2015.02.08_Be Blessed in the Holy Spirit

Seek Happiness in the Spirit

God is our Father. This does not mean we deny our fleshly fathers. We should honor and serve our fleshly fathers well. Piety towards our fleshly fathers is a copy and shadow of us serving God through faith. It is very unlikely that a person who does not serve his parents whom he sees, to serve God whom He cannot see. God is the Father of our spirit.

Man has a spirit. A Christian’s life of faith is about pursuing the good of the spirit. However, many Christians fail to differentiate between spiritual joy and emotional joy. We have buried our old self through baptism and have become born again through the Holy Spirit. To be born again means to be born from Heaven. The reason we can call God as our Father is because we have become born again through the Holy Spirit who proceeds from God the Father.

Unless we serve God through the Holy Spirit, we will serve Him with our emotions. A faith based on emotions can easily fall into mysticism, which is not so different from superstition. A great number of people today, who have received the Holy Spirit and experienced speaking in tongues, are still leading their faith life by their emotions. If they are emotionally feeling happy, they are active and fervent in the church. Then, if their feelings get hurt or offended, they start to dislike the pastor and even leave the church. Despite claiming to live a life of faith, they are in fact neglecting their spirit and acting according to their feelings.

Just how successful and wealthy the flesh becomes on the earth cannot be a measure that determines one’s faith. Even a non-believer can achieve his desired goal if he diligently works hard. The purpose of God giving us faith is to save our spirits, not for us to enjoy material wealth on the earth. Jesus clearly said, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” (Luke 12:14).

In Jesus Christ, we have become children of God. The Holy Spirit testifies to this. Romans 8:16-17 says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” It is by the Holy Spirit that our spirits call God, “Abba, Father” and serve Him.

The flesh is like a clay jar that holds the spirit. It is utterly weak and breaks easily, but the spirit within it exists forever. That is why the spirit should not follow the flesh. Yet some people entrust their spirit to their fleshly emotions. It is not surprising that such people fall into temptation, leave the church, or even become enemies of Jesus. Romans 8:7-8 says, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Faith life is a spiritual life. God sent the Holy Spirit to help our spirits, not our flesh. The plans and works of the flesh can succeed even without the help of the Holy Spirit. But what use is the success of the flesh if the spirit fails? We first need to consider the benefit of our spirit before the flesh. No matter how much wealth the flesh has, eventually they will all disappear. On the other hand, the treasures stored up in Heaven will never disappear.

Has not Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:19-21)? This is not a lie. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit when He enters Heaven, and indeed the Holy Spirit has come within us. And just He said that when the Holy Spirit comes, we would speak in tongues and cast out demons, we are doing exactly that. God has and will never deceive us.

Emotions constantly change depending on the circumstances of the flesh. We should not be swayed by our emotions and fall into temptation. Some people fall into temptation being unable to overcome their emotions. They start to resent the pastor and eventually abandon the duty which the Lord commissioned them and leave the church. This is a very foolish thing to do. For a person to abandon the truth because he failed to resist the temptation of moment’s emotion is an ungrateful thing to do, especially if he has come to understand the Picture of God’s Will.

Follow the Holy Spirit, Not the Flesh

We can clearly understand what a life led by the Holy Spirit is like by looking at the life of Jesus. Jesus was conceived through the Holy Spirit, led His public ministry by the Holy Spirit, died and resurrected through the Holy Spirit. And yet He said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt 8:20). He had done nothing evil and yet He was persecuted, despised and rejected wherever He went. In the end, He was taken by the people, struck in the face and flogged, and finally crucified like a sinner. He did not even have His own tomb and had to be buried in somebody else’s. People are quick to say, “I will follow after Jesus,” but they would not be able to say so easily if they had really known exactly what His life was like.

Many people say that they want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, yet their hearts are only longing for prosperity in their flesh such as growing their business, getting a successful deal in a contract, and so on. And when these matters of the flesh do not go as planned, they quickly fall into temptation and fall away spiritually. There is probably no one who feels happy in their flesh while following the path that Jesus has taken. Who wants be persecuted and rejected, only to be put to death in the end?

Nevertheless, Jesus said that anyone who has received the Holy Spirit must follow the way that Jesus has gone. He said, “In My Father’s house are many rooms. I will go and prepare a place for you there, and return to take you to be with Me. I am the way” (Jn 14:1-6). For those who are led by the Holy Spirit, the help of the Holy Spirit is imperative. This is because the life of someone following after the way of Jesus has nothing that would please the flesh.

