Now, by the title, this may seem very much like the silly question. Like, of course Marisa! Isn’t the question a very obvious one? Well, it may seem silly, but I still ask it anyway. ‘O, why do you ask?’ one may ask. Well, let’s just say I like to ask silly questions until I realize they are not that silly after all. I go on exploring...
So, back to my question, is God being God? How will I know God is indeed ‘God’-ing? How will I know that God is being who says He is?
Wait! First of all...What did God even say about Himself? How did He identify Himself? I am curious to learn. I come back with His response.
I read from the book of Exodus Chapter three:
13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.
The Father makes it quite clear His definition and name that He shares with Moses for all generations to know and learn about Him.
For when God speaks, He speaks from His eternal seat. He speaks for all time, throughout all of history. This temporal manner correlates and falls in sync with the title ‘I AM’. Not WAS, nor WILL BE, but AM. He continually speaks in the present tense. He sheds perspective to let man know that though man thinks with his temporal sight, God’s mind and heart is set on eternity.
I can extrapolate, then, how the Father speaks in relation to time and how differently man may receive the Father’s response when man places His response in this box called time. The Father thinks eternally. Man thinks temporally. This is one way how man’s way of thinking begins to deviate and fall out of line from the Father’s way of thinking. I sticky note this point.
Now, I have noticed that the Father goes on to personally introduce Himself by Name. I re-read verse fifteen.
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’...
The Father is very specific when He considers naming. But now, I have yet another silly question. Why! I still don’t understand the meaning of a word when the word itself is used in its very definition. The word ‘God’ stands out to me from His definition. Yet, from His definition, I still have not yet grasped what God truly means to be Himself. I need more information.
I go back up one verse to receive more information.
I read.
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
God Himself leaves a sign. Not only this, but He characterizes Himself. He says ‘I will be with you’. Just these five words alone highlight how close God can get to His creation. He chooses to be near His very own. This verse speaks to his personable and much faithful character.
Now, going back to the sign. Yes... God has left a sign! God leaves a sign of deliverance. But then... I think to myself... if one speaks of deliverance, I automatically jump to thinking that there first must have been the condition of captivity. One can only become freed on the condition that he is first captured.
This leads me to think that God’s nature not only speaks to Himself, but His very own may also become identified, even through His Name. If God delivers what is captured, then, it must mean that His own are usually in that state of captivity without Him. The Father makes His relationship known to His children, and without Him, they are just not free.
Now, I rearrange this sentence. God’s children are only free in God’s presence. For the Father to truly hold His place, His children must be somehow bonded to and be in line with His presence.
Let me put this differently. In order for the teacher to be the teacher, he needs students... The students help add to the definition of the teacher. Inasmuch as the students are only students in the presence of the teacher. The definition therefore runs a very relational course.
God forms a Covenant, as He works to keep a very close and personal relationship with His very own.
For in truth, is there a nation as great as ours, whose gods are as near to it as Yahweh, our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him? (Deuteronomy 4:7)
So... so far, what have I learnt about God being God?
Well.. I have noted that He
Is Relational (Covenant Maker and Keeper)
Is Near to his children
Is ever present
Delivers
So, this is what I am learning. I am very sure, there is so much more to say about His Name. But for now, I am satisfied with what I have learnt so far about Him.
The path now, that I truly wish to explore is the relational bit. This pathway intrigues me for the moment. I go on to further explore...
I first study how the Father went on to first deliver His children out of Egypt, as He mentioned in verse twelve from the book of Exodus Chapter three.
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
I dig into the above verse a little further. How did He actually deliver His children out of the land of Egypt?
I read from the book of Wisdom Chapter ten:
15 It was Wisdom who delivered a holy people, a blameless race, from a nation of oppressors.
16 She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord, and withstood fearsome kings with wonders and signs.
17 To the holy people she gave the wages of their labour; she guided them by a marvellous road, herself their shelter by day- and their starlight through the night.
18. She brought them across the Red Sea, leading them through an immensity of water
From the above verses, I spot a ‘She’. So, who is ‘She’. She identifies Herself as Wisdom.
I go back round this question. How did God actually deliver His children out of the land of Egypt? Directionally, how did He physically lead them out? How they did know which way to go?
I read from the book of Exodus Chapter thirteen:
21 By day Yahweh went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, enabling them to travel day and night.
So, now I spot superimposition. I see Exodus 13:21 being superimposed on Wisdom 10: 17.
