Dear Brethren and Friends, As the day of Pentecost approaches, all of us should try to better understand the meaning of this Holy Day, and the profound need we all have for God’s Holy Spirit. For, unless we use God’s Spirit, we are left to our own devices—and we tend to flounder around and fail to learn the lessons that God wants to teach us. We need to realize deeply that our Father in heaven has made us in His image to be His full sons. He is now fashioning and molding us to make us like He is—to be full sons of the great God and full members of the Family of God. To accomplish His awesome purpose, we need to have His Spirit working within us—empowering and leading us day by day.
God’s inspired word tells us that when the day of Pentecost had fully come, Christ’s original disciples were suddenly “filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1–4). During this period of time, Scripture shows us that Peter—who had doubted Christ in certain ways, and even denied Him three times before the crucifixion—was suddenly filled with strength, faith and power. Notice that even when the apostles were threatened, Peter immediately spoke up boldly—although he must have known it might cost him his very life. After the healing of the crippled man, the Jewish leaders decided to threaten the apostles severely, commanding them not to preach in Jesus’ name. “But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard’” (Acts 4:19–20). Upon receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter was a changed man! For he had seen the resurrected Christ, and had seen Him ascend into heaven. Peter now knew—and knew that he knew—that God was real and that Jesus was the very Son of God, sitting at the right hand of God in heaven. Peter then had a type of conviction and boldness that he had never had before. No doubt, he had repented bitterly of denying Christ, and had prayed fervently, had thought things through, and had learned the lesson of putting his total trust in God as he had never done before.
Remember, before the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had only been “with” the apostles—not yet “in” them. Near the end of His life, Jesus said, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that… may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16–17). Christ explained that the world neither sees nor knows the Holy Spirit, which it cannot now receive. For Christ’s disciples, however, that Spirit “dwells with you and will be in you” (v. 17).
With the Holy Spirit abiding within them, the apostles had greater conviction, faith and power than ever before. Why? Christ explained that the Holy Spirit would “teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).
What else did Christ reveal about the Holy Spirit? It would “guide you into all truth” and would reveal “things to come” (John 16:13). God’s Holy Spirit is part of His very nature—His character. The Apostle Peter described the “exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Through the impregnation of God’s Holy Spirit, He imparts to us part of His very nature. Today, as begotten children, we are preparing so that we can be “born again” at the resurrection and then become fully God—full members of His eternal Family.
Why does God not just give it all to us right now? After Satan’s rebellion, it should be obvious why God is making sure that you and I will be fully tried and tested, and that we will not be given such awesome power before we have learned the lessons we need to learn to be ready to become full members of God’s Family.
To help us learn what we need to learn, God gave us His word, “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). He inspired the Apostle Paul to exhort Timothy, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). So, all of God’s true ministers need to be willing to exhort and even rebuke the brethren so they can overcome and grow in grace and in knowledge. Yet, most of us do not like to be corrected or rebuked. It goes against our “human nature.” This is where God’s Holy Spirit comes in. Each one of us—including all of us ministers—must be willing to be sensitive to God’s will, and must surrender ourselves to His teaching, to His guidance—to His correction.
For God does rebuke and chasten every son He loves (Hebrews 12:4–6). Correction is not usually pleasant. God’s word tells us, “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). Again, each of us needs to be willing to be corrected—directly by God or through His inspired Scripture, or through His true ministry. We need to be willing to learn every lesson. For that is one key reason why we were born! It is a key reason why we are here on this earth—to learn, to grow and to be fashioned and molded to become full members of God’s Family. If we are not willing to do this, we will not be in God’s Kingdom!
Dear brethren, God’s word tells us, “Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight” (Proverbs 26:2). Whenever a severe trial comes upon us, we should carefully think through and meditate on why God allowed it to happen. Even the most severe trial can and should become a lesson that will draw us closer to our Savior. For—especially if we are God’s own begotten children—He is very concerned about the intimate details of our lives, of our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions. He is fashioning and molding us to become like He is. He is deeply concerned that we learn every lesson to prepare to become His full sons.
When my stroke came upon me, about three-and-a-half years ago, I did sincerely try to think through any lesson I could learn. I found out a number of things about myself—things that I need to improve, things that I needed to change in order to be the servant God wants me to be. Even though it was painful, it was helpful. I hope every one of us will learn to do this. One of the most profound statements God inspired to be placed in His word is Psalm 90—composed by Moses, who wrote: “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:10–12).
Compared to eternity, the days of our lives are very, very short. As we grow older in our own physical age, each of us comes to realize this. So, we indeed need to heed God’s instruction to “number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” We need to think through, carefully, what lessons God wants us to learn. And we need to ask God for His correction and guidance—and for the attitude of total surrender to Him, and to His will, so we can actually learn those lessons!
In Psalm 33, David was inspired to tell us, “The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works” (vv. 13–15). Yes, God “fashions” each of our hearts individually. Our Father in heaven is working with us, teaching us and training us so we can be fit to live forever in His Spirit Family. He often “chastens us” through His word as we truly study it, meditate on it and try to drink in of the mind of God. He will teach us lessons through various circumstances, including upsets in our lives—lost jobs, broken relationships and other such crises. And He will certainly humble us and teach us lessons when we face even terrible health trials. When we may be facing great sickness or even death, we need to think through and consider what lessons Almighty God wants us to learn.
Brethren, please do not be afraid to face these issues squarely! For they involve eternity!
King David—the “man after God’s heart”—had many sicknesses, battle wounds and other afflictions come upon him. Yet he sincerely tried to learn from each trial. God inspired David to write, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. You are good, and do good; teach me Your statutes. The proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in Your law. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:67–71). So, like King David, we can learn from our sicknesses, our afflictions and other trials that God permits to come upon us. He wants us to do this!
As His Holy Spirit convicts you and me, let us each be humbly willing to let God’s Spirit guide us into all Truth—and into a more full understanding of our own nature, and the lessons we need to learn. For our Father in heaven is, indeed, fashioning and preparing us for eternal life in His Family. Let us take it in this way. Even when correction may come from ministers, or others, in a way that may sometimes seem to be given imperfectly, perhaps not always in perfect love and humility from the giver, we should still make it our goal to learn the lesson. We should not let an imperfect teacher keep us from learning the lessons our Father in heaven wants us to learn. We should strive with all of our being to learn every lesson, so we can become full sons of the great God who has made us in His image—the God who gives us the sunshine and the rain, the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the air we breathe. For God truly loves us, and gives us loving correction to teach lessons that are meant to last for all eternity. Let us strive with all our being to learn those lessons!
With Christian love,
