Feed Your Soul: Between Now and Eternity {The Holy Spirit & Assurance)

My husband and I went to sit at a Lake Michigan beach while we were still in deep grief after our daughter’s stillbirth. We sat in chilly air, looking at the endless blue. This was the closest that we could come to an ocean, living in the Midwest. Looking out at my version of the ocean, I mused about themes of eternity in that endless view. We sat on our folding chairs and swatted at a few pesky flies, mostly in solitude together except for a few passersby in the distance whose frames eventually faded into the long stretch of sand. For me, this subtle act felt bold. It was one of my first attempts to return to the “real world,” meaning the world that keeps going after tragic loss, because it was something I never would have done that day if my daughter were with me. There still seemed to be a huge gap between the “real world” and me. Every day, my heart was speaking to me themes of eternity while I could not be in heaven. The chilly air turned into a chill through my body. I wished I had brought a coat. Unlike my daughter, I was still a part of merely this world. These now-swarming flies threatened to dampen my little attempt at greatness. They won back their territory. My arms were tired of flailing after only a few uncomfortable minutes.

 

Settling into the car for another forty-minute drive, I tried to brush away our little beach experience as an anomaly in an otherwise precious period of time. We had felt so much love from other people after our daughter fell asleep and I had felt the proof of God’s presence with me as I accomplished different tasks related to her funeral and as I gave birth. Yet, part of returning to the “real world” was to see again that not everything felt so momentous. The grandly generous gestures of others, the sweeping thoughts of eternity, and the new and the extensive understanding of death – which magnified Christ’s ability to crush it – that came with this time in life could not and would not all be maintained at the same level. Some days are just swatting flies away and shuffling through the sand back to the car from a beach trip that ends too soon. It wasn’t an anomaly; it was the rest of my life. This thing, this “the rest of my earthly life” thing, was sort of beyond my comprehension. I wanted to brush the whole of it aside as unimportant, as not what really mattered compared with the past consuming and sacred days and with the future heavenly ones.

 

But these pesky days of earthly life kept coming back. And I could not retreat from them. I had to live them.

 

What are we to do between now and our heavenly eternity?

 

The days might feel less momentous as time passes. There is heartache in that, as it feels like another separation from our sons and daughters. And then, I wonder how the disciples of Jesus would have also felt after they had spent significant time with the Savior of the world only for Him to no longer walk in their midst. How would they let go of someone so close to them? How would anything in life feel meaningful again after being discipled by God in the flesh? To no longer have this access to Him…how would they cope? Would that not have resulted in a crisis of faith for the disciples? Their faith was so directly connected to this physical Savior. How would they walk in truth without Him near?  So, how would they find any sort of meaning in their earthly days without this Savior who had become so dear to them?

 

Jesus reads the disciples’ minds and He reads ours.

 

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever” 

 

He does not leave us without aid. He gives the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who never departs from the believer. Though it is a fallen world containing loss, the believer is enabled to see through to another reality – the reality that Jesus lives.

 

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.”

 

Because Jesus has conquered death, we live. Because Jesus lives, He gives the Holy Spirit to us who teaches us. He takes the Bible and applies it uniquely to each of our hearts, speaking precisely what messages we need to hear.

 

 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” – John 14:16, 18-19, 25-27

 

Jesus does not leave us without help or counsel. This time in our existence between now and our heavenly eternity is not an afterthought, but a time when God planned for believers to know Him unlike at any other earthly, biblical age. Swatting flies away might not feel momentous and may not be momentous. Yet, these days are ones filled with God because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

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Read now from the Hope Mommies doctrinal statement:

THE HOLY SPIRIT: We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, eternal in being, took up His abode in the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to save men. Beginning on the day of Pentecost, according to the divine promise, the Holy Spirit never departs from the church, nor from the feeblest of believers, but indwells and seals the believer unto the day of redemption. We believe that His abode in the world in this special sense will cease when Christ comes to receive His own at the completion of the church. (John 14:16-17, 16:7-15; I Cor. 6:19; Eph. 1:13, 2:22; II Thess. 2:7) We believe that under the New Covenant, certain well-defined ministries are committed to the Holy Spirit. The following ministries are found in Scripture: the restraining of evil according to His divine will; the convicting of the world respecting sin, righteousness, and judgment; the regeneration of all the elect; the indwelling of all believers; the sealing of all believers unto the day of redemption; the baptizing of all believers into the one Body of Christ; the distribution to every saint of at least one spiritual gift; the filling of the Spirit; and the teaching and guiding of the Spirit to enable all saints to walk pleasing to the Lord. (John 3:6, 16:7-11; Romans 8:9, 14-16; I Cor. 2:11-13, 12:11-13; II Cor. 3:3-6; Eph. 4:30, 5:18; II Thess. 2:7; I John 2:20-27)

