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GOD ANOINTED GOD

Psa. 45:7  you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

One of the great mysteries of the Bible is that Jesus Christ is actually a man. In His earthly ministry He was totally dependent on the Holy Spirit. He actually ministered as a man anointed by the Holy Spirit. He was the carpenter from Nazareth until the day He visited John at the Jordan River. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power and went out healing the sick, casting out demons, and preaching the message of the kingdom. In today’s verse we see Jesus anointed by the Father after the resurrection and ascension. He was anointed with the oil of gladness in order to fulfill His heavenly ministry as our High Priest. He is still a man, the first fruits of a brand new race. Here are some thoughts from Augustine on today’s verse.

“Let the Jews tell us; these Scriptures are common to us and them. It was God, who was anointed by God: you hear of an ‘Anointed’ one; understand it to mean ‘Christ.’ For the name of ‘Christ’ comes from ‘chrism’; this name by which He is called ‘Christ’ expresses ‘unction’: nor were kings and prophets anointed in any kingdom, in any other place, save in that kingdom where Christ was prophesied of, where He was anointed, and from whence the Name of Christ was to come. It is found nowhere else at all: in no one nation or kingdom. God, then, was anointed by God; with what oil was He anointed, but a spiritual one? For the visible oil is in the sign, the invisible oil is in the mystery; the spiritual oil is within. ‘God’ then was ‘anointed’ for us, and sent unto us; and God Himself was man, in order that He might be ‘anointed:’”

It’s easy to recognize the need of Christ for an anointing when He was here on earth, but this is describing the work that Christ is performing right now in heaven. Today, He is at the right hand of the Father. He is interceding for me, praying on my behalf to the Father. He is also the heavenly Baptizer in the Spirit. As we acknowledge Christ as being Lord of all and then begin to worship Him, He begins to pour out His Spirit on us. Jesus is the Anointed One, He is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh.

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ALLOS PARACLETOS #2

John 14:15-17 Amp. If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever— The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.

The Amplified Bible is a beautiful translation that often brings out the shades of meaning of Bible words that are missed in traditional translations. This is one of those classic verses that describes the work of the Holy Spirit. We will continue to look at this verse which we started in ALLOS PARACLETOS.
This word, paracletos, also can be translated as Intercessor. Just as Jesus intercedes for us in heaven, the Spirit prays for us on earth. He prays supernatural prayers that actually are prayed through us. The Spirit moves upon us, we yield to Him by praying in the Spirit, He then begins to direct our prayers to pray exactly what we need. We may not know how to pray in any given situation but the Holy Spirit knows all things and prays God’s will and purposes in and through us. He is also described as the Advocate. In Painting God upon the soul.
Check out MerryMonday with Parris
http://pastorfrankbailey.net/Greek, this word is often used for legal counsel. Just as Jesus stand before the Father as our Advocate, the Holy Spirit is our Advocate on earth. He supports us, stands up for us, and orchestrates the events of our lives for us. The Holy Spirit is our heavenly Advocate on earth. Paracletos can also be expressed as our Strengthener. There are so many challenges in this crazy world that tempt us to compromise our moral convictions. The Holy Spirit within us helps us by imparting divine strength into us on a continual basis. When facing the enemy, Paul told us to be strengthened (endunamoo) so that we can overcome the works of the enemy. The Holy Spirit helps us by strengthening us on the inside that we live godly lives in Christ. Finally, the Holy Spirit is called the Standby. We never know what each moment will hold for us but He is always there, on standby, for us. So I can be ready for whatever life throws at me by staying filled with the Holy Spirit.

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THE HEAVENLY INTERCESSOR

Heb. 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Have you ever thought about the intercessory prayers of Jesus? No, really! Have you ever thought about the power and effect of His prayers? Have you thought about what He prays for and why? We can get a good idea of His prayers from John’s account of His prayer in Gethsemane. The sense of His prayer was that He wanted us to experience the same intimate relationship with the Father that He had enjoyed from eternity. This prayer was answered by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church beginning on the day of Pentecost. It is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit that brings us to the place of power and intimacy our hearts have longed for. So if you really think about it, the heavenly priesthood and intercessory prayers of Jesus are aimed at bringing us into the fulness of the Spirit. Here are some observations that Andrew Murray made about the heavenly ministry of Jesus.