So, who is actually present when God is present? It must be His Spirit. It is God’s Spirit physically doing the work for Him. When the waters parted, this is evidence of God’s Spirit at work. This is God’s Wisdom at work. The Father speaks, Wisdom does. The Father’s works are completed through His Spirit. There is, therefore, a need for evidence of the Spirit.
So, now I go in search for evidence of God’s Spirit.
Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert that He be put to the test by the devil. (Matthew 4: 1)
Jesus was now full of Holy Spirit. As He returned from the Jordan, the Spirit led Him into the desert (Luke 4: 1)
Jesus acted with the power of the Spirit, and on his return to Galilee the news about Him spread throughout all that territory. (Luke 4: 14)
God inspired in me the idea to assemble the leaders, the counsellors, and the people to take a census... (Nehemiah 7: 5)
Then I arose in the night, accompanied by a few men, without telling anyone what my God had inspired me and what I planned to do in Jerusalem... (Nehemiah 2: 12)
The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew and Yahweh blessed him. Then the Spirit of Yahweh began to move him when he was in Mahane Dane between Zorah and Eshtaol. (Judges 13: 24,25)
His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) (Judges 14: 3,4)
It is clear. God’s Spirit functions as the unseen force that inevitably commits to God’s Word. God’s Holy Spirit is the sole contributor to completing all that God has commanded. God’s presence, therefore, is in His Spirit. God’s Spirit contributes to the living works of the Father. For God IS living. That is to say, that all works that are living come from the Father and work through the Holy Spirit. I pin this thought for the while.
Now I am curious. I bring back to memory the words taken from the book of Genesis.
I read from the book of Genesis Chapter two:
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
I continue reading. I read from Chapter three:
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
So, Adam pretty much was given something similar to a death sentence; with death being the absence of God’s Spirit or Word, when man disobeyed God. This seems to me to be man’s first walk into captivity.
Indeed, God’s Spirit did not dwell with man for very long, since man’s conception, for the fruit of sin was deeply buried within the heart of men.
Yahweh then said, “My spirit will not remain in man forever, for he is flesh. His span of life will be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6: 3)
So, now I ask myself, what were some of the privileges that man lost since being out of sync with God’s Word? What were the privileges taken from man that cut him off from the Father?
I go on to read from the book of Genesis Chapter three:
16 To the woman, God said, “I will increase your suffering in childbearing, and you will give birth to your children in pain. You will be dependent on your husband and he will lord it over you.”
17 To the man, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I forbade you to eat, cursed be the soil because of you! In suffering you will provide food for yourself from it, all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorn and thistle for you and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 With sweat on your face you will eat your bread, until you return to clay, since it was clay that you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
So here, I recapitulate a list of what was entailed in man’s death sentence:
_painful childbearing
_dependency on the land (with man’s independence from God)
_hard labour
_physical death
This list also highlights the privileges that man surely was missing in God’s absence. Man was no longer able to live without eating physical food. Man was given a short box of time through which he could live. Man endured much pain through childbearing, making it a somewhat less pleasurable task while in the act. But most of all, man was missing His God.
It seemed as though, with God, man hardly had any work to do. God was doing all the work for Him. But ever since man chose independence over full dependency on God, man gave away his right of freedom. For man, God was man’s freedom and still is up today.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8: 36)
So, now I go into deeper reflection as I carefully place my attention on God’s Spirit.
So, back to my question, is God being God? How will I know God is indeed ‘God’-ing? How will I know that God is being who says He is?
Wait! First of all...What did God even say about Himself? How did He identify Himself? I am curious to learn. I come back with His response.
I read from the book of Exodus Chapter three:
13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.
The Father makes it quite clear His definition and name that He shares with Moses for all generations to know and learn about Him.
For when God speaks, He speaks from His eternal seat. He speaks for all time, throughout all of history. This temporal manner correlates and falls in sync with the title ‘I AM’. Not WAS, nor WILL BE, but AM. He continually speaks in the present tense. He sheds perspective to let man know that though man thinks with his temporal sight, God’s mind and heart is set on eternity.
I can extrapolate, then, how the Father speaks in relation to time and how differently man may receive the Father’s response when man places His response in this box called time. The Father thinks eternally. Man thinks temporally. This is one way how man’s way of thinking begins to deviate and fall out of line from the Father’s way of thinking. I sticky note this point.
Now, I have noticed that the Father goes on to personally introduce Himself by Name. I re-read verse fifteen.
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’...
The Father is very specific when He considers naming. But now, I have yet another silly question. Why! I still don’t understand the meaning of a word when the word itself is used in its very definition. The word ‘God’ stands out to me from His definition. Yet, from His definition, I still have not yet grasped what God truly means to be Himself. I need more information.
I go back up one verse to receive more information.
I read.
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
God Himself leaves a sign. Not only this, but He characterizes Himself. He says ‘I will be with you’. Just these five words alone highlight how close God can get to His creation. He chooses to be near His very own. This verse speaks to his personable and much faithful character.
Now, going back to the sign. Yes... God has left a sign! God leaves a sign of deliverance. But then... I think to myself... if one speaks of deliverance, I automatically jump to thinking that there first must have been the condition of captivity. One can only become freed on the condition that he is first captured.
This leads me to think that God’s nature not only speaks to Himself, but His very own may also become identified, even through His Name. If God delivers what is captured, then, it must mean that His own are usually in that state of captivity without Him. The Father makes His relationship known to His children, and without Him, they are just not free.
Now, I rearrange this sentence. God’s children are only free in God’s presence. For the Father to truly hold His place, His children must be somehow bonded to and be in line with His presence.
Let me put this differently. In order for the teacher to be the teacher, he needs students... The students help add to the definition of the teacher. Inasmuch as the students are only students in the presence of the teacher. The definition therefore runs a very relational course.
God forms a Covenant, as He works to keep a very close and personal relationship with His very own.
For in truth, is there a nation as great as ours, whose gods are as near to it as Yahweh, our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him? (Deuteronomy 4:7)
So... so far, what have I learnt about God being God?
Well.. I have noted that He
Is Relational (Covenant Maker and Keeper)
Is Near to his children
Is ever present
Delivers
So, this is what I am learning. I am very sure, there is so much more to say about His Name. But for now, I am satisfied with what I have learnt so far about Him.
The path now, that I truly wish to explore is the relational bit. This pathway intrigues me for the moment. I go on to further explore...
I first study how the Father went on to first deliver His children out of Egypt, as He mentioned in verse twelve from the book of Exodus Chapter three.
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
I dig into the above verse a little further. How did He actually deliver His children out of the land of Egypt?
I read from the book of Wisdom Chapter ten:
15 It was Wisdom who delivered a holy people, a blameless race, from a nation of oppressors.
16 She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord, and withstood fearsome kings with wonders and signs.
17 To the holy people she gave the wages of their labour; she guided them by a marvellous road, herself their shelter by day- and their starlight through the night.
18. She brought them across the Red Sea, leading them through an immensity of water
From the above verses, I spot a ‘She’. So, who is ‘She’. She identifies Herself as Wisdom.
I go back round this question. How did God actually deliver His children out of the land of Egypt? Directionally, how did He physically lead them out? How they did know which way to go?
I read from the book of Exodus Chapter thirteen:
21 By day Yahweh went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, enabling them to travel day and night.
So, now I spot superimposition. I see Exodus 13:21 being superimposed on Wisdom 10: 17.
So, who is actually present when God is present? It must be His Spirit. It is God’s Spirit physically doing the work for Him. When the waters parted, this is evidence of God’s Spirit at work. This is God’s Wisdom at work. The Father speaks, Wisdom does. The Father’s works are completed through His Spirit. There is, therefore, a need for evidence of the Spirit.
So, now I go in search for evidence of God’s Spirit.
Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert that He be put to the test by the devil. (Matthew 4: 1)
Jesus was now full of Holy Spirit. As He returned from the Jordan, the Spirit led Him into the desert (Luke 4: 1)
Jesus acted with the power of the Spirit, and on his return to Galilee the news about Him spread throughout all that territory. (Luke 4: 14)
God inspired in me the idea to assemble the leaders, the counsellors, and the people to take a census... (Nehemiah 7: 5)
Then I arose in the night, accompanied by a few men, without telling anyone what my God had inspired me and what I planned to do in Jerusalem... (Nehemiah 2: 12)
The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew and Yahweh blessed him. Then the Spirit of Yahweh began to move him when he was in Mahane Dane between Zorah and Eshtaol. (Judges 13: 24,25)
His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) (Judges 14: 3,4)
It is clear. God’s Spirit functions as the unseen force that inevitably commits to God’s Word. God’s Holy Spirit is the sole contributor to completing all that God has commanded. God’s presence, therefore, is in His Spirit. God’s Spirit contributes to the living works of the Father. For God IS living. That is to say, that all works that are living come from the Father and work through the Holy Spirit. I pin this thought for the while.
