The Holy Spirit really astonishes me anytime I find myself speechless, whether at circumstances where I’m in awe of beauty, or when I’m saying too much from my own vocabulary. And often times when I’m in a situation where silence is His way of speaking through my actions or lack thereof. All of these and MANY more are pure and clear instances where I know that the Spirit is within me, both deeply and stubbornly on the surface of my “new nature”. I praise the Lord for this divine interruptions that He places within me, the Spirit burdens me in the holiest of ways, the ways that I don’t understand, I just have to rely on and trust in; He’s so creative, in ways I can’t even imagine, but I know are there and true!
In the past few weeks I’ve been in an unintended study of zeal, unity, and the Holy Spirit (primarily His leading) and it has really drawn me nearer to many aspects of God. Through sermons, Spirit led prayers, readings, writings, and just interactions in general I have felt the Lord pressing these 3 subjects heavy onto my heart, and I’m the type of person that once something is on my heart it tends to leak upwards into my mind (which isn’t always a good thing!). God has provided relentless understanding, which is no surprise (Colossians 1:9), but He has also caught me off guard on several occasions with aspects of each subject that I haven’t quite figured out, but I know to keep in prayer and study and He will provide the clarity (Matthew 7:7)!
Zeal, unity, and the Holy Spirit are of course a package deal in and with the latter portion. Once the baptism of the Holy Spirit is fully taken in (as being the moment Christ enters into your heart, not a separate interaction with God), and the acceptance of Christ as salvation, redemption, and atonement is embraced, this new creation that is formed by regeneration (or new birth) flourishes (1 Corinthians 12:13, Matthew 3:11, John 20:22), in and through what is known as zeal. This is equatable to a form of worship in my opinion in the sense that it is an outward expression of the inward grace you feel in your heart after Christ gets a hold of it. The Easton Dictionary of the Bible defines it as “an earnest temper; maybe enlightened (Numbers 25:11-13, 2 Corinthians 7:11, 9:2) or ignorant and misdirected (Romans 10:2, Philippians 3:6). As a Christian grace, it must be grounded on right principles and directed to right ends (Galatians 4:18).” I surely hope I’m growing in “enlightenment “as I study this idea of being zealous for the Lord. John Piper quotes on zeal saying, “If we have no zeal for the glory of God our mercy must be superficial, man-centered human improvement with no eternal significance. And if our zeal for the glory of God is not a reveling in his mercy, than our so-called zeal, in spite of all its protests, is out of touch with God and hypocritical.” I pray for the power and means to avoid superficiality and to use my zeal solely for the glory of our great God by showing the world what a relationship with Him really looks like.
I yearn to be zealous, in a glorious way to proclaim a mighty Savior who is zealous for our love of the Father and His people (whom is “jealous” for US!!). In this truth about zeal is packed a few constant and necessary questions to ask ourselves, two especially: at any given point in time, is our passion and zeal for the Lord A) glorifying to God and B) a flame or flicker? The incorrect answers to these questions are spoken of as being “lukewarm” and that certainly isn’t spoken well of in Scripture (Revelation 3:16). Simply, we are made in the image of a holy perfect God, and not that we can EVER compare to the God of the universe in glory (Romans 3:23, Isaiah 40:25), but we can strive to represent, as fleshy mirrors, many of God’s attributes. One important one in particular being zeal.
Another one of these attributes that we are called to exhibit is unity. A blessed act of coming together, being together, remaining together, all in the name of Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Not many things are a requirement of being an adopted child of God, but unity is one of them. In the words of Christ, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” (Matthew 22:37-40). There is a reason these are called commandments, we MUST do them! This love of God points to unity because our Heavenly Father is such a relational God that if we love Him and Him alone our hearts and lives can’t help but unite with His and that is beautiful beyond words…(the Spirit is here, where my words can’t be! :))! And this love for our neighbor unites us a representation of the Kingdom of God as it truly is. Not divided into different religions, races, cultures, denominations, political parties, classes, ages, financial status, or anything else that society tries to fit into specific groups. God sees only one division, saved and unsaved, BUT has provided ONE way to demolish that division and will one day make His name known as ALL will bow before Him, either as Master Messiah or simply a martyr. Regardless of which view you will take on the Day of Judgement, Christ is the commonality between them both, Christ is unity and unification through Him! No where in Scripture is this more clear and beautiful than in Jesus’ longest prayer in John 17. The words of our Savior to our Father should bring us to our knees in humility as He pleads to the Source of perfect unity (the Holy Trinity) to breach our enmity and dissension with ourselves as people and to provide unison as His bride. He prays for unity amongst us, but not just any unity, the same exact unity that joins Him to the Father and to the Spirit. He prays for a zeal in us to speak against and continue to be hated by the world just as He was so that we can be focused on a joy that’s eternal with a purpose and security that “shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 62:1-2). This prayer has been imprinted on our very being since before time began, is now the essence of our song to Lord who loves, and will be the goal of our worship, to lift high our Redeemer, our unifier! Christ be praised, for praying and providing zeal, unity, the Holy Spirit and the BEAUTIFUL burdens among them!
Holy Father, perfect Unifier, how great You are to be praised and sought after. Lord may my words be evident to those who read them that You are real and Holy, but allow my actions speak much louder to those whom You have me be a holy reflection of Your righteousness to. Grant me awareness that all of my life is worship to You oh God and that no opportunity is too small to exhibit Your grace, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control! Heavenly Father make me zealous, unite me with Your Spirit and Your Kingdom, and may Your Holy Spirit be my reason and my strength to grow more and more in doing these things all for Your glory and Yours alone! In the unifying name of Christ I pray, amen!
In the past few weeks I’ve been in an unintended study of zeal, unity, and the Holy Spirit (primarily His leading) and it has really drawn me nearer to many aspects of God. Through sermons, Spirit led prayers, readings, writings, and just interactions in general I have felt the Lord pressing these 3 subjects heavy onto my heart, and I’m the type of person that once something is on my heart it tends to leak upwards into my mind (which isn’t always a good thing!). God has provided relentless understanding, which is no surprise (Colossians 1:9), but He has also caught me off guard on several occasions with aspects of each subject that I haven’t quite figured out, but I know to keep in prayer and study and He will provide the clarity (Matthew 7:7)!
Zeal, unity, and the Holy Spirit are of course a package deal in and with the latter portion. Once the baptism of the Holy Spirit is fully taken in (as being the moment Christ enters into your heart, not a separate interaction with God), and the acceptance of Christ as salvation, redemption, and atonement is embraced, this new creation that is formed by regeneration (or new birth) flourishes (1 Corinthians 12:13, Matthew 3:11, John 20:22), in and through what is known as zeal. This is equatable to a form of worship in my opinion in the sense that it is an outward expression of the inward grace you feel in your heart after Christ gets a hold of it. The Easton Dictionary of the Bible defines it as “an earnest temper; maybe enlightened (Numbers 25:11-13, 2 Corinthians 7:11, 9:2) or ignorant and misdirected (Romans 10:2, Philippians 3:6). As a Christian grace, it must be grounded on right principles and directed to right ends (Galatians 4:18).” I surely hope I’m growing in “enlightenment “as I study this idea of being zealous for the Lord. John Piper quotes on zeal saying, “If we have no zeal for the glory of God our mercy must be superficial, man-centered human improvement with no eternal significance. And if our zeal for the glory of God is not a reveling in his mercy, than our so-called zeal, in spite of all its protests, is out of touch with God and hypocritical.” I pray for the power and means to avoid superficiality and to use my zeal solely for the glory of our great God by showing the world what a relationship with Him really looks like.
I yearn to be zealous, in a glorious way to proclaim a mighty Savior who is zealous for our love of the Father and His people (whom is “jealous” for US!!). In this truth about zeal is packed a few constant and necessary questions to ask ourselves, two especially: at any given point in time, is our passion and zeal for the Lord A) glorifying to God and B) a flame or flicker? The incorrect answers to these questions are spoken of as being “lukewarm” and that certainly isn’t spoken well of in Scripture (Revelation 3:16). Simply, we are made in the image of a holy perfect God, and not that we can EVER compare to the God of the universe in glory (Romans 3:23, Isaiah 40:25), but we can strive to represent, as fleshy mirrors, many of God’s attributes. One important one in particular being zeal.
Another one of these attributes that we are called to exhibit is unity. A blessed act of coming together, being together, remaining together, all in the name of Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Not many things are a requirement of being an adopted child of God, but unity is one of them. In the words of Christ, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” (Matthew 22:37-40). There is a reason these are called commandments, we MUST do them! This love of God points to unity because our Heavenly Father is such a relational God that if we love Him and Him alone our hearts and lives can’t help but unite with His and that is beautiful beyond words…(the Spirit is here, where my words can’t be! :))! And this love for our neighbor unites us a representation of the Kingdom of God as it truly is. Not divided into different religions, races, cultures, denominations, political parties, classes, ages, financial status, or anything else that society tries to fit into specific groups. God sees only one division, saved and unsaved, BUT has provided ONE way to demolish that division and will one day make His name known as ALL will bow before Him, either as Master Messiah or simply a martyr. Regardless of which view you will take on the Day of Judgement, Christ is the commonality between them both, Christ is unity and unification through Him! No where in Scripture is this more clear and beautiful than in Jesus’ longest prayer in John 17. The words of our Savior to our Father should bring us to our knees in humility as He pleads to the Source of perfect unity (the Holy Trinity) to breach our enmity and dissension with ourselves as people and to provide unison as His bride. He prays for unity amongst us, but not just any unity, the same exact unity that joins Him to the Father and to the Spirit. He prays for a zeal in us to speak against and continue to be hated by the world just as He was so that we can be focused on a joy that’s eternal with a purpose and security that “shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 62:1-2). This prayer has been imprinted on our very being since before time began, is now the essence of our song to Lord who loves, and will be the goal of our worship, to lift high our Redeemer, our unifier! Christ be praised, for praying and providing zeal, unity, the Holy Spirit and the BEAUTIFUL burdens among them!
Holy Father, perfect Unifier, how great You are to be praised and sought after. Lord may my words be evident to those who read them that You are real and Holy, but allow my actions speak much louder to those whom You have me be a holy reflection of Your righteousness to. Grant me awareness that all of my life is worship to You oh God and that no opportunity is too small to exhibit Your grace, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control! Heavenly Father make me zealous, unite me with Your Spirit and Your Kingdom, and may Your Holy Spirit be my reason and my strength to grow more and more in doing these things all for Your glory and Yours alone! In the unifying name of Christ I pray, amen!