Comforter and Teacher

Today's Devotion Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Comforter and Teacher

Today's Text But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. John 14:26

The Holy Spirit is Christ's representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was for their [the disciples'] interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense he would be nearer to them than if he had not ascended on high. The Comforter is called “the Spirit of truth.” His work is to define and maintain the truth. He first dwells in the heart as the Spirit of truth, and thus he becomes the Comforter. There is comfort and peace in the truth, but no real peace or comfort can be found in falsehood. It is through false theories and traditions that Satan gains his power over the mind. By directing men to false standards, he misshapes the character. Through the Scriptures the Holy Spirit speaks to the mind, and impresses truth upon the heart. Thus he exposes error, and expels it from the soul. It is by the Spirit of truth, working through the Word of God, that Christ subdues his chosen people to himself. In describing to his disciples the office work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus sought to inspire them with the joy and hope that inspired his own heart. He rejoiced because of the abundant help he had provided for his church. The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that he could solicit from his Father for the exaltation of his people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the third person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fulness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given his Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress his own character on his church....(The Review and Harold, Nov. 19, 1908) At all times and in all places, in all sorrows and in all afflictions, when the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing, and we feel helpless and alone, the Comforter will be sent in answer to the prayer of faith. Circumstances may separate us from every earthly friend; but no circumstance, no distance, can separate us from the heavenly Comforter. Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is always at our right hand to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer.... The Comforter is called “the Spirit of truth.” His work is to define and maintain the truth. He first dwells in the heart as the Spirit of truth, and thus He becomes the Comforter. There is comfort and peace in the truth, but no real peace or comfort can be found in falsehood. It is through false theories and traditions that Satan gains his power over the mind. By directing men to false standards, he misshapes the character. Through the Scriptures the Holy Spirit speaks to the mind, and impresses truth upon the heart. Those who are under the influence of the Spirit of God will not be fanatical, but calm and steadfast, free from extravagance in thought, word, or deed. Amid the confusion of delusive doctrines, the Spirit of God will be a guide and a shield to those who have not resisted the evidences of truth. Every man, woman, and child that is not under the control of the Spirit of God is under the influence of Satan's sorcery, and by his words and example he will lead others away from the path of truth. When the transforming grace of Christ is upon the heart, a righteous indignation will take possession of the soul because the sinner has so long neglected the great salvation that God has provided for him. Note: In some areas phrases have been omitted by the compilers for whatever reason. I have restored them as underlined text, that the full intent of the author may be given.

My Thoughts: My friend, the Comforter that that Jesus promised to send was not another person that is different from the Father and the Son, but was Himself to come to them in another form. Jesus promised to send them the Spirit of truth, when He just a few verses before said "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6). Jesus was opening up to them spiritual realities plainly, but they could not grasp the realities He was speaking to them. Therefore He began to use an illustration that they could understand what He was saying. He used the illustration of the Comforter saying "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14:16-18). Notice that the Comforter that was the Spirit of truth, and that they know Him and He was dwelling with them. Then He says "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." He was opening to them that though He was going away that He would come to them in another form. He would be with them by His Spirit. The church uses these texts in John 14 to prove that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, when in reality it does not. Notice that the Greek word John used for Comforter is Paraklaytos. It is used only 5 times in the Bible and only by John. In John 14:26 it says that the Comforter is the Holy Ghost, and the last place it is used is in 1 John 2:1 saying "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate [Comforter] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" John used the same Greek word in 1 John but it was translated advocate. Thus John was saying that the Comforter is Jesus Christ the righteous. My friend, the Comforter is not a third person, different from the Father and the Son; a being that has never been human; does not know what it is like to struggle with sin in the flesh; one who has not gained the victory over sin. The Comforter is Jesus Christ the righteous, One who knows the depths of sin, has gained the victory over it, and He offers to us His Spirit that we may live His life in place of our own. Thus is fulfilled the promise of God saying "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezekiel 36, 26, 27). God bless,

I encourage your comments: wtaitague@gmail.com or directly in the blog (Click Here)

Jesuits in the SDA Church An interview that exposes how the Jesuits of Rome have infiltrated the Seventh-day Church. Learn how Satan worked through Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, general conference leaders, and SDA institutions of higher education to destroy God's last-day movement. RESOURCES: Archive of Daily Devotions Melodies of Prayer Free Bible & Commentary Bible Study Resources The Truth About God The Final Protest Revelation1412.org

Thursday: The Indwelling Spirit

Agent in Redemption

Today's Devotion Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Agent in Redemption

Today's Text And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Romans 5:5

By nature the heart is evil, and “who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” Job 14:4. No human invention can find a remedy for the sinning soul. “The carnal mind .. is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” The fountain of the heart must be purified before the streams can become pure. He who is trying to reach heaven by his own works in keeping the law is attempting an impossibility. There is no safety for one who has merely a legal religion, a form of godliness. The Christian's life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether. This change can be brought about only by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church. Like the wind, which is invisible, yet the effects of which are plainly seen and felt, is the Spirit of God in its work upon the human heart. That regenerating power, which no human eye can see, begets a new life in the soul; it creates a new being in the image of God. The thoughtless and wayward become serious. The hardened repent of their sins, and the faithless believe. The gambler, the drunkard, the licentious, become steady, sober, and pure. The rebellious and obstinate become meek and Christlike. When we see these changes in the character, we may be assured that the converting power of God has transformed the entire man. He who looks to Christ in simple, childlike faith is made a partaker of the divine nature through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Note: In some areas phrases have been omitted by the compilers for whatever reason. I have restored them as underlined text, that the full intent of the author may be given.

