House of Hope Online

March 12, 2023

When we were young, our parents told us not to take candy from strangers.  Today, we are told not to open emails from addresses we do not recognize and know to be authentic.  Phone calls come in trying to get our personal information or otherwise “scam” us into giving up our money.  As we walk in a troubled world, full of evil and deception, it can become oppressive when we feel like we cannot trust anyone.

But the truth is, we can trust no man or woman, as evil abounds in the earth, which it will until Jesus comes again to establish His eternal Kingdom.

Psalms 146:

 3 Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

Psalms 118:

 8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in man.

It is very troubling for us that evil is proliferating in the earth, and we find there is no man to trust.  Many of us try not to think about it, but it takes a toll on our psyche.  Some have great difficulty with it and strike back at others to get their revenge.  We see mass shootings as a regular part of our news feed, and we argue about gun control as the problem persists. 

As Christians, we look to the Lord and what He has told us about dealing with evil.  Let us start with Jesus’ prophecy concerning evil.

Matthew 24:

 12 “And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.

 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.

 14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.

First, Jesus prophesies the increase in lawlessness that we are seeing today, and that we have seen steadily across history.  Next, He encourages us to endure in His love to the end, and we will be saved and in fact spared from the worst of the tribulation to come.  Finally, He promises that the Gospel will get preached to the whole world before the end will come.

Jesus’ disciple, Peter, encourages us to use this knowledge that Jesus gave us about the end.

2^nd Peter 3:

 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness,

 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him [be] the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Peter warns us to be on alert, and not be carried away by the error of unprincipled men.  We discussed in the earlier podcast, “Root of Bitterness,” pride can lead us to anger where a poisonous bitterness can enter our spirit and defile many.  In verse 18, Peter says instead we should grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The following scriptures from the Book of John will help us do just that.

These are Jesus’ words:

John 14:

 1 ¶ “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.

When you feel that troubled feeling coming on you, place your trust in Jesus.  He has you and will not forsake you.  He promised us that He will guide us by the Holy Spirit.

John 14:

 16 “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

 17 [that is] the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, [but] you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.

Jesus says He will ask the Father, and He will give us another Helper, the Spirit of Truth (that is, the Holy Spirit) who will be with us forever.  Note that Jesus says the world cannot receive Him because it does not know Him.  So, He is really saying we have access to something that the unbeliever does not.  But, praise God, the Spirit of Truth abides with us and in us!

More about the Helper from Jesus:

John 14:

 26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

 27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

John 15:

 26 ¶ “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, [that is] the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me,

John 16:

 12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear [them] now.

 13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

 14 “He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose [it] to you.

 15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose [it] to you.

Now, did you get all of that?  The Spirit of Truth will hear from God and speak into us, and He will disclose what is to come.  Notice that Jesus says the Holy Spirit shall glorify Him.  That is how you know that you are hearing from the Holy Spirit – He glorifies Jesus.  This is confirmation by Jesus of the Holy Trinity.  Almighty God the Father, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit of Truth, are all one God.  They are three manifestations of God, but they do not operate independently.  They are one.  The Father is on the Throne, Jesus, after walking the earth and giving up His life for us, is at the Father’s right-hand interceding on our behalf, and the Holy Spirit is taking from the Throne Room and manifesting within us, teaching and disclosing what is to come.

In 1^st Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul teaches about the gifts that are available to us from the Holy Spirit.

1^st Corinthians 12:

 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.

 6 And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all [persons.]

 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;

 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

 10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another [various] kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.

 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

Note verse 7 says to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  The benefits of the gifts are available to all of us, but how we receive the benefit is up to the Holy Spirit.  For example, one may not have the gift of prophecy, but the benefit of prophecy is available to everyone as part of the common good.  If we need a particular gift, the Holy Spirit will get it to us either directly or indirectly through another as part of the common good.  Verse 11 instructs that one and the same Spirit distributes the gifts to each one individually just as He wills.  The gifts are not earned, so we should not take pride in receiving a gift, but we should be thankful.

The following is a discussion of each gift.