Now I am curious. I bring back to memory the words taken from the book of Genesis.
I read from the book of Genesis Chapter two:
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
I continue reading. I read from Chapter three:
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
So, Adam pretty much was given something similar to a death sentence; with death being the absence of God’s Spirit or Word, when man disobeyed God. This seems to me to be man’s first walk into captivity.
Indeed, God’s Spirit did not dwell with man for very long, since man’s conception, for the fruit of sin was deeply buried within the heart of men.
Yahweh then said, “My spirit will not remain in man forever, for he is flesh. His span of life will be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6: 3)
So, now I ask myself, what were some of the privileges that man lost since being out of sync with God’s Word? What were the privileges taken from man that cut him off from the Father?
I go on to read from the book of Genesis Chapter three:
16 To the woman, God said, “I will increase your suffering in childbearing, and you will give birth to your children in pain. You will be dependent on your husband and he will lord it over you.”
17 To the man, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I forbade you to eat, cursed be the soil because of you! In suffering you will provide food for yourself from it, all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorn and thistle for you and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 With sweat on your face you will eat your bread, until you return to clay, since it was clay that you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
So here, I recapitulate a list of what was entailed in man’s death sentence:
_painful childbearing
_dependency on the land (with man’s independence from God)
_hard labour
_physical death
This list also highlights the privileges that man surely was missing in God’s absence. Man was no longer able to live without eating physical food. Man was given a short box of time through which he could live. Man endured much pain through childbearing, making it a somewhat less pleasurable task while in the act. But most of all, man was missing His God.
It seemed as though, with God, man hardly had any work to do. God was doing all the work for Him. But ever since man chose independence over full dependency on God, man gave away his right of freedom. For man, God was man’s freedom and still is up today.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8: 36)
So, now I go into deeper reflection as I carefully place my attention on God’s Spirit.
Reflection
The Holy Spirit carries that infinite source of potential energy needed to perform the Father’s work, and in this potential, there are infinite possibilities.
I remember once again, that term, PLURIPOTENTIAL.
God’s Spirit is the invisible force bringing God’s work to fruition. Man sits as the witness or observer; he observes all that is being done to him, in him, with him, experiencing God’s power operating through him. Man is not doing anything besides experiencing.
Man experiences the mighty force of the Spirit working through him. If I had to tangibly express the intangible, it is as though man is sitting in a theatre receiving the full IMAX experience through the lens of 3d glasses. Man witnesses God’s work live and direct. Man sees and feels, but never is man ‘doing’ the work. Man has emptied himself of his own desires to experience the fullness of God’s Spirit working through him.
I would imagine, then, that this must be quite the experience, as man works as God’s foot workers or servants, with His Word, who accompanies His commands, at the helm and God’s hands at the control button; moving in tandem with His Spirit. This must be some experience, much to man’s amazement.
It is then, for that man to not declare as holder or owner to the things that he sees and the things that he goes through and the things that he is still yet to go through. Though, it may seem that this man is doing the works by himself, but really, what can mere mortals do? Who would believe? Man never takes credit for what has been passed through him.
The works that man does is for God’s greater glory. Man glorifies his Maker as he witnesses the many miraculous works of God. God works with His Spirit and no other.
God recognizes the work of His Spirit and no other. It is by His Word, that His Spirit went forth to bring His Word to completion. His Spirit rests on every word that is sent out from the Father’s mouth and remains dedicated to completing His Word from beginning to end.
Man is the earthen accomplice, allowing the Spirit to work through him such that the Father’s work be completed in His Name.
One may capitalize on God’s Spirit, yet give Him no credit where credit is due. Listen to this rule! Any works not done by His Spirit, these works are considered dead to the Father. For He is the living God and His Spirit is also living. So, works done by His Spirit are living.
Any work that is done outside of His own Spirit, He does not recognize. When work is done, it is signed, sealed and stamped by the Father Himself. The Father, then, only signs off, seals and stamps the work completed by His Spirit.
Curiously though, it would be interesting to trace the course of the Spirit. I look for the marks that His Spirit has already left on the earth.
“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was constantly at his side.I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. “Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. (Proverbs 8: 22-32)
These marks are God’s DNA printed in all of His creation. The Father recognizes His works through the marks left by His Holy Spirit.
