A Sinner Prepared

On this final day of preparation before Ash Wednesday and our commitment to a Season of Lenten celebrations, we have been looking, hearing and receiving the works of the Holy Spirit in salvation. We have witnessed a time of righteousness and judgment for two sinners who are dying together with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Messiah, on Golgotha.

So where are we? What are we being told? For one thing, we are being made fully aware that Salvation continues and that we need to have hearts and minds ready and prepared for our Lord’s Saving Grace. Without His divine intervention and preparation, how can we be adequately and completely ready to receive our Lord’s Salvation?

O yes! Without a doubt we need to be prepared because, of this one truth, as viewed in Isaiah 53: 6a. We all, like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. How do we know that we have erred and strayed like lost sheep? How do we know that we are not living the promised life of our Heavenly Father? Here are but some basic facts as given in our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. These are unquestionable facts by which each one of us must examine his or her own living.

This world is darkness, but all who believe have light. God is Light. This is what we are told in 1 John 1: 5b. God is Light; in him is no darkness at all.  If you have examined your walk and you are walking in darkness, you cannot be living in the Light of God.   

The world is untruth, but all who believe have truth. Jesus is Truth. To all believers Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8: 31 – 32. If you have examined your words and they are keeping you trapped, in the bondage of human intelligence, then you do not know the Truth of Jesus.

The world is fear, but all who believe have peace. Holy Spirit is Peace. When Jesus promised His disciples to send them another Comforter, His Holy Spirit, to be in them, after leaving them physically, this is what He promised. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14: 27. If you examine yourself and you live with worldly fear, then you do not have the Peace of the Spirit.

These are only three of the many marks and signs of a truly abiding believer, one who is not held in the bondage of the evil one. If you know that you are still in any kind of bondage of sin, then join me as together we receive on the spot preparation, to receive a Season of Lent as never before.  We pause to bow before God, the Holy Spirit, for we clearly see Him working in that sinner, who is responding to Him, in the Man called Jesus.

O may the Holy Spirit feed each surrendered heart and mind with truth and sincerity of response. May He take away all our doubts and fearful impulses and lead us into responses of our Father’s Love, which are pleasing to Him. Amen!

Earlier, I spoke about my cousin, her daughter and granddaughter as all sharing the same Carnival fever, as we call it, in their blood, as is proven in their unwavering, time-sacrificing and energetic preparations. When we note the use of the phrase, in their blood, we mean that it is in their entire being, their DNA and it simply propels them on, no human input, just their response to this innate power. How then does this relate to us? We go back to the first Passover and how God has promised the Israelites salvation from their present bondage. We also follow closely behind the children of God, the Israelites, who are preparing for Passover. What is Passover? Yes indeed! It’s the time in the lives of the Israelites, when God showed His Supreme Love for them in saving them with His miraculous and mighty power, when He liberated them from the bondage of slavery to Pharaoh and all Egypt. Sovereign Almighty God, had heard the penitent pleas and prayers of His people, saw their pitifully hopeless and helpless condition and saved them through His servant Moses.

Among other things, this is what God said to Moses. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. Exodus 6: 5 - 7. 

My dear people, just to listen to these words of God to His enslaved people is, most cathartic, regenerative and absolutely quickening. I ask you, does God tell lies, does He trifle with the feelings and minds of His children? Does He promise and speak what He knows He can’t handle? God has spoken and He will do all that He has promised. However, the response of His children is critical, for unless they obey His commands, they will receive none of His promises.

Is this not also true of us, His present Israel, His present children for whom our Father God’s words are mighty and true? Many a child of God, many a family of God, many a Church of God, needs to hear and know the truth of the Blood of Jesus which has been shed for all sinners. We must know the absolute trustworthiness of the Blood of the Lamb and the unchanging and unwavering commitment of Father God to His Son’s Blood.

Holy Spirit, keep our hearts and minds, body and spirit, securely grounded and rooted in the Truth of the Blood, the Trustworthiness of the Blood and the Triumph of the Blood. Amen!