Finding The Holy Spirit In The Bible

FINDING THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BIBLE

I find it amazing how so many people can misinterpret the bible, but then, it is a holy book, set aside by God for those led by His Spirit. I was witnessing to someone of another religion, and he had so many misinterpretations and misrepresentations given to him of Christianity, it is no wonder he didn't want to become a Christian. For example, he was misled to believe we get baptized without clothes, and of course, I set THAT straight! Then he said that he was taught that the angel Gabriel was the Holy Spirit, and of course, I set that straight with him, too! Angels are finite; since the Holy Spirit is God, He is infinite, and was never the angel Gabriel, who brought important messages to cetain biblical figures, such as Daniel: "And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, 'Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.'" (Dan. 8:16) But you know, it would be nice to point out some places to find the Holy Spirit in the bible, and all His different names, and what the titles emphasize. Let's do that, shall we?
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;" (Eph. 4:4) Here His title is "One Spirit", emphasizing His unity. There is one God, and therefore there is one Spirit of God.  "And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." (Rev. 3:1) Here Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit, and the emphasis in the title He has given the Spirit is on His perfection, completelness, and omnipresence. Only seven churches are named, but in His perfect omnipresence, He is at all seven simultaneously.

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. 3:18) Here the Holy Spirit, by His title "the Lord", is given emphasis of His sovereignty.

"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:14) The title "eternal Spirit" by simple logic emphasizes His eternality. The triune God, which includes the Holy Spirit, is as a circle, with no beginning or end, and thus is this facet of God's essence.

"If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified." (1 Pet. 4:14) "Spirit of glory" is quite simply an emphasis of His glory, as we recognize that all glory and honor belongs to God, and as this is so, this is one of a number of perfect titles belonging to God.

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Rom. 8:2) The emphasis here is on the Spirit's vitality. The Spirit regularly works in the life of a believer, but it is not mechanical, as in manual labor and tools, for we are wonderfully made, and each one of us has a life to live that is not like the lives of others, although we may have similar experiences; yet we will all have different responses to different influences in our environment, so each of us needs a different type of influence upon us to be led in the right way, and herein is the perfection of the beauty of the constant work He does in our lives.

"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." (1 John 2:20) This is an obvious emphasis of His holiness, and as we are anointed with Him, we are guided by Him; He is our internal compass, our disceernment between right and wrong. If we make a mistake, if we sin, He lets us know! The elect are not called so for nothing; we are set apart to God!

We're going to go Old Testament now; He was certainly present there, too, you know! "And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;" (Isa. 11:2) Here of course, the emphasis is on His counsel, omniscience, and wisdom. But there's more to this particular passage, it's about Jesus, too! "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness," (Luke 4:1) This passage in Luke represents the oneness of God; here the Holy Spirit is in Jesus, and likewise, Jesus stated His oneness with our Father God as well; "I and My Father are one." (John 10:30) Looking back in Isa. 11:2, let us also note two other names of the Holy Spirit that Isaiah gives us. Spirit of might refers emphasis to His omnipotence, and Spirit of the fear of the Lord gives us emphasis of His reverence.

"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:17) Your natural conclusion would be that this title gives emphasis to His truthfulness. As we already know, God cannot lie! "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" (Tit. 1:2)

"Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Heb. 10:29) Here is a title emphasizing His grace, and this particular passage gives great magnitude to the sin of unbelief.

Shall we look in the Old Testament one more time? "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." (Zech. 12:10) While this passage speaks much of the yet-to-be-born Messiah, Jesus Christ, it also refers to the Holy Spirit as "the Spirit of grace and supplication", and herein we quite naturally derive the emphasis as being on His grace and intercession.

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;" (John 14:16) "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26) Translated "Paraclete" in Greek, this title given by Christ emphasizes more than His comfort, but also His wisdom, counsel, intercession, omniscience and vitality!

While I have been concentrating on the names by which one may find the Holy Spirit in the bible, I have as yett to address how He appears. The first, is as an invisible force from within; "And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?" (1 Sam. 10:10 - 11) In this instance, He came upon Saul, and caused him to prophesy.