“In His life on earth, Christ began His work as intercessor. Think of the high-priestly prayer on behalf of His disciples and all those who should through them believe in His name. Think of His words to Peter, “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail”. This shows how intensely personal His intercession is. Even on the cross He spoke as intercessor: “Father, forgive them”. “Now that Christ is seated at God’s right hand, He continually intercedes for us as our great High Priest. But with the difference that He gives His people the power to take part in it. Seven times in His farewell discourse Jesus repeated the assurance that He would do what they asked. The power of heaven was to be at the disciples’ disposal. The grace and power of God waited for their bidding. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit they would know the will of God. They would learn in faith to pray in His name. He would present their petition to the Father, and through His and their united intercession the church would be clothed with the power of the Spirit.”

This is quite amazing, Jesus not only prays for us, He has also sent the Holy Spirit to pray through us. We don’t even know how to pray for ourselves, the heavenly INTERCESSOR sends the Holy Spirit to pray for us by praying through us. What a powerful reality. Christ praying for us to receive the Spirit, then the Spirit comes in answer to His prayer; finally, the Holy Spirit prays through us with heavenly words. What an awesome God! I drink of His presence, open my mouth in worship and prayer, the rest is up to Him. Pray in the Spirit and you will step into the awesome orchestra of Christ’s heavenly prayer.

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Intercession

INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT

Rom. 8:26-27 ¶ Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Intercessory prayer is quite amazing. Bringing someone before the Lord in prayer is a key part of our ministry as priests to the Lord. Intercession is supernatural from start to finish. First, the Lord puts something or someone on our heart. You may think it is just concern or even worry, when it is actually the compassion and mercy of the Lord. As we yield to these urgings and begin to pray, the Lord anoints us on what and how to pray. We obviously only know in part, especially when it comes to the heart and circumstances of someone else. As we pour our heart out in this intercession, the Father hears our cry and responds. He initiated the desire to pray, He formulated the prayer itself in our yielded heart, and He heard and answered the prayer. What an amazing God!!!
A.B. Simpson spoke about the prayer of the Holy Spirit, check out his words.

” The Holy Spirit lays upon the heart wherein He dwells the special burden of prayer. We often read in the old prophetic Scriptures of the burden of the Lord. And so still the Lord lays His burden on His consecrated messengers. This is the meaning of the strong language of our text, “The Spirit maketh intercession within us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Sometimes this burden is inarticulate and unintelligible even to the supplicant himself. Perhaps some heavy shadow rests upon the soul, some deep depression, some crushing weight under which we can only groan. With it there may come the definite thought of some personal need, some apprehended evil that overhangs us, or some dear one who is brought to our spirit as somehow connected with this pressure. As we pray for this especial person or thing, light seems to open upon the heart, and an assurance of having met the will of God in our prayer; or sometimes the burden is not understood; and yet, as it presses heavily upon us and we hold it up to Him who does understand, we are conscious that our prayer is not in vain; but that He who knows its meaning and prompts its cry, is granting what He sees to be best under the circumstances for us or others, as the burden may apply.”

Understanding this precious role of our ministry as priests unto our God will change the way we think about the worries and concerns for others that flood our hearts. Instead of worrying, view these urgings as the leading of the Lord. His compassions never fail and they are being poured out abundantly into our hearts.

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THE HEAVENLY SHEPHERD

THE HEAVENLY SHEPHERD

Heb. 13:20-21 ¶ Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

One of the most powerful pictures painted of our Lord and His care for us comes from the image David gave us in the Shepherd’s Psalm. Jesus expounded on this teaching as He taught His disciples of His role as the Good Shepherd. This was an obvious claim to deity made by Jesus. He was not only the Shepherd during His earthly ministry, He proved to be David’s Shepherd in the Old Testament. He continues today, as Paul describes in today’s verse, as the great Shepherd of the sheep who is risen from the dead and ministers for us and to us from His place at the right of the Father in heaven. His heavenly ministry is quite powerful and we catch a glimpse of the importance of His present day ministry in these closing comments in Paul’s letter to The Hebrew Christians. He said that this Heavenly Shepherd would “make you complete”. This is a powerful phrase in the original language. Check out the staggering meaning of this phrase.

make you complete

Strong’s
καταρτίζω – kat-ar-tid’-zo – to complete thoroughly, that is, repair (literally or figuratively) or adjust: – fit, frame, mend, (make) perfect, prepare, restore

Zodhiates- The fundamental meaning is to put a thing in its appropriate position.

