Tag: holy-spirit

LIVING WATER

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

As usual, AI said it well: “In prophetic literature, “living water” symbolizes God’s provision and sustenance, often referring to the Holy Spirit or the spiritual renewal offered by God. It contrasts with the emptiness of human-made cisterns, representing reliance on earthly things instead of God. Prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel use the imagery of living water to depict God’s abundant blessings and the restoration of his people.” Symbol of God’s Provision:In the arid landscapes of the ancient Near East, water was a precious and life-sustaining resource. “Living water” (Hebrew: mayim chayim) represents the reliable source of life and abundance that comes from God. Contrast with Broken Cisterns: Prophets often criticize their people for forsaking God, the “fountain of living waters,” and turning to unreliable, human-made cisterns that cannot sustain life.” This concept is expressed beautifully in Hebrew: “mayim chaim” —living water. To be a living water means constantly being in a state of refreshing, replenishing, and refilling.”

Let’s look at some of those prophecies about living water.

Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils:
They have abandoned Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To carve out for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns
That do not hold water.”

Broken cisterns: “The cisterns symbolize human-made systems, beliefs, or practices that are ultimately inadequate and fail to satisfy. This verse serves as a warning to all people to avoid placing their trust in worldly things, fleeting pleasures, or self-made solutions. True fulfillment comes from seeking God and trusting in his promises.” A cistern is not a well. A cistern is a container or tank that stores water, often rainwater, while a well is a hole dug or drilled into the ground to access groundwater. A cistern that is “broken” or cracked will not hold water and be worthless.

Of course, rainwater could be drained into the cistern. The cistern could be quite large. Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern, which was a large storage pit, by King Zedekiah’s officials. The cistern was empty and filled with mud, and Jeremiah sank into it. Judah was trusting in foreign powers and foreign gods to deliver them from the Babylonians instead of God. That was a broken cistern that would not provide relief.

Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring,
And My blessing on your descendants;
4 And they will spring up among the grass
Like poplars by streams of water.’

This Messianic prediction was fulfilled in the book of Acts when God poured out HIs Spirit of those who believed in Jesus as the Messiah, who became Christians. The water is the Spirit, which we will see Jesus say that the living water was the Spirit (John 7).

Jeremiah 17:13 Lord, the hope of Israel,
All who abandon You will be put to shame.
Those who turn away on earth will be written down,
Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, that is the Lord.”

Zechariah 13:1 “On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for defilement.” I assume that would be a fountain of living water for the remnant of the Jewish nation who would accept Jesus as the Messiah. The song, “There’s a fountain free, tis for you and me,,,” would fit here.

Zechariah 14 has been debated often. The context is the gathering of the nations in battle against Jerusalem. I think this is the Romans destroying Jerusalem in 70 AD but many think this chapter is yet to be fulfilled. There is a lot of figurative language in this chapter, such as the Mount of Olives being split into. One thing for sure is that living waters will be provided when it is fulfilled. 14:8 And on that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.”

Ezekiel 40-48. Ezekiel gives a long, detailed description of a temple to be built in his future. The temple rebuilt by Zerubbabel in the first return from Babylon in 536 BC does not fit this decription. Herod’s temple was magnificent but does not fit. So is it an actual temple yet to be built? I think it is a spiritual temple, the church, that was established in the first century in the book of Acts. Zechariah 6:12 “Behold, there is a Man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord. 13 Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the majesty and sit and rule on His throne. So He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.”’ 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

One thing is sure though. In chapter 47 water flows from this Messianic temple. “The water initially trickles, then grows deeper as it moves eastward, becoming ankle-deep, then knee-deep, then waist-deep, and finally, a river too deep to walk in, requiring swimming. The water reaches the Dead Sea, transforming its salty waters into fresh water, and supporting an abundance of fish and other living creatures. The river and its effects symbolize God’s power to restore and heal, bringing life and abundance to a previously barren and desolate landscape.” This is “living water”, water that provided spiritual life and renewal.  

I think these prophecies are predicting the living water that Jesus offered the woman at the well. John 4:7 A woman of Samaria *came to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away to the city to buy food. 9 So the Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, though You are a Jew, are asking me for a drink, though I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 She *said to Him, “Sir, You have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do You get this living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well and drank of it himself, and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”

John would later say that the living water was the Spirit. John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” After Jesus ascended, the apostles promised the gift of the Spirit to those who repented and were baptized (Acts 2:38). This was the same thing as “receiving the Spirit” (Acts 8,10). Believers were given the indwelling of the Spirit. The Spirit gives spiritual life to the spiritual dead. The Holy Spirit provides eternal life, quenches spiritual thirst, and brings a sense of lasting refreshment and renewal. John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life.” 2 Corinthians 3:6 who (God) also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter (the old covenant) kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Surely we are not waiting on these old testament predictions of the providing of living water to be fulfilled. That living water was provided in the first century to believers and would be available to believers from then on. This makes me think that Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah were predicting a spiritual temple, the church, and spiritual living water, the Spirit Himself, that would be provided in the first century. If not, then we don’t have that living water today but I believe that we do. Don’t you?

If you are a Christian, then it is the Spirit that keeps you alive spiritually (even when you sin) and gives you eternal life. 1 John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Sometimes we think that we don’t get eternal life until we die, but John says that we have it while we are living. When you are baptized, you get a spiritual body that will live forever even after you die. I do believe that you can fall from grace and lose that eternal life, so that eternal life is conditional based on active faith in Jesus.

The Spirit gives us spiritual life that refreshes us constantly. The Spirit keeps us focused on spiritual things instead of carnal worldly things. The Spirit keeps us positive in the midst of earthly pain and problems as we anticipate eternal life with God after death. The Spirit keeps us rejoicing inside while we weep on the outside over sickness, tragedy, and death of loved ones. The Spirit gives hope when things seem hopeless.

But to really enjoy the full benefits of the Spirit and living water, we must have a thirst for living water. If we are always thirsty for the water from broken cisterns, then we will not be thirsty for living water. It will be available but we will end up drinking water that will not provide life. We will drink that impure water and never be filled. Someone stranded for days in a small boat in the ocean without fresh water will drink the salt water, but it just makes him more thirsty. But that will eventually kill him from drinking the salt water.

Isaiah 12:3 Therefore you will joyously draw water
From the springs of salvation.”

Lord, I don’t think that I am joyously drawing living water from the springs of salvation. Christians should be the happiest, most positive people on earth. Lord, help me to be more thirsty for that living water, for your Spirit.


JOEL 2:28-32 THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT

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Joel 2:28 -32

The Promise of the Spirit

28 “It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will have dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
29 And even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

The Day of the Lord

30 I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
32 And it will come about that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
Will be saved;
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
Just as the Lord has said,
Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”

We know when this prophecy was fulfilled. In Acts 2 apostles begin speaking in tongues, i.e. the languages of the many nations represented by the Jews who were present in Jerusalem at the time to keep the feast of Pentecost. Some said that they were drunk, but Peter said that the tongue speaking was the beginning of the fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32, and quoted those verses verbatim. “In the Old Testament under the old covenant, the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit was active and present in various figures, including leaders like Moses (and the 70 elders who were given the Spirit), Samson, Saul and David, artisans like Bezalel, and prophets like Joshua, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The Spirit empowered them for specific tasks, such as leading the people, creating the Tabernacle, or prophesying.” (From AI) The receiving of the Spirit would be different in the new covenant. The miraculous power (dreams, visions, prophesying) of the Spirit would be poured out on all mankind. We know that means men, women, and people of all races and professions who were baptized believers in Jesus. Every baptized believer in the book of Acts could receive the miraculous outpouring of the Spirit, i.e. the “indwelling of the Spirit”, by the laying on of the apostles’ hands.

In Acts 2:38 Peter told the Jews on that day of Pentecost that they too could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, i.e. the same miraculous power of the Spirit that Joel predicted and that they had seen manifested in the apostles speaking in tongues. Acts 2:38 says that they would receive the gift of the Spirit after they repented and were baptized, but it doesn’t say exactly how they received the Spirit. Did the Spirit just come on them as they arose from immersion in water? Acts 8 tells us how they received the Spirit. In Acts 8:4-24 Peter and John (both apostles) came to Samaria to lay their hands on those baptized by Philip to give them the Spirit. Acts 8:16 (For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

In Acts 19 Paul came to Ephesus and found some baptized disciples of Jesus. Acts 19:2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “On the contrary, we have not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all.” Just as in Acts 8, they received the miraculous power of the Spirit by the laying on of hands of an apostle, Paul.

In Acts 10 there is an exception. Peter had been sent to the house of Cornelius to preach the gospel to him. Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. 45 All the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had also been poured out on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter responded, 47 “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” 48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.” The Spirit fell on Cornelius without the laying on of an apostle’s hands. God skipped that step and gave the miraculous power of the Spirit, as evidenced by them speaking in tongues, directly to Cornelius even before he was baptized. This is clearly an exception to the normal order of receiving the Spirit as found in Acts 2,8,19. God did this to show the Jewish Christians that Gentile believers could receive salvation through Jesus and become members of Christ’s church just as they did. They did not skip the baptism part, and were baptized in the name of Jesus. These verses also show that the “gift of the Holy Spirit” and the “receiving of the Spirit” refer to the same thing, i.e. the miraculous power of the Spirit given to baptized believers. This helps us understand what the “gift of the Spirit” is in Acts 2:38, i.e. the miraculous power given to baptized believers by the laying on of the apostles’ hands. We can safely assume that in Acts 2 that the baptized believers received the miraculous power of the Spirit as they arose from immersion in water, the apostles’ hands already being laid on them as the apostles baptized them. This refutes the idea that the gift of the Spirit in Acts 2:38 is some non-miraculous indwelling of the Spirit received after baptism. Think about it this way. They saw the miraculous speaking in tongues of the apostles, they were told that was the fulfillment of the pouring out of miraculous power of the Spirit as predicted by Joel, and they they were told they they too could receive the gift of the Spirit. What do you think they would expect to received after baptism? Some non-miraculous indwelling of the Spirit? No way. They would have expected to receive the miraculous power of the Spirit just as Joel predicted.

When would this miraculous outpouring of the Spirit be made available to baptized believers? Joel 2:29 I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” “Those days” would be defined by Joel 2:30-32 as the days “before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes”. What is that day of the Lord? It must be the coming of the Lord in judgment on the Jews in 70 AD when Jesus sent the Romans to destroy the temple and the city of Jerusalem, killing one million Jews according to Josephus. That fits the context of Acts 2 that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” from judgment on that day. Joel even says they will “escape” and will be “survivors” on that judgment. Jewish believers did escape when they left Jerusalem to go to Pella when they had the opportunity before the final 5 month siege of the city during which no one escaped. Peter told them in Acts 2:40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on urging them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” That comment shows that he is urging them to be saved from the fate that their evil generation of Jews would find in 70 AD. Josephus said that generation of Jews before 70 AD must have been the most evil that had ever lived up to that time. Jesus would often speak of the pending judgment on that “evil generation” of Jews living before 70 AD (Matthew 12:38-42; 16:4).

So “those days” in which the miraculous power of the Spirit would be poured out on baptized believers would be the “last days of the Jewish age”, i.e. from Acts 2 the day of Pentecost in 30 AD to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. This was a 40 years period of an outpouring of the miraculous power of the Spirit in the early church. Everything was done by the miraculous power of the Spirit. The Spirit gave miraculous gifts to baptized believers and the assemblies were dominated by the exercise of those miraculous gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14). The church was taught and matured by the miraculous leadership gifts of “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11).

The miraculous speaking in tongues and prophesying after the laying on of hands by the apostles on baptized believers was confirmation that they were indeed the true sons of God and the saved. We can know that we are saved when we believe, repent, and are baptized b/c the book of Acts tells us so. The early believers did not have the written word to confirm their salvation. They needed miraculous proof and they received it. Paul spoke of this miraculous confirmation in Galatians 3:1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” Some in the Galatian churches were turning being led back to trusting in the keeping of the Law of Moses. Paul challenges them: did you “receive the Spirit” by keeping the Law or by the hearing of faith (we assume that would mean becoming a baptized believer)? This “receiving of the Spirit” must have been something visible, tangible or it would not be a persuasive argument by Paul. He must be referring to the miraculous gift of the Spirit they received when he laid his hands on them.


Does all this mean that baptized believers after 70 AD don’t receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as promised in Acts 2:38? It should be obvious from studying Acts 2,8,10, and 19 that the gift of the Spirit was a miraculous “indwelling of the Spirit”. So, if we do get that gift of the Spirit they they received in those chapters, then we should get the same thing they got, i.e. the miraculous indwelling. That’s what the Pentecostals and charismatics have been trying to tell us all along. But most of our scholars said that we get a non-miraculous indwelling of the Spirit immediately after baptism since our tradition doesn’t believe that we have the miraculous gifts today. But that is not the context of those chapters in Acts. We can’t ignore Acts 8,10, and 19 and just make Acts 2:38 mean what we want it to mean. We must follow those other chapters to help us define terms. The miraculous receiving of the gift of the Spirit between AD 30 and AD 70 was a special gift for that period in the early growth and development of the church. It was a scaffold to help build the church. Once a building is finished, the scaffold is no longer needed.

So do we receive the Spirit today if we don’t receive the miraculous gift of the Spirit of Acts 2:38? We actually have something better. Several times the Bible says that once the church in fully established as of 70 AD that God would make his abode in His people, the church. He would dwell in His people. Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.” This “new Jerusalem” is the church that replaced the old Jerusalem. . The “new heavens and earth” is the new Messianic system and covenant that replaced the old heavens and earth the Jewish old covenant. The prophets predicted this. Ezekiel 37:26 And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and set My sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My dwelling place also will be among them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’” That “sanctuary” is the church where God dwells. God dwells spiritually by faith in every baptized believer. Jesus dwells in us spiritually by faith. Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” This is a spiritual presence in us by faith. So if the Father and Son swell in us by faith, then the Spirit must dwell in us also. The believers in the book of Acts received a miraculous indwelling that we do not receive, but we do receive the presence of the Spirit when we receive the indwelling of God the Father and Jesus. I don’t believe that the Spirit does the miraculous as he did in the book of Acts, but I do believe that he leads us providentially.

I first remember 50 years ago someone taking me through a study of Acts just as I have done in this article. I remember thinking, “this is the context of these chapters in Acts that can’t be refuted”. Franklin Camp’s book on the Holy Spirit just made it so simple. Some interpret the Spirit in Acts based on how they want it to mean instead of simply accepting the clear context.

MEMOIRS OF THE APOSTLES

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I’m 75. When I was young, we still watched home movies on a Bell & Howell 8mm projector. My wife’s dad had one of those. Then along came 8 track tape players in 1965. My dad installed one of those in my 1964 1/2 Mustang that he bought me (the first Mustang model ever sold). My future wife and I used to listen to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass tapes as we sat in her parents’ driveway. It was a cool car with a 3 speed stick shift in the floor. I could “pop a wheelie” with that little 6 cylinder. Then along came VHS tapes in 1976. I still have about 20 VHS of many important events in the life of our 3 kids. I’m trying to digitize them or at least DVD them. Then along came CD’s in 1982 for audio. I still have about 50 of those with all my “oldies” groups! Try to find a CD player! Then along came DVD’s in 1997. I remember the first DVD movie we rented to watch at home. I was accustomed to. watching movies on VHS where you had to be rewind the VHS before you returned it to the store or they would charge you extra. So we watched the DVD movie that first time and I asked “how do you rewind it before we take it back to the rental store?” Then along came Blu-ray Disc (BD) in 2006 that improved on DVD’s. Then along came 4k and 8k HDR Blu-ray. Then came streaming. Streaming services, as we know them today, began to take shape in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with key milestones including Netflix’s launch of its streaming service in 2007, YouTube’s founding in 2005, Amazon video in 2006. That’s the limit of my technological ability to even describe what they are doing now.

So what’s the point. We watched on VHS my oldest daughter’s high school pageant where her talent was twirling (she was a majorette) and her wedding. We watched on VHS my youngest daughter’s spend the night with friends acting crazy (one was her best friend who died in a car wreck the first week of her senior year). That was all on VHS. We might be able to digitize those memories, but that doesn’t change the memory at all. Digital would just improve the way it is communicated. What is we did not have VHS back when our kids were little? We might have vague memories but the VHS recording makes those memories come alive. My children’s children’s memories will be recorded on phones and digital videos.

God’s word is the same. For example, the gospel writers were relying on their Holy Spirit aided memories to write the gospel stories of Jesus’ teachings and miracles. John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” Justin Martyr uses the term “memoirs of the apostles” to refer to what we now call the Gospels, specifically the accounts of Jesus’ birth, ministry, passion, and resurrection. We don’t have the original gospels. Since the originals, thousands of copies have been made in many languages. Then we had the audio gospels CD’s. Then we had DVD’s like The Gospel of John DVD which is great! The means of communicating those apostolic memories about Jesus have improved dramatically, but the memories are still the same. Seeing The Gospel of John, verse by verse, DVD is just amazing. It makes the apostolic memories recorded in the gospels come alive. But it is not about the technology! It’s about Jesus’ teachings and miracles. Just the written word in whatever translation, version, or paraphrase is an amazing memory of what Jesus did. The written word is the Holy Spirit inspired memories of the apostles and eyewitness accounts of all that Jesus did and his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Every time we read the word, the Holy Spirit is moving to get us to understand and apply the word to our lives in our culture. Before she died, my mother wrote some long letters expressing her feelings on some issues. When I read those letters, I can feel her presence in those letters. I can feel her looking at me from heaven, telling me that she wants me to do what she wrote in those letters. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the same.

So I encourage you to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit as you read and meditate on the Word. It is amazing how many technological aids that we have. to study the Word. On Biblehub.com (and other sites) you can find the Greek and Hebrew words for every verse with the meanings and all the ways they are translated and used. You can find commentaries free online on biblehub, commentaires that I paid hundreds or even thousands of dollars to buy when I first started serious study of the Word. Make use of all those tools.

MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST

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Are you familiar with the book of devotionals by Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)? It is 365 devotionals to be read one at a time for the whole years. Oswald Chambers was talented in poetry, music, and art, but his passion was preaching the gospel. His parents were baptized by. the famed British pastor Charles Spurgeon and were very spiritual. Oswald felt that he heard the Lord call him, “I want you in My service but I can do without you.” He spent a decade in a theological training school and later began his own Bible Training School. He had a very “dry” period of several years until he asked God “for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, whatever that meant”. Jesus’ words in Luke 11:13 changed everything for him. Luke 11:3 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” He asked God the Holy Spirit and relied on the Spirit for the rest of his life in his preaching and writing. He married Gertrude Hobbs but he called her “Biddy”. He died from complications from an appendectomy in 1917. After his death, Biddy began putting his writings into some 4 dozen books, most notably My Utmost For His Highest. With her help, Oswald reached more people after death than he had in life.

I remember reading his devotionals in My Utmost For His Highest. It just seemed that each one spoke to my needs for that particular day. Is that just coincidence or the work of the Holy Spirit through Oswald giving me what I need for that day? I don’t know, but it sure seemed to work everyday. Maybe that is why so many people read these same 365 devotionals year and year and they never get old.

I urge you to go online and request the daily devotionals from the book to be sent to your email. I feel the same way about the Spirit using the Bible every day to meet our particular needs for that day. The Bible is not just like our constitution, filled with laws and doctrines, once for all time (and it does have that). All of it was written specifically to someone living in the past: to the Jews, to people living in the first century, to believers in churches, and to individuals like Timothy and Titus. None of it was written directly to us and yet the Spirit can use the Bible to speak to us through the application of what the Spirit wrote to others. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The Spirit can apply the word to our lives and needs. So when we read the word, we should be asking, “Ok, I know this was written to someone else, but what would the Sprit want me to take from it in my life today?” My mom wrote several looooooong letters before she died, dealing with some issues. When I read those letters, I can feel her spirit still speaking behind those words. It is the same with the Spirit and the word. When you read the word, try to picture the Spirit (however you might picture the Sprit) watching you reading the word and hoping that you will apply what you read to your daily life and needs.