…a word in due season, how good it is! (Prov. 15:23 KJV)
A humble sharing of just some of the ways having the sevenfold Spirit of God, dwelling within, has an effect on us and upon others.
Please listen to each of the sevenfold ministrations of the One Holy Spirit as revealed in Isaiah 11:2-3 in our PODCASTS (Audio Messages) Section.
A Simple Study of God’s Transcendent Spirit of Knowledge
Please listen to each of the sevenfold ministrations of the One Holy Spirit as revealed in Isaiah 11:2-3 in our PODCASTS (Audio Messages) Section.
“Holding the mystery of the faith
in a pure conscience”
1 Timothy 3:9
The conscience is a great gift of God to us. It is the vital link between the human soul and God’s Spirit. The deeper an individual goes in their relationship with God the greater will be the diligence required to keep one’s conscience pure and clean before God. Foolish is the one who thinks they can ignore the voice of God within and still grow in their understanding of the mystery and wonder of God in their own life. If we have wronged a brother or sister and do not seek to rectify the situation, let us not be deceived into thinking our life in God will prosper! The conscience is the sounding board in our walk with God. Those who truly seek to know Him must ever be sensitive to this inward light of God. An obedient heart keeps the conscience clean. When there is a disturbance in the conscience, true men and women of faith will do all in their power to keep this mirror of God clean.
“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart,
and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned”
1 Timothy 1:5
They who defile their conscience and yet seek to portray faith and godliness walk in the hypocrisy of religion. Their faith is not genuine, and the defilement of the conscience contaminates their relationship with God. A pure heart is one which is ever cognizant of the status of the conscience.
“If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift”
Matthew 5:23-24
Supposing we can worship God in truth while allowing offences to remain unattended is the horror of religion. Such worship is carnal, hypocritical and unacceptable before God. The true heart will respond to the inner voice of the conscience. It requires an intensity of heart to walk in the truth of these things. It requires humility to seek out our brother and sister in order to obey God within the sanctum of our own hearts.
“First be reconciled to your brother” *
How little we comprehend the fact that our relationship with our brother is paramount to our relationship with God. We are the Body of Christ and if I set my brother at aught, in God’s eyes I am doing it unto Him. The growth of any individual in God will be measured by the sensitivity of our responses to this Holy gift of God in us. People may sear and desensitize their conscience by misusing the doctrines of grace. Make no mistake; those who do not obey the conscience will end up in an unfruitful and shipwrecked life, and a darkness from which there is no escape.
A few years ago, I came to understand a simple truth:
“Those who refuse to deal with their past,
will have no future growth in God”
Spiritual Stagnancy is the fruit of disobedience.
We cannot ignore the voice of God in our conscience and expect His mercies to lead us on into a greater knowing of Him. The life of a true disciple in Christ is one of continual transactions with Him who is true. My sensitivity today is the door through which I enter into the New Things He has for me.
“forgive us our debts AS we also forgive our debtors”
Matthew 6:9
May God make known to us the simplicity of this truth. We may hold on to the doctrines of our forgiveness in God; in reality we are forgiven to the same extent that we forgive others! Forgiveness, like all the precious gifts of God, requires our participation. As with forgiveness, so is mercy… “Blessed are the merciful for they shall OBTAIN mercy”. The religion of men requires no real cost; we can defile our conscience with the very truths of God and somehow think we are in right standing with Him! (Please read the full context of Matthew 5:23-24).
There is a cost but also a great blessing associated with the keeping of a clear conscience. True disciples know the benefits of walking in the Way of Truth. Such things are not optional for those who desire to know Him in Spirit and in Truth.
