed throughout the body of believers. 

"It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." [Ephesians 4:11-16 NIV]

The Spirit of God nudges us to grow up ~ and become mature in our love walk. As believers, we hunger after the Word as the newborn babe cries for milk. As we grow, our desire is to please the Father and we study the Word to learn what pleases Him. 

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of truth." [II Tim.2:15]

And so.....we study.

In a visit with my friend who is a bookstore owner, she shared her recent study of Psalm 51:17 ~ "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken an contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." She related that she had researched the meanings of the words contrite and heart in the Hebrew and was surprised to find:

Contrite: "Crushed to pieces, maimed, lame, not able to function."

Heart: "The center of something ~ feelings, will or intellect."

Hearing that pierced my own spirit. I have been trying to comprehend the fact that God is in control. Of everything. It is in knowing that, we are able to give Him thanks in everything; in our lives and those of our families and friends.

 When we look at Isaiah 53:10, we read, "It was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand."

God loves us so much, He was willing to sacrifice His own Son, to crush Him, if you will, because of the fruit that would come forth from that sacrificial act. That fruit is us...those who accept His sacrificial, vicarious act of love. He was ridiculed, mocked, spit upon, and beaten so violently He was unrecognizable.

The same word, crush, is used there [in the KJV] explaining that it pleased God to crush Him.

The Holy Spirit then led me from Scripture to Scripture concerning this subject.

Psalm 34:18 ~ "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Isaiah 66:2 ~ "......This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My Word."

He esteems us! He honors US!! Those who are broken and crushed. Now we are able to comfort those with the comfort with which we have been comforted. [II Cor.3:4] "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

He welcomes us into His suffering. We become one with Him ~ "joint-heirs" ~ when we share in His suffering.

Romans 8:17 ~ "Now if we are now children, then we are heirs ~ heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory."

Philippians 3:10 - "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings..."

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The crushing works a work in us. It brings us down from the lofty place we have chosen for ourselves and places us alongside Him, walking with Him in the crushing place of the potters wheel. The fire of purging. The humility of standing alone. The anguish of misunderstanding and rejection. The loneliness of pain and suffering. There we stand: alone in ourselves but embraced by the One Who loves us and gave Himself for us. As the old hymn states, "No! Never alone!" 

Isaiah 57:15~ "....I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite." The dwelling place of that Holy One of Israel is in the center of our crushing ~ the circumstance that brings us to the place of dysfunction: maimed, lame and broken into pieces. When we are there, we are in fellowship with Him in His suffering.

Galatians 2:20 - " I am crucified with Christ ~ I no longer live; but the life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me." 

The fragrance of roses comes forth from the crushing of its petals. Pastor said in the morning service, "Get ready for the fragrance of the Holy Spirit in our services."  I will add, as we embrace the suffering in our lives, the fragrance of Jesus' sweet Spirit will flow among us all. THE FRAGRANCE IS CALLED HUMILITY. 

When Jesus lifted the cup at Passover, the word for "fruit of the vine" in that place is translated "produce" and infers the crushing of the fruit in Jesus' strong hands as He said, "This is My Blood, poured out for you."

"There is no oil without squeezing the olives. 

No wine without pressing the grapes.           No fragrance without crushing the flowers.   

No real joy without sorrow."