March 2006 What's a Woman to Do?
investigating truth, instigating bold living
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Do I Get a Witness?
  Deborah Brunt
It was the height of joy - and dilemma. I was serving as a volunteer chaplain at the Oklahoma County Jail. Weekly, many broken women received Christ as Lord.

We chaplains had to limit our visit with each woman to an hour. Once the gospel was presented and discussed and the woman had responded, usually no more than 10 minutes remained. What's more, I rarely saw the same person twice.

So there I sat, having helped birth a baby into the kingdom, deeply aware how much nurturing she needed. Was I leaving an infant on a doorstep? When I walked away, what would enable her to become what God describes in Isaiah 61:3 - an oak of righteousness, "a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor"?

That 10 minutes gave me time to commend each woman to the care of three living witnesses, given to every person in Christ for the purpose of completing what He has begun: His Spirit, His Word, His people.

"Stay vitally connected to all three," I'd say, "and your life will display God's splendor."

The Spirit of God
  Key truths
Which is worse: to attribute what is of the devil to God's Spirit, or to attribute what is of the Spirit to Satan?

It is grievous and deadly to mistake the devil for God. "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light," says 2 Corinthians 11:14. That's why 1 John 4:1 urges, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God."

Notice, though, the litmus test in verses 2-3. "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God."

Is this honestly the test we use? Or, if something is beyond our understanding and control, if it makes us uncomfortable, if it challenges the religious parameters in which we've lived, do we assume it's not from God?

One more question: When Jesus cast out demons, did He do so by the ruler of the demons or by the Spirit of God?

The Pharisees said, "by the ruler of the demons." When they attributed what was from the Spirit to Satan, Jesus said, "Anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (Matt. 12:32).

To mistake God's Spirit for Satan is eternally disastrous. Why? Because the Spirit is God Himself, come to inhabit His people.

All the qualities resident in Jesus are resident in the Spirit. All the power resident in the Father is resident in the Spirit. And the Spirit is resident in us. Contrary to popular opinion, He hasn't come as a guest. He arrived as the new owner of our lives when we confessed, "Jesus is Lord."

The Spirit is our breath. We require Him moment by moment for real, abundant, eternal life.

He is the faithful Messenger. He tells us whatever He hears from the Son - flawlessly, personally wooing, teaching, reproving, encouraging, guiding. What's more, the Spirit takes our heartcries to the Father, compellingly presenting them and perfectly conforming them to the Father's will.

The Spirit is dynamite. He explodes the myths we've believed and shatters every bondage that the flesh, the world and the devil use to imprison and destroy us. He alone catapults our desires and deeds into oneness with the Son's. He sends us, empowers us and accomplishes through us what brings thunderous applause to the Father.

We quench and grieve the Spirit by not listening, not obeying, not relinquishing control, not relying on Him, not relating to Him as almighty, holy God within us. Afraid of veering off into the soulish or the demonic, we often set boundaries as to how we will and will not allow the Spirit to operate. Yet, when we put God in a box, we muffle - or silence - His witness and thus open the way for the very thing we're trying to avoid. Other voices, religious voices, now have our ear.

When we are responding to Christ as Lord, He enables what He commands: Be filled with the Spirit, receiving His life moment by moment, like a person taking one deep breath after another. Walk by the Spirit, taking each step at His direction and in His power. Yes, we still sin. But when the Spirit's siren goes off - announcing the exact step where we left the right path - He further enables the steps of confession and repentance needed to get back on track.

Relying on the Spirit, we're nurtured by the witness of God within.

The Word of God
  Key truths
The Bible is God's infallible written Word. To neglect it, dismiss it, or take only those parts we find palatable is to disconnect ourselves from the second witness He has given us.

Indeed, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do" (2 Tim. 3:16-17 NLT).

"But," says 1 Corinthians 2:10, "we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit" (NLT).

Truth is revealed. It is revealed by God Himself. We can study the scripture for years. We can memorize it. We can valiantly try to live our lives by it. But we cannot understand the truth or rightly apply it apart from God's Spirit.

The Spirit reveals the written Word - and corroborates it. The Spirit will not tell me to feed greed. I know this because the Bible identifies greed as idolatry.

So what if the Word and the Spirit seem to be at odds? Do I immediately assume that the voice I thought to be the Holy Spirit is not?

What if Peter had taken that route on the rooftop when God's Spirit told Him to do something God's Word forbade (Acts 10)? If Peter had rejected the voice of the Spirit on the grounds that it conflicted with the Word, salvation would not have come to the Gentiles (at least, not through Peter).

The written word of God is true. It cannot be dismissed or explained away. However, our understanding or application of the Word can be flawed. Even Bible translators can follow a bias to the point of choosing wording that does not accurately reflect the original.

Thus, I cannot simply test the Spirit by the Word. I must also test the Word by the Spirit. Having learned to hear His voice, I listen intently, trusting God to lead me through my bewilderment, purifying my motives, strengthening my discernment, until I see anew how the Word and the Spirit bear witness with one voice.

The People of God
  Key truths
We in the Western church pride ourselves on our independence. To us, each person is an island. Almost everything taught related to spiritual growth emphasizes what I am to do or not do as an individual.

Strangely, this independent attitude has created a highly dependent environment. Most Christians have no confidence that they can hear God accurately, pray powerfully, walk in His freedom and authority, or conduct His grace and power into others' lives. Clergy or "spiritual" people must do these things.

Yet the pictures God uses in Scripture to describe His people emphasize, not independence and not dependence, but rather interdependence. We are the Bride of Christ, His Body, His army, His house. All rightly connected, each rightly functioning, we're unstoppable.

Yes, I am to be filled with the Spirit and to walk by the Spirit - to know the Word and abide in it. I am not to rely on others to tell me what God is saying or to goad me do it. At the same time, I am not to try to go it alone.

"In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others" (Rom. 12:5).

Lone rangers cannot display God's glory. His splendor shines forth from His people as we rightly connect, not only to Him, but also to one another. This interdependence doesn't happen merely by showing up "at church" on Sunday. It involves:

  • living authentically in connection with a small group of true disciples - being mutually vulnerable, accountable and trustworthy;
  • walking in right relationship with God-appointed spiritual authority;
  • embracing all the people of God as one Body.

To cultivate this vital connection, I choose to love and seek to learn from whoever loves the Lord Jesus Christ. That does not mean I embrace everything any Christian says or does. But wherever I see the Spirit of God at work in the lives of people who have surrendered to Jesus as Lord, I listen to what they're saying, watch what they're doing, check everything against the Word and continually cry for discernment.

Further, I join the people of God in listening for what He is saying to us collectively through His Spirit and His Word. Together, we talk about what we're hearing. Shoulder to shoulder, we step out to obey.

The Splendor of God
  Open Gates
God never leaves an infant on a doorstep. From the moment of new birth, He surrounds us with three living, nurturing witnesses. Speaking with one voice, the Spirit of God, the Word of God and the people of God impart to us the splendor of God.

. . . . . . .

Scripture quotations are from NIV unless otherwise noted.

 

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