July 24th, 2014. PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Jude 20- 21 Gods love is made up of the Spirits transmission. The Spirit transmits all that is in this love-- Gods choice and His plan, Christs redemption, resurrection, ascension, and intercession. Now we can have the reality of this love in our experience. We can have the good of it by the Holy Spirit. The participial phrase praying in the Holy Spirit modifies keep yourselves in the love of God. So the way we keep ourselves in the love of God is by praying in the Holy Spirit. When we pray in the Holy Spirit, we enter the realm of the poured- out love of God. This is how we keep our hearts in the unconditional love of God. It is so easy for a day to go by-- you go to work and come home. Maybe you have been burdened down with all the cares of life and have had no prayer and fellowship with the Lord. You feel somewhat beaten down. And you feel like God does not love or care about you that much. You do not have the present enjoyment of His love in your sensation. But Jude tells us, KEEP YOURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD. Take some initiative now. Do not go away from the love, but keep yourself in it. He tells you how-- PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT. It is not praying just from your mind, but praying in the Holy Spirit. That means you use your spirit to pray, fellowship, talk, call out, cry out, and sing. This activates your spirit and brings you into the realm of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes there is a breaking- through period, but the principle is that we can keep ourselves in the love of God. This is Gods unconditional love toward us through the Spirits transmission. As we see the composition of Gods love, we discover that it is not just a shallow, superficial feeling in God. This love is eternal. This love can never be defeated or frustrated, because it met the devil, it met sin, it met every obstacle, and it overcame. It overcame through death, through resurrection, and through ascension. And now this love is transmitted into us by the Holy Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life [Jude 20 ¬21]. BUT YE, BELOVED. He shews the manner in which they could overcome all the devices of Satan, that is, by having love connected with faith, and by standing on their guard as it were in their watch- tower, until the coming of Christ. But as he uses often and thickly his metaphors, so he has here a way of speaking peculiar to himself, which must be briefly noticed. He bids them first to BUILD themselves on FAITH; by which he means, that the foundation of faith ought to be retained, but that the first instruction is not sufficient, except they who have been already grounded on true faith, went on continually towards perfection. He calls their faith MOST HOLY, in order that they might wholly rely on it, and that, leaning on its firmness, they might never vacillate. But since the whole perfection of man consists in faith, it may seem strange that he bids them to build upon it another building, as though faith were only a commencement to man. This difficulty is removed by the Apostle in the words which follow, when he adds, that men build on faith when love is added; Except, perhaps, some one may prefer to take this meaning, that men build on faith, as far as they make proficiency in it, and doubtless the daily progress of faith is such, that itself rises up as a building. Thus the Apostle teaches us, that in order to increase in faith, we must be instant in prayer and maintain our calling by love. PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST. The way of persevering is, when we are endued with the power of God. Hence whenever the question is respecting the constancy of faith, we must flee to prayer. And as we commonly pray in a formal manner, he adds, IN THE SPIRIT; as though he had said, that such is our sloth, and that such is the coldness of our flesh, that no one can pray aright except he be roused by the Spirit of God; and that we are also so inclined to diffidence and trembling, that no one dares to call God his Father, except through the teaching of the same Spirit; for from him is solicitude, from him is ardor and vehemence, from him is alacrity, from him is confidence in obtaining what we ask; in short, from him are those unutterable groanings mentioned by Paul (Romans 8:26.) It is not, then, without reason that Jude teaches us, that no one can pray as he ought without having the Spirit as his guide. KEEP YOURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD. He has made love as it were the guardian and the ruler of our life; not that he might set it in opposition to the grace of God, but that it is the right course of our calling, when we make progress in love. But as many things entice us to apostasy, so that it is difficult to keep us faithful to God to the end, he calls the attention of the faithful to the last day. For the hope of that alone ought to sustain us, so that we may at no time despond; otherwise we must necessarily fail every moment. But it ought to be noticed that he would not have us to hope for eternal life, except through the mercy of Christ: for he will in such a manner be our judge, as to have no other rule in judging us than that gratuitous benefit of redemption obtained by himself. July 24 MORNING PATIENT IN TRIBULATION. It [is] the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.-- Whom, though I were righteous, [yet] would I not answer, [but] I would make supplication to my judge.-- The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.-- What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? Jesus wept.-- A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief-- Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.-- Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.-- Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.-- In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. ROM 12:12. 1 Sa 3:18.-- Job 9:15.-- Job 1:21.-- Job 2:10. Jn 11:35.-- Is 53:3, 4. Heb 12:6, 11.-- Col 1:11.-- Jn 16:33. July 24 EVENING HE STAGGERED NOT AT THE PROMISE OF GOD THROUGH UNBELIEF. Have faith in God.... Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive [them], and ye shall have [them].-- Without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]:for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He that had received the promises offered up his only begotten [son], of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God [was] able to raise [him] up, even from the dead.-- Being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Is anything too hard for the LORD?-- With God all things are possible.-- Lord, Increase our faith. ROM 4:20. Mar 11:22- 24.-- Heb 11:6. Heb 11:17- 19.-- Ro 4:21. Ge 18:14.-- Mt 19:26.-- Lu 17:5.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 07:33:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015