There is something much further, I wish to express. I go on...
God operates in successive steps.
He shows man what man himself is going to do before man does it.
He also shows man what He is going to do before He does it.
His work is iterative.
I cite an example.
I read from the book of John Chapter eleven:
5 It is a fact that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus;
6 yet, after he heard of the illness of Lazarus, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.”
25 But Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection; whoever believes in me, though he dies, he shall live.
26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
43 When Jesus had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
Christ Jesus demonstrated ahead of time what He Himself was marked out to do. He declared Himself as the Resurrection. But before His final work, a demonstration was first made when Lazarus was called back to life from his sleep.
Apart from God’s successive ways of motion, the Father also reveals to man all that man is still yet to do, through vision. It is through God’s Spirit, that man receives vision from the Father. These images begin to instruct man to accomplish all that the Father sets out to do in His creation.
I read from the book of John Chapter five:
19 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I assure you, the Son cannot do anything by himself, but only what he sees the Father do. And whatever He does, the Son also does.
I also read from the book of John Chapter eight:
38 For my part I speak of what I have seen in the Father’s presence...
So, the Father’s instruction is iterative and happens in successive steps. He usually shows man what He is going to do long in advance, that there not be too much an element of surprise into the distant future when He starts to fulfil the things that He much earlier on spoke about or showed.
It is as though the Father first plants the seed or idea in man’s mind and then later, sometime in the near or distant future, man follows though with the instruction.
Interestingly, sometimes, man may have already forgotten the seed that was planted, yet still commit to the work, for indeed, it was truly the work of God’s Spirit all the while.
Then I have come to some finding. God does not instruct man. No, this is not the case. He knows not to trust man, for He already showed what Adam would do in the garden, if given his free will.
God is set on instructing His own Spirit. This was always the case, from even since before the beginning of time. God speaks to His own Spirit that rests in the heart of man.
So, when God speaks, it is His Spirit who hears and is actually moving to bring to completion all that the Father has commanded his creation to do.
His Spirit is under the fullest subjection to His Voice and works to complete all what the Father has commanded.
I remember once again, that term, PLURIPOTENTIAL.
God’s Spirit is the invisible force bringing God’s work to fruition. Man sits as the witness or observer; he observes all that is being done to him, in him, with him, experiencing God’s power operating through him. Man is not doing anything besides experiencing.
Man experiences the mighty force of the Spirit working through him. If I had to tangibly express the intangible, it is as though man is sitting in a theatre receiving the full IMAX experience through the lens of 3d glasses. Man witnesses God’s work live and direct. Man sees and feels, but never is man ‘doing’ the work. Man has emptied himself of his own desires to experience the fullness of God’s Spirit working through him.
I would imagine, then, that this must be quite the experience, as man works as God’s foot workers or servants, with His Word, who accompanies His commands, at the helm and God’s hands at the control button; moving in tandem with His Spirit. This must be some experience, much to man’s amazement.
It is then, for that man to not declare as holder or owner to the things that he sees and the things that he goes through and the things that he is still yet to go through. Though, it may seem that this man is doing the works by himself, but really, what can mere mortals do? Who would believe? Man never takes credit for what has been passed through him.
The works that man does is for God’s greater glory. Man glorifies his Maker as he witnesses the many miraculous works of God. God works with His Spirit and no other.
God recognizes the work of His Spirit and no other. It is by His Word, that His Spirit went forth to bring His Word to completion. His Spirit rests on every word that is sent out from the Father’s mouth and remains dedicated to completing His Word from beginning to end.
Man is the earthen accomplice, allowing the Spirit to work through him such that the Father’s work be completed in His Name.
One may capitalize on God’s Spirit, yet give Him no credit where credit is due. Listen to this rule! Any works not done by His Spirit, these works are considered dead to the Father. For He is the living God and His Spirit is also living. So, works done by His Spirit are living.
Any work that is done outside of His own Spirit, He does not recognize. When work is done, it is signed, sealed and stamped by the Father Himself. The Father, then, only signs off, seals and stamps the work completed by His Spirit.
Curiously though, it would be interesting to trace the course of the Spirit. I look for the marks that His Spirit has already left on the earth.
“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was constantly at his side.I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. “Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. (Proverbs 8: 22-32)
These marks are God’s DNA printed in all of His creation. The Father recognizes His works through the marks left by His Holy Spirit.
There is something much further, I wish to express. I go on...
