Holy Spirit

Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty;

Righteous and true are Your ways,

King of the nations” (Revelation 15:3).

Have you ever received a call from a loved one or friend and been told, “I just prayed to receive Christ”? I recall one particular time when this happened to me. Tears of joy rolled down my cheeks.

Today, I appeal to you to consider that God gave John a glimpse of heaven so he could tell us that it’s real; so each one of us can respond to God’s gift of salvation. The best visual I know to explain how we will one day be raised following our death is to consider a bulb such as a tulip. The bulb looks dead. Human hands bury it in the ground. But, God created life within the bulb and it rises to a new life in a changed form.

Every person will die. But, our burial doesn’t mean we will no longer live. God created us with a soul that lives after the body dies. Every soul goes before God.

In Revelation in a scene in heaven, God lets us know that He is the King of the nations; putting to end the belief that it doesn’t matter who you worship as long as you worship something/someone. It does matter. It matters for your soul.

The soul of the person who rejected God’s gift of salvation through Jesus will appear before God; just as the soul of the person who received God’s gift of salvation will appear before Him. God will honor each person’s response to His gift of salvation. The soul who rejected His gift of life with Him will live eternally apart from Him. The soul of the person who by faith received God’s gift of forgiveness through Jesus will live eternally with Him. And, if anyone thinks they’ll get a second chance after they die, the Bible clearly explains that is not true.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son; that whoever believes in Him will not die, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

“Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed” (Romans 10:11).

“WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED” (Romans 10:13).

If you’ve never repented of your sins and called on the name of Jesus for forgiveness, would you now?

Lord, God, KING OF THE NATIONS, I call on You to save me. I know I’ve sinned. I ask You to forgive me through Jesus’s death on the cross on my behalf. Heavenly Father, please send Your Holy Spirit into my soul and cleanse me. Take away my sins and seal me for eternity with You in heaven. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.  

If you prayed this prayer, God cleaned your soul of your sins and sent His Holy Spirit into it. You can now begin to know your Heavenly Father in a new and special way. You’ll discover that Jesus is God, but also your friend. And, the Holy Spirit is your helper. I want to help you grow in your understanding. Email or call me. I’ll send you my Bible study, Discovering His Passion. Subscribe to this free daily post so you can grow in your understanding of who God is. I’m happy and excited for you. Yes, my eyes are filled with tears of joy for you.

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will he not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32

“…He Himself BORE OUR SINS in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

 1 Peter 2:24

We speak of Christ as Savior who bore our sins. But has the “so that” in 1 Peter 2:24 sunk into our hearts and minds? Jesus suffered  “so that.”  So what?  “So that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Today 9-12 CST, I’m teaching “LISTEN UP! When the Spirit Speaks.” If you live in the Texas hill country, please come! If you don’t, you can WATCH via free LIVE STREAMING*. Join me and take away keys to discerning God’s voice; “so that” we live to righteousness in gratefulness to our Lord.

Thank You, Jesus, for BEARING OUR SIN IN YOUR BODY ON THE CROSS.  We’re so grateful that with our salvation You’ve given us the Holy Spirit so that we’re empowered to live to righteousness. Bless EACH who seeks to better discern Your voice.

*The LIVE STREAMING of the conference will be live at 9 am CST.

Good morning friends,

I’m posting both here and on http://www.yougogirlforgod.blogspot.com/ this morning. Let me know if you like having separate blogs; this one that focuses on prayer, journaling, and God’s attributes and the other for a variety of topics. OR…if you like all my posts on one blog. Also, pass the word that my blog(s) are back up. Forward them. I missed you during the months it was down and want us to get back in touch with other.

This morning in Isaiah 32, God stirred my heart to recognize yet another divine attribute that is not listed in my 200 Names, Attributes, and Titles of God. I’ve referred to this booklet numerous times and it’s just that; a listing of God’s attributes, the Scripture references, and a box to check or date when you’ve looked up and prayed each. The exciting thing is, it started out as 175 Names, Attributes, and Titles. It then went to 200. However, God keeps showing me more ways He’s revealed in Scripture so I keep adding to the list. The next publication will be 225. If you want a copy, let my Administrator, Cynthia, know. Her email is hcm@hillcountryministries.org or you can order online.

The name you need to add to your booklet today if you already have a copy? Baptizer. That’s right. It’s not in there. Most of the time, when we think of someone in the Bible who baptized, we think of “John the Baptist.” That’s what he’s called in Matthew 3:1. However, in my study this morning of Isaiah 32, my eyes fell on verses 13-17 and my heart was quickened to both Christ the Baptizer and the need for Him to pour out His Spirit on our spiritually dry nation. Read the following with me.

“For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up; Yea, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city. Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks; Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field, And the fertile field is considered a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness And righteousness will abide in the fertile field. And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.”

Friends, Isaiah is talking about the millennial blessings of the Spirit in these verses. However, the application is all too true for today. Our land is dry. Where I live, in Texas, the earth is literally scorched. We pray daily for rain. In Sunday School, our class prays weekly for rain. We look heavenward at the sky every day to see if rain clouds might be forming. Yet, are we as hungry for the heavens to pour forth the Spirit as we are the heavens to pour forth rain?

Think with me for a moment. We are dry. Little spiritual fruit is born from weekly church goers. What our nation needs is spiritual revival. What we don’t need is man made emotion. We need Jesus Christ to pour forth His Spirit in a mighty way upon our land. He is the only One who can do it. HE is the BAPTIZER. In John 1:33 John the Baptist explains, “I did not recognize Him (Jesus), but He (God) who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

John the Baptist, who baptized with water, explained that the Son of God would be the One to baptize people not with water, but with the Holy Spirit. Jesus affirmed this repeatedly throughout His ministry. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water,” John 7:37-38. Jesus doesn’t baptize us on the outside. He baptizes us on the inside with the Living Water of His Holy Spirit. See also, John 14:15-17. In Romans 5:5, Paul reaffirms and explains that what happened at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit, was not just for a select few. It is for all who believe in Jesus Christ. “…the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Note the “poured out” and “within” us.

Friends, we need revival. If the Holy Spirit who is in us was not grieved (Eph 4:30) and quenched, (1 Thes 5:19) there would be a mighty rushing of His power in and through each of us. Our nation would be flooded with righteousness and truth. The problem in our nation is not that there aren’t Christians. The problem is that there aren’t Spirit filled Christians. Oh, that we would look on our own hearts and see ourselves as parched. Oh, that we would look on our limbs and confess there is only shriveled, spiritual fruit, if any. Oh, that we would look at the heavens and pray not just for rain for our parched earth, but for the Spirit to rouse Himself and bring forth a mighty flood to clean the debris from our lives. Only when we who have been saved and baptized by Christ confess our sins and are filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) will we look heavenward and our hearts beat wildly for spiritual revival in our land.

Will you join me in prayer?
Debbie