The Melody of the Holy Spirit

HISTORY LESSON—THE HOLOCAUST

On the way to the VA (Veterans Administration) and back, forty miles both ways.

What happened to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust? I asked the Holy Spirit as I left my house in the early morning and headed to St. Cloud, Minnesota. Then I stilled my mind and waited for input from Him. This is not a “Thus sayeth the Lord” proclamation; it’s thoughts that came into my mind in my words as I meditated on the matter.

Only in God’s Kingdom can this be explained. God would not have let six million of His chosen people die and go to hell. He is a merciful and loving God. It’s mankind that is cruel and hateful, in this case the Nazi regime.

First of all, the Jewish state of Israel would not have come about in 1948 had it not been for the Holocaust, and Scripture shows us Israel will play a central role in The Last Days. But would God allow six million of His chosen people to go to hell for that end. No, somehow in some way God had mercy on these six million, but how?

There would have been no pride left in those six million as they were stripped of their clothing and sent to the gas chambers or otherwise killed. They would have been like sheep led to the slaughter, and Isaiah 53 tells us we all are sheep who have gone astray and that the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. In their pitiful state, asking for forgiveness would have been the one thing left for them that they had any control over. They would have been humble and poor in spirit.

Then a light flashed in my mind, hopefully from the Holy Spirit, since I was driving 70 miles per hour on Interstate 94. Could Jesus have been thinking of those six million Jews at the Sermon on the Mount with the first and the eighth beatitudes.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the Kingdom of Heaven. Who would have been more poor in spirit than those six million.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs in the Kingdom of Heaven. Righteousness means being in right standing with God. God chose the Jews to be His chosen people from whom a Savior would come. That’s righteous. And God wants His chosen people to give up themselves and surrender to Him. That’s all that was left for those six million.  Did every single one of the six million ask for forgiveness and surrender their lives to their Creator? Most likely not. But they had the chance to do so.

How God worked all that out, I don’t know, but I do know that God is a merciful God and would not have let six million of His chosen people be sent to hell. Jesus died for them as surely as He died for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David—as surely as He died for you and me.      

ABOUT JUDAS

On my drive to the VA in St. Cloud and back last week, I asked the Holy Spirit to give me another installment of what I call God’s History Lessons. I don’t give Him the subject matter; He gives it to me. And I don’t get a word-for-word “Thus sayeth the Lord,” from Him but more His insights that are deposited as thoughts in my mind that I write out later with my words. The topic on that trip was About Judas.

Why did Jesus choose Judas to be one of His twelve apostles when He knew he would sell Him out for thirty pieces of silver? Jesus would have been arrested in some other way and have fulfilled His mission to be crucified on a cross and resurrected three days later in the flesh. Judas was not crucial to the story of salvation. I asked the Holy Spirit that question, and the history lesson began.

Jesus taught the truths and foundations of the Christian faith often through stories, which we call parables, so His followers and us today would not forget them. After all, who forgets a memorable story? A few examples of these stories in the New Testament are the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the owner of a vineyard, the ten virgins, and the rich young ruler. In the example of Judas, the story is given to us in a real person. He was the son of perdition and would have been lost for eternity even without his famous betrayal.

Here’s the lesson the Holy Spirit imparted to me. Judas was close to Jesus for three years but sold Him out for money (an idol). Then I thought, “How else do His followers sell Him out, keeping in mind that I’m one of His followers?” A list of sell-outs quickly came to mind—money, power, position, a job, drugs, alcohol, wanting to be liked by the world, and all the other ways we say, “I have my rights, it’s all about me, I deserve this, don’t cross me, how dare she do that to me, I will do it my own way, and those people don’t deserve any mercy from me.”

The examples of selling out Jesus were all about what other people do, of course. That thought lasted about ten seconds. Then I realized I also sell out Jesus more often than I’d like to admit. This is not confession time, but I fit into the list in the paragraph above when I am not living in Christ as fully as I should, when I do not put Him above me in this or that situation, when I say I will not follow His command in this instance though I know better, and whenever else I choose to live in the world for a time instead of my true home—His Kingdom here on earth.

As a side note, there are at least four prophecies about Judas in the Old Testament—three in Psalms and one in Zechariah. God knew what was going to happen to His Son, that Judas would play a role, and that He would teach a lesson through the betrayal of one of Jesus chosen twelve.  

Trusting a Spiritual Mentor

“On a personal level,” Jack continued, “my sister-in-law has been diagnosed with breast cancer and my favorite uncle died last month of a stroke. Our good friends were hit by a large car that couldn’t stop on an icy road in December. They’re lucky to be alive. Where’s the goodness of God in all this? Where’s the safety?”
Jack ran out of breath as he finished his litany and sat in silence.
“You see the world as all bad news, don’t you, Jack?” Manny asked, “filled with turbulence, trouble, chaos, and crime. To you, life is unexplained chaos.”
Manny paused.
“Don’t you think there’s any joy, peace, or safety on this earth—or anything good? Don’t you see that your wife and two boys are a blessing to you?”
Jack looked at him with a blank stare.
Manny challenged Jack with a question that framed everything he’d been asking himself.
“Would you like to find the safest place on earth?”
“Where would that be?” Jack responded in a voice empty of emotion.
His voice gained a sliver of hope as he said, “Is there such a place? Could you show me where it is?”
Manny’s face lit up. “Yes, there’s such a place, and I can help you find it. Are you willing to let me guide you?”
Jack thought to himself, “What do I have to lose?”
But how could he agree to follow the directions of a man he’d met only thirty minutes before?
There was something about Manny he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He spoke with a voice of authority and credibility. His face had an aura of understanding and compassion. The timbre and inflections of his voice resonated with strings in Jack’s created being called hope and joy, the vibration of which he hadn’t felt for years.
In the fourth chapter of John, Jesus said to Peter and his brother Andrew, “Come follow Me,” and “they left their nets and followed Him.”
Later, He came upon James and his brother John in a boat with their father. When Jesus called them, “immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.”
The four of them didn’t think twice. Jesus asked; they followed. It was that way with Jack responding to Manny’s question.