As one follows on the path that the Holy Spirit leads, his business may not do so well as before. In some cases, the person may have to quit that line of work and do something he never expected doing. Though our past doings might have been good for our flesh and pleasing to our emotions, we must be led by the Holy Spirit for the sake of our spirit. Jesus exhorted us not to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, nor disobey, grieve and extinguish His fire, warning us that we would not be forgiven in this age or in the age to come (Matt 12:31-32). Thus whoever wants to be led by the Holy Spirit must carry his own cross. In other words, he first has to receive the command to die from the Lord.

The wind cannot be seen, where it comes from and where it is going. Yet the wind clearly blows. Similarly, we cannot see the Holy Spirit but His working continues on (Jn 3:8). Hence, we should not blaspheme, disobey, grieve or put out the fire of the Holy Spirit. We must not bring harm to our spirit by following our fleshly emotions and neglecting the Holy Spirit’s instruction.

Await the Lord’s Second Coming

Our life should be about waiting for the Lord’s second coming. Jesus said, “Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in one bed: one will be taken and the other will be left” (Matt 24:40-21, Luke 17:34). In other words, nobody knows when the Lord’s second coming will be, whether it will be night or day. Thus we must always prepare and be ready for the Lord’s return.

The Scriptures begin with the verse, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1) and ends with, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20). Whoever has come to know that God is the Creator and understand what He does should yearn for the second coming of Jesus. And he must be prepared and ready to follow Him the moment He returns.

A certain person yielded a great harvest so that he built bigger barns to store his goods and was pleased. Then he said to himself, “O my soul, be happy!” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” (Luke 12:20). No matter how much wealth a person acquires on the earth, all of his pursuits and endeavors will come to nothing when his flesh dies.

“Whose will those things be?” This is a question God is giving to all the souls who are in Christ. The Lord speaks to us, “I say to all the souls in Christ! The moment I return in the air, you will have to depart the flesh you’ve been using until now. Then what happens to all the things you did for your flesh? Whoever has done nothing for his spirit will not receive anything in Heaven.”

Nobody knows whether the Lord will return tonight or tomorrow morning. But when He does return, our spirits will have to leave the flesh. And we need to be prepared to for that day. The Lord called those who were not prepared and ready as foolish, and said, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).

Be Blessed in the Holy Spirit

God has given us the Holy Spirit and made our spirits born again. Just as Jesus was called the Son of God through the Holy Spirit, God wants us to be called His children through the Holy Spirit. We have received the Holy Spirit. So now as God’s children, we must bless our spirits to be happy through the Holy Spirit.

We cannot succeed in our faith life through our emotions. Superstitious people and mystics follow their emotions, but Christians follow the promise of God. The love God has given us is so great that the demons tremble in fear before it, and even the Holy Spirit yearns jealously of that love (Jam 4:5). The important matter is just how much we ourselves acknowledge this.

To worship God means to see God’s face. What would happen if the spirits that are seeing God’s face are not happy? Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn 4:24). For anyone that goes before God and worships Him, his spirit should always be happy through the Holy Spirit and the truth.

Even when we pray, we must not only cling to the Lord for the matters of our flesh only, but seek the happiness of our spirit. It is utterly shameful if the desires and requests of a saint born again of the Holy Spirit are no different to the unbelievers in the world who know nothing but their flesh. Instead of yearning for what to eat, drink, or wear on the earth, we must seek the happiness of our own spirit.

In our service, our spirits must do so by the Holy Spirit. The reason people grow weary and despondent easily in giving service is that they consider their flesh as the principle agent doing the service. People who serve by their emotions are easily influenced by other people so that they think, “Why do I have to stay behind and serve when others have all gone?” Such people eventually bring about a huge loss to their own spirit.

We need to make our spirits happy through the Holy Spirit. The Lord is coming soon, and on that day our spirits will be transformed in a flash and meet the Lord in the air. By being baptized in Jesus’ name, we have already buried our old selves. Now our spirits should be thankful to God the Father and serve Him through the church. The church is a house of prayer for all nations (Isa 56:7). In this place, what we need to ask for is the happiness of our spirit, not the flesh. We must make our spirits blessed and happy in the Holy Spirit through our lives and service in the church.