Avalon Chronicles #150: The Full Blessing of Pentecost

 Resource: The Full Blessing of Pentecost by Andrew Murray. 1994. Christian Literature Crusade. Fort Washington, PA. 

It has been thirty years ago in 1994 that I came upon this small treasure of a book. At a time when my faith was deepening and my needs were great, I came upon the writings of this South African writer, teacher and Christian pastor. The Holy Spirit is perhaps the least understood of the Holy Trinity, which includes God and Jesus. What I desire to discuss about the Holy Spirit relates to when did it appear, what it meant and means for Christians and how do we obtain it? The brevity of my discussion in no way is to diminish the extraordinary significance of this infilling by the Holy Spirit.

WHEN DID PENTECOST OCCUR? 40 days after Christ's Resurrection (Christ appeared before many during that time frame) Jesus appeared before the twelve disciples and as many as 120 others on the Mount of Olives and ascended to Heaven after a rushing mighty wind occurred.  Ten days later Peter preached and the Holy Spirit descended to earth and three thousand were baptized in the Holy Spirit! This represented the beginning of the Messianic Age of the Christian Church. It is noted with great celebration and ceremony in most Christian denominations.

WHAT DOES FILLING BY THE HOLY SPIRIT MEAN? Obviously, entire books have been written on what is the significance of the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Holy Trinity, along with God the Father and Jesus, the Son of the Father. Very basically, an infilling of one by the Holy Spirit signifies that the recipients have advanced past the external Jesus Christ in one's spiritual maturation to a new and deeper level of power that begins to indwell us. One benefit amongst many is that we are able to have a heightened illumination of understanding of the Word of God. Another benefit is we have a new power to bless others. The Holy Spirit is the most important factor to assist us in combatting the pagan-dominated world of Satan.

HOW IS THE HOLY SPIRIT OBTAINED BY US? Rev. Andrew Murray discusses seven aspects of the Holy Spirit.

I. The full blessing of Pentecost is the inheritance of all the children of God. We are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit so we may rise above a "weak and defective life" typically exemplified by us all. It is within the grasp of us all.

II. I do not as yet have this blessing. With the Holy Spirit "...we may walk in the fulness and joy of the Spirit,..."

III. Is this blessing for me? There is divided opinion in Christendom that the Gift of the Holy Spirit was only for the early Christians and not for today. "The indwelling, the fulness of the Spirit, is nothing but the entire healthfulness of the body of Christ...Learn, then to express and to repeat over again the conviction: This blessing is for me."

IV. I cannot grasp this blessing in my own power. "The blessing of Pentecost is a supernatural gift, a wonderful act of God in the soul...The impartation of this heavenly blessing is as entirely an act of God as the resurrection of Christ from the dead was His divine work...the believer (must) abandon all power and hope of his own to receive this full blessing as a free gift of divine Omnipotence."

V. I must have this blessing at any cost. Are you ready for the cost? "He that would have it must sell all, must forsake all: sin to its smallest item, the love of the world in its most innocent forms, self-will in its simplest and most natural expressions, every faculty of our nature, every moment of our life, every pleasure that feeds our self-complacency, every exercise of our body, soul, and spirit---all must be surrendered to the power of the Spirit of God." We must be emptied to be refilled. If you truly want it, repeat and say, "I have said to God that I must, I will have it . By this decision I abide. I must, I will have it."

VI. In faith that God accepts my surrender and bestows this blessing upon me, , I appropriate it for myself. "Believe that God has in heaven bestowed upon you the fulness of the Spirit...In this faith let your life be a life of joyful thanksgiving and expectation."

VII. Now I count upon God and wait upon Him to reveal truly within me the blessing which He has bestowed upon me. " He will...miraculously bring this heavenly blessing to fruition in you, so that you may be filled with the Holy Spirit and that you may know, not by reasoning but by experience, that you have actually received the Holy Spirit."  

