There are many folks today who seem to be so angry — at the world, at our nation, at the political system and at each other.
Just watch as you drive your vehicle, read the newspaper, watch the evening news or glance at Facebook. We ask, “What is going on?”
Truth is truth, no matter how one twists it. There is a right, and there is a wrong. The Bible tells us, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts” (Proverbs 21:2). It’s also written: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Proverbs 12:15).
I for one agree with what the Word of God says.
As Jesus was praying to the Father He said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy Word is Truth …” (John 17:17). As the disciples saw Jesus taken up to heaven (Acts 1), they knew without a doubt that Jesus was God and his home was heaven.
They remembered He had told them the comrforter would come and guide them into all truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit would comfort His followers, guide them to know His truth, remind them of Jesus’ words and fill them with power.
If you have received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, you understand what I’m saying. If you have not received Christ, then you cannot understand.
The Holy Spirit marks the beginning of our Christian experience. We cannot belong to Christ or be adopted as His children without Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. We cannot be in the Body of Christ without His Holy Spirit. It is written, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12).
Do you have the Son? To know the will of God, one must have the Holy Spirit within. One must be what Jesus called “born again” (John 3).
Until this happens we cannot understand what the Word of God is saying to us.
Have you sensed your need of Him? Have you come to the point in your life you don’t know what to do? Have you felt Him convicting you of the sinful life you have led?
We must first see our lost condition; we must know our lives have been spent away from God and we have chosen our own way instead of His. Sometimes it takes us hitting rock bottom to ever understand we need a Savior. I can assure you on the basis of God’s Word that “whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This calling is a repentant heart, a turning away from sin, and commitment to follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. When this happens the Holy Spirit will be sent by God to indwell you forever, enabling you to live a life pleasing in His sight.
His Holy Spirit is the power of our new lives as He begins a lifelong process of changing us to be more like Christ. When we receive Christ we begin an immediate personal life with God, and the Holy Spirit begins to open the Scriptures to us. The Spirit gives us understanding of His will and the power, courage, insight and boldness to witness not what we are going to do for God, but to show and tell what God has done for us.
Consider this: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:12-14).
I pray you will take this to heart.
Friends, there is no rest living outside God’s moral and ethical boundaries. Anger and violent behavior will never be overcome until we place Jesus Christ at the very center of our lives.
As Dr. Charles Stanley has said numerous times, “Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.”
Lance Stevens pastors at Huntsville Evangelical Community Church in Pendleton. He and his wife, Judy, are formerly of Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members. Send comments to dr-editorial@greenfield reporter.com.
