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CSI Good News
(Church of South India Good News)
Vol. 13 / Issue 5 / March 3 2011
Contents of this issue
Editorial
Anointing of the Holy Spirit - Signs (part 3)
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News Items (Common to all issues) :
Through the Valley of Death & other Books
Download Articles in Handheld Computers
Kids Page - Free Tutorials
Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online
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Your Feedback
Editorial
By Sherly Isaac
In the Bible we read about God that He speaks to people or communicates with them. One of those who had direct communication with God was Moses. In Exodus 3rd chapter we read that he was tending his sheep in the wilderness. And he saw a very strange thing that a bush was burning with fire but it was not being consumed. Moses thought how it could be? So he went near to see this great sight and there he heard the voice of God.
Then God spoke to Moses and said in Exodus 3:6-10, "I am the God of your father; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the LORD said: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
Often people think that God lives somewhere up in heaven very far away from us so that we cannot approach Him. But when we read from Genesis about Adam and Eve whom God created, we find that God used to come down and talk to them everyday. When God created the world, His delight was with the sons of men as we read in Proverbs 8:31, "Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men."
But that relationship was broken when Adam and Eve sinned and God had to send Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. In order to mend and restore that relationship Jesus came in this world and gave His precious life on the cross, so that we could have communication with God again.
Bible tells us that when a person comes to Jesus and accepts Him as his/her personal Lord and Savior he/she becomes a child of God as we read in John 1:12-13, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
God wants to have communication with us. God wants to have fellowship with us and He wants to befriend us and wants to take care of our problems and our day today affairs. If we are willing to get rid of our sins and if we are ready to come to Him, He is ready to talk to us about our problem of sin. We read in Isa 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool."
If we just give our lives in His hands, He is ready to wash us clean and He is ready to forgive and forget all our sins and ready to take us as His sons and daughters. Will you just come to Him?
Anointing of the Holy Spirit - Signs (part 3)
By Sheela Isaac
Acts 2:17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
Last time we looked that getting filled with Holy Spirit or Baptism of Holy Spirit is NOT a silent or invisible experience. Every time when people got filled with Holy Spirit as seen from Bible, there was some kind of outward sign that was always present. We saw how Jesus approved Tongues and He said in Mark 16:15-18 that those who believe will speak in tongues. That means believers will speak in tongues when they get filled with Holy Spirit. If you think that you are a believer and if you do not speak in tongues then it means that you might be saved but NOT spirit filled.
3. Prophecy as an outward sign:
Prophecies and anointing of the Holy Spirit are interlinked. In the Bible when the Spirit of God came upon people in many occasions they were seen prophesying.
Saul prophesied when the Spirit of God came upon him:
1 Sam 10:9-11, So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, "What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"
Zechariah prophesied:
2 Chr 24:20, "When the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, "Thus says God: .........
In the New Testament again when Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit she also prophesied. When Mary mother of Jesus greeted her Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit and prophesied. What was the prophecy? She prophesied about the birth of Jesus who was about to come to this world. She knew exactly that it was just not her cousin Mary alone who came to meet her but it was the mother of the savior of the world who was standing before her. Holy Spirit reveals the things which is to come and that's what happened here.
Luke 1:41-43, And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! "But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
When you get filled with the Holy Spirit or if you are already spirit filled you can know the things which God reveals to you. If you are not spirit filled you can't get prophecies.
4. Dreams & Visions as an outward sign:
Acts 2:17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
The above verse says that when you get filled with Holy Spirit you can see dreams and visions. These are not the ordinary kinds of dreams most of the people see. When God shows dreams it has very deep meaning and significance and eventually these dreams come to pass. Look at the life of Joseph when he was a young boy may be of 17 years old he saw two dreams. Both dreams had the same meaning. Here are those dreams.
Gen 37:7-9, "There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf." And his brothers said to him, "Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, "Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me."
Joseph had eleven brothers and the eleven stars represented them and the sun and moon represented his parents. Joseph's brothers hated him because of this dream but they might have never imagined how this dream was going to come to pass. You know the story that Joseph's brothers wanted to kill him first and they put him in a dry pit to get rid of him so that his dreams may never come to pass. Then one of his brothers felt pity about him and he took him out of the pit and they sold him to the Egyptians who were passing by. Thus he went as a slave boy to Egypt and then he was put in a jail for the crime he never committed. He was in prison for many years. His hopes might have died. He might have forgotten about the dream. If he ever remembered his dream still he might have lost all the hopes that this dream could come to fulfillment. