Third Person of the Godhead

We need to realize that the Holy Spirit … is as much a person as God is a person….

The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He could not bear witness to our spirits and with our spirits that we are the children of God. He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God.

The Holy Spirit is a free, working, independent agency. The God of heaven uses His Spirit as it pleases Him; and human minds, human judgment, and human methods can no more set boundaries to its working, or prescribe the channel through which it shall operate, than they can say to the wind, “I bid you to blow in a certain direction, and to conduct yourself in such and such a manner.”

From the beginning God has been working by His Holy Spirit through human instrumentalities for the accomplishment of His purpose in behalf of the fallen race…. The same power that sustained the patriarchs, that gave Caleb and Joshua faith and courage, and that made the work of the apostolic church effective, has upheld God’s faithful children in every succeeding age.

The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He [Jesus] could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the third person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power.

The Holy Spirit is an effective helper in restoring the image of God in the human soul.
The Faith I Live By p. 51
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Prayer Requests
—–I have a request for prayer..
There is a young mother who is having difficulty with a major toe infection. She went to a so- called foot specialist. He removed her toe nail, very aggressively. He had a cat running around his office with cat hair all over his clothing. Another thing, this mother is very allergic to cat fur. . . . She lives in an area; where there is much unreasonable and even unbelievable conditions that occur. Its a very dark area; here in the U.S.A. …Please, also, if we can pray for their safety. Katherin
—–Prayers for me and my husband we had a serious bad argument. Prayers needed. Donna
—–I have a prayer request for my dear Mom. She’s 80 years ol and fell this morning and broke her arm. She’s in agony . She’s at home now from the hospital. All the pain meds make her sick to her stomach. Please will you pray for her? Her name is Joyce. Heather
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Dear Friends,
When I was a baby, my mother would sometimes take me out for a long walk. Often this was on the weekend when my grandfather wanted to sleep. On one such outing, she was getting tired of pushing my stroller and decided to rest a little by looking around inside a pet store. My mother loved animals and animals seemed to know instantly that she was their friend.

Once inside, my mother saw a spider monkey in a large cage. She thought I would enjoy watching the monkey, so she put my stroller near the cage to keep me occupied while she looked around the store. As she was looking, she began talking to the clerk. They had not talked long, when they heard the monkey making quite a commotion. Fearing for her baby, my mother rushed over to where she had left me. Once she realized that I was fine, she looked to see what problem the monkey was having. It was acting strangely, crying and reaching toward me through the cage, then folding her arms as though cradling a baby. My mother wondered why this little monkey was acting so strangely.

The clerk had come over by that time and explained that this little, mother monkey had recently had a baby, but it had not lived more than a week or two. She had been very sad and just sat in her cage dejectedly, mourning for her baby. When she saw me, she realized in her little monkey brain that I was a baby. She was making all that commotion in her efforts to reach me. In her little mother-heart she longed to hold me and cuddle me to replace the baby she had lost.

How much sadness sin has caused. Paul reminds us, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Rom 8:22 This is so true. Our Great Creator made a perfect world with perfect creatures on it. At the end of each day, He pronounced His creation very good. He entrusted His perfect world to Adam and Eve. They were to be its caretakers. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” Gen 1:28

Sadly, Adam and Eve did not continue to obey God’s commands. They listened to the enemy when he suggested that God was withholding some wonderful experience from them. “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” 3:1-5 When they sinned, they brought a great downward change not only upon themselves, but also upon the plants and animals.

That one act brought such a change upon this world. The trees lost their leaves, weeds sprang up, animals became ferocious and devoured one another. Pain and misery prevailed upon both man and beast. As the millennia have gone by, the effect of sin has grown. All has become weaker and more decayed. Sorrow and sadness are everywhere, upon every creature. Mankind has had its part in making it thus.

Yet, it will not always be this way. Our Dear Saviour is coming to “destroy them which destroy the earth.” Rev 11:18 With longing, we look forward to the time when sin and sorrow will be no more. We are waiting with great desire to see the day when “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.” “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind….And they shall build houses, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit, they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.” Isa 11:6-8,65:17, 21-25

John exclaims, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” Rev 21:1-5

May that day come soon. May we all be ready for the grand and glorious appearing of our Dear Saviour. May we then look up and say, “Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa 25:9
Rose