★ HOLY SPIRIT!

"But When HE, The SPIRIT of truth, comes, HE will guide you into all truth.  HE will not  speak on HIS own; HE will speak only what HE hears, and HE will tell you what is yet to come. HE will bring glory to ME by taking from what is mine and making it known to you." - John 16:13, 14

The HOLY SPIRIT glorifies JESUS by unfolding to HIS people JESUS' Person, character and work. The SPIRIT is the great  ministering agent between the Church  on earth and its glorified Head in heaven. HE carries up as The Intercessor the ever-recurring needs, trials, perplexities and sins of the believers which is seen in Romans 8:26, 27. Then HE receives out of CHRIST'S inexhaustible treasury of love, and returns to the people of the Church comfort for their sorrows,  strength for tgeir weakness, consolation for their tears and fulness for their emptiness.

The one sublime object of the SPIRIT's work, CHRIST says, is to "glorify ME". The SPIRIT tells us of CHRIST's love and delights in magnifying HIM in our affections. How faithful HE has been in HIS great office as the "Glorifier of JESUS"!  On the day if Pentecost,  Peter preached to the Jews with a demonstration of the HOLY SPIRIT and power that JESUS has been exalted"as Leader and SAVIOR, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins" as seen in Acts 5:3. It is still the same peerless truth which The SPIRIT delights to unfold to the stricken sinner: the glorious beauties of CHRIST'S work.

Do you realize that any understanding you have had of the SAVIOR's glory and excellency is of the SPIRIT's impart ing? And in some hour of sorrow have you experienced the consolation of the thought of The Redeemer's sympathy  and sustaining power? This too is the work of The HOLY SPIRIT, taking the things of CHRIST and showing them to you. As you live your Christian life, seek to bear in mind that the SPIRIT alone is qualified to impart to you "THE EXCELLENCY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST".

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             J. R. MacDuff

The convicting work of the HOLY SPIRIT is directed not only toward the unsaved but also operates in believers and the Church in order to teach, correct and guide them into truth.

The HOLY SPIRIT will speak to believers concerning
* Sin
* The righteousness of CHRIST and
* The judgement of evil.

And the HOLY SPIRIT does that in order to
* Conform them to CHRIST and HIS standard of righteousness.
* Guide them into all truth and
* Glorify CHRIST.

Thus, The HOLY SPIRIT works within believers to reproduce CHRIST'S holy life in their lives.

If SPIRIT-filled believers reject the SPIRIT's guidance and convicting work, and if they do not "by The SPIRIT .... put to death the misdeeds of the body" (Romans 8:13), then they will enter into condemnation. Only those who recieve the truth and are "led by the SPIRIT of GOD" are "sons of GOD" (Romans 8:14 ) and are able therefore able to continue in the SPIRIT's fullness. Sin destroys both the life and fulness of the HOLY SPIRIT within the believer.

The HOLY SPIRIT takes what is CHRIST'S and reveals it to the believer.  HE takes the presence,  love, forgiveness, redemption,  sanctification,  power, spiritual gifts, healing, and all that is ours through our faith relationship with CHRIST, and makes it experientially real in our lives. Through the SPIRIT,  JESUS returns to us to disclose HIS love, grace and personal fellowship.  The SPIRIT works within us to do what is necessary to awaken and deepen our awareness of JESUS' presence in our lives,  drawing our hearts toward HIM in faith, love, obedience, communion,  worship and praise.

★ F E A R!

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear GOD and keep HIS commandments,  for this is man's all. Ecclesiastes 12:13(NKJV)

Everything in life boils down to this one simple truth, FEARING GOD. So the all-important question is, What does it mean to fear GOD? For many,  this would describe the feeling you get when you see a snake or go to the doctor or dentist or when you find yourself in a time of extreme danger. It is dread of the unknown. Surely, this is not the sensation Solomon is referring to.

In our modern vernacular, the word FEAR, in the context in which it is used by Solomon, has been replaced with reverence, awe and great respect.  What the writer of this book is saying is that we are to have a deep reverence and respect for The LORD. Literally, we are to be awed and humbled by HIS presence.  Fearing GOD includes that but it is not limited to, respecting and reverencing HIM. Holy fear gives GOD the place of glory, honor, reverence,  thanksgiving,  praise and pre-eminence HE deserves.

But simply put, fearing GOD is to respect HIS holiness by hating what HE hates and loving what HE loves, with a wholesome dread of displeasing HIM.

When we truly fear The LORD, we will recognize that
HE is The CREATOR and we are the creatures,
HE is The MASTER and we are the servants,
HE is The FATHER and we are the children.

This attitude will manifest itself in our having a respect for GOD,  HIS WORD, and in our having a desire to do what HE tells us to do in The Bible. We can relate this kind of fear to that which a child has for his parents.  If the right kind of fear is present,  the child knows that his parents can punish him if there is disobedience;  but overriding that fear is the knowledge that disobedience hurts the parents,  and the child loves and respects his parents and does not want to hurt them. 

To put it simply,  the fear of The LORD is a deep-seated reverence for GOD that causes men to want to please HIM at all costs.

This article is written by  T. P. Hadley.