The Countermove of God

We discussed in the last post how Satan has a destructive plan to annihilate humanity. This post is on the counter that God will bring about to annul the evil plans of the enemy. Satan will use deception and lies to cause maximum destruction in the least amount of time—his tools being ignorance, distractions resulting from self-pursuits, perversion or corruption of truth, worldliness or materialism, ailments, addictions, faintheartedness, flippancy and so on.

Prior to our Lord Jesus coming to earth, Satan had conditioned the people to avoid God’s truth and only use what was given to make their earthly life more comfortable. Since the words of Jesus did not impact their hearts (as it was not mixed with faith), His words failed to produce sons and daughters of God. Satan took the Lord out and thought it was all over. But then God sent His Spirit to give them hearts of flesh that would respond and long after the fullness of God—as we read in Ezekiel 36:25-28:

“²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. ²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ²⁸Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” Please read all verses from Ezekiel 36:22-38 for better context and clarity.

This is the mark that sets believers apart, the seal of the Holy Spirit.

God, the Holy Spirit, resurrected Jesus on the third day symbolizing that He will bring all of us into GLORY on the third day. He forgave our sins, nailed the written code with its regulations to the cross—thus disarming the powers and authorities, making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. – Col 2:14-15. The Holy Spirit heralded the revolution that took place after Jesus’ resurrection and brought forth many sons and daughters because they were willing to share in His sufferings. – Rom 8:17.

“ ⁷But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” – Phil 3:7-11

In the new covenant, the Holy Spirit is using suffering to put His law into our hearts and write them on our minds. – Heb 10:16. 

Before the Lord can appear to us, He must appear IN us. His glory will be seen upon you. – Isa 60:2 ESV.

Asaph, the seer prophet in David’s court, prophesied in Psalm 73:

“²⁴ You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. ²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.”

“…But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” – 1 John 3:2b-3

Col 3:3-4 reads, “For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you all will appear with Him in glory.” This will happen in a flash as in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor 15:52)—death being swallowed up by victory indicates that brethren will be glorified instantly.

The Holy Spirit is God’s Power unto us to resurrect us into glory. God will use the Holy Spirit to bring unity, restore, transfigure, glorify, bring great joy and usher in the final harvest, countering Satan’s move. At the Lord’s appearing, we will be LIKE HIM. We can be certain that God, the Holy Spirit, will counter all the powers assailed against us and bring us into maturity as sons and daughters.  “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope (of being glorified) we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” Amen.

Jesus’ one sacrifice perfected salvation forever for all being made holy. – Heb 10:14. God reveals that He bears patiently even those prepared for destruction in order to show His wrath and make His power known. – Rom 9:22. He does this also to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy—those prepared in advance for glory—both from among the Jews and the Gentiles. As He says in Hosea 1:10: “I will call them ‘My people’ who are not My people; and I will call her ‘My loved one’ who is not My loved one.”

God intends to redeem as many people as He possibly can by pouring out His Spirit in great abundance on ALL FLESH in the very end of times. To be consecrated and sanctified is to be filled with godliness, be set apart and made holy.

Joel 2:28-32 reads:

²⁸ “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. ²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

³⁰ I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

³¹ The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

³² And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.

Apostle Peter used these very same verses when he addressed the crowd after the Holy Spirit had come upon the 120 disciples in the upper room on Pentecost.

Summary

We can rest assured that God’s answer to redeem His people is always to send them power in the Holy Spirit and resurrect them by faith in the Word of God. They will thus enter into the glory of the Lord as the great multitude in white robes who come out of the tribulation, their robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.

We should access the mind of Christ in the times ahead especially until the Feast of Tabernacles and FOCUS on shining forth His light. Come and do your work in us, precious Holy Spirit. Amen. Use the scriptures below as your guiding light:

Isaiah 58:5-14:

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,

only a day for people to humble themselves?

Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed

and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast,

a day acceptable to the LORD?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness a will go before you,

and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say:

Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sunscorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;

you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the LORD’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,

and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land

and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Let us strive to enter into His rest and make our hope sure by being diligent to the very end. Amen.

Heb 6:11-12:

“¹¹ We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. ¹² We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”