Still

Note: This Blog post was written in in September as I was working through some things...I decided to post it for the sheer reason that I wrote it and though I am writing from a different place, the truths the Lord encouraged me with are the same.

Funny things, these blogs. We start writing. We stop. Time passes and we decide to pick it up again. My husband has been encouraging me to write and my excuse is that I never have time. Well, today I am making time because what I want to say cannot be said shortly in a Facebook post. I tend to do my sharing mostly on facebook which is funny because I don't write a lot there. I instead post what I read from others that challenge and encourage me. Today, maybe I can encourage you.

I have been walking through some really stressful things for the last few years. I begin to think I will process out loud. Sometimes I do with friends and family but even then, I find I am very rarely unguarded. I have learned that processing with others needs to happen but that there needs to be great wisdom in who we process with. Some people judge my words and my motives, others listen without comment and allow the Lord to teach me, and others still share their wisdom in gracious and kind ways. I see as the Holy Spirit works in me that I am fearing people less and desiring to share what He is teaching me more.

This morning, I couldn't go back to sleep. My mind was racing and my heart pounding. This last month, my husband and I have made some decisions that have resulted in a myriad of responses. They have been difficult, painful days with me wrestling between resting in the Lord and seeking to please people because I am driven by fear. The Lord, in His kindness, has not left me alone. He has been faithful to send encouragement through books ("Fear and Faith" by Trillia Newbell as well as "1000 Gifts" by Ann Voskamp.), through blogs, and most sweetly, through faithful friends and His unchanging Word.  Today as I was working through I Peter, we looked at the work of the Spirit. In some of the Scriptures we looked at, the Lord used it to encourage my heart and my mind has continued to reflect on them all day.  I have had to stop and take a few minutes to reread them a few times already. The study took me to II Corinthians.

In II Corinthians, Paul is writing again to the church at Corinth. This church had some major issues in the first letter that Paul addressed, but he begins this letter talking about the comforts of Christ in suffering. He talks about the grace and faithfulness of God to keep His promises because they are all "Yes" in Christ. Not only that, but He has given His Spirit as a seal and guarantee that we are recipients of all these sweet promises. He talks in chapter 2 about forgiveness and comforting someone who is repentant and talks about how we are led in triumphant procession to spread the knowledge of Jesus to others. A fragrance of death to death and life to life. What struck me the most, is written in chapter 3- the start of 4.

Paul begins chapter 3 speaking of how our lives are living letters written by the Spirit on our hearts. He goes on to say that the Spirit has made us ministers of a new covenant- a minister of the Spirit not of the letter. He then, says this:

"Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,  will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." ( II Corinthians 3:7-18)

 The Law was what was carved on the stone. They were the 10 commandments. I find it interesting that Paul speaks of the ministry of the law as the ministry of death. It makes me think of the verses in Romans where Paul talks about the law and its diagnosing us of our sinfulness. (Romans 7: 5, 7-10) The law that promised life if I kept it (Romans 2:13) brought me death because it revealed my sin. (Romans 7:10-13). That doesn't make the law evil or bad, for indeed, it was a glorious thing because of how it was the revealing of our God. Who He is. And in seeing His glory, we recognized the condemnation we deserve because it showed us how sinful and flawed we truly are and there is no way we can be justified by keeping it. (Romans 3:19-20) That is why the ministry of righteousness is so much more glorious. The ministry of righteousness is spoken of in Romans 3: 21-26:

" But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Paul goes on to say that because we have the hope of the ministry of the Spirit, we become bold. Not like Moses who had to hide behind a veil because of the hardness of the Israelites heart. But instead, because of Jesus, we become unveiled and see the glory of God and instead are set free because of Christ. This freedom we find because of the Spirit's ministry of speaking and reminding us of Jesus ( John 14:26) and His work for us leads us to being transformed. Being changed from one image to another. This ministry of the Spirit gives us boldness to speak the Word of God relentlessly, boldly, and unwavering. What is the word we speak? It is not the ministry of death  but instead knowing the glory of God through seeing Christ.

" For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." ~ II Corinthians 4: 5-6

That is the gospel. That is the glorious message we speak. The message that encompasses the whole of Scripture.This is what we speak to unbelievers- though it is the fragrance of death to death because they are perishing ( II Cor. 2:16a)and the gospel is veiled to them (though if the gospel is veiled to them it is because the god of the world is blinding them from seeing Christ). To the believers, this precious gospel is the fragrance of life to life- because that is the ministry of the Spirit- speaking life! (II Corinthians 2:16b) If we want to be changed into the image of Jesus we need to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit and the characteristics that are added to our life are to aid in the effectiveness and fruitfulness of knowing Jesus. (II Peter 1:3-11)

Why am I writing all this out, you may ask. I am writing because today as I was encouraged in the Word to see my Savior and the sweet ministry of the Spirit in my life, I realized that some times the words we speak to one another as brothers and sisters of Christ are a ministry of death. They are words that are filled with to do lists, demands, expectations that are not life giving but weighty and crushing. They are not words of hope and grace centered around the glory of God in the person of Jesus but words that are people centered and built around performance... and I am withering. God has called us, as fellow heirs of grace, to speak freedom giving, Spirit filled words. We are to speak life to those around us. We have the ministry of the Spirit to encourage us and to provide the message that is needed to all. There is only one message needed for those who don't know Christ and for those of us who do- Jesus. Jesus is everything. And for those of us who are in Christ, Jesus and His work for us is the foundation for living a holy, submissive life that displays His holiness. ( I Peter 1:13-19) It is what keeps us from saying- "Hey, now that I have Jesus, I can do whatever!". If that is our attitude, we haven't really been exposed to the glory of God revealed in Christ. The more we see of Him, the more we are transformed. God renews our mind through His Word- a revelation of Himself! It is the gospel and seeing Him and His grace that teaches us to "deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world" and to look with hope to the coming of Jesus. (Titus 2:11-13}

These verses are a comfort and challenge to me. I am asking God today to remind me of the precious ministry of the Spirit that is at work drawing my attention to the glory of God in the face of Christ. I want to be transformed and He alone will renew my mind as I fix my eyes on Jesus. I am also asking Him to give me sweet words. Fragrant words. Life giving words that will minister grace to those who may hear them.

"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." ~ Colossians 4:6