FRIDAY MORNING MANNA
December 6, 2013
By Nathaniel Fajardo
Email:[email protected]
Are We Preparing for the Latter Rain?– Part VIII
As millions struggle over who the true Christian church is in these days, the remnant church of Bible prophecy is clearly identified: “Here is the patience the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14: 12, 13. To the faithful among them He says: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door [of the heart].
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me.” And then, this: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Rev. 3: 19-22.-22. The “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit is still mercifully appealing to you and me!
To all who are suffering today, particularly those of the household of faith, here’s more spiritual insights on why God allows suffering and trials to come upon even to those who are following His will: He has not passed us by as unworthy of His trials!
“The Lord Jesus gave Himself a sacrifice for us. He knows us and He knows just what we need. Trial lasts only for a season. Encourage your heart in faith. We must not look on trial as punishment. Christ is the sin bearer. He is our Redeemer, and He desiresto purify us from all dross. He means to make us partakers of the divine nature, developing in us the peaceable fruits of righteousness [Heb. 12:11].
The very fact that we are called upon to endure trial proves that the Lord Jesus sees in us something very precious that He would have developed. If he saw nothing in us whereby we might glorify His name He would not spend time refining us. We do not take special pains to prune brambles. Christ does not cast valueless stones into His furnace. It is precious ore that He tests. He sees that the refining process will bring out the reflection of His own image. Be trustful, be hopeful, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. [Eph. 6:10].
He loves you. Hear His words: ‘As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten’ [Rev. 3: 19]. He has not passed you by as unworthy of a trial.
“What is the result of this refining process? That you ‘may be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.’ 1 Peter 1: 7. O how precious to the soul is one word of commendation that comes from the Redeemer’s lips! We may not understand all now, but the day is coming when we shall be more than satisfied, when we shall see as we are seen [1 Cor. 13:12], and realize that trials has wrought out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory’ [2 Cor. 4: 17].” – E.G. White, That I May Know Him (Devotional), p. 257.
If we truly love God and know Him as a personal Friend, Savior, Master, and Mediator of the better covenant which was established on better promises (Heb.8: 6) through an increasing experimental knowledge of His will, plans, and ways by daily learning and abiding in His Word, then we can, “with boldness to enter holiest [of the heavenly sanctuary” (Heb. 10: 19) and “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim. 6: 12) and “come off more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37) by appropriating all the heavenly provisions at our disposal (Matt. 28:18-20) to follow the footsteps of Christ, no matter how fierce the temptation or bitter the trial may be.
Out of some 6,000 conditional promises in the Bible here are just a couple that we must understand and apply them individually to ourselves:—knowing that we have two divine Intercessors working exclusively on our behalf—(1) the Holy Spirit here on earth, and (2) Jesus, the risen Savior, God in the flesh, our all-powerful High Priest, and Mediator in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. Note these:
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, and because He [the Holy Spirit] makes intercessions for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” Rom. 8: 26-28, N.K.J.V.
“No temptation has overtaken you except as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Cor. 10:13.
The Definite Mission, Work, and Time of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Based on his exhaustive research of the Bible and the inspired writings of Ellen G. White’s commentary on the Holy Spirit, eminent author LeRoy E. Froom says:
“One must be impressed with the fact that that just as truly as the prophets [of the Old Testament] announced Jesus’ [first] advent, so He announces the advent of another, coequal to Himself and the successor of Himself. As one ascended, the other descended. And the same recognition of authority and deference paid by the disciples to their Lord, was to be given to the Holy Spirit as Christ’s vicar on earth!
“As Christ had a definite time mission, so the Holy Spirit likewise has a definite time mission, His special dispensation being from Pentecost to the Second Advent. He is the person of the Godhead who came to earth in a definite way, at a definite time, for a definite work, and has been here ever since, just as Jesus was here on His special mission during thirty-three years.
“’The dispensation [time period] in which we are now living is to be, to those that ask, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit.’—E. G. White, Testimonies to Ministers, p. 511.
“We are under the direct, personal guidance of the third Person of the Godhead as truly as the disciples were under the leadership of the second Person [Jesus Christ].
“Pentecost was, as it were, the inaugural of the Holy Spirit for this special work, though the Holy Spirit was existent and operative from the ages past. Many a biography of Christ begins with Bethlehem and ends with Olivet, despite the fact He was from the days of eternity.
“Eighty-eight times, and in twenty-two of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, the Spirit is mentioned. The footprints of the third Person of the Godhead may be traced through the centuries from the beginning of the world [See Gen. 1: 2].”- The Coming of the Comforter, (Revised Edition), Review & Herald Publishing Asso, Washington, D.C. , 1949, pp. 26, 27.
“Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. There are many who believe and profess to claim the Lord’s promise; they talk about Christ and the Holy Spirit, yet receive no benefit. [Why?] They do not surrender the soul to be guided and controlled by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is to use us.”- E.G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 672.
“All who long to bear the likeness of the character of God shall be satisfied. The Holy Spirit never leaves unassisted the soul who is looking unto Jesus. . . . . If the eye [of faith] is fixed on Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit ceases not until the soul is conformed to His [Christ’s] image.” – Ibid, p. 302.
As the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit in latter rain power draws nearer each day, which Satan knows all too well though he does not know exactly when and upon whom it shall be poured upon, he has declared all-out attack on the “Spirit of truth.” John 14: 17. The very existence of the Holy Spirit as the third Person of the Godhead, His personality, mission, and work on earth are declared in such blasphemous and deceptive assertions such, as: “there is no Holy Spirit; it is merely God’s breath.”
“Jesus is only a son of Mary,—referred to, centuries ago as “Queen Mother of heaven;” the mortal and Jesus–only one God; the Holy Spirit is merely God’s breath;” “there is only Father and Son; no Holy Spirit;” “Jesus is not God in the flesh but one in a line of prophets;” “the Holy Spirit will never be withdrawn from the earth” or “from God’s people,” or that “It cannot be grieved away,” or that there is “no close of probation” for “once-saved-always-saved;, should compel all who love “the truth as it is in Jesus” (Eph. 4: 21) to fall on their knees and pray as never before, then re-examine our understanding of these testing truths that Christ can expect us to able “to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Remember our dear Savior’s special warning regarding the Holy Spirit:
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the [Holy] Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man [Jesus Christ], it will be forgiven him; but whosoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
(Continued next week)