The Holy One calls to me this morning. Out of the darkness of the morning hour, I hear Him call to me. The quiet is not disturbed by His call. It is something beyond human sounds within my ears that I hear.
The sense of His Presence is marked by a peace beyond words. While life and the challenges it presents, still move the clock and calendar, His Holy Presence brings security that all is ultimately well.
Today in our fellowship, the "call" becomes the focus. Our days here on earth are limited to say the least. We hoover between the two ends of life we know as birth and death. We have no control over the first and may have some, but very limited control, over the last marker of temporal life. For most of us, questions about eternity loom large once we accept our own inevitable mortality.
Life on earth can be very hectic. It seems that time is advancing so fast and knowledge is accelerating from a few very short years ago. Cyber space is now opened up like a Pandora's box and there is no going back in what we have discovered and harnessed for our convenience or to fuel our lusts. Like some sort of ethereal treadmill, we are being forced to run at the pace someone else as set.
God's Word "calls" to me, to read and search for answers to the questions that my inquiring mind longs to know. The Holy Spirit "calls" to me from out of the dark and confusing atmosphere to His counsel and with His help to interpret life here on earth.
The "call" of God has gone out from Heaven. The "call" of Holiness can be heard on earth. The "call" of the Creator must be answered by each one of those He created.
God's word in the book of Joel speaks of an end. The Prophet of God, quoting his source said, "God said, "In the last days I will pour our My Spirit on all people". This passage in Joel 2:28-32, was spoken to Israel before the 1st coming of the Lord and we see it again spoken to the Acts church, when Peter quoted Joel in Acts 2:17-21.
In that chapter, Peter was explaining the phenomena we know as "Pentecost"; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to those who witnessed but did not understand the supernatural yet visible manifestations of the third person of the Trinity.
As Peter quoted Joel, we can see that we are co-partners with the early church in that we are set to see the "wonders in the heavens above and on the earth below", as God's created universe awaits the return of Jesus, the Christ.
There has been talk of the days to come that might fulfill the prophecy spoken and whereby "The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood" before the great and glorious day of the Lord.
Joel's prophecy speaks of "the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord." Contrast that with with the last words in Malachi before the first coming of the Lord Jesus.
In Malachi 4: 5 scripture says, " See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and DREADFUL day the Lord comes. Jesus 2nd coming will be in Glory as is fitting for the return of our King.
Things too great for the limited human mind to fathom can be sorted out in our relationship with the Father made right by the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus, and because of the role of the Holy Spirit Counselor.
Joel first recorded the promise of God regarding the outpouring of the Spirit. Then, Jesus, in John 16, spoke of the coming and His sending of the Spirit. In the account of Pentecost we see that promise fulfilled.
Simply speaking, since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been here and operating within the heart of every saved person. Whether you embrace the supernatural manifestations of his Presence or remain in a place of more "flesh" control of His rule and authority, He has invaded this realm and is operational today. It is His Presence within that gives us ears to hear and a heart to understand what He is speaking and the ability to answer His call.
Before we decide to embrace Jesus as our Savior and also our Lord, the Holy Spirit calls from without. All those interesting and powerful circumstances we might think are coincidental are a well planned orchestration of the opportunity to come to Jesus and enter into a personal relationship with the Savior of mankind.
Once we venture to the Cross, confess our sins against the Holy One Who created us, and accept the crucifixion of Christ as a personal atonement for our personal guilt, at that moment we become one with God. The Holy Spirit, upon our invitation, invades our now clean heart and takes up residency within. At that moment in our life, we become the eternal beings we were designed to be.
The death sentence of permanent isolation from the source of all life has been paid and we walk free, able to be in a relationally eternally peaceful and productive life with our eternal Savior and King.
Today the Holy One speaks to me about the last verse of the Joel prophecy as recorded in Acts. As the signs and wonders unfold, and nature offers visible proofs of strange phenomena, Acts 2:21 says, "and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved".
The word "calls" has my attention and I seek to understand truth. For so many people, the question of eternal destiny rides on what that might mean.
If we think that word is a "call" like that of a person in a free fall after leaping off a 10 story building, crying out for someone to snatch him and save him from the doom of his landing, that is one thing. But if it means a deep and conscious call to the trusted One in faith believing, that is another "call" all together.
Today the Holy One is calling us, whether to come to the Cross for Salvation or to engage Him in fellowship as a trusted Counselor within. With the conditions of the world indicating an expiration date, not too far away, the "call" of the Holy Spirit is an important one to answer.
If the horn were to blow at midnight, signally the end of life as we know it, would you be among the ones who would call on the Name of the Lord and be saved?
I do not know the entire scope of this verse. Much is to be understood after the day of the Lord comes to man and the dust settles around the survivors. But the one thing I do know is that my own desperate need for the Lord is in each and every day of my existence, temporal and eternal.
Each one of us needs to read and interpret, by the One who brings truth to our inner being, what is meant by the prophecy twice repeated, and assess where we will be standing on that great and glorious day.