In a spectacular show nowhere else written of in Scripture, He appeared as a dove in a triune God display at Jesus' baptism! "And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:16 - 17)

He again appeared visually among Jesus' disciples in the book of Acts: "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:2 - 4)

My final sample of His appearance is this portion of Scripture: "And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." (Rev. 15:8)

So from all this we understand that the Holy Spirit can be found in many places in Scripture, and appear as He wills, and goes by a number of names. God bless us, all His people, that the Spirit should be with us always and forever!

How To Love God With All Your Heart,Soul, And Mind

HOW TO LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, SOUL, AND MIND

In the gospel it is written that a lawyer asked Jesus, "'Master, which is the great commandment in the law?' Jesus said unto him, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.'" (Matt. 22:36 - 40) Have you ever asked yourself, "How do I do that?" Let's see if we can give that question a satisfactory answer...
OBEY - Since we know Jesus to be the Son of God, let's look at His totally accredited view of the matter; He would know best! "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." (John 14:15) So He equates love with obedience? "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21) Yes, He does! Obey His commandments, and you're loving Him! Now the next logical question is, "Okay, how do I obey Him?" I have to know His commandments, rules, and statutes!

READ AND BELIEVE THE BIBLE - There are so many out there who want to get rid of the word of God. Why is that? Because it convicts them! They have not the knowledge that their salvation is in Christ Jesus, and have not accepted Him as Lord and Savior, and so they want to get rid of it, and even deviously destroy its credibility by creating counterfeit versions of bibles so as to distort His word and discredit God! The best, oldest, and most trusted bible is the KJV, NKJV, and Christian Jewish bible, while the most distorted versions are the NIV and the NWT. The bible must be credible in order to have sufficient faith that the word of God is true. If it is not credible, then our faith and trust in Him is destroyed. These devious people work for the devil, who wants to drive a wedge between His sheep and Him for as many of God's children as possible, and we must deny Satan this desire! It would take up too much time and space to write all His commandments here, but if we do our best to obey the two written in Jesus statement, then we obey all the commandments! As you read throughout the bible, you can apply each of the many you find to your life, that you may demonstrate your love. Here's a commandment that many people nowadays are not aware of and break; "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD." (Lev. 19:28) I don't write this commandment not to put tattoos on your body to make anyone feel convicted or hurt, I put it here because many Christians don't realize this commandment exists, because they don't read their bibles enough to be aware of it! Many have even had Christian tattoos on their body, not realizing God did not want them to do that! So I feel I make a good point that we must constantly be reading our bible to know what all God wants us to do to demonstrate our love for Him. Okay, now there's one more precept -

BELIEVE IN JESUS, THE SON OF GOD - "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:16 - 18) I printed not just the most famous verse in Christianity, but also the two after it, and for good reason; God has a REWARD for loving Him! He also has a consequence for NOT loving Him! For all of you that are fathers out there, this will ring true; if your child loves you, don't you love that child back? And if your child rebels against you, don't you discipline that child?   As you created your child, so the Father created YOU! He wants you to love Him just as much as any good child loves their father. "The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice." (Prov. 23:24 - 25) A good child loves their father, and he is pleased of him. So it is with God; if we love Him with our all, so He will be pleased of us! God's commandment is for us to believe in Jesus, that we should have eternal life. It pleases God that we believe in His Son, our Savior; let us believe in Him and obey God. He is our Judge, our Savior, our Master, our Creator, our Rock, our Shield, and so much more. He is our all-in-all! Let us strive to love Him with our heart, soul and mind every day!

Anyone Seen God Lately?

ANYONE SEEN GOD LATELY?

I have been witnessing to a couple muslims recently, and they are relatively well-studied on our bible as well as their koran. Makes you wonder how they haven't realized salvation and converted to Christianity, but then we know how the glorious gospel is hidden, unless God chooses to open their eyes. In any case, they ask some interesting questions, perhaps testing what I know of my own faith, but One question one of them asked what seemed a good bible study topic, so I have chosen to write here of it. Who all do you suppose has seen God? Let's not forget our God is not like their Allah, ours is the true triune God, so this question considers the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let's dig in...
Abraham is the first who comes to mind having actually seen God in the form of the Son. "And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, 'My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant.' And they said, 'So do, as thou hast said'...And the LORD said unto Abraham, 'Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, "Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?" Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.' Then Sarah denied, saying, 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid. And He said, 'Nay; but thou didst laugh.'" (Gen. 18:1 - 5, 13 - 15) In this text of Scripture, understand that Jesus in His preincarnate form visited Abraham with two of His angels, and the angels would later go to rescue Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, but as the Lord is omniscient, He knew Sarah's thoughts to laugh in her mind of the thought she would bear a son in her advanced age, and so He mentioned it aloud, to Sarah's denial.

