Friday, April 3, 2015

What manner of spirit are you?

What manner of spirit are you?

Luk 9:51  And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
Luk 9:52  And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
Luk 9:53  And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
Luk 9:54  And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
Luk 9:55  But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
Luk 9:56  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

Our Savior REBUKED His disciples when they asked Him if they should command fire to come down from heaven and consume the Samaritans because they wouldn't make themselves ready for Jesus, they knew Jesus wanted to go on to Jerusalem so why would they bother to honor Him? Was that worthy of rebuke? Yes, but not DEATH! Our Savior did NOT want death even for His worst enemies, let alone those who were too lazy to honor Him because they were not in His final destination.  Our Savior REBUKED His disciples-

Ye know NOT what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is NOT come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

His disciples were closest to Jesus and here He was teaching them that their spirit was NOT His! They had a different spirit in them contrary to Jesus' spirit.  He told them they didn't know what their OWN spirit was.  Jesus knew their spirit was NOT His and if not His He knew the only other spirit it could be- Satan's.   Jesus wanted His disciples to have HIS spirit, not satan's. Jesus revealed His spirit in all that He did including this-

For the Son of Man is NOT come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

Jesus did not want to destroy anyone, and if we are HIS we must not want to destroy anyone either.  The spirit of destruction when you have the chance to reveal the spirit of Christ and salvation through Him, is not Christ's way. Only when all probation is up and every human being has had a chance to choose salvation or no salvation will Christ allow all evil to be destroyed and NOT before then.

We need to know what manner of spirit we have.

Please heavenly Father, please help us to have YOUR SPIRIT in us! We don't want the spirit of destruction. All in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.


Amen.

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