“And herein do I exercise myself,
to have always a conscience void of offence
toward God, and toward men”
Acts 24:16
* Note: There will be instances where there will be unresolved issues, but the true disciple will do all they can to facilitate reconciliation. The conscience will be clear when God is at rest in the heart. Christ died for the reconciliation of the world, but men and women must respond to His gracious offer. Others must respond to that same offer from us. A clear conscience gives us the ability of “having done all to stand” (Eph. 6:13) in matters relating to spiritual warfare. A clean Conscience is vital for victory. Christ did all and gave all; it is incumbent upon His disciples to do the same.
Brian Troxel
A Simple Study of God’s Powerful Spirit of Council and Might
Please listen to each of the sevenfold ministrations of the One Holy Spirit as revealed in Isaiah 11:2-3 in our PODCASTS (Audio Messages) Section.
“O God, you are my God; I will seek you diligently.
My soul thirsts for you…”
Psalm 63:1
The true pursuit of God is a proportional response to our seeing of Him. The diligent seeking of God in the life of David was a consequence of him seeing God in the sanctuary.
“Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary,
beholding your strength and glory”
Psalm 63:2
The land wherein David dwelt became a howling wilderness in comparison to the beauty and the glory he beheld in the Holy Place of God.
“…My soul thirsts for you;
my flesh longs for you
as in a dry and weary land without water”
Psalm 63:1
It is the seeing of the wonder of God that transforms one from being at home in this world into a pilgrim of faith; a sojourner with purpose and a captive of the hope which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In beholding the Pearl of Great Price men and women are freed from the gravity and pull of this world. His beauty mesmerizes the beholder; it causes an abandonment of all other loves and creates its own quest and inertia. There can be no settling for the artificial and trite for the deep of God beckons His own with the simple cords of Love and Desire.
“Deep is calling to deep
at the thunder of your waterfalls…”
Psalm 42:7
The depths of His being calls out to the Christ within. The tendrils of His love grip the soul in the embrace of God Himself. Only the Love of God in Christ Jesus can ignite our hearts into such a pursuit.
“Who, when he had found one pearl of great price,
went and sold all that he had, and bought it”
Matthew 13:46
Brian Troxel
A Simple Study of God’s Amazing Spirit of Understanding
Please listen to each of the sevenfold ministrations of the One Holy Spirit as revealed in Isaiah 11:2-3 in our PODCASTS (Audio Messages) Section.
“My voice shalt thou hear in the morning”
Psalm 5:3
There is great comfort in knowing our God will meet us in the time of morning prayer. It is an unfathomable privilege to know that, as His children, His ear is attentive to our cry. Regardless of our situation, the bitterness and failure of yesterday must give way to the wonder of His presence today.
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning”
Lamentations 3:22-23
Mercy and compassion envelope the diligent seeker in the early morning hours just as the dew that settles upon the lilies of the valley. His quiet and healing presence sweeps over our soul nourishing, restoring and drawing us near unto that Heart of pure love. How quickly fades the angst and concern over the fears of the day which lies before us. Light and peace fill the void and empty places within as a quiet confidence springs up from deep within our soul. God is here! Not only is He here but He is listening to our trembling voices and tentative hearts. He gives audience to His own; how good and gracious is our God!
“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning”
Psalm 143:8
Brian Troxel
“For I want you to know
how great a struggle I have concerning you…”
Colossians 2:2
It is easy to know those who are partakers of the living Christ; His heart and cry is readily discernable in those who know of the struggle, the angst, and travail over the condition of God’s people. The threads of His heart are woven into His Own. By virtue of relationship, what is in His heart becomes the dominate cry of our own. The true purpose and power of faith is that it invests itself in the purposes of God. True faith can never be without the works of faith. It is impossible.
