Capture the Holy Spirit…
The day has come! It is the morning of January 26th 2011. Derrek, Doug, Mali, and I get ready, eat some breakfast, and head out to support Derrek. When we arrive at the warrant office, Doug’s pastor’s wife is the main officer working at this time. She gives Derrek a hug and we all stand around visiting for a couple of minutes. Soon enough, an officer comes to take Derrek. It was sad and we all had tears in our eyes, but I have never been more proud of him. Doug and I drive back to his place, I drop him off, and drive all the way home.
On the morning of January 30th I was planning on going to church, but had trouble getting up. Ever since Derrek and I reunited in Christ we had not missed having fellowship on Sundays. Even though each time was in a different place. Well, on this morning I had a dream. In the dream I was in a church and the entire congregation was singing “Jesus is my mystery…capture me,” over and over. It sounded beautiful in my dream. I had visited a church called Atascocita Community Church right before I met back up with Derrek. I really enjoyed the service and people, so I decided to visit again. I knew it was where I was meant to be when our Pastor Phil started teaching about spiritual growth, fully surrendering ourselves in Christ.
It is now the month of April, Derrek and I have kept in touch this entire time (via mail) and a couple of phone calls here and there. Christ has been guiding me ever since Derrek and I first reunited. This is the most intimate I have ever been in Christ. I feel in my heart Christ wants Derrek and I to continue our journey through Him, for His will, for our lives, together. When Derrek gets out in May we will be starting out with everything we need, because all we need is Jesus. We do plan on getting married as soon as our Lord speaks it into existence. Which I feel is near. He has a big plan for us if we will just continue to surrender all to Him. He has shown us so much in such a short amount of time. He has blessed us both with His beautiful gift. I have never in my entire life received any gift more precious than the gift of eternal life, but our God also blesses us with the gift of the Holy Spirit! No matter what happens here on earth, he will always guide us, in anything and everything we do. I have felt the Holy Spirit in my life on occasion, in the past. I didn’t realize how much greater this gift can grow. In my life, my connection with the Holy Spirit has grown along with my relationship with Christ, as well as when I turn from temptation and sin. If you have never felt this connection, don’t be discouraged. This gift is for everyone who receives Christ as their Lord and Savior with all their heart. I am writing this to encourage you to seek Christ in everything you do, read his word, ask Him for His spiritual wisdom and understanding. ”Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, that is understanding” Job 28:28. I find that going for a run (I call it my spiritual run) really helps me connect with Christ (if I am praying). As a matter of fact, before I wrote each section of this I had to run and feel that connection with the Holy Spirit. If I didn’t feel it, I didn’t write. It is amazing how the Holy Trinity works together. And how we can truly experience all three. On the Sunday morning that I had my dream I felt that the Holy Spirit was announcing, “Jesus is my mystery…capture me.” Colossians 4:2-6 “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” Colossians 1:27 “To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Ephesians 3:6 “By referring to this; when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.” These verses spoke to me greatly on how Jesus is the mystery of receiving our gift, the Holy Spirit. When we strive to live the life Jesus lived, and have a heart as close to his as humanly possible, and continue to grow in our relationship with Him, we can then experience this beautiful gift. The Holy Spirit is Christ living in us. I picture this as a transparent picture of Christ, standing within a bright light (Father), and the Holy Spirit I see as His heart, dwelling within the Father and the Son. I see this as the heart because when Christ is in us, our hearts start changing and become pleasing to Him. We then become filled with the fruit of the Spirit. They are one Almighty God, but He wants us to love all three just as much as the other. I believe He separates Himself in this way so we can comprehend all of Him and how much He loves us. Just as he states that He wants us to love Him with more than just one part of our being. Mark 12:30 “And you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” He is showing His love by giving it to us through every part of His being. I think of God the Father as my creator, Jesus as my savior, and the Holy Spirit as my mentor. He loves us so much he gave us the air we breathe. He loves us so much He sacrificed Himself for us so that we have the chance to live eternally through Him. He loves us so much that He will send His Spirit upon us so that we may receive a heart pleasing in his sight and He can mold us into who He says we are, so that we can fulfill His purpose for our lives here on earth, so that we may live with Him eternally. This all begins with Jesus. “Jesus is my mystery…Capture me.” Jesus gives you living water (His Spirit in you and you in Him), so that you may never thirst again. Never thirsting for sin, because we will already be full of the Spirit. When we receive the Spirit we begin to thirst for righteousness. When I received His Spirit and really started doing what He asked of me I became someone new. My old self died, and I received a new mind, heart, soul, and life through Christ Jesus. He has shown me how never thirsting is the turning from sin. When His Spirit is in me, I do not thirst to sin. He will always show me a way to turn from evil. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life IN Christ JESUS. So if anyone wonders what my mystery is, I will stand up straight, with a huge smile on my face, and with great confidence announce, “Jesus is my mystery, capture me.” Jesus is my mystery to receiving the Holy Spirit. Now that Christ is in me I can now say to others, “Capture me.” I pray that everyone who reads this will capture the Holy Spirit intimately, and will witness His power in you through your love towards Him and love for others! Ephesians 3:14-21 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend through all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
*Added Note~ Jesus provides us with living water. Jesus is the well I will be drawing from! Amen!
John 7:37-39 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ “But this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
JESUS IS MY MYSTERY... CAPTURE ME 