Word of Encouragement (10/20/2020)
“4. Can you have a better promise of the Lord’s working in you to sanctify you than 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24? ‘Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it’ [ESV]. [This doesn’t mean that we will always see a steady growth that is always observable. If we think this way, we will often doubt this promise, producing the opposite of what this promise is intended to do. No, what God is promising is the sure completion of our sanctification at Jesus’ Second Coming. The certainty of this outcome is meant to encourage us not to give up but persevere in hope, which should energize our obedience to God.]
“5. When you feel stagnant and spiritually dry, as though you are not growing in grace, recall the Lord’s promise that He will grow you and increase your grace, not by drops or sprinkles, but by pouring it out in abundance (Isa. 44:3-4). [This is to remind us that there is so much grace with God that it will never run out or dry!]
“6. Look not to yourself to bring forth fruits of repentance, but to the Lord, for He promises to make you fruitful. ‘He is compared to a husbandman, the Church to an orchard, [and] the faithful to young plants, whose nature is to spread, and shoot out their branches, and bring forth fruit, John 15:2. [Because Jesus gave us a new birth from above, our new spiritual nature is to grow and bear fruit. It is only natural that we grow and bear fruit, much fruit. To use another related analogy, Jesus is the true Vine and we are the branches. It is only right that we should bear fruit as long as we are grafted into Him, as long as we abide in Him.]
“7. As you look to Christ to make you fruitful, look to the Spirit, for until He quickens you and by His power fashions you unto holiness, you are just a lifeless lump of unformed clay. Without His continual breathings upon you, you are disjointed and weak members who have neither constancy nor uniformity in your motions or actions.” How wonderful it is to know that the Holy Spirit, the Master Artist, is in charge of shaping and molding us into the image of Jesus Christ! The Holy Spirit does not know what it means to fail. What He intends to do, He will do it no matter what. What obstacle can possibly hinder the work of the Holy Spirit? Let us not resist the work of the Holy Spirit with our disobedience; it is futile and it will only make our life difficult. Our willing obedience will bring joy to our transformation.