January 19, 2005 – THE GREAT MYSTERY OF GOD REVEALED
Many are the debates about God, but it does not change who He is and that we can know Him on a very personal level. Colossians 1:27 to them God has chosen to make known among the gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Galations 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. When we invite Christ to come into our hearts and indwell us, we become a new creation—old things pass away and all things become new. The life I live in my body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me. The word of God is Spirit and if we come to Him in our spirit seeking to know Him and love Him, God through His Spirit within us will reveal Himself to us. This is a great mystery because so few, comparatively speaking, ever experience “Christ in me, the hope of glory.” Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Psalm 102:25 in the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 26 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. 27 but you remain the same, and your years will never end.
I want to relate a true story to you because it shows how God speaks to us and how God answers prayer when someone who doesn’t even know him, cries out and asks God to reveal Himself to him. Many years ago, as I was working in the supermarket that we owned, God spoke to me in my spirit and said, “See the man standing at the check stand, go tell him about me.” God spoke to me clearly through my spirit and I knew exactly what He was telling me to do. I of course had never seen the man before and I was reluctant, but God spoke to me again and said that if I did not obey I would be held accountable. I obeyed God and asked the man if he would sit with me in the snack bar. I told him that I had a message for him from God. Naturally, he looked surprised. As he sat across from me, I simply relayed to him what God had told me to do. The man listened intently and when I finished, he said that he had planned to go home and commit suicide if God had not revealed Himself. He elaborated by saying that before he left home, he cried out to God, in his pain and agony of spirit, asking “If you are real, God, and listening to me, then before I get home from the supermarket, you will have someone tell me about you.” He needed a Savior. He needed to know God cared for him and loved him. The man found God that day and Christ now lives within him. All he had to do was ask God for His help. He experienced God in a permanent way and Christ became his life. His sins forgiven, he became a child of God that forever walks in fellowship with Him. Now he would receive the blessings that God pours upon His children. How glorious that we can experience here and now the son of God dwelling within us and have the love of the Father. God the father and Christ His Son also sent the Holy Spirit to place a seal upon him that set him apart unto God forever. 2 Corinthians 1:21 now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. He learned that day that God does hear our cries and loves, cares and answers prayer.
The so-called philosophers and wise men, could tell me all day long that God is not real, but I know different. 2 Timothy 1:12b I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. Every time I hear God within my being, I cry out with joy because “I know him.” My heart rejoices and my spirit is refreshed! Why? Because the God of this universe, my creator, dwells within me! This truth will withstand all the trials and tests of life! I have been born again into the family of God and have fellowship with the Most High through the blood of Jesus Christ that cleansed and purified me. God walks and talks with me as he did with Adam in the Garden of Eden. Through my lifetime, I have had many personal experiences with God. Those experiences were God-ordained and carried out by His Holy Spirit. I can forget many things, but those God encounters are forever engraved on my mind and heart. No one could ever tell me that God does not love and care for His people that He created. He seeks eternal fellowship and pours forth His love upon those that are crying out to Him and are ready and desiring to receive Him as Lord of their life. His love reaches out to everyone.
I would like to tell you about another encounter with God’s great love for a person who had been searching for Him with all her heart. One morning around nine o’clock, I came out of my office in our supermarket carrying some invoices for the bible bookstore. As I laid the invoices behind the counter, I noticed a woman perusing the books. God spoke to me and said, “Lead her to me.” I walked over to her, and could smell the alcohol on her breath. She had evidently been drinking since early morning or all night, and she was drunk. The bookstore was not open yet and so there were no customers or other clerks around. Immediately I told her that I wanted to tell her about Jesus Christ. She answered, “Where is he? I have been searching all over for him.” I asked her to accompany me to a room upstairs designated as our prayer room. She went with me and she again told me that she had been searching everywhere for Christ. I explained to her how she could receive Christ into her heart and that from then on he would indwell her. After she asked Christ to forgive her and invited Him to live within her heart, I noticed that she was sober and filled with “bubbling over” joy. She began to say to me, “Can you feel Him?” and she laughed for joy. She was now drunk on “The wine of the Holy Spirit.” I took her back downstairs and she remarked to every clerk she passed, “Can you feel him? It is so wonderful.” It was clear to all that she felt the Spirit of God within her. She left the supermarket that day filled with the “new wine of the Spirit” and she was a new creation in Christ. For many years after that, I would see her in the bookstore and she was a radiant and fulfilled Christian. The Spirit of God shone through her countenance for all to see. I do not know how long she had been searching, but at the right time and the right place, God reached down and did much more than she had expected — immediately delivering her from her alcoholism. In fact, for years, she helped others who were addicted to alcohol. God fulfilled her deepest longings and answered her questions as she depended upon Him to be her life.
When Christ and God the Father enter your life, it becomes an experience more lasting and real than anything the world has to offer. The gifts of this world, such as money and power, are fleeting and never can satisfy the soul of man. The riches of Christ are eternally yours. Matthew 16:26 what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
God has many callings and gifts of the Spirit to give us, which will help us serve Him–gifts, which we do not possess in ourselves. For instance, the book of James gives us this promise: James 1:5 if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.All of God’s gifts to us are freely given. They are ours to use and enjoy as He gives us the wisdom and power to store up treasures for ourselves in heaven. Obstacles, frustrations, trials, or sorrows, do not handicap us for God has given us the promise “that all things will work together for good.” Romans 8:28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. One of the greatest joys for the children of God is overcoming all obstacles, such as satan and his minions, sickness or suffering. How do we overcome? 1 John 5:4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the son of God. In every battle, there is a victory to be won. When you have faith in God, you know you are on the winning side. Sometimes it seems the battle is too long, or impossible. Remember that nothing is impossible with God. God always acts on faith. When you pray, in faith believing, God will answer your prayer. It may not be the answer you want or occur when you want it, but be assured that, it will ultimately work together for your good. God always acts upon faith and trust in Him. When you persevere in faith and trust in Almighty God, you will see His works on your behalf.
Our minds can barely conceive the idea that the Spirit of God indwells our earthly bodies. Yet, the Spirit gives us access to all the treasures that God has laid up for those that love Him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 however, as it is written: “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” – 10 but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
I would rather serve the creator of all things through Jesus Christ, than serve the gods of this world or the “god” of self-ambition. All things are possible with God therefore I am limited only by my unbelief in Him. Most of all I rejoice in knowing that all things work together for good to those that accept God as their Lord and Savior. No one can rob us of our experiences and knowledge of God for we will live eternally with Him! ~To live is Christ, Philippians 1:21 for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. The only promises that we can hold as absolute truth are the promises of God. The only word that is truth is God’s eternal word. Jesus Christ is the living word. ~The Deity of Jesus Christ John 1:1 in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.His word will stand when all else fails.
Proverbs 3:5 trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. 8 this will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