My daily prayer, "I pray I may be controlled by the Holy Spirit and reflect the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, gentleness, goodness, kindness, faithfulness and self-control." Amen 

Avalon Chronicles #149: "In the Name of Christ, stop!"

 Excerpts of Remarks by President Ronald Reagan National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 2, 1984

"We all in this room, I know, and we know millions more everywhere, turn to God in prayer, believe in the power and the spirit of prayer. And yet so often, we direct our prayers to those problems that are immediate to us, knowing that He has promised His help to us when we turn to Him. And yet in a world today that is so torn with strife where the divisions seem to be increasing, not people coming together, within countries, divisions within the people, themselves and all, I wonder if we have ever thought about the greatest tool that we have---that power of prayer and God's help."

Forty years later and the state of the world has not changed! But, we can take heed of President Reagan's charge to direct the power of prayer to the eminently more important ones confronting the nations and our world. We can bring together the prayer of two billion Christians and those of all faiths and beliefs that are worn out and grieving amongst the constant killing and turmoil evident on our planet. The battlefields most conspicuous are those on fields of physical fight, where blood is spilled, sapping the human treasures of a nation's young. We must be cognizant of the persecutions of people of faith, especially Christians, throughout the world by the true murderers of the world directed by hatred. But, we must go deeper than battlefields to the underlying spiritual warfare directed by Satan through his demonic warriors to foster and foment strife and divisions among nations, races and philosophies. President Reagan continued with an incredible story!

"The power of prayer can be illustrated by a story that goes back to the fourth century. The Asian monk living in a little remote village, spending most of his time in prayer or tending the garden from which he obtained his sustenance...Telmacmus...thought he heard the voice of God telling him to go to Rome. And believing that he had heard, he set out. And weeks and weeks later, he arrived there, having traveled most of the way on foot.

And it was at a time of a festival in Rome. They were celebrating a triumph over the Goths. And he followed a crowd into the Colosseum, and then there in the midst of this great crowd, he saw the gladiators come forth, stand before the Emperor, and say, 'We who are about to die, salute you.' And he realized they were going to fight to the death for the entertainment of the crowds. And he cried out, 'In the name of Christ, stop!' And his voice was lost in the tumult there in the great Colosseum.

And as the games began, he made his way down through the crowd and climbed over the wall and dropped to the floor of the arena. Suddenly the crowds saw this scrawny little figure making his way out to the gladiators and saying over and over again, 'In the name of Christ, stop!' And they thought it was part of the entertainment, and at first they were amused. But then, when they realized it wasn't, they grew belligerent and angry. And as he was pleading with the gladiators, 'In the name of Christ, stop,' one of them plunged his sword into his body. And as he fell to the sand of the arena in death, his last words were, 'In the name of Christ, stop.'

And suddenly, a strange thing happened. The gladiators stood looking at this tiny form lying in the sand. A silence fell over the Colosseum. And then, someplace up in the upper tiers, an individual made his way to an exit and left, and others began to follow. And in the dead silence, everyone left the Colosseum. That was the last battle to the death between the gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. Never again did anyone kill or did men kill each other for the entertainment of the crowd.

One tiny voice that could hardly be heard above the tumult. 'In the name of Christ, stop' It is something we could be saying to each other throughout the world today."

We can raise our collective voices. We can look around us at divisions politically. We can look around us at divisions of skin color. We can look around us at divisions of gender. We can look around us at the blood being shed throughout the world on countless battlefields, some highly publicized, others only in small villages. We can direct to our God in Heaven, our prayers, which He will hear and answer, "In the name of Christ, stop!"

Avalon Chronicles #148: The Benefits of Obedience

     As young children in a home where discipline and boundaries are applied lovingly, we grow in maturity recognizing that being obedient children has its benefits: trusting parents; latitude of freedom; and good feelings about ourselves derived from knowing we are doing things right as well as doing the right things. This good behavior at home is also evident at school, in personal relationships and in our workplaces, where we are held in higher esteem by teachers, friends and employers. Obedience begets favor in all arenas of life.