We believe some of the gifts of the Spirit were used as foundational and sign gifts to the church in order to authenticate the church and the work of the apostles until the writing of the New Testament. The sign gifts were given to confirm God’s message, messengers and mission and as a sign of judgment to unbelieving Israel. The exercise of the permanent gifts of the Spirit is necessary for the spiritual life, growth, and edification of the Body of Christ. Though we believe the sign gifts are not normative for the church today, this does not preclude the unhindered work of the Spirit to perform supernatural and miraculous acts apart from spiritual gifts. (Isaiah 28:11; I Cor. 12:11-13, 13:8, 14:21-22; Eph. 1:13, 4:11-16; Heb. 2:3-4; I Pet. 4:10-11)

We do not believe “tongues” are a sign of receiving the Holy Spirit or Spirit-baptism, nor do we believe that the Spirit-baptism is a “second work of grace after salvation to receive power to live the Christian life.” (I Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:2, 14)

We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the church for the common good of all believers. Since each gift is given according to God’s sovereign will and discretion, the possession of any gift is of grace and does not constitute spiritual maturity. The proper use of the gifts are for the edification of the body; to promote united worship of God in the congregation, giving preeminence and glory to Jesus Christ, and to continually facilitate the growth of each member of the body into maturity in Christ. (Isaiah 28:11; John 16:14; Acts 4:8, 31, Romans 8:23, 12:1-21; I Cor. 12:11-13, 13:8, 14:21; Eph. 1:13, 4:7-16)

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God has preserved our lives on this earth; we have not joined our sons and daughters in heaven. But these days, though certainly not heaven, are also not devoid of Him. The Holy Spirit seals us until that blessed day of redemption, the day for which our hearts have now, through loss, been trained to yearn. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee of our future hope:

 

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,  who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” – Ephesians 1:13-14

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Read this encouragement of our security unto heaven from the Hope Mommies doctrinal statement:

ASSURANCE AND SECURITY: We believe that God is the only One who can give the believer assurance of salvation. We believe the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to give us assurance. Also He “bears witness with our human spirit that we are the children of God.” The salvation of every believer is secure for all eternity from the moment of new birth. The security is guaranteed by the fact that the life which is imparted is eternal life by the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit. (John 10:27-30, 17:3; Romans 8:1, 16, 29-30; Eph. 1:13-14, 2:10, 4:30; I John 2:29; 3:9-10, 4:7, 5:9-13; Jude 24)

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We have the Holy Spirit within us, enabling us to return to the “real world” after loss with the peace that He is with us and that we truly are with Him here on earth for the sake of His good purposes that He day-by-day reveals to us. If you cannot see for yourself a way through your dark agony of grief, take heart in the power at work in you through the Holy Spirit:

 

“to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” – Ephesians 3:20

 

He is able to do in you and through you more than you can ask and more than you can imagine. Perhaps loss has brought to you a crisis of faith and you cannot see your way through it to restoration. Know that interlaced in the words of Jesus promising the Holy Spirit, He also speaks of the topic of obedience. He speaks of His own, that out of love for the Father, Jesus was obedient unto the death – a death that His Father commanded Him to die (John 14:31).  In having God’s Spirit within us, we have the very same power that enabled Jesus Christ to submit to death. We have a profound power at work in us. Through His Word, let Him lead you through grief; whatever that process is for you personally, He knows.

 

So take with you, sister, the knowledge that you have the Holy Spirit; you are with Him and He with you. These days on earth are filled with the One who guarantees, teaches, and helps. These days are marked by His power and also by His peace. When promising the Holy Spirit to the disciples and future believers – a promise fulfilled in us this very day – Jesus said:

 

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” 

 

Peace, sisters, in the Holy Spirit for another day in or for another day returning back to the “real world” after tremendous loss.

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The “Feed Your Soul” blog series takes the bereaved mother through Scriptural doctrines, which are beautiful truths preserved through the ages by God’s sovereignty to be food for her soul as she grieves.

Read the past posts in this series:

Feed Your Soul: God are You Silent? {Bible}

Feed Your Soul: Where Can I Find Rest? {The Godhead & The Father}

Feed Your Soul: Eternity at Stake {Man & Hell}

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