The Holy Ghost is the one who teaches us to say, “Abba Father.”
This phrase refers to a Middle Eastern custom from Bible days regarding the adoption of a child. Until the adopting papers were signed and sealed by the adopting father, the child saw this man only as ‘a father.’ He had no right to call him abba, meaning “my.”
A foretaste is an advance taste or realization. The Bible calls it “the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:14, NKJV). It means to experience a taste of the whole before we have the whole. Our inheritance is Christ himself, and the Holy Spirit brings us into his very presence as a foretaste of being received as his bride, enjoying everlasting love and communion with him.
We see in 1 Samuel 13 Saul facing a crucial moment that every believer must eventually confront: a time of crisis when we’re forced to decide whether we’ll wait on God by faith or get impatient and take matters into our own hands.
God’s command to love our enemies can seem like bitter, distasteful medicine. Like the castor oil I had to swallow in my youth, though, it is medicine that heals.
Jesus states very clearly, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43–44, NKJV).
Some believers have been saved for many years, some perhaps a year, and some just a few months or weeks. Being saved from sin is wonderful!
In order to be a good soldier in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ, though, it’s not enough just to be saved. You need to be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
If Christ reigns as the supreme authority over his kingdom and we are his subjects, our lives must be governed by him. What does it mean, exactly, to be governed by Jesus? According to the dictionary, to govern means “to guide, to direct, to control all actions and behavior of those under authority.”
In Ephesians 4:31, Paul lists things we must remove from our lives if we are to grow in the grace of Christ: “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”
We dare not skip over these issues on Paul’s list. If you ignore the heart issues Paul mentions here, you will grieve the Holy Spirit. Your growth will be stunted, and you’ll end up a spiritual zombie.
Our growth in grace can be explosive if we’re willing to work at true edification. “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:29-30, NKJV). The root word Paul uses for edify here means “house builder.” That word, in turn, comes from a root word that means “to build up.” In short, everyone who edifies is building up God’s house, the church.
When I read about the exploits of godly men in the Old Testament, my heart burns. These servants were so burdened for the cause of God’s name that they did powerful works that baffle the minds of most Christians today.
These saints of old were rock-like in their refusal to go forward without a word from God. They wept and mourned for days at a time over the backslidden condition in his house. They refused to eat, drink or wash their bodies. The prophet Jeremiah even laid on his side in the streets of Jerusalem for 365 days, continuously warning of God’s coming judgment.
You’ve heard of the U.S. Army’s Special Forces, a highly trained army-within-an-army, an elite unit of dedicated soldiers. Special Forces are made up completely of volunteers, fighters who have been noticed and called out by their superiors.