• Wisdom through the Spirit: The Bible distinguishes between the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God.  Jeremiah 8:9  says “The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, And what kind of wisdom do they have?  Isaiah 11:1 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.”  And so we are talking about the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel and strength which comes down only from Heaven and the Throne Room of God.  When you get a word of wisdom, it likely will contradict worldly wisdom, and it will take faith to receive it and act on it.  As the world continues on its crash course with evil, we will increasingly need the gift of spiritual wisdom.
• Word of Knowledge: Like wisdom, the gift of knowledge according to the same Spirit is different than worldly knowledge.  When the Holy Spirit gives us a word of knowledge, it is something that is not otherwise ascertainable.  In other words, if you can read it in a book or perform research to find it, it is not a word of knowledge.  Those are just known facts.  A word of knowledge comes only in a manifestation of the Holy Spirit which speaks into our Spirit something we cannot get with our minds.
• Faith: Did you know that our very faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and not our own that we should brag?  Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
• Gift of Healing: Healing is a miraculous touch.  God has blessed our doctors and surgeons with a talent, no doubt, but if man can do it, it is not a healing  I once had knee surgery, but the pain did not go away.  I kept praying that God would heal my knee, but years went by, and the pain was still there.  Then, suddenly, maybe 15 years after surgery, the pain stopped.  God healed my knee.  Why not when I prayed?  I do not know.  All I know is God healed my knee after I gave up and stopped praying.  Remember the gifts are for the common good, so maybe He healed me so I could write and speak that last sentence.  We should always pray, but prayer does not earn healing.  Healing is a gift of the Spirit for the common good.
• Effecting of Miracles: The King James Version calls it the “working” of miracles, but the Greek work for “working” is “the effect.”  My point is we can have the effect of the miracle, but we are not the miracle worker, only God is.  His miracles are gifts of the Spirit for the common good to increase faith.  Once, when I was in college, my car had a blowout on an icy highway. My car spun around and faced traffic behind me before stopping in a wide, grassy medial strip.  My trunk was frozen shut, so I couldn’t fix the flat.  Then, a carload of what we used to call “Jesus Freaks” stopped, prayed over my trunk, popped it open, fixed my flat because I was in shock, and then went on their way.  That miracle was a gift to increase my faith.
• Prophecy: The definition of prophecy is threefold – 1) hearing from God; 2) knowing it is God speaking; and 3) speaking it forth.  All three characteristics must be there.  Sometimes we hear from God, we know it is Him speaking, but we do not receive the liberty from Him to speak it forth.  In this instance, it is not prophecy, but it is a word of knowledge.
• Discernment of Spirits:  To discern means to tell the difference between two things.  We have a crack in our granite countertop.  We had it repaired.  You can hardly tell it is there.  That means you cannot discern it, but we know it is there.  Discernment in the Spirit is way more important.  It means the discernment of good and evil spirits.  We know good and evil are present, but we must discern those spirits.  The devil is a deceiver, so he can fake us into thinking something is from God when it is not.  That’s why we Christians fight with each other, and the Bible warns us not to devour one another.  Jesus tells us that in these end times people will try to deceive even the elect, so we need discernment.  And that is why God gives us the gift of discernment of good and evil spirits.  The Holy Spirit will help you to recognize the anointing of God versus the schemes of the devil.  This gift is becoming increasingly important in these days.
• Various Kinds of Tongues and the Interpretation of Tongues: Tongues are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit where He speaks through utterances of His people that cannot be understood in our native language.  There are different kinds of tongues.  In corporate worship setting, the Lord may speak in tongues by anointing someone to speak it forth, and then giving the interpretation.  But the Holy Spirit also anoints and gifts us with our own prayer in tongues, which is known as our prayer language.  Paul tells us in Romans 8:26: “… the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for [us] with groanings too deep for words;”  Praying in tongues is communicating in the Spirit.  When we form English words, we use our minds, which puts us in the flesh.  Praying in tongues keeps us sober in the Spirit as we intercede for the will of God to come forth.

To conclude, we are living in a world of increasing evil, which Jesus prophesied would come.  But He also promised and delivered to us the Holy Spirit, whose gifts are available to us for wisdom, knowledge, healing, faith, miracles, prophecy, discernment, and prayerful communication with Him.  Praise Jesus for His love!

Father God, thank you for revealing the evil of these days to us beforehand.  Help us to guard against the error of unprincipled men, that we will not lose our steadfastness.  We pray that we will increase in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  We covet your presence, and we yearn for the gifts of the Holy Spirit for our protection and for the edification of the Church.  In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.