Moses got to see God, but not in His true image until later in his relationship with the Almighty. The first audiovisual contact, as we know, was the burning bush; "And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, 'I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.' And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, 'Moses, Moses.' And he said, 'Here am I.' And He said, 'Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.' Moreover He said, 'I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God." (Exod. 3:2 - 6) Once out of Egypt, Moses and the people saw a visual aid from God in the form of a pillar of fire each night and a pillar of cloud by day! "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." (Exod. 13:21 - 22) Now this was not the true form of God, because no man has truly seen God ever! "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." (John 1:18) Since God is Spirit, He is invisible in His true form. "Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink." (Exod. 24:9 - 11) Let us remember again, this was not God's true form, because as we will soon read, nobody can see God in His true glory, and live! The last and most provocative viewing of God by Moses comes from this passage of Scripture: "And he said, 'I beseech Thee, shew me Thy glory.' And He said, 'I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.' And He said, 'Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live.' And the LORD said, 'Behold, there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand while I pass by: And I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My back parts: but My face shall not be seen.'" (Exod. 33:18 - 23) What is particularly special about this is that Moses is the only person in the bible to see the true physical, bodily glory of the Lord, even if only from behind!

Jacob not only saw God, he actually wrestled with Him! "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when He saw that He prevailed not against him, He touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with Him. And He said, 'Let Me go, for the day breaketh.' And he said, 'I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.' And He said unto him, 'What is thy name?' And he said, 'Jacob.' And He said, 'Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.' And Jacob asked Him, and said, 'Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy name.' And He said, 'Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My name?' And He blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (Gen. 32:24 - 30) Once again, Jesus granted a theophany to a member of the human race!

The parents of Samson also received the blessing of being able to see the Old Testament form of Jesus: "But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that He was an angel of the LORD. And Manoah said unto his wife, 'We shall surely die, because we have seen God.' But his wife said unto him, 'If the LORD were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would He have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these." (Judg. 13:21 - 23)

Nebuchadnezzar, an unbelieving king of Daniel's time, was the first heathen to recognize the presence of the Son of God, despite the flames of a fiery furnace! "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, 'Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?' They answered and said unto the king, 'True, O king.' He answered and said, 'Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.'" (Dan. 3:24 - 25) This is the last preincarnate theophany of Christ. Then He is born, and Emmanuel, God with us, is seen until He ascends in to heaven in the clouds at the beginning of the book of Acts.

Philip gets an interesting response when he asks Jesus to show them the Father; "Philip saith unto him, 'Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.' Jesus saith unto him, 'Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, "Shew us the Father?" Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake.'" (John 14:8 - 11) Jesus is trying to tell Philip that in seeing Him he sees the Father, since there is one God, and He and the Father are thereby one. Since no man can see the Father and live, because the apostles are seeing Jesus, they are seeing the Father in Christ's works. Let's see one last illustration from Scripture of what Jesus said, only this time, He is talking to the Jews in Solomon's porch: "'I and My Father are one.' Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, 'Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me?' The Jews answered Him, saying, 'For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God.' Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.'" (John 10:30 - 38)

So here is a number of illustrations that some have seen God, though not as He truly is in His glory, that they may not die. So today, when someone says they have seen Jesus, should we doubt that they have seen God?  According to Scripture, Jesus said this; "Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. 24:26 - 27) "And He said unto the disciples, 'The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in His day.'" (Luke 17:22 - 24) When He does come, it will be in this manner: "Which also said, 'Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11) He will come again in the clouds of heaven in the manner stated in Scripture, and in no other way shall He come.