God operates in successive steps.
He shows man what man himself is going to do before man does it.
He also shows man what He is going to do before He does it.
His work is iterative.
I cite an example.
I read from the book of John Chapter eleven:
5 It is a fact that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus;
6 yet, after he heard of the illness of Lazarus, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.”
25 But Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection; whoever believes in me, though he dies, he shall live.
26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
43 When Jesus had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
Christ Jesus demonstrated ahead of time what He Himself was marked out to do. He declared Himself as the Resurrection. But before His final work, a demonstration was first made when Lazarus was called back to life from his sleep.
Apart from God’s successive ways of motion, the Father also reveals to man all that man is still yet to do, through vision. It is through God’s Spirit, that man receives vision from the Father. These images begin to instruct man to accomplish all that the Father sets out to do in His creation.
I read from the book of John Chapter five:
19 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I assure you, the Son cannot do anything by himself, but only what he sees the Father do. And whatever He does, the Son also does.
I also read from the book of John Chapter eight:
38 For my part I speak of what I have seen in the Father’s presence...
So, the Father’s instruction is iterative and happens in successive steps. He usually shows man what He is going to do long in advance, that there not be too much an element of surprise into the distant future when He starts to fulfil the things that He much earlier on spoke about or showed.
It is as though the Father first plants the seed or idea in man’s mind and then later, sometime in the near or distant future, man follows though with the instruction.
Interestingly, sometimes, man may have already forgotten the seed that was planted, yet still commit to the work, for indeed, it was truly the work of God’s Spirit all the while.
Then I have come to some finding. God does not instruct man. No, this is not the case. He knows not to trust man, for He already showed what Adam would do in the garden, if given his free will.
God is set on instructing His own Spirit. This was always the case, from even since before the beginning of time. God speaks to His own Spirit that rests in the heart of man.
So, when God speaks, it is His Spirit who hears and is actually moving to bring to completion all that the Father has commanded his creation to do.
His Spirit is under the fullest subjection to His Voice and works to complete all what the Father has commanded.
So, now I go back to my first question: Is God being God?
Now I know that I myself need not answer! For God’s Spirit speaks for Him through His works. And I rest the answer here.
And now for an encouraging word!
When one experiences the Father in the deeper ends of His love, as he goes through the flames, he also experiences a much deeper conversion in his baptism and belief in his Maker.
The mature Man grows to witness the Father in the fullness of His Spirit. For man becomes enveloped or fully raptured in God's Spirit. The relation with God consummates with man's baptism through the flames of God's fire. It is God's Holy Spirit who carries man through these flames to bring man to his mature and WHOLE self.
Through the flames, man can wholeheartedly witness the works of the Father in His greatest glory and can trust and know that He IS Lord and Saviour. Man has finally entered into intimacy with the Father, settling into His deepest parts and receiving the full fruits of His Wisdom. That is, receiving Christ (who is the Law and Way of Life) wholly and completely.
It is through baptism and passing through the flames of God’s burning passion; that is, his passion of Love, Man receives a whole new meaning to the word Salvation, now fully entering into Covenant with his God.
Now I know that I myself need not answer! For God’s Spirit speaks for Him through His works. And I rest the answer here.
And now for an encouraging word!
When one experiences the Father in the deeper ends of His love, as he goes through the flames, he also experiences a much deeper conversion in his baptism and belief in his Maker.
The mature Man grows to witness the Father in the fullness of His Spirit. For man becomes enveloped or fully raptured in God's Spirit. The relation with God consummates with man's baptism through the flames of God's fire. It is God's Holy Spirit who carries man through these flames to bring man to his mature and WHOLE self.
Through the flames, man can wholeheartedly witness the works of the Father in His greatest glory and can trust and know that He IS Lord and Saviour. Man has finally entered into intimacy with the Father, settling into His deepest parts and receiving the full fruits of His Wisdom. That is, receiving Christ (who is the Law and Way of Life) wholly and completely.
It is through baptism and passing through the flames of God’s burning passion; that is, his passion of Love, Man receives a whole new meaning to the word Salvation, now fully entering into Covenant with his God.
|| Meditation
After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply. On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God continued to spread and flourish. (Acts 12: 19-25)
You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ears have not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another. (Isaiah 48: 8-11)
“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42: 8)
After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply. On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God continued to spread and flourish. (Acts 12: 19-25)
You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ears have not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another. (Isaiah 48: 8-11)
“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42: 8)
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