     Obedience as a child of God to God's laws and adherence to that which is pleasing in God's sight, yields incredible benefits and rights. We begin with knowing and being obedient to the Ten Commandments. There are other guidelines for our lives that reflect what God taught His people to adopt and live by. He taught us the actions and lifestyles that are abhorrent to Him. Living with  God's standards yields us immense benefits. Freedom from normal worries follow, because we seek and belong to God and live obediently in His kingdom. By using His word we wield a powerful weapon, which is a benefit to assist us to recognize and change our thoughts and behavior, especially as to our judgmentalism or criticism of others. 

     The ultimate benefit of obedience relates to our spiritual dimension. There are two major areas where our obedience to God is most critical. That relates to confession of sin and forgiveness. There is a benefit to us of obedience. We all have a myriad of needs and desires of our hearts for which we need the blessings of God. We believe in prayers being answered and are aware of God's Word in I John 3:22 NKJV "And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." God hates sin and unforgiveness, so in faithfulness to His Word, we right ourselves, when we confess our sins and forgive all others. This is a major benefit of obedience!

     Many of us are under the influence of religious rituals, which provide no benefits of inner peace, because these provide only a surface feel good with adherence to rules rather than the depth of positive attitude due to true obedience to the desires of God to guide our lives. 

      Only in Him can we find true peace by a life lived in the protective umbrella of dwelling in Him alone.

Avalon Chronicles #147: "When All is Said and Done The Bottom Line"

 Reference: The Complete 54-Book Apocrypha 2022 Edition by Covenant Press. Covenant Christian Coalition. In the Preface to the 2022 Edition it is very plainly written that; "This library of apocryphal work is not Scripture but is the definitive collection of very early extra-biblical writings in the Judeo-Christian tradition."

"While it is unwise to hold the apocryphal Deuterocanon to the same God-breathed standard as 66 books of the Bible, we hold as Martin Luther did, to their value as possibly true and good to read, but unverified:

                                          "Apocrypha, that are books which are not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read."

     In order to insure readers of these messages that it is not the author's intention to even hint at any heretical beliefs, please note on page 6 of this compilation of historical writings, it is proclaimed:

                                                THE GOOD NEWS OF SALVATION

In accordance with the Scriptures, Christ the Messiah, the Son of the living God, became human, incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, lived a morally perfect and sinless life, died for our sins on the Cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, was buried in a tomb, and was raised bodily from the dead on the third day. Everyone who hears and accepts this message of salvation, believing in their heart that God raised the Christ from the dead, will be pardoned of all their sins, given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and granted everlasting life in perpetual union with God. Salvation is found in Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone and not by works.

     If this were to be the final message of all that have been written over more than a decade, the above Good News of Salvation would be the final content for all readers to be absorbed and understood and captured and believed and lived by all who read these writings. 

     No human has lived a morally perfect and sinless life as did Jesus the Christ, but His life was a goal and the Gold Standard for all of us mere mortals. The world may be approaching the End Times of the Book of Revelation and if not already there, this is the time in one's life to get serious about where we wish to be when our earthly life is over! And not only for that final goal, but for peace each day!

Avalon Chronicles #146: Casualties of War

      As a wounded Casualty of War of Vietnam, uppermost in my emotions there has always been a special melancholy for those wounded in my war, but, especially for the families of those who were Killed in Action in my war. There is a never-ending pain of the loss for all those family members, who visit the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. It will be with them until their own deaths. For me the history of all warfare in the past and uppermost for the current conflicts is that of the losses of mostly young men, who never had the opportunity to live out normal lives. The families of war dead always live with holes in their hearts.

     A Linked In connection for me is Justin Roberts, Film Director for Echo Bravo Productions. He visited Kyiv, Ukraine recently and posted his thoughts on his experience there. I relate a part of his touching words with his kind permission. Rarely have I read such touching words!

"I walked in downtown Kyiv and came across a statue of a Cossack overlooking a field of flags of the fallen. As I walked I saw two young women who were lighting candles and laying down flowers. They were crying.