My Thoughts: My friend, the regenerating agent in our salvation is not the Spirit of another being, but is the Spirit of Christ. Our natures are totally corrupted by sin. We sin because we are sinful. Our very natures are the source of our sinful actions, and as such there must be a transformation of our natures if we are to be made righteous. The Son of God came in the likeness of sinful flesh that He may impart His divine nature upon all that would accept Him. This is the redemption that God desires to give to us. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezekiel 36:26, 27). My friend, the work of transformation is not something that we can emulate. We must have the new birth of the Spirit of Christ living within us that we may be transformed by Him. Then the works that He did will be manifested in our lives today. God bless,

I encourage your comments: wtaitague@gmail.com or directly in the blog (Click Here)

Jesuits in the SDA Church An interview that exposes how the Jesuits of Rome have infiltrated the Seventh-day Church. Learn how Satan worked through Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, general conference leaders, and SDA institutions of higher education to destroy God's last-day movement. RESOURCES: Archive of Daily Devotions Melodies of Prayer Free Bible & Commentary Bible Study Resources The Truth About God The Final Protest Revelation1412.org

Wednesday: Comforter and Teacher

A Mysterious and Tender Presence

Today's Devotion Monday, March 4, 2019

A Mysterious and Tender Presence

Today's Text The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

The greatness of God is to us incomprehensible. “The Lord's throne is in heaven” (Psalm 11:4); yet by His Spirit He is everywhere present. He has an intimate knowledge of, and a personal interest in, all the works of His hand.... It was the Maker of all things who ordained the wonderful adaptation of means to end, of supply to need. It was He who in the material world provided that every desire implanted should be met. It was He who created the human soul, with its capacity for knowing and for loving. And He is not in Himself such as to leave the demands of the soul unsatisfied. No intangible principle, no impersonal essence or mere abstraction, can satisfy the needs and longings of human beings in this life of struggle with sin and sorrow and pain. It is not enough to believe in law and force, in things that have no pity, and never hear the cry for help. We need to know of an almighty arm that will hold us up, of an infinite Friend that pities us. We need to clasp a hand that is warm, to trust in a heart full of tenderness. And even so God has in His Word revealed Himself. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. The carnal mind cannot comprehend these mysteries. If questioners and doubters continue to follow the great deceiver, the impressions and convictions of God's Spirit will grow less and less, the promptings of Satan more frequent, until the mind will fully submit to his control. Then that which appears to these bewildered minds as foolishness will be the power of God, and that which God regards as foolishness will be to them the strength of wisdom. One of the great evils which has attended the quest of knowledge, the investigations of science, is that those who engage in these researches too often lose sight of the divine character of pure and unadulterated religion. The worldly-wise have attempted to explain upon scientific principles the influence of the Spirit of God upon the heart. The least advance in this direction will lead the soul into the mazes of skepticism. The religion of the Bible is simply the mystery of godliness; no human mind can fully understand it, and it is utterly incomprehensible to the unregenerate heart. The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful views may bring together passages of Scripture and put a human construction on them; but the acceptance of these views will not strengthen the church. Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden. Note: In some areas phrases have been omitted by the compilers for whatever reason. I have restored them as underlined text, that the full intent of the author may be given.

My Thoughts: My friend, the nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery too deep for the human mind to fathom, but identity of the Holy Spirit is not. The church teaches that the Holy Spirit is a different being from the Father and the Son. It contends that God is a trinity, made up of three individual beings that are all god unto themselves and are collectively God. It teaches that these three gods are one, and enshrouds the trinity as a mystery. The identity of the Holy Spirit is not a mystery and is clearly revealed in the Scriptures as the Spirit of God, not the spirit of another being. The Spirit of God dwells within the Son of God, and as such there is only one Spirit. "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake." (John 14:10, 11). "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:19). Simply put the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God dwells within the Son of God, and it is by Jesus dwelling within our hearts that we are saved. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." (Romans 8:9). My friend, the Holy Spirit is not a mystery like the trinity teaches. It is the Spirit of God, living within the Son of God, and is not the Spirit of another being. The mysterious and tender presences is not a mystery, it is the Spirit of God and of His Son, for they share the same divine spirit, the same divine nature, and God desires to impart His Spirit upon all that would be saved. God bless,

I encourage your comments: wtaitague@gmail.com or directly in the blog (Click Here)

Jesuits in the SDA Church An interview that exposes how the Jesuits of Rome have infiltrated the Seventh-day Church. Learn how Satan worked through Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, general conference leaders, and SDA institutions of higher education to destroy God's last-day movement. RESOURCES: Archive of Daily Devotions Melodies of Prayer Free Bible & Commentary Bible Study Resources The Truth About God The Final Protest Revelation1412.org

Tuesday: Agent In Redemption