An inactive faith is the result of legalism. A faith which is the outcome of legal (positional) truths of scripture becomes passive and inactive. Its foundation is established upon the legal declarations of God and has very little to do with relationship with God. It sees and views salvation as a legal decree and rests upon these truths. There is no heartbeat of the living Christ; no passion or pursuit; no imperative pressing from within to declare the matchless wonder of Christ. There is no experience of “groanings which cannot be uttered”, birthed of the Spirit of God (Romans 8:25). The condition of the Church in our day is of little concern. It is easy to talk about its condition, but we must know the burden, the struggle and the groanings of God to see HIS purposes fulfilled in her. Men and women content with “their” church do not see and feel the heartbreak of a mindset that says “I have no need of you” to the other members of the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:21). While many would never say such a thing in so many words, by their “works” they plainly reveal their true attitude. In the seven letters to the Church in Asia Jesus declared to each of them, “I know your works”. He was clearly saying that the “works” of their lives was the declaration of their faith. When people cut themselves off from the other members of His Body they are declaring emphatically “I have no need of you”. When they remain un-invested in the lives of others around them, when they only “fellowship” with like-minded ones, when they are content with isolated and insulated living, they do know not the heart of a God who so loved this world that He gave Himself.
“Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways”
Haggai 1:3-5
While men labour tirelessly over “their” church/fellowship/ministry there remains a blatant disregard for God’s house. Any ministry who does not minister in such a manner that the hearers are moved by the compassion of God unto the unity of the faith are falling short of God’s purpose; they seek their own and not the things of Christ. Any ministry content with something less than the prayer of Jesus in John 17 knows not the heart and purpose for which Christ came and unto which end He also labours.
Those who live in the Father’s Name know of this one, over-riding prayer… that they may be ONE. While many may know of His salvation, while many know of the mercies of God, there are those who in the very depth of their being cry out for union with one another IN Christ and in the Father. The works, the groanings and the labour of their lives reveal the truth and the verity of His heart.
“Holy Father, keep through thine own name
those whom thou hast given me,
that they may be one, as we are…”
John 17:11
Brian Troxel
“But he who is spiritual discerns all things,
and he himself is judged by no one.”
1 Corinthians 2:15
Discernment has nothing to do with intellectual prowess. True discernment is the aggregate result of an individual’s walk and life in Christ. Many today have confidence in their spiritual condition due to the overflow of teachings readily available to all. Any teaching that does not bring a corresponding measure of the “fear of the Lord” is bereft of truth. The foundation of a discerning life is built upon the fear of the Lord. (Proverbs 2:3-13)
Discernment requires a walk and an abiding in Him; the things of God will always culminate in the character of Christ. The very essence of truth is Christ who is the Truth. Whenever an expression is in conflict with His nature or character, it will be exposed.
Discernment is a consequence
of our abiding in Him.
Discernment is a faculty developed over time (see note below). It is the natural function of a life which has grown in its relationship with Christ Himself. This sounds trite, but it is a knowing which is the fruit of relationship; not an accumulation of knowledge about Him on an intellectual level. A carnal familiarity with God produces pride, self-assurance and an inflated view of self, whereas a true knowledge of God fills the heart with the wonder of Christ Himself. It is from this place of vital, intimate relationship that all things are compared with Him who is true.
“Which things we also speak,
not in words taught in human wisdom,
but in Words taught of the Holy Spirit,
comparing spiritual things with spiritual things”
1 Corinthians 2:14
Words, apart from the power and unction of the Holy Spirit, will leave people incapable of true discernment. Knowledge is a deceptive thing because it gives the perception that having a familiarity with the things of God alone is a safeguard. Words taught by the Holy Spirit produce a life of obedience which alone brings us into relationship with the living Christ. Obedience is the way into a life of friendship and relationship with God.
“You are my friends,
if you do whatsoever I command you”
John 15:14
A disobedient life will never have the true faculty of discernment because it is does not have an experiential identification with Christ. Friendship with God is revealed in an obedient life. Obedience is the fruit of a life that loves God more than itself. True discernment cannot be disassociated from obedience and the fear of the Lord.
Note: Discernment of a diligent believer is developed over time by its constant use from which a growing sensitivity to Him and His ways is fostered:
“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,
even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern
both good and evil”
Hebrews 5:14
Brian Troxel