Worldliness

WORLDLINESS

Worldliness, as we know, is at enmity with God. We live in the world, and worldliness will be discussed in four parts - The cause, its characteristics, consequences, and cure. James covered the entire concept in his 4th chapter, but it is also touched on in other books as well, and I would like to put it all together to better illustrate these parts.
1. The Cause - "From whence come wars and fightings among you?  Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not." (James 4:1 - 2) If you are a "me" person, you are a worldly person. Worldly people desire what they want, and put their desires ahead of the desires of others to the point of offense, even to the point of killing. How many countries have had wars over property, let alone one person killing another over desire for someone's land, or even spouse! The Christian is at constant war with worldliness, and that war is within! "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Gal. 5:17 - 18) The Spirit-led are not worldly people, but they do fight with the temptation to worldly desires on a daily basis! "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;" (1 Peter 2:11) We are pilgrims of this world, and it is not our permanent home; for we live in, then die from this material existence.

2. Characteristics - When one judges a brother or sister, they disobey the law, put themselves above it, and thereby treat it with contempt! God is also forgotten by the worldly person, forgotten in all manner of business of daily life, and His word is not read by this person, nor judged as of value TO read, lest their worldly activities fall on them with conviction! "Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? Go to now, ye that say, 'To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain': Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, 'If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.' But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James 4:11 - 17)

3. Consequences - If someone is a worldly person, they are unfaithful to the God who made them. They love themselves and the things of the world instead of God, and therein lies the adultery, for they are not faithful to God, for they make themselves and things of the world their god before He who created them! If they love themselves more than God, He resists them, but if they are humble in their hearts, He has grace for them. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, 'The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy'? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, 'God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.'" (James 4:3 - 6) A worldly, sinful person God will not hear: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:" (Psa. 66:18) They need not ask God any thing in prayer. The person who keeps His commandments is not behaving as one of the world, and thereby is pleasing in His sight; that person He will hear! "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." (1 John 3:22) Those that walk as in the world, God is not in him; it is written that this is so. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15) The Christian does not live as of the world, rather they live by the doctrine of the bible. By all God's laws and precepts and His wisdom do they live, because all Jesus' commandments and precepts were a reiteration of God's commands of the Old Testament. If someone belongs to God, the world hates them, shuns them, even persecutes them, because of their allegiance to God. Likewise, they whom the world loves, and they love the world, those are enemies of God! One cannot love the world and God too. You can only love one. "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." (John 15:19) "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen. 6:5) This is worldliness, to not think of God and His goodness and of what He wants of you. Wicked thinking grieves God at His heart! Worldly thinking is wicked and grievous to God! God is kind to the humble, but only has scorn for the proud and scornful; "Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly." (Prov. 3:34)

4. The Cure - Now if a person discovers themselves involved in worldliness, there is a cure for being this way, and James has the answer: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." (James 4:7 - 10) As pride is a worldly characteristic, and is an adultery against the Lord, putting ones self before Him, one facet of the cure is humility. God knows our hearts, and whosoever humbles themselves in their hearts, He will know it. The devil is he who tempts us with all that is of the world, with pride, and materialism, and all the adultery the world has to offer. "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." (Eph. 6:11) Read the truth compiled in the whole bible, and in the Gospel, take up faith in God, keep in mind your salvation in Christ Jesus, and pray for a clean heart; "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psa. 51:10). David knew what to pray when he found himself not right with God! And as for drawing nigh to God, you will find this verse a very good support of Paul's cure for worldliness: "But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." (Deut. 4:29) As for cleansing your hands, Paul means here simply to stop doing worldly things and read the bible to learn how to do well instead of evil. Here's another passage of Scripture for support of what Paul meant. "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isa. 1:16 - 17) Turning from worldly ways involves repenting selfish ways, and showing love by serving fellow Christians, obeying the Lord in all His word as best one can. "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:" (1 Pet. 1:22) Let a worldly person obtain a serious spirit of confession and repentance before the Lord, and humbly rid themselves of worldliness; for our God forgives! "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

Widows & Orphans

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS

You know, God has for a long time given special concern for widows and orphans. He first spoke of it in Exodus, and it even goes on into the New Testament! He has specific instructions for their treatment, and as Christians we are called to treat them with loving concern, and that first time the bible brings up widows and orphans, there is warning for doing the opposite! Shall we start with that one?
"Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." (Exod. 22:22 - 24) Pretty straightforward, I would say! We are to look out for them, for they have no adult man to take care of them, as when they were married, for the widow, and no father figure, for the orphan(s).