This word, katartidzo, describes the heavenly ministry of our Heavenly High Priest. Today, Jesus is representing His sons and daughters before the Father in heaven. Paul says He lives forever to make intercession for us. This intercession is what makes me clean in the Father’s eyes, His blood makes me acceptable to the Father and also cleanses my conscience from the stains and shame of sin. As the word katartidzo describes, He is adjusting and repairing my life through forgiveness and acceptance, what a powerful God. Secondly, this heavenly ministry of Jesus is the ministry of baptism. As John the Baptist boldly declared, “there is One coming after me mightier than I, I baptize with water for the forgiveness of sins, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”. This is the present day ministry of Jesus. This heavenly Shepherd is the baptizer, as we look to our Heavenly Shepherd, our sins are washed away, and we are filled, again and again with the Holy Spirit.
In Hebrews 7:25 Paul declared that this Heavenly Shepherd is able to save us to the uttermost. That means totally and eternally. Today, Jesus is not dormant, waiting to return to the earth, He is constantly ministering to all that call upon His name. He is adjusting, repairing, healing, restoring, and empowering His flock. He is making you complete, after all, He can save to the uttermost.

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TEARS OF THE SAINTS

TEARS OF THE SAINTS

You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?
Ps.56:8

It seems that there is a bottle of our tears stored up in heaven. Does that mean that the tears of His saints are effective? Are they actually part of our prayer and intercession? I think they definitely are. I will never forget the time the Lord moved on my heart with prayers and tears for my mom. I was riding in the back of a pickup truck on a logging road. It was a cold winter night near Coos Bay, Oregon and I was part of a reforestation team planting trees to raise funds for our Bible School. We had gone into town, about an hour and a half drive, for some business. I rode in the back on the way home, that’s when the Lord began to move upon my heart. I had no idea something was wrong, but a love and a desire to pray fell on me. I prayed for a good while and then it lifted. It wasn’t for a few weeks until I heard from home, we were in total communication isolation in these tree planting camps. My mom had a stroke and wasn’t expected to live. I was able to make travel plans and return home, apparently to say good bye to my mom. When I got back to NOLA my mom was still in a coma, not expected to recover. I will never forget what happened when I went by myself into the intensive care unit at Baptist Hospital. As soon as I took her by the hand and began to pray, she opened her eyes, she had suddenly awakened from her coma. Boy was I shocked, I thought I was going to say good bye but it was really “hello”. The Lord gave my mom another ten years of life, I think I know what those tears in the pickup truck were all about.
Has the Lord ever given you His tears? Maybe for a lost child, or for a sick friend. Has he ever given you tears for a stranger, maybe for a homeless man or a lost young women enslaved in drugs and prostitution? Tears can be supernatural, they can be the compassion of Jesus bringing freedom to someone trapped in the snares of this life. There is a popular song about the “Tears of the Saints” by Leeland, pay attention to these words, maybe the Lord will give you some of His tears.

There are many prodigal sons
On our city streets they run
Searching for shelter
There are homes broken down
People’s hopes have fallen to the ground
From failures

This is an emergency!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We’re crying for them come back home
We’re crying for them come back home
And all your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

There are schools full of hatred
Even churches have forsaken
Love and mercy
May we see this generation
In it’s state of desperation
For Your glory

This is an emergency!

Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children in Christ you stand!
Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children in Christ you stand!

And all Your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

Pay close attention to the people the Lord brings into your life today. Look at their faces. As you see beyond their symptoms into their soul, you may begin to store up some tears in that heavenly bottle, you may understand the power of the TEARS OF THE SAINTS.