What we always miss in these moments is the scale of it all. Every flag is a mother and father in unimaginable pain. A spouse and child broken. A soldier who could have had a life. Times thousands upon thousands and for nothing. Nothing but greed and ambition.

Every generation faces great evil and how we respond to it tells us about ourselves and our generation.

And while we as a nation debate what we will stand for and are pushed left and right by the winds of propaganda the sea of little flags continue to grow. And the Cossack watches."

     This past Memorial Day I was invited by my niece Charlene Miseli to present remarks at a ceremony she planned as a representative of the Travis Manion Foundation at the DFW National Cemetery in Dallas, Tx. Volunteers of the Foundation paid respects at numerous gravesites at the cemetery. It was an especially poignant and memorable time for me, since thirty years ago I had recommended this be the site for the cemetery, when I was serving as Director, National Cemetery System at the Department of Veterans Affairs. My wife Linda, sister Betty and grandchildren Brooke and Beau were able to accompany me to the ceremony. As I spoke I looked out over the straight rows of the crosses over the graves, obviously not only war dead, but graves of Americans, who served our nation in uniform and died normal deaths. The setting is beside a lake and its closest neighbor is Dallas Baptist University.

     My closing remarks included;

Freedom flies in your heart like an eagle

Let it soar with the high wind above

Among spirits of soldiers now sleeping.

Guard it with care and with love.

                         Audie Murphy

They shall not grow old

     As we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them,

     Nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun,

      And in the morning, 

We will remember them.

                          Laurence Binyon  1914

Americans and our allies in WWI, our brave in wars since, as well as those Ukrainians memorialized in that field of flags sacrificed for freedom. We who cherish and enjoy freedom will never be able to repay the debts we owe them for what they did for us all and their fellow citizens. 

Avalon Chronicles #145: Why Doesn't God Answer All My Prayers?

      Often it has been that I have repeated, "You know that your prayers are answered because you obey His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight!" I have taken that to heart and always sought to satisfy those requirements. But, I have had multitudes of prayers unanswered through the decades. There really are categories of prayers:

      Prayers for my own healing and that of others. The fulfillment of these prayers often should take into consideration whether the maladies are due to our own or others' neglect of good health habits or hygiene. A life time of smoking is not necessarily going to have healing from emphysema. Sometimes family genes are responsible for maladies. However, our God is the One, Who hears and performs miracles beyond expectations. 

     Personal prayers of mine for desires of my heart to be fulfilled. These end up being prayers usually to satisfy my needs or wants. These can be for relationships, attitudes and provision. These may not be answered, because God does not desire the outcome we desire, because He sees ahead and it is not His will for us. 

     Really major ones are to pray for our sins to be forgiven or for us to forgive others of transgressions or hurts put upon us by others. 

     Back in 1994 I had lost my position as a political appointee in the President George H.W. Bush administration due to a change in the political party in power the previous year. I was employed in Durham, NC and my then-wife Jackie had filed for divorce from me. All the reasons need not be documented here, although she had severe hurts from the years after I came back from the Vietnam War and had become a double leg amputee with all the attendant issues from this severe combat operating stressor. I had traveled to Pennsylvania for a weekend with Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets from all over the east coast. I was in a discussion group with several of them and expressed my prayers she would change her mind. One very wise college student told me, even though I prayed mightily that we would not have to divorce, that a change by her would require a choice by her to withdraw her legal action. My prayers had no impact on her decision expressed by the choice to express her free will. God would not override her decision just because I prayed she would cancel the divorce proceedings. God has not made us puppets to tell us what to do. My prayers had no impact on her decision. Our divorce eventually proceeded to fulfillment.

