Great News!

Luke 2:8-10
That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone!

Luke 2:13-14
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others--the armies of heaven--praising God: "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace on earth to all whom God favors."

As the angels announced the arrival of Messiah, the Saviour, they proclaimed that this was a message of great joy for everyone… and peace on earth to all men. The Saviour came to reconcile men to God (i.e. make us right…impart ‘righteousness’) in order that we might experience the peace and joy that is his blueprint for what life should be.

This is reminiscent of Romans 14:17 -

“For the kingdom of God is… righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”

The Holy Spirit has come to live in us in order to complete the mission for which the Christ came to earth. So how do we best honour and remember the birth of Jesus this Christmas? By enjoying life in the Holy Spirit… a life of righteousness, peace and joy.

Happy Christmas!

Drawing deep from the well

The prophetic word came to us recently that we were to learn to draw from the well that is within us rather than be reliant upon external sources for our strength, support and energy (my paraphrase). Here are a couple of really key Bible verses that confirm that word:

“ whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. (John 7:37-39)

The picture here is that Jesus gives the Holy Spirit who will live on the inside of us and be like a perpetual well of living water, continually quenching our thirst, filling us with God’s kind of life. The second verse goes further to say that not only will the Holy Spirit be like a well within us, but he will also be like streams coming out from us.

Here in a nutshell are the two major functions of the Holy Spirit:

1. to refresh believers, fill us with life and continually renew us

2. to flow out from us to refresh others with God’s abundant life

As we continue on this journey of learning to be people of the Holy Spirit, its important to bear in mind that first we are to be drinkers ourselves in order that the effects of the Spirit in us can have a positive affect on those around us.

As was prayed in one of our gatherings, help us Lord to tap in to what you’ve already given us so that we live in the good of the eternal life that is welling up within.