Isaiah 55:6, "Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call on him while He is near"
The Spirit IS calling. Can you hear Him?
The sense of His Presence is marked by a peace beyond words. While life and the challenges it presents, still move the clock and calendar, His Holy Presence brings security that all is ultimately well.
Today in our fellowship, the "call" becomes the focus. Our days here on earth are limited to say the least. We hoover between the two ends of life we know as birth and death. We have no control over the first and may have some, but very limited control, over the last marker of temporal life. For most of us, questions about eternity loom large once we accept our own inevitable mortality.
Life on earth can be very hectic. It seems that time is advancing so fast and knowledge is accelerating from a few very short years ago. Cyber space is now opened up like a Pandora's box and there is no going back in what we have discovered and harnessed for our convenience or to fuel our lusts. Like some sort of ethereal treadmill, we are being forced to run at the pace someone else as set.
God's Word "calls" to me, to read and search for answers to the questions that my inquiring mind longs to know. The Holy Spirit "calls" to me from out of the dark and confusing atmosphere to His counsel and with His help to interpret life here on earth.
The "call" of God has gone out from Heaven. The "call" of Holiness can be heard on earth. The "call" of the Creator must be answered by each one of those He created.
God's word in the book of Joel speaks of an end. The Prophet of God, quoting his source said, "God said, "In the last days I will pour our My Spirit on all people". This passage in Joel 2:28-32, was spoken to Israel before the 1st coming of the Lord and we see it again spoken to the Acts church, when Peter quoted Joel in Acts 2:17-21.
In that chapter, Peter was explaining the phenomena we know as "Pentecost"; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to those who witnessed but did not understand the supernatural yet visible manifestations of the third person of the Trinity.
As Peter quoted Joel, we can see that we are co-partners with the early church in that we are set to see the "wonders in the heavens above and on the earth below", as God's created universe awaits the return of Jesus, the Christ.
There has been talk of the days to come that might fulfill the prophecy spoken and whereby "The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood" before the great and glorious day of the Lord.
Joel's prophecy speaks of "the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord." Contrast that with with the last words in Malachi before the first coming of the Lord Jesus.
In Malachi 4: 5 scripture says, " See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and DREADFUL day the Lord comes. Jesus 2nd coming will be in Glory as is fitting for the return of our King.
Things too great for the limited human mind to fathom can be sorted out in our relationship with the Father made right by the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus, and because of the role of the Holy Spirit Counselor.
Joel first recorded the promise of God regarding the outpouring of the Spirit. Then, Jesus, in John 16, spoke of the coming and His sending of the Spirit. In the account of Pentecost we see that promise fulfilled.
Simply speaking, since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been here and operating within the heart of every saved person. Whether you embrace the supernatural manifestations of his Presence or remain in a place of more "flesh" control of His rule and authority, He has invaded this realm and is operational today. It is His Presence within that gives us ears to hear and a heart to understand what He is speaking and the ability to answer His call.
Before we decide to embrace Jesus as our Savior and also our Lord, the Holy Spirit calls from without. All those interesting and powerful circumstances we might think are coincidental are a well planned orchestration of the opportunity to come to Jesus and enter into a personal relationship with the Savior of mankind.
Once we venture to the Cross, confess our sins against the Holy One Who created us, and accept the crucifixion of Christ as a personal atonement for our personal guilt, at that moment we become one with God. The Holy Spirit, upon our invitation, invades our now clean heart and takes up residency within. At that moment in our life, we become the eternal beings we were designed to be.
The death sentence of permanent isolation from the source of all life has been paid and we walk free, able to be in a relationally eternally peaceful and productive life with our eternal Savior and King.
Today the Holy One speaks to me about the last verse of the Joel prophecy as recorded in Acts. As the signs and wonders unfold, and nature offers visible proofs of strange phenomena, Acts 2:21 says, "and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved".
The word "calls" has my attention and I seek to understand truth. For so many people, the question of eternal destiny rides on what that might mean.
If we think that word is a "call" like that of a person in a free fall after leaping off a 10 story building, crying out for someone to snatch him and save him from the doom of his landing, that is one thing. But if it means a deep and conscious call to the trusted One in faith believing, that is another "call" all together.
Today the Holy One is calling us, whether to come to the Cross for Salvation or to engage Him in fellowship as a trusted Counselor within. With the conditions of the world indicating an expiration date, not too far away, the "call" of the Holy Spirit is an important one to answer.
If the horn were to blow at midnight, signally the end of life as we know it, would you be among the ones who would call on the Name of the Lord and be saved?
I do not know the entire scope of this verse. Much is to be understood after the day of the Lord comes to man and the dust settles around the survivors. But the one thing I do know is that my own desperate need for the Lord is in each and every day of my existence, temporal and eternal.
Each one of us needs to read and interpret, by the One who brings truth to our inner being, what is meant by the prophecy twice repeated, and assess where we will be standing on that great and glorious day.
Isaiah 55:6, "Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call on him while He is near"
The Spirit IS calling. Can you hear Him?
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