Loving the Scriptures

An anonymous Christian said one day “When I was filled with the Spirit, I loved the Scriptures so much that if I could have gotten more of the Word of God inside of me by eating it, I would have eaten the Book. I literally would have taken and eaten it—leather and everything—if I could have gotten more of the Book inside my heart.”

Well, you don’t get it by eating it, but the Word of God is sweet to the Spirit-filled person because the Spirit wrote the Scriptures. The spirit of the world does not appreciate the Scriptures—it is the Spirit of God who gives appreciation of the Scriptures. One little flash of the Holy Spirit will give you more inward, divine illumination on the meaning of the text than all the commentators that ever commented.

It 1727 the Moravians who were quiet people, like you and me, but they waited and prepared their hearts, and one morning, suddenly, that which they called “a sense of the living nearness of the Savior, instantaneously bestowed,” came upon them.

Now, when the Holy Spirit is allowed to come with particular intimacy in a human soul, He never talks about Himself, but always about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Count Zinzendorf wrote that the small group of 75 German Christians arose and went out that building so happy and joyful that they did not know whether they were on earth or had gone on to heaven. The historian says that, as a result of that experience, within twenty short years those Spirit-filled Moravian Christians did more for world missions than the entire Church in all of its parts had done in 200 years. It made missionaries of them.

The New Testament speaks of the sense of “wonder” among the early Christians. The Church in our day seems to have lost this. I remember that Dr. R.R. Brown, of Omaha, once said to me, “God is so good to me that it frightens (amaze) me!”[1]

[1] A. W. Tozer, The Counselor: Straight Talk About the Holy Spirit from a 20th Century Prophet (Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread, 1993), 149.

I’m Not Giving Up!

Last Monday, as I was talking on the phone with a friend in Windsor it was snowing. I ask him what the temperature down his way was; I truly didn’t like the answer, a sunny and a beautiful 18C. I taught of giving up the North and move down South. Many things in life can provoke us to give up! Maybe it is unemployment, financial loss, infidelity in marriage, death of a loved one, etc.

Centuries before Jesus Christ, the nation of Israel was in a terrible shape, the future didn’t look too bright. Soon the nation would go into captivity (bankrupt), the enemy was exulting with Israel downfall. Yet, God was not done with his people. God is in the business of encouraging those who trust in Him. God did come to his prophet Micah to reassure him. If your world seems to collapse, remember that God want’s to come to you and reassure you. Micah was so uplift that he wrote these delightful words, “But me, I’m not giving up. I’m sticking around to see what God will do. I’m waiting for God to make things right. I’m counting on God to listen to me (Micah 7:7)”.

Do you feel depres? Do you feel like giving up, out of touch? Please, don’t give up! Remember, God is an expert to turn around desperate situations. Nothing is too hard for Him! Remember that discouragement is the Devil’s best tool. When I get this tool into a man’s heart, the way is open to plant anything there I may desire.”

Don’t give up! Obey Jesus telling you“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11: 28)