THE SPIRIT AND SELF (2)

How Spiritual Consciousness Interplay

“…for it seem good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that ye abstain from meat offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. From which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Farewell”. [Acts 15: 28-29]

In the first part of this article, we introduced what led to the letter above. There was controversy about circumcision in Antioch. The church wrote to Jerusalem and above is an extract of the feedback they received.

We talked about the Holy Spirit as also having the wisdom of God at His disposal, and understanding all things. We shall look into the crux –the interplay of the will of the Holy Spirit and ourselves, or our will.

'It seems good to the Holy Ghost'

Remember, we talked about the perfect qualities of the Holy Spirit –as coming from God, as the package of divinity here on earth, in our lives.

The Holy Ghost knows everything: the good and the bad. He could spot deception, even when it seems attractive to us (to the eyes).

Remember, in the Book of Acts, the apostles wanted to go into Asia, and the Spirit restrained them. But in this case, it ‘seemed good’, and indeed was good that the gentiles be not burdened the more with ordinances of the law.

This does not mean circumcision wasn’t altogether necessary, but it would be a painful, dangerous, and discouraging experience to those new converts whom the Gospel was opened to. Maybe, they would observe this from their offspring, which they did.

The Holy Spirit had the understanding of this situation in entirety, and thus He gave consent to this decision. They perceived it, because they were spiritually sensitive. It seemed good to the Spirit.

'And to us'

They said, [paraphrased] ‘We perceive that this is the will of the Spirit of God on this matter, and we also agree with it’.

This is how Today's English Version paraphrased, ‘For the Holy Spirit and we have agreed not to put any other burden on you besides these necessary rules…’ Wow! What a great lesson to learn. Align your will with that of the Spirit of God.

Align Your Will With The Holy Spirit’s

The Holy Spirit knows what is best! Allow Him. More difficult than it is to move against the tide in the sea, so it is to be in discordance with the Spirit of God.

You may feel that the way, choice, method you’ve seen is right or perfect, but when the Holy Spirit say contrary, trust Him, He is right, you’re rather making a mistake, because you (mostly) judge from your natural senses.

If the apostles had opposed the Spirit and imposed the circumcision tradition, the church may have lost the harvest of the Gentiles into the kingdom a great deal.

Finally, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and agree with Him. Shalom

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