~Three is Me~

Sipping tea as usual with you...I like to take my time with my tea...and I sip it at any temperature...there is so much on my heart and mind...we in the United States of America have just enjoyed ThanksGiving day...we have much to be thankful for...we are blessed...My heart, soul, and mind is in this...what I call a la-la state...simply mellow...sure my mind is ever going...always filled with a song and a variety of scenes as if plays or movies are always going through my mind....and my heart...it is mellow although it is going through a time of remembrance during this season...and my soul...oh my soul...it is also mellow...a sweet calm.

The reason for the calm? I have a short answer; prayer and the Holy Spirit. In all of my life, I have always talked with our Father Creator and Jesus. As a young girl I knew I could talk to Them/Him any time I wanted. I knew I could talk out loud or in my own mind. That was always such a comfort to me.

Later I learned of the Holy Spirit. I learned I could talk to Him also. We have talked about communicating with the Three. So, I won't back-track.

Spirit living is the focus here! Trust me it can be extremely exciting! Nothing heebie-jeebie. It is Jesus-y! In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 & 24 we read that we have a spirit, soul, and body. I know I always talk about my heart, mind, and soul but that is because my brain thinks in that way. I think of my heart as my emotional me, my mind as the thinking me, and my soul as more like my psyche. Those are my "human" definitions of the make up of self. The Bible tells us we are, spirit, soul and body. Our spirit is not the Holy Spirit. Those who follow Jesus can have the Holy Spirit inside but "He" is not "me". The spirit comes from the Greek word, pneuma, meaning breath or wind.The soul is the principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans. The body is, well, our body. The physical you. So, 1 Thessalonians spells it out for us, we have spirit, soul, and body. These "three" are so very wonderful and unique as part of each person. We need to properly care for each of the three. We can read about caring for our body. We understand that pretty easily. Eat less; move more! (grins) Well, you can research things for caring for your body as today I want to talk about our spirit and soul care.

 In Jude verse 20 and 21, he tells us to build ourselves up in the most holy faith, praying in the Spirit, keep ourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

Let's break that down. Yes, I know it is already pretty brief...but let's break it down. 

#1 Build yourself up in the most holy faith. How do we do that? Well, Jude goes on to tell us in his following words....

#2 Pray in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is your moving and guiding power.  He is the one who motivates you to pray. We pray according to His direction.

#3 Keep yourself in the love of God. This happens by continuing to pray. Pray on all occasions. Pray about anything on your heart. Give praise. Give thanks. Petition. Cry out to Father. Prayer is our oxygen with our heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Without prayer, our relationship would suffocate. Breathing is essential; Prayer is our breath of life!

#4 Wait expectantly for our Savior. 

The body is easy to sort and define. We can touch it, move it, see it. The spirit and the soul are unseen. All three are mentioned in the scriptures. All three are "me". All three need care. All three are unique. The body "houses" the spirit and soul. The soul is the "psyche". The spirit is designed to be in charge of your body and soul. The spirit is the inner person. The real you when you accepted Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit reveals truth to your spirit and guides you in the will of God. How wonderfully amazing when there is communication between your spirit and the Holy Spirit! The breath of life!

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (ESV)

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

~I am a Stone~

Sitting here sipping my tea...now cold as it has been setting out...still tasty...I drink tea in any temperature...I am so excited about sharing with you today...You have been with me through much of my listening and obeying God times...

Always learning...always growing...always sharing...that is what we are to do as Jesus followers...I am just so inspired! I have my Inspirational times with the Three every morning. Sometimes they are only about 30 minutes long...other times they have been as much as two and a half hours...it all depends on what all the Three and I are sharing. I read, I journal, I listen, They take turns talking to me, I talk with Them...I cherish our Inspirational time.

I have also included praying to the Holy Spirit in our Inspirational time now. I pray to Him to give me the words that I need to say to whomever...I pray to Him to flow through me to help me show compassion...I pray to Him to comfort me...I pray to Him to guide me...I pray to Him...for a variety of things....

The other day He and I were communing and I was praying that I would have the words to say that He would want me to say to people in general, to my husband, to my son...I had to run some errands in town and was in a grocery store. I was selecting items from a freezer bed when across from me there was a lady who seemed to be in need. I asked her if she was looking for something in particular. She told me what she was looking for and asked if I knew it the store had it. We conversed briefly. She then turned the corner to be nearly cart to cart with me and somehow we struck up a conversation.

She and I talked as if we had known each other for years. We began sharing our variety of health stories. We shared stories about our doctors...our travels for health reasons...and at one point I looked at her and said..."Well, I have Jesus..." and I began to tell her how I dealt with  my health issues over the past years. As soon as I said, "Well, I have Jesus," her face lit up and her eyes sparkled. She had Jesus too! We both shared more excitedly. When we concluded our conversation we hugged and went about our business. I believe we talked by that freezer bed for nearly 30 minutes. The peculiar thing to me was those words that so easily flowed from my mouth, "Well, I have Jesus..." I knew those words popped right out with the help of the Holy Spirit. As they came out it was almost as if I wasn't speaking them. The power of words caused her to shine and sparkle. The power of the Holy Spirit gave me the courage to share Him and Jesus through my words.

Obeying, listening, trusting, sharing...it is who we are (or who we should be) when we follow Jesus. He has been doing some pretty terrific things in my life. For instance, He has told me to go through the book of Ephesians in the Bible. I am not to merely read it and be done...I am to pick it apart...really focus on the verses...the key things...

I believe the things I am learning were easy for the  Ephesians to comprehend. For me, I am reading them with new eyes. I am reading them with eyes that dissect. I want to share with you some things that I have picked up in reading Ephesians so far.

First I want to say, I have fun keeping a journal. I think as I write. When I read some verses from Ephesians 2 today, I worked them out as if working out a math equation and I don't like math. I dissected the verses....and I don't care for science. Maybe what I did was parse them out as in the old fashioned way of handling some grammatical situations. At any rate...I "spelled them out" for me to grasp and I want to share it with you.

I was reading Ephesians 2 today so I will share with you my "take" on Ephesians 2.

In verse 5 it simply states that we are saved by grace. Verse 6 tells me that I am seated with Christ in the heavens...there is a place JUST for me! I am not saved because of anything I have DONE (works) but only because of God's grace (v. 9). In verse 10 I learned WHO I AM in Jesus...I am His workmanship whom He created to do good works FOR Him. I am not saved because of my good works; but because I am a Jesus follower I am to do good works FOR Him!

Reading further to verse 13 I learn that I have been brought near Jesus because of His blood. In verse 18, I  know that everyone has access to the Father in one Spirit. Oh! The Holy Spirit pops up here!

Okay now here is where I begin to dissect. The first bit of chapter 2 was pretty easy to grasp. The next verses...verses 20 to 22, I pick apart...

Jesus is the Cornerstone of the temple.
The apostles and prophets are main stones of the temple.
The saints (believers) are stones of the temple.
In Jesus, the whole building grows into the temple in the Lord.
God's dwelling of the Holy Spirit is why we are all being built together (put together).

Again:
God's Holy Spirit dwells in the temple made of prophets, apostles, and saints (believers) and Jesus is the Cornerstone...where we all begin!
The temple is to be cared for and maintained...added to with more believers (saints). The Church is the whole! The Holy Spirit is in and among the Church!

Do you understand what I am saying? Saints (believers), the prophets and apostles, and Jesus being the very base for us, the Cornerstone are ALL the Church! Jesus gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, so He is IN the Church.The Holy Spirit, as I have stated before, gives the saints (believers) more power than what raised Jesus from the dead!

My friend, WE, the Church, the body of believers (saints) have or can have that awesome Holy Spirit Power. My goodness, I asked Him to help me with words to say...how much more can He do than simply give me words! 

The Church has Jesus as the Cornerstone! If we have a body of praying believers who truly rely on the Three and know and claim that Holy Spirit power...how much can be done in the name of Jesus! We need to be that Jesus Church! We believers have that common ground just as I knew the lady in the grocery store knew Jesus because as soon as I said, "Well, I have Jesus..." she shined Jesus more. We, the Church, needs to obey, listen, trust, and share Jesus! My friend, we have the Holy Spirit to guide, counsel, give words, give us power...and so much more...live it! 

We are each a stone of the Church of Jesus. Each believer is important and is equipped and being more equipped with the ways that God wants to use them in His church. Obey, Listen, and Share!

~The Three; The One~

Sitting here again...sipping my tea...surrounded by windows full of gray skies...my mind...oh my mind wants to explode telling you things that it has been taking in lately...but explosions are not always so good...so I will choose to let bits of my mind out little by little...

The explosion could be an issue if it all bursts out to much and too fast...it would just smatter around and not be any good...it may also hit you in areas that you are not ready to take it yet...I say yet...

You see, and some of you know this of me, I have Jesus and Father, with the Holy Spirit inside me. Yes, the trilogy...not a biblical word, I know this. I love knowing all three of them...I know I am not supposed to choose a favorite...but because of the type of person I am, I do have a favorite...be assured that I know the importance of all three for me...but my favorite...if you asked...is the Holy Spirit. 

There is SO much I could write here about the Holy Spirit. I won't overwhelm you (grins) Jesus was excited for us to have the Holy Spirit. In John 16:7 He tells His disciples, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go I will send Him to you." Jesus was here in body. He was among the disciples and the people walking and talking with them...teaching...doing miracles...living as a man. Jesus knew that we could know his teachings...we could remember things he taught...but that He could not possibly be IN us. He knew that when He left, He could and would leave His Spirit...that Being who could be inside us, teaching us, guiding us, comforting us...His Spirit could always be a part of us as long as we had a relationship with Jesus because together they were One (and yes with the Father). So, Jesus wanted to leave in order for us to have some of Him (Spirit) with us always! He knew that was the only way. How exciting and giving!

I get all excited knowing that the Holy Spirit is inside me. I learn more about Him daily. I know that I need to lean into Him always. I need to pray to Him before dealing with any issue or people in order to give godly words or advice. I know that I need to be talking with Him as I go about my day. Of course I can talk to Jesus. He is my friend and Savior. I can also talk to Father. He is my creator. But when I talk to the Holy Spirit, it is different as He resides in me. He courses through my mind, body, and soul. He knows just what I need and when. He will give me the guidance. He will give me the comfort in difficult times. He will give me words to say that are far better than any I could come up with. He will keep me in tune with Father and Jesus. 

As I said, I get all excited in the Holy Spirit! I get all excited in prayer! I have dancing of the Spirit inside my head! My soul sings Him! My heart rejoices in Him!

I want to encourage you to study up on the Holy Spirit. Look up scriptures about Him! He is a unique person not simply a power or influence as He may be grieved (Eph. 4:30), He may be quenched, (1 Thes. 5:19) and He may be resisted (Acts 7:51). He is the author of the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16) as it is God breathed. He convicts and regenerates (John 16:8-11, John 3:1-16, Acts 2:38). He is our comforter (John 14:16-17, Eph. 2:14, Phil. 4:7). The Holy Spirit empowers us to live in Christ's righteousness (Rom.8:26, Phil 4:10-13) and He helps us to read the Bible and pray (John 4:25, 16:12-15, Rom.8:28). There are so many attributes of the Holy Spirit! Seek more.

As I said, I did not want to overwhelm you with the dancing going on inside my being (of the Holy Spirit). I think it is so fabulous that Jesus was so thrilled to give us the Holy Spirit when He left earth. He so wanted us to be a part with Him and that is how it was to be done! 

All Three are One! All Three can be prayed to. Most of us are not as familiar with praying to the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to write out a prayer to Him. I was going to do it here for you but I know that when you learn more about Him on your own...reading scriptures about Him...you will want to put prayers to Him in your own words! Your words will penetrate your heart and soul. I also want to encourage you to turn to Him, as He is in you if you follow Jesus, when you need guidance...comfort...words to speak to someone... 

I thank Jesus for leaving us His Spirit the part of Him that is possible to be in us!