     One issue that was very important to me to resolve was that she forgive me for volunteering in 1966 for service in Vietnam without talking it over with her. I had an opportunity for an assignment to avoid the war, but knew my conscience would not allow me to miss Vietnam without guilt all my life, a life built upon the West Point motto of Duty Honor Country. I volunteered for service in the war and I must have admitted the choice without her approval, when under anesthesia or the several months of morphine. At any rate she found out and had harbored for a quarter of a century unforgiveness and bitterness toward me for causing the horrendous challenges we suffered due to my war wounds. 

      Also, in 1994 at a Bible Study in northern Virginia one weekend away from Durham, I ended up in a room at our place of worship with the pastor. He asked me if there were any specific prayer requests I had. I answered that my wife(our divorce had not yet been finalized) had never forgiven me for my failure to discuss with her such a monumental decision as volunteering for a war. He taught me a lesson on changing attitudes or decisions made by others through a unique example of prayer. He told me, even if I prayed mightily that she would forgive me, that God would not override that decision. But he said, "We will pray that there will be 'Laborers of the Harvest' in her path to convict her to forgive me."

     We prayed that the Lord teaches us we must forgive all others of their transgressions or we ourselves would not be forgiven of our own transgressions. I asked him how that worked. He said we will pray she reads something, watches something, hears something on media or from someone else about God's teaching on forgiveness. I went back to Durham having great apprehension of the validity of that prayer!

     Two weeks later I was in Durham and she called me from Austin, Texas. She said, "I forgive you for volunteering for Vietnam without discussing it with me, when you had your chance to miss the war." I asked her why after all these years. She said she had watched Christian television the night before and on Trinity Broadcasting Network she listened to a program from Denver, Colorado with Marilyn Hickey in which she said that the Bible mentions eighteen times about the requirement spiritually to forgive all others or you will not be forgiven.

     Do I believe in prayer? Mightily I do! She did not forgive me because I prayed she would, but that prayer worked on her free will to change her mind and heart toward me! For this example and many others I truly believe Jesus is the Son of God and prayers to God in the Name of Jesus have a high probability of being answered, but a few ground rules do apply!

 

Avalon Chronicles #144: The Benefits of His Passion

 Reference: Avalon Chronicles #137

At the Crucifixion and Resurrection there was a new Sheriff in town! He came to change the world!

 The Evidence Bible Matthew 27:50-54 "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'" 

     If we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we have a personal relationship with Him and can discard much of what religion or "spirituality" teaches us. We have the authority as believers to appropriate His authority to battle the adversary. More on this later.

     He walked the earth for forty days and appeared to many before He went to the Father in heaven. With His death on the cross His earthly mission was accomplished. Note above He overcame death in the earth overseen and under control by the devil, who up to that time held power over the earth and death. Jesus brought the opportunity for salvation to all, who believe He was the Son of God. Historically, back to Golgotha even the Roman soldiers, who were at the foot of His cross believed Him to be the Son of God. But, humanity through the centuries since that day, has lived in a never-ending time of turmoil individually and corporately, some caused by our own sins and expression of our free will and most caused by the continual attacks by the demonic spirits on humans. The attacks by the evil spirits become a proving ground for us to show our love of our God in heaven. We must express our loyalty by winning the tactical (personal) battles all of us are faced with each day

     He acquired the power and authority over heaven and earth. His Name causes the evil ones and the demonic spirits to cower before Him. So we have a choice. Either we choose God's or Satan's world. I choose God's. You too may do so by saying these words: 

(Copyright by Christian Equippers International 1981).

"Lord Jesus...I want to stop trusting in myself...and what I can do...and starting trusting in You...and what You have already done...when you died for me on the cross. I know that I am a sinner...and I am sorry for my sins. I ask You to forgive me...and I invite You to come and live inside of me. I want You to be my Savior...and my Lord...which means being #1 in my life. I want to repent and turn away...from everything You and the Bible call sin...and I totally commit myself...to obeying You...Everyday, for the rest of my life. Thank You Jesus."

     We can accept Jesus as Savior with this commitment and thereby have a multitude of benefits of His passion that will be addressed in future messages. God bless and keep you and your loved ones in the protection of our Father in Heaven.