Stuff discussed yesterday, during my weekly visitation to a family per the father’s request:
Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
Isaiah 30:26
Revelations are not only as words, but as literal light; Light shines in the darkness, and things are revealed. Revelations, therefore, are not necessarily for things that are new, but also for stuff that just needed light to shine upon them for us to see them.
Now that I’m going through this Scripture, this verse in particular, I find it amazing to imagine how the night literally turns into day, when the light of the moon becomes as the sun; and, apparently, during the actual day the light of the sun will be ‘as the light of seven days’ in what I’m assuming is just one day; Pretty bright, whether day or night, but definitely revealing!
Light increases and more revelations are seen; and as more revelations are seen, peace ensues, beginning in our minds, and then our bodies; and with that in mind, we can also say light leads to revelation, and revelations lead to peace AND healing for our minds and bodies. What we once saw as broken is now bound, and all wounds would be relieved.
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
2 Corinthians 7:10
As we talked about this verse we were reminded of how unfortunate it is for the world that has still to know Christ, because they have no proper outlet for their grief and regret that results in peace and restoration. Instead, we have compassion for them, because we were as they were; We were stuck with 2 options: (1) keep in the grief and regret, or (2) find a destructive ‘outlet’, both leading, or rather producing death.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:6-8
With that in mind it was stirred in our hearts that we shouldn’t stop at acknowledging the Lord in all our plans, that our thoughts would be established and our steps would be directed. Wonderful as that sounds, we should also cast our anxieties upon the Lord, because He cares for us.
It’s an open challenge for us, especially at this start of the year. Sure, we have all our plans and resolutions, but let us not neglect that part of us that still struggles with regrets, condemnation, fear, grief and anxiety. It’s not a matter of positive thinking, as the world would prescribe (In fact, positive thinking is counterproductive because we ignore these very real threats!) – it’s taking on these struggles head on, by way of casting them to our Father, who cares for us!
So that was yesterday, and today, I have a couple of Fridays left to fellowship with just the afternoon service worship team, before all this becomes a full-blown Youth Service beginning February.
With that in mind I thought it’d just be nice and timely for me to remind them of their foundations, and to never stop practicing and mastering their basics – and in this case, the basics I prescribe can easily be found in a set of verses they actually already know about:
Final Instructions and Benediction
12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.1 Thessalonians 5:12-22
I usually just start from verse 16 but I thought it’d be nice to go through all the verses included within context… because this is probably something I’m not going to discuss just now, but again, and again, and again… Basics.
Taking a look at verse 12, are we going to start where it says ‘respect those who labor among you‘? We COULD, but I want to emphasize that, before anything else, we are, in ministry, brothers. And, sure, sisters. Unlike co-workers that come and go, and friends and acquaintances that we can choose and reject, we’re in a legitimate family here – we’re brothers and sisters, meaning we didn’t choose each other, but we already have this bond with each other, no matter what. And whether we like each other, or downright reject each other, it’ll never change the fact that we are, ultimately, brothers and sisters in Christ.
With that in mind, it makes more sense for us to ease into respecting each other – I mean, sure, we’re being cordial with each other, we’re being civil with each other, we laugh at each other’s jokes, we say ‘amen’ when the pastor asks us to say ‘amen’, but I’m talking about a loving respect that remains even when authority needs to be exercised (for those who are ‘over you’ in the Lord), and stands even during times of rebuke, teaching and reminding, and admonishment. We’re to respect each other, are we’re to be at peace with each other.
We live out our being brothers and sisters to one another by:
- Admonishing the idle – Reprove, caution, rebuke, warn the lazy, the slothful and the sluggish.
- Encourage the fainthearted – Remind them of their courage in Christ, and the finished work of Christ that is the foundation and basis of their work.
- Help the weak – Go beyond mere words and actually help those who need help to stand. Go more than words to help those who are more than just fainthearted, but literally weak.
If we’re to be at peace with each other, to respect one another as brothers and sisters, we’re to be patient with one another, no matter if we’re idle, fainthearted, and/or weak.
Furthermore, we shouldn’t go with the flow of the world and pay evil back for evil. We’re reminded in another part of Scripture, the final verse of Romans 12, specifically – that we should not be overcome by evil, but we overcome evil with good.
In this case, we respond to evil in our ranks by seeking to do good to one another… and to everyone. To do good to each other is the greatest revenge, if you want to see it that way.
It’s foundational, it’s basic for us to see each other as brothers and sisters – together, not for any other reason but for Christ, with Christ the firstborn of our redemption.
It’s foundational and basic for us to respect one another, and to be at peace with one another – to admonish each other, to encourage each other, to help each other.
It’s foundational and basic for us to love one another – and by this the world will know that we are Christ’s when we love one another.
