John 14: 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

How does Jesus open the doorway to the Father? I think the story of Philip and the Ethiopian illustrates the mysterious working of the Holy Spirit and answers this question.

Acts 8 26-39 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

“He was led as a sheep to slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He does not open His mouth.
"In humiliation His judgment was taken away;
Who will relate His generation?
For His life is removed from the earth.”

The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.

God comes to us in His Spirit, meeting us on the road of life, and answers our questions related to Him.  Jesus was born, died, and resurrected in order that the Holy Spirit could lead all humanity to salvation through Him. The Bible points to Jesus and the Salvation He provides and His Holy Spirit brings guidance, correction, encouragement, and clarification as we read His Word. 

As this story illustrates, the Spirit appears mysteriously yet timely, and accomplishes His mission and we continue our journey through life.  Once you call on Christ to be your Savior, His Spirit will find you mysteriously and always at the right time to reveal God's love and grace.  

BECOMING ENABLES BEHAVING

Galatians 5: 22-24 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

When we call out to Jesus to come into our lives, we begin living a life of transformation. The Holy Spirit lives within us and we become new people with the qualities of Jesus instead of the natural man/ woman. We celebrate when we see or do acts of kindness, generosity, patience, etc., but if we are honest with ourselves, we fail to be kind, generous, patient, and loving more than we succeed. Our thoughts and words reveal our true nature. It is not easy to behave righteously when it is contrary to our nature.  When Jesus gives us His nature, by the Holy Spirit, we are transformed and His righteousness becomes ours.

When we receive the salvation of Jesus our eternal walk with Him begins and our thoughts, words, and deeds wonderfully become more like Christ's. We actually become kind, patient, faithful, gentle, self-controlled, love, joy, and peace. The goodness of Christ becomes our nature. We BECOME and our behavior reflects who we are...Children of God.

If you want to Become a child of God, recognizing that you are a sinner and less than Jesus wants you to be, repent of your sins and ask Him to come into your life as Savior. This video of Billy Graham walks you through the path of salvation: Say the Sinners Prayer with Billy Graham - YouTube 

"Dwell On These Things"

Philippians 4: 8

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

When we ask Jesus to come into our lives as our Savior, He will do more than just rescue us from eternal damnation. He will be present with us each day; revealing the love of God, bringing us joy, hope, peace, and new vision and understanding. By His Spirit we will discover what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and good character in others. If there is anything of excellence and worthy of praise, He will reveal it and it will draw us into praise.

Mundane days become days of worship. Chores and daily tasks become ways to worship and show God honor. As we discover the good things that God surrounds us with, He will add to our ability to see more and more of the excellence He blesses us with. .

During these Covid-19 isolation days I have been doing a lot of walking. I decided that I would start picking up trash as I walk to make my walks purposeful and to honor God by showing my appreciation for His creation. I have discovered that as I walk the same path day after day, there is always trash to pick up. What surprises me is that even though I am retracing my steps, I continue to find trash which has been there for days, weeks, and probably months that I had not seen before. Perhaps the sun will reflect off a can or bottle that catches my eye or a breeze will cause a piece of paper or plastic to move revealing trash I had never noticed before.

I know that God is teaching me that if I am seeking to honor Him, He will help me to discover and reward my efforts. It sounds crazy and I am not going to try to explain the joy and sense of enjoyment I get when I find the trash that was missed before but found today.  I also know He will help me to see the goodness in people and the world around me in a new way...seeing goodness and excellence which I never noticed before.  I feel a nearness to God and a pleasing presence that I cannot explain. It just encourages me to Dwell On These Things!