Renewal of the Spirit and of the Heart

                 The above drawing illustrates what the topic of this post is about. Renewal of the heart and welcoming of the Holy Spirit. Eggs often represent rebirth, as well as butterflies. That is why the butterfly is on the human heart: rebirth of the heart. And candles often represent the presence of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the heart welcomes the Holy Spirit.              

                 Some people misconstrue the fact that God loves everyone to mean that everyone will go to Heaven and God will not let harm come to us. They think that believing in God and Jesus, along with a bedtime prayer and reading the bible, automatically earns them a place in Heaven. But in believing this, they’ve removed many parts of the Bible like James 1:22, which says that you must not only read the Word but live it out.  John 3:3-7 clearly states that in order to be saved, you must be born again and have a renewal of your heart.

“In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom

of God unless he is born again.’ Nicodemus asked, ‘How can a man be born when

he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’

Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless

he is born of water and of the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives

birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying ‘You must be born again.”

-John 3:3-7

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

-2 Peter 3:9

                You must be baptized in the water (…,having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22) and baptized in the Spirit. I’m going to sidetrack for a moment so that I can discuss what baptism of the Spirit is with you. Many Christians have debated over what exactly baptism of the Spirit is. We need to know first that all Christians receive the Spirit upon their conversion and in this sense all Christians have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.  This means that they are saved and that they have all they need at that time to be able to live godly and holy lives.  1 Corinthians 12:13 says, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” Some churches believe that the baptism of the Spirit is an experience different than initial salvation. They see it as a second experience that gives a person much greater spiritual power and boldness, and the ability to live a more victorious Christian life. We can conclude that when a person is baptized in the Holy Spirit he has power bestowed upon him.  This power is for the purpose of the preaching of the gospel (Acts 4:31), living a purer life, and having a deeper devotion to God.  Some groups teach that the baptism is accompanied by such signs as speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongue, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.).

                The Bible does not actually use the term "baptism of the Spirit" very often. John the Baptist predicted that Jesus would come and baptize with the Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). In Acts 1:5, Jesus recalled John's words, and told His followers that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from then. While these passages make it clear that the believers in Acts 2 experienced a baptism of the Spirit, we do not find a clear explanation of what that baptism means. The clearest explanation of the baptism appears in I Corinthians 12:13. Paul is dealing with a situation where the Corinthian church was splitting into factions over the issue of spiritual gifts. Overemphasis on certain spectacular gifts had led to the attitude that some people had the most desirable gifts, while others were deficient. In response, Paul exclaims, "We're all one! Don't divide up into cliques!" And to prove his point, he explains, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit" (I Corinthians 12:13).

                We must have a renewal of our heart where we give up all unrighteous things of our past (Ezekiel 18:21-2, Romans 6:11-14, Hebrews 10:22-29). Ezekiel 18:21-24 says that if a wicked man turns from all his sinful ways he will surely be saved but if a righteous man commits sin he will die.

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to

put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires,

to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to

put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

-Ephesians 4:22-24

“Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the

Sovereign Lord, Rather am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?”

-Ezekiel 18:23

“Wash  your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

-James 4:8

                   If we turn back to God and give ourselves to His will and become His workers we will be blessed greatly and He will protect us. In this next verse He is talking about Israel but it can still be applied to our own lives, just like every other verse in the Scripture.

"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and

pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will 

hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

-2 Chronicles 7:14

  

Spiritual Gifts

              

                Many Christians feel as though God is not using them. They don’t realize the works God wants to use them for. They are a vessel for God to shine through but they can’t yet realize this. They expect to be able to perform miracles but God has different spiritual gifts and talents for everyone and He will use them at different times. We aren’t supposed to be jealous of each other’s spiritual gifts but be glad that we are serving God as his children.

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same

Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

There are different kinds of working, but the same

God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the

manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

-1 Corinthians 12:4-7

                Each gift is just as important as the next. We all have Jesus as our Lord and Savior therefore we are a unit and we all have different purposes that complement each other.

“If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I

do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that

reason cease to be part of the body.”

-1 Corinthians 12:15

                If certain parts of the body did not exist than how can it be called a body? In the same way, if certain people with certain gifts did not exist then how could the body function properly? It can’t. Some people have knowledge. Others have wisdom or the gift of prophesy. Some can heal or perform miracles. Some receive the gift of faith and to others, intercession. Some can speak in tongues and other can interpret tongues. However, they all share the same Spirit and God gives each gift according to what he determines. Some people have many gifts, others have just 1 or 2. But that doesn’t make them any more or less important.

“On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are

indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable

we treat with special honor.”

-1 Corinthians 12:22-23

                The more we serve the Lord, the more God guides us in using these gifts and letting them be used for His works.

“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure,

they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in

your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

-2 Peter 1:8

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve

others, faithfully administering God’s grace in various forms.”

-1 Peter 4:10

                We must use these talents and gifts God gave us. We can’t be lazy or we will be judged accordingly. Proverbs 28:19 says, “He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.” Not only will he be poor, but he will lack God’s blessings! We can see this in Matthew 25:14-30, The Parable of the Talents. In this parable, a man went on a journey and entrusted his talents (a type of money) to each of his servants according to their abilities. To one man he granted five talents, to another two, and to the third one. The servants with five and two talents went to work and doubled what the master gave them while the third servant buried his one talent. To the men who increased the talents, the master praises them. To the one who buried the one talent he says, “You wicked, lazy servant!” It goes on to say that whoever has will be given more and to others who have even none will be taken from and cast into darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This parable is discussing our use of God’s gifts he gives us and how we should use them. We need to work for him and draw people to Him. We need to pour our blessings onto others or we will be cast into Hell. If we work for Him he will increase our "talents" and gifts.

              Whatever gifts God has given us we cannot fail at. He won't let us. So don't be afraid and let Him move you!

Don’t know what your Spiritual gifts are? You can take a spiritual gifts test here: http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/index.htm

             I didn't know what my spiritual gifts were either. I took the test and had several gifts that topped the list with the same amount of points. These gifts were hospitality, giving, pastoring, teaching, evangelism, knowledge, wisdom, faith, encouragement, exhortation, missionary,  healing, intercession, mercy, leadership, apostleship, writing, and craftsmanship (some say craftsmanship and writing are talents, not gifts). At first, I thought that it was absurd that I could possess all of these gifts. However, in these  last 2 months, after I 100% committed my life to God, I have notice all of these gifts showing through me all for the glory of God. At first, it started out with just one or two of the gifts showing but as I started to devote more time to God, more gifts started to shine. Don't let opportunities pass you by; experience what God has planned for you!