That’s for this Friday… What follows would be for the final Friday, and the final day of January 2025.
6 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
I’m gently and so graciously reminded, here and now, that before these verses that talk about our individual conduct, we have verses 12-15, which talk about our conduct towards others – as if to say that our behavior towards others matters before the ‘foundations’ we establish among ourselves individually. That we’re to regard each other before ourselves.
Beautiful.
Anyway, with that duly noted, we’re then reminded of how we act when nobody else is around, or when nobody else is looking. We’re then reminded of our defaults, as individuals.
That’s it, isn’t it – we have our foundations for each other, and we have our defaults with ourselves; and before anything else, we’re to rejoice.
And here’s something. Any other movement, or any other mindset could stop right there. To rejoice. To have positive thinking – but we’re not only to rejoice, but to rejoice ALWAYS. That means, that even when we have absolutely NO reason to rejoice at any given moment, we will still rejoice.
What is this? Mind conditioning? Brainwashing? No. it’s the conscious choice to rejoice, to praise God, and, really, to bring us to realizing the goodness and greatness of our omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God and Creator even in the darkest and most hopeless of situations. Admittedly, impossible on our own… but a pleasure and a privilege for us, provided and made available by no less than the Holy Spirit.
By the Holy Spirit we rejoice always.
And by the Holy Spirit we pray without ceasing. We could make this a literal thing, continually talking to God whether through our thoughts or our spoken word – but good luck with that. I say that it’s by the Holy Spirit that we pray without ceasing, on the grounds that it’s the Holy Spirit that’s the One that prays to us – that is, He COMMUNICATES to us consistently, constantly, going a step further by CONVICTING us of our righteousness.
Why is this important? This means that with or without our conscious awareness of it, the Holy Spirit reminds us at every given moment, with every breath we take, with every beat of our hearts, and in every single second of our existence in this reality, and BEYOND – we are righteous before God, meaning we are always in right-standing before Him, in fact so close to Him ALL the time that we are not only able to see Him in all His greatness and live, but more importantly we are able to RUN to His throne of grace, not just calling Him our God, but our FATHER.
The Holy Spirit reminds us, convicts us at every single moment that we are with Him, and He is with us; All that we do, from the greatest of schemes down to the smallest of movements are seen, and ultimately communicated to Him. This is my premise for saying that by the Holy Spirit, we really are communicating to the Lord without ceasing. That means that even when we’re sleeping, we’re praying. Consequently, even when we’re focused on something else, He’s communicating to us.
By the Holy Spirit we pray without ceasing. This also entails that even when we have absolutely no reason to rejoice, our constant communication remains constant, and is therefore the one reason we CAN give thanks, no matter what. We give Him thanks in all circumstances, and in so doing, we do the will of God. To give thanks is to do the will of God.
Sorry for the page break there, it’s just that I ended writing there, went off to fellowship with some fine folks, and picked all of this up… I’m writing it here before it escapes my mind, that is.
Legacy is no longer in the forefront. Christ is.
There’s pivot of thinking. There’s a renewal of the mind. There ARE revelations.
We’re moving from implying that you need to be hungry for the Word, to testifying how good the Gospel tastes.
We’re moving from ‘faking it till you make it’, and ‘rebuking the sickness/poverty/spirit of this and that’, to proclaiming that the Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness, our right standing with God, His being with us in all the pain and suffering, and greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world.
There’s a greater emphasis, a deeper application of our true trust in the Lord, and the glory and grace follows.
And I suppose it’s no coincidence that I talk about these things before continuing through the Scripture I have prepared here… because the next item states, ‘Do not quench the Spirit‘… and here, we see precisely why – because He has some high-quality, grade-A, S-tier revelations to give us! It’s not about us resisting the resistance, more that is it just to allow the Spirit to speak to us. We shouldn’t be quenching the Water we so desperately need!
Finally, when the Thessalonians were advised not to despise prophecies, it was to emphasize that we should honor words that are spoken to us – how? Well, by what follows: We test all things, hold fast to what good comes from the testing, and abstaining from the evil.
How do we know that something is good and worth holding on to? How do we know what is evil, and what to abstain from?
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 1 John 4:1-3
All prophecy, and all that must be tested must point to Christ and His finished work. All that points to Christ – His birth, death, resurrection and ascension – is worth holding on to. Anything that places focus on anything else should be taken with a grain of salt.
Beautiful.
I think I’m good with this for now. Still have a lot to write about and to cover regarding my message for this coming Sunday.
What a good and great God we have. Indeed, what an awesome Father we have.
Until the next post, may the Lord bless us abundantly, and greatly.
May all the breakthroughs and miracles, may all things point to Christ and His finished work – to the glory of His name.
Amen!
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