Teaching by Alex Averi, Women’s Apostolic Alliance Member
God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is One. And in his lavish love for us, He has personally intervened to redeem us. The Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence in each of us enables us to properly love, and enables His purpose to be evident in our lives as His agents. We need to take care of our bodies, minds and spiritual health in hosting and honouring Him. And we can extend this to making sure our homes are an environment where He wants to be. This is part of our worship.
In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes, “And I am sure of this: that the One who began a good work among you will keep it growing until it is completed on the Day of the Messiah Yeshua.” (Philippians 1:6)
He goes on to speak about Yeshua (Jesus Christ), who in humility, “emptied himself … by becoming like human beings are. And when He appeared as a human being, He humbled Himself still more by becoming obedient even to death—death on a stake as a criminal! Therefore God raised Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above every name; that in honour of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow—in heaven, on earth and under the earth—and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is ADONAI—to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:7-11)
I love the way the Trinity is reflected here. The “One” who personally intervened in each of our lives for redemption, is the same “One” who will keep His abiding presence within us growing until completion. Yeshua has been given the name above every name, because He IS God (the name “ADONAI” shown there is “YHWH”, the most holy name of God, the great “I AM”). Here we see our Saviour Jesus Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and Almighty God the Father—three in one, and one in three.
The Apostle John tells us in his gospel what Jesus said about the Counsellor (Holy Spirit) whom He would send: He “will show that the world is wrong about sin, about righteousness and about judgment—about sin, in that people don’t put their trust in Me; about righteousness, in that I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; about judgment, in that the ruler of this world has been judged … when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative but will say only what He hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future. He will glorify Me, because He will receive from what is Mine and announce it to you. Everything the Father has is Mine; this is why I said that He receives from what is Mine and will announce it to you.” (John 16:8-15)
It is the Holy Spirit’s abiding fullness in each of us that gives us the capacity to live according to Jesus’ model, which is entirely based on His kind of “agape” love. We aren’t capable of generating that love by ourselves, but only in Him.
And so, His abiding PRESENCE is the ground for His PURPOSE to become evident in our lives. We become agents of His presence and purpose in our environment.
During the COVID lockdown, there has been something of a sense of aimlessness evident in the community. For some, there has been fear as circumstances change through unemployment or financial insecurity, for others there has been uncertainty or unease as daily routines crumble, or a re-evaluation of priorities and activities, or maybe just a sense of lives put on hold.
But the Holy Spirit’s purpose for us involves a forward direction. This is not about plunging ourselves into all sorts of activities or busy-ness or striving. But it IS about being filled with Him and having our lives centred in Him, so that we are correctly positioned, and facing in the right direction as we take one step at a time in going about our daily lives. Then He can act on our circumstances and contacts, and direct us in how to pray, act and speak.
“Don’t you know that you people are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? So if anyone destroys that temple, God will destroy him. For God’s Temple is holy, and you yourselves are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16”)
It is important, therefore, that we look after our physical bodies, our minds, and our spiritual health, so as to properly host, and thereby honour, the Spirit who abides in us and fills us. We need to take care with our living environment too, so that we are creating a harmonious and pleasant space to be with Him.
For me, that relates to the notion of being “unencumbered”: not spending lots of money on a trendy new designer refit, but the opposite—paring our environment back to have it ordered and uncluttered. As they say, good design and a good atmosphere is created by the right mix of “Form and Function”!
This is part of our worship: creating in our lives and homes an environment welcoming to ADONAI, who has chosen to personally intervene in our lives to make us His children.
