David and Solomon as types of Christ and the Holy Spirit

2 Chr. 6:1 Then Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 2 I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever." 3 While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. 4 Then he said:

"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David. For he said, 5'Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over my people Israel. 6But now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.'

7 "My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 8 But the Lord said to my father David, 'You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. 9Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.'

10 "The Lord has kept the promise he made. I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 11 There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel."

I have been thinking about a comparison of the Israelite temple and the Church.  I think King David is a type of Christ in the aspect that he fought the bloody battles that secured the freedom for the Israelites.  It was Christ's bloodshed that accomplished our freedom from sin and death.  

Also, Jesus promised that He would go away and send the Holy Spirit to guide the disciples in implementing Jesus' teaching.  I think King Solomon is a type of the Holy Spirit in the aspect that he led the Israelites in the golden era after King David established the kingdom.  Through the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the Church will grow into a massive stone that will be greater than any worldly kingdom, a Kingdom that will never pass away (i.e., Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream).  If we avail ourselves to His leadership, the Holy Spirit will guide us and empower us to advance the Kingdom.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the finished work of Christ, whose blood bought our salvation.  Holy Spirit, thank you for your leadership and power.  Thank you for giving us gifts to be used by you for good works, which you have prepared in advance for us to do.  May we seek your guidance and anointing to show your glory and goodness.  I ask in the name of Jesus.

Priestly living

1 Chronicles 23:28‭, ‬30 NIV
The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron's descendants in the service of the temple of the Lord: to be in charge of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification of all sacred things and the performance of other duties at the house of God. ... They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening.

I was impressed by this simple responsibility of thanking and praising God.  Morning and evening. 

I have tried to foster in my children a practice of praise and thankfulness in the mornings and evenings.  I want to teach them to live priestly lives.  Now that I think about it, I would like to live a priestly life, myself.)

I also think it is cool that Jeshua ("He will save", analogous to "Jesus") is listed as one of the Aaronic priests (1 Chr. 24:11).  Don't think I've noticed that before. 

Heavenly Father, I want to offer you sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise.  I want my life to be a consistent flow of thanks and praise to honor you.  Lord, please help me teach my children to thank you and praise you.  I love you, and I pray in the name of Jesus.

sonship

1 Chron. 23:1 When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.

I was thinking about how King David fought many battles and established Israel's national sovereignty, which Solomon then inherited.  King David did the hard work of securing Israel's security so that Solomon could enjoy the privilege of peace and focus on improving the quality of life of the kingdom.  I think King David is a type of Christ in this regard. By His death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead, Jesus secured our freedom from sin and death and our peace with God.  Now we are like Solomon; we have inherited the authority and power of Christ so that we now have the privilege of bringing the realization of Heaven to earth.  "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."  "May your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

Heavenly Father, thank you for the blessing of the finished work of Christ.  Thank you for the privilege of extending your good Kingdom on earth.  Holy Spirit, please lead us and empower us to do your good work today.  I love you, and I pray in the name of Jesus.

Your love, O Lord

Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, LORD, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.
Psalm 36:5-10 NIV
http://bible.com/111/psa.36.5-10.NIV

It is finals week, and I have been stressed over all of my deliverables.  The Lord is sustaining me, and I need to focus on the limitlessness of His love and the abundance of His resources.  He is the fountain of life and light.

Heavenly Father, I praise you for your goodness.  You are good and kind, and your love is endless.  Thank you for your abundance toward me and my family.  May we always dwell in your life and light.  Holy Spirit, please flow your life and light through me today so that others may know your goodness.  I love you, and I pray in the name of Jesus.

New chapter

Last night, Brandi gave birth to our daughter Katelyn.  Named after her Grandma and Nana, a walking testimony of the faithfulness of God to keep His promise.

Raising a family. Three boys and a girl. Guiding them to know and follow the Lord.

Heavenly Father, may my children be oaks of righteousness, planted by you for the display of your glory.  I love you, and I pray in the name of Jesus.