Even involving tithing in Deuteronomy, the widows and orphans He involved: "At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest." (Deut. 14:28 - 29) So here the second tithe was for the Levite and the poor; not just the strangers, but also the widows and orphans! What wisdom there is in this, that God's love be shown by His people to the stranger, that they might have regard for His people as showing His love in their generosity to those without substance!

"And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place His name there. And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates." (Deut. 16:10 - 11, 14) Here during the feast of weeks, the Lord's instruction again includes orphans and widows. I don't know about you, but I certainly see a special love God has for these lone women and children without a father!

In those days, widows and orphans could not make use of social programs the way they do these days, particularly those blessed to be living in the U.S.; they had to fend for themselves, for the most part, and God made provisional instructions for them to earn their keep in the fields! "When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow." (Deut. 24:19 - 21)

Moses charged God's people to agree with him on a curse on people who did not treat widows and orphans properly: "Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'" (Deut. 27:19) Deut. 27 had quite a few curses for people who performed certain wicked acts, and this curse was among them.

In the book of Ruth, in chapter 2, is the story of a Moabitish woman, Ruth, the daughter-in-law of a Bethlehemite widow, Naomi, and of an upright godly man, Boaz. It ends up something of a romantic story of this man marrying the woman who accept the Israelite God as her God, but I bring you to chapter 2 of the book because Boaz, upon learning of Ruth, treats her exactly as God had commanded in Deuteronomy, and instructed especial leniency toward her to those who tended his fields, that they leave her plenty!

1 Kings 17:8 - 24 also has the story of Elijah interacting with a widow.  While the Lord had commanded the widow to sustain Elijah, yet in her misery she had little to exist on, and her son died. And goodness the prohet provided the widow in return for what she did for him, as he caused her barrel to yield much more meal than she observed it to hold, and her cruse of oil performed in the same manner. As for her dead son, Elijah also restored him to her in the same chapter, because of his cry to the Lord on her behalf.
A number of godly men were known to do good toward widows and orphans. When Job was in his plight, in his defense from his friends concerning his godly integrity, he recalled having always taken care of widows, orphans, and the poor; "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;" (Job 31:16 - 17)

King David also noted God's favor to widows and orphans; "The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down." (Psa. 146:9) And what a contrast to how He feels about the wicked! Solomon, too, spoke of God's favor on the widow; "The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow." (Prov. 15:25)

Isaiah exhorted the people of Judah to treat the widow and fatherless well; "Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isa. 1:17) As they should fail to do so, however, Isaiah spoke to them on this: "Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. 'Therefore' saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, 'Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies: And I will turn My hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:'" (Isa. 1:23 - 25)

Jeremiah, too, spoke to Judah in his temple sermon to treat widows and orphans well. "If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever." (Jer. 7:6 - 7) He also spoke in their behalf at the king of Judah's house! "Thus saith the LORD; 'Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.'" (Jer. 22:3)

Ezekiel, too, numbered the maltreatment of widows and the fatherless among Jerusalem's sins; "In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow." (Ezek. 22:7) As we continue, it is so clear that God means for us to extend love so much to these people without an adult male figure in their lives!

Zechariah explained to God's people in their captivity under Darius that one of the reasons for their captivity was their refusal to heed this among His commandments. "And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear." (Zech. 7:10 - 11)

Judah and Jerusalem heard from Malachi also concerning widows and orphans; "'And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me', saith the LORD of hosts." (Mal. 3:5)

Think this is all for the people of the Old Testament only? Think again! Jesus had compassion for a widow in the gospel! "Now when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, 'Weep not.' And He came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And He said, 'Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.' And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother." (Luke 7:12 - 15)

Additionally, Paul wrote to Timothy to have a care concerning widows; "Honour widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day." (1 Tim. 5:3 - 5) The younger generation of her family had responsibility for caring for a widow of their lineage, but if she has none, then the responsibility falls on the church!

So when we know of a widow or of orphans, and if we learn of their condition, and they are of need in any way, let us exercise good judgment and obedience to God, and have compassion on them in whatever need we see they have. After all, they, too are our neighbors, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves!