Jesus Is Lord

"And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, 'Which', He said, 'you heard of from Me; For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now . . . You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.'" (Acts 1: 4-8)

I saw a license plate on the front of a car recently which said; "Jesus is Lord". I was brought back to the 70's when it was early in my marriage and I was young in the Lord. Jackie and I attended charismatic prayer meetings, helped out some with prayer meeting leadership and Life in the Spirit seminars, and we went to a couple of the big charismatic conferences at Notre Dame. The theme of a lot of what the Spirit was doing in the Catholic charismatic renewal at that time was summarized with the saying, "Jesus is Lord." It was on banners, and bible covers, and often expressed verbally. And it really is a good phrase to express both an accurate theology about what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is, and how a Spirit baptized person feels toward Jesus.

What was Jesus asking His disciples to wait for in Jerusalem? He had taken on the sin of man while on the cross, His perfect blood had paid the price that the Father demanded, and He had risen from the dead as first fruits of an eternal life now possible for all men with the Father. The disciples believed that this was so, and I think that their faith had already allowed the Holy Spirit to bring the Spirit of the risen Christ to unite with their spirits so that their spirits had become reborn. The Holy Spirit had been active on the earth prior to this time, was active in the ministry of Jesus, and Jesus had already breathed on them saying; "Receive the Holy Spirit". Before the redeeming death of Christ the Holy Spirit was present in their lives, equipping them for ministry. And it was the Holy Spirit who recognized the faith of each disciple, bringing to them the Spirit of Christ, to make a reborn spirit in man. And because they had a reborn spirit, allowing Jesus to live in them, they already had the Holy Spirit present as well in their spirits.

The disciples were waiting for Jesus to pour out upon them the Holy Spirit in a different way. It was going to be more than equipping man with a particular gift or gifts for the purpose of declaring the kindgom of God, although that was part of it. But more importantly, it was to be an impartation of the Spirit of God into the soul of man, to clean and to renew, and to allow the soul of man to better worship and serve his creator. To understand this we remember that we are more than a two part being; Body, Soul/Spirit, but rather a three part being; Body, Soul, Spirit. The soul, which is our personality, our will, and our desires, has a physical dimension and a spiritual dimension. God designed us to come to know His will by having the soul hear the Holy Spirit moving in our spirit. The Spirit then would minister life to every part of our soul, affecting our decisions, our feelings, our relationships, and our memories. And the Spirit-led soul would bring the body into submission to the will of God as well.

The sin of Adam changed things because the fruit of that sin caused the soul to become master of the three part nature of man, often times strongly influenced by the desires of the flesh. And the body was now subject to physical death. When death came, the soul and spirt of man could not be in the presence of a holy God. The sacrifice of Jesus made it possible for us to have a reborn spirit, which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But we have a soul that still needs to be transformed. In everyone's soul there are different experiences, memories, and personality traits. And our body places demands on our soul as well. I have always pictured the soul as a house with many rooms and closets. Jesus wants to be Lord of every part of our house, to let His light shine in every room and corner. But we are fearful of losing lordship in certain areas. There are dark places where we have been hurt, or are ashamed, where we keep sin, and where pride is master. We often are blind to the simple truth that God wants to heal, that He already knows what is hiding at the bottom of that dirty pile of rags, that He longs to forgive, and that all of our abilities have been given with a purpose by Him. Whatever He has for us is better than what we are holding on to.

The disckiples knew Jesus as the One that was sent by God the Father. The Holy Spirit in them testified to that. But at Pentecost, the walls of the rooms and closets in their houses were blown down, and they could know Jesus as Lord of each part of their life. And they responded by praising and magnifying God, and by yielding themselves, both in their minds and their bodies, to the movement of the Holy Spirit. Of course, being baptized, or flooded in the Holy Spirit was just a beginning. It shows us that the Lord can move in us and through us with power. But there are usually doors that still need to be opened, and more that the Lord wants to show us. His Spirit is gentle, not forcing Himself without our permission, but always prodding us to grow closer to Jesus.

When I say "Jesus is Lord", I am thanking Him for how He has changed my life. I praise Him for His presence and for being there when I pray. I magnify Him because He is worthy, and has shown me just the slightest glimpse of who He is. And He is Awesome! "Therefore God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father". (Phillipians 2: 9-11)