Healing: sanctification through sickness

In his book, Authority to Heal, Ken Blue makes the argument that, in the course of Church history, there developed a doctrine that sickness is (typically) sent by God to test people, and we should just accept it and tough it out. But this is not Biblical. Jesus healed everyone who came to Him for healing. I find this paragraph (p. 27) very helpful with respect to us praying for healing:

It is manifestly true that some people are sanctified through sickness, as people may be through any and all of life's painful experiences, "because we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Rom. 8:28). Nothing I have said thus far has in any way been meant to deny this.  However, we are not to receive sickness passively as if it were good in and of itself.  We are instead to fight it with all we have, and the church has Christ's ministry of healing with which to fight it.

Heavenly Father, I praise you for your goodness.  Lord Jesus, thank you for your ministry of healing.  Holy Spirit, please use me to heal people and demonstrate the love and power of God, that we may bring others into the family of God and advance the Kingdom of Christ.  I love you, and I pray in the name of Jesus.

Deeper Waters retreat

This past weekend, we had a retreat with our church.  Alan and Nancy Smith from Catch the Fire DFW (http://catchthefiredfw.com/) came to teach.

On Friday evening, Alan shared his story of growing up not knowing much about the Holy Spirit, but encountering Him in the 6th grade.  He shared a story of how he has prayed for many blind people to be healed, but he has only seen one person miraculously healed.  But he challenged us to see Jesus's 100% success rate as the Biblical standard of "normal" that we are striving for.  Rather than being discouraged when God doesn't answer our prayer immediately, we keep striving to grow in faith to follow the model that Christ set for us.  This concept was very encouraging to me.

Alan also talked about two doctrinal/theological terms that describe God.  First, God is transcendent; He is other than us and over us.  God is also imminent; He is near and involved.  Believing in imminence without transcendence leads to pantheism or New Age stuff.  But believing in transcendence without imminence leads to deism.  Alan told us that the influence of deism in our culture is pervasive.  I tested this by asking Jude and Beau where Heaven is.  Jude answered, "Up there?", pointing to the sky.  Beau answered, "Somewhere far away?"  I told them, "That is what I used to think, too.  But Jesus said, 'Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.'  That means that Heaven is near."  God is imminent.  Jesus is Emmanuel.  And Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us in a way that is better than Jesus walking around with us in the flesh.

Alan highlighted many stories in the Bible of God speaking to His people, of people hearing his voice and responding.  Hearing his voice and knowing his voice is normal for his children.  Cessationism is trying to explain away why our experience of not interacting with God doesn't match the "normal" described throughout the Bible.  We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and Scripture is a menu, an invitation to experience, to taste and see that the Lord is good.

On Saturday, Alan talked about some of the typical ways that the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit are revealed (manifested) in our lives. The principal manifestation of the Holy Spirit is growing in the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5).  Another manifestation is through gifts of the Spirit.  And still others are experiences with God that influence our soul and body.  Alan gave a great analogy with five people.  One end of the spectrum was earth, and the other was Heaven.  Three people in between represented the body, soul, and spirit.  God designed us with a body to interact with our five senses with the earth, and God designed us with a spirit to interact with three functions (fellowship, intuition/revelation, and conscience) with Heaven.  Our soul (mind, will, and emotions) are the connection between the body and the Spirit, and as we set our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:5-6, Rom. 12:1-2), we bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth (Matt. 6:10).

On Sunday, Alan preached about the conviction of the Holy Spirit from John 16:7-11.  First, the Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers of sin.  Second, the Holy Spirit convicts (convinces) believers of their righteousness in the finished work of Christ (grace alone).  God poured out 100% of his wrath on Jesus, so there is 0% remaining for us.  The Holy Spirit doesn't scold us; He reminds us of our righteous identity in Christ.  Third, the extent to which we receive the conviction in righteousness allows us to be convinced of the judgment of the enemy and our participation in overcoming him.

Heavenly Father, thank you for being present and active.  Holy Spirit, thank you for teaching me about you, but now I want to actually know you.  I want to have conversations with you, and I want to obey you.  I love you, and I pray in the name of Jesus.