From Finding the Safest Place on Earth

Available at: https://bit.ly/SafestPlaceonAmazon

Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. John 15:4

“We know the Holy Spirit lives in us from the time we are born-again. So too does Jesus and His Father, since the two are one, as Scripture tells us. However, if I say, ‘Jesus lives in me,’ the focus is on me. If I say, ‘I live in Jesus,’ the focus is rightly on Him.

“So, Jack, instead of asking Him to come into your world, where He already is, you go into His world. If you are remaining in Him, you will do as He does. You will seek to please Him instead of yourself. You will not so much ask Him to help you in your endeavors as to ask Him what He wants you to do–in His kingdom.

“If you focus on Christ abiding in you, the influence of the natural world, your self-centered self, and the temptations of Satan are in competition with the presence of Jesus.
“That’s what happened to you at the retirement party last night. Jesus was living in you, but your wanting to please Dr. James and all the people there was greater than your wanting to please Jesus. Satan nailed you when the world took over and you lost your Jesus focus. There was too much of the world and you; there wasn’t enough of Jesus. The first toast set the agenda, and it all went downhill from there.”

From Finding the Safest Place on Earth

Available at: https://bit.ly/SafestPlaceonAmazon

Nightfall

Did I pray much, today, Lord, in thankfulness and dependence on You? Did I abide in You and listen to your gentle voice throughout this day?

Or did I walk along a path I had chosen in my world, aware only vaguely of Your presence.

Holy Spirit, help me to be humble and meek, to be merciful and pure in heart, and to be poor in spirit and righteous in Your sight.

Abide in Me

Abide in Me, and I in you.
John 15:4

This is a conditional promise: if you abide in Jesus, He will abide in you.

The first part of this verse is a command: Abide in Me, and this is where our focus should be. Other translations say, Live in Me, Remain in Me, or Dwell in Me.

Andrew Murray wrote a book called abide in Christ. It was not called abide in Christ, and He will abide in you. He went for the command instead of the promise. After all, the promise is not fruitful until the command is kept.

We know that the Holy Spirit lives in us from the time we are born-again. So too does Jesus. And His Father, since the two are one, as Scripture tells us. If I say, “Jesus lives in me,” the focus is on me. If I say, “I live in Jesus,” the focus is on Him, where it should be.  

So, my friends, live in Jesus today. If you are living in Him, you will do as He does. You will seek to please Him instead of yourself. You will not so much ask Him to help you in your endeavors as to ask Him what He wants you to do this day – in His kingdom.    

Election Day

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”  
“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”  Joshua 5:12-14

Joshua was asking the wrong question. A modern-day Joshua would ask Jesus (who scholars say is the man standing in front of Joshua), “Are You for the Republicans or the Democrats, are You for Trump or Harris?”

And Jesus would answer, “Neither. What I’m really asking is are you for Me?”

You might think, “Why wouldn’t Jesus be for the Israelites against the pagans in Jericho? After all, they were his chosen people.” What Jesus is telling us today is that there is only one side to take – that of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It’s not Trump or Harris. It’s Jesus Christ we must choose. Then life will become clear to us, and we won’t get caught up in distractions. Today, I ask you to take a stand, but not for Trump or Harris. Take a stand for Jesus. In the last election, I wrote in Jesus Christ as my choice for president.

Two Worlds

There is the natural world, which we have inherited from Adam, and there is the Spiritual world, which we have received from God.

The natural world consists of our self-centered and sinful selves, the ways of the world, and the influence of Satan. The Spiritual world is the Spirit of God and His involvement in His creation.

Throughout the day, we choose in which world to live. When we press our own way or call someone names, we’re choosing the natural world. If, on the other hand, we lend a hand to someone less fortunate than ourselves in Christ’s name, we’re choosing the Spiritual world.

Which world are you going to choose as you walk through this day?

David Wilkerson, God is Faithful, October 10

“A humble person is not one who thinks little of himself, hangs his head and says, “I am nothing.” Rather he is someone who depends wholly on the Lord for everything, in every circumstance. He knows the Lord has to direct him – and that he is dead, ineffective and useless without that direction. ”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you, Jack. You were reading the Bible like a novel. You started in the beginning and planned to read straight through to the end. That’s a terrible plan.”

Jack took on the manner of an unruly student. He was resistive and combative. “Then what is a good plan?”

Jack unfolded his arms and gazed at a stained glass window on the west wall. Manny counted the organ pipes at the front of the chapel. They took a two-minute break to return to a calmer state of mind. That gave the Holy Spirit time to work on both of them.

Manny continued in a soft voice. “I’d suggest you start with the Gospel of John in the New Testament and Genesis in the Old. Read back-and-forth between the two. After that, read through Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the New Testament and Exodus, Psalms, and Isaiah in the Old. Use the same back-and-forth technique. We can discuss where to go after that. If you search online for Read through the Bible in a year, you’ll find all sorts of plans.”

From Finding the Safest Place on Earth https://bit.ly/SafestPlaceonAmazon