Saturday, May 9, 2015

PREPARING THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: OFFERING AND SACRIFICE (Part 1)


        . . . and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
 Luke 3.22

   When the Holy Spirit came upon him, the bible says that a voice from above acknowledged the Lord Jesús as Son of God, whom He loves and with whom He is pleased. On May 16th we will be before God, seeking of His Spirit and by faith, we too, will be acknowledged before God as His children, when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. However, what do I have to do, so I can be acknowledged by God and sealed by His Spirit?

Meditate on this verse below:
 
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
 Ephesians 5.1-2
 
 
     Let us examine each part of this verse carefully. It says that in order for us to follow God's example, we must be as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love. When was the Lord Jesús acknowledged as His dearly loved Son? The first verse shows that it was when the Holy Spirit came upon him. Now, if we want to be His dearly loved children, in other words, sealed with the Holy Spirit, we need to walk in love. How? The verse explains two things:
 
He gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
 
 
In other words:
fragrant offering: for us
Sacrifice: for God


Today, let's focus on the second part: sacrifice for God. How can I be a sacrifice for God? First of all, what is a sacrifice? When we use the word 'sacrifice' we are talking about a surrender. A sacrifice where the person surrenders their will, their 'you' for the will of God. Think of this like a ladder with God being at the top. The first steps are easy, but the higher we climb the more steeper the climb, the more sacrifice will be required. The more I am willing to sacrifice, the more of God I am willing to receive. Now there is a catch. This sacrifice is not something that you decide to do today and tomorrow it is all over. No. This sacrifice is daily and the day we stop sacrificing,  we will grow cold in our faith, and be at risk of losing our salvation. That is why many times we hear about great servants of God who left His presence because they reached a goal, and they got comfortable and relaxed.

So, you have to ask yourself, do I really want the Holy Spirit? Am I willing to pay this price? If your answer is yes, then you are probably asking yourself:

How can I sacrifice more of myself? Sometimes we do things, that perhaps maybe is not even sin, yet, it takes up space that we could be sacrificing to God. For example, the long hours we spend on Facebook, we could sacrifice to invest in our communion with God. Those extra minutes or hour of sleep we could sacrifice to seek Him. Those moments where you feel shy or timid, we could sacrifice to talk about Jesús. The list goes on. We have one week left before this event, let's sacrifice the dead weight. Tonight before you go to bed, humble yourself and ask God to show you what you still need to sacrifice. So, as you sacrifice all of yourself, you will receive all of God, which is the Holy Spirit.



Tomorrow, we will continue with Part 2.
God Bless!
 
 
 
 
 
 

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