Month: June 2018

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY EVERYONE!

Thank you all for your faith in reading what God has placed in my heart for this Father’s Day, 2018.

As always, I write my letters as short as I possibly can and I only intend to achieve no more than what a good theatrical trailer would give its audience about an upcoming movie.

My hope is that my notes will be a simple catalyst in a believer’s heart to allow others to step into God’s presence.

I am not the light, but simply a reflection of it. The Holy Spirit, whom I gave consent to speak through me, has complete revelation of all things and may His wise counsel and comfort be with us always.

Now what reminded me this morning of a Father’s love was the Lord’s Prayer.

The Lord’s prayer is my prayer every morning when I awake because it places all things in order and in perspective for me.

So let us go to Luke 11,

“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”

Now it was appropriate that Jesus asked them to address God as “Father” in this blessed prayer because the relation mankind had with God was limited to that of a Father’s love up until the Word became flesh in Jesus.

Now among all who lived at that time, God revealed Himself more intimately to us than times prior. For He was no longer that disciplinarian type fatherly role, nor was He “God above us”, anymore, for now He was “God with us” and soon later He would become “God in us” via the Holy Spirit.

Since our fall in Eden, God desired to draw nearer to us. And as God drew closer, the least threatening he became.

Many at that time were perplexed that the Son of God came as a simple blue-collar carpenter.

But this is what one does out of love. It becomes as NON-THREATENING as one can possibly be.

It was never a lesson on what poverty can do, but what humility and love can do. It was a lesson on love and gentleness and going out of our way to defend each other vs. offend others.

Jesus always addressed Himself to us as “friends”. Like the old Baptist Hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus”.

John 15:15 NIV

“9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17This is my command: Love each other.

of their day.

So if we can re-evaluate the TRINITY, we can all agree that we have known the love of a Father and that love of a Friend via the Son of God.

However, there is one more LOVE that we lack to experience, and this love is the love of a spouse via the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus spoke so much about yet the church now knows so little.

This love is the foundation of the Church where the two become one.

John 3:29 NIV

“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.“

Ephesians 5 NIV.
31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

The physical marriage should parallel the spiritual marriage that Christ had for the Church.

It’s a foundation of forgiveness and accountability. The coming of the Holy Spirit was also prophesied by Isaiah centuries prior to this day yet people still choose to ignore it and remain in darkness.

Isaiah 54:5 NLT
“For your Creator will be your husband; the LORD of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth.“

2 Corinthians 11:2 NIV
“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.”

So your question may be;

Is it possible to have the benefits of the Holy Spirit and NOT have the Holy Spirit?

Well, the answer is simple.

Can one have the benefits of marriage and yet not be married?

Now if you read on in Luke 11, you will see that Jesus

Lastly,

It is true that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom, and although it may start there, it did NOT end there.

For when “perfect love” comes, it drives out fear because it removes our fear of punishment as should a good husband would do for His bride as Christ did for His Church.

So in summary, a good father will make the decisions that no one else is willing to. It is still love, however it’s a love that does NOT spare the rod. If a father has done his job well, his child would not rely on his friends or wife for this legalistic/disciplinarian type of love.

If I only understood the roles of the TRINITY, early in life, I would have been a better Father, friend and husband. It is truly a mystery.

But it is never too late if there still remains forgiveness among us and this is my prayer.

I close with these scriptures in Luke 11,

“11“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

God will never stop being a father to us, nor will he ever stop being a good friend or a loving husband, but it should be our desire to draw nearer.

And once again, if you are unsure whether you have received the Holy Spirit as God has provided for us via Acts 2:38, allow me to speak to you about it.

Do not be deceived simply by the benefits of the Holy Spirit. For this grace period will end one day via the rapture and those NOT identified with the Holy Spirit will be left behind for the tribulation period.

Yes, it is by grace we are saved, however grace is a narrow path with an experation date and few find it.

With a Father’s love,

Ray Evangelista