The Move of the spirit

 

No disclaimers today.

Imagine that the book of Genesis in the bible started this way.

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. AND GOD WAS DISCOURAGED AND GAVE UP.  We won't be here today.

So God created the Heavens and the earth. And the initial result was this: the earth was without form, void and dark. In other words, the earth looked like an unsuccessful project. But God did not give up, instead it is recorded in Genesis 1 verse 2 that His Spirit moved upon the face of the waters. 

That Move of His Spirit was the defining moment. And since we were created in His image and in His Likeness, our spirit can also MOVE.

Personally, I used to have the inclination that my born again spirit is different from the Spirit of God, This is however not accurate! My regenerated spirit is the same with the Spirit of God. This is the miracle of the New Birth.

Joh 3:1  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 

Joh 3:2  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 

Joh 3:8  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.

Focusing on John 3:5 we see that a man must be born of water and of the Spirit.

The Water here refers to the Water of Separation which is for the purification of sin

Num_19:9  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.

This water of separation points to Jesus who by His sacrifice on the cross, typified by the water that flowed from His side when He was pierced, made purification for our sins and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. Heb 1: 2-3 NRSV

To be born of Jesus is to have the same soul as he does. To be holy as he is holy by purification, for which we have received as a gift in the form of grace through faith.

The Spirit here refers to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit begets a holy spirit. The Spirit of God begets a spirit of god. selah. As it is written, Ye are gods (Psalms 82: 6; John 10: 34)

1cor 2 : 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. NRSV

If we are not to be discouraged in life's projects when our initial results comes out challenging, we have some lessons to glean from the account of creation of the Earth by God.

God identified His own challenge in the earth creation process as 

1: the earth was without form

2: the earth was Void

3: Darkness was upon the face of the deep.

After the Spirt of God moved, He provided solutions to each of the identified problems which include:

1: For the Darkness. He created light. And then added the lights (sun moon and stars).

2: For the Formless nature of the earth, He provided the Firmament. Kjv calls it Firmament, one of my favorite bible versions NRSV, calls it - the Dome. The earth's form is a spherical gaseous dome. My Bible says, God called the Dome, sky. 

3: Now for the third challenge - the void, the earth needed to be habitable. So He separated the Earth/Land from the Waters/seas. And then of course for the sake of food and oxygen, he put vegetation first and then fishes in the sea, birds in the sky, animals on land and then of course Humans.

All three challenges solved after the Spirit of God moved.

Lessons from these in our personal lives and projects include:

1. First identify the challenges

2. Allow your spirit to move 

3. Speak forth the solutions 

In allowing our spirits move, we use these two tools:

1) praying in the Spirit

2) renewing of the mind (through studying and searching - meditating) 

The world can use the 2nd tool much better than most Christians. And many solutions have been birth from it, as well as many troubles.

Only Christians have access to the first tool. The first helps a lot in directing our minds to where the possible right solutions might be. 

1Co 2:11  Is there anyone who can understand his own thoughts except his own inner spirit? In the same way, no one can know the thoughts of God except God's Spirit.

This is yet another reason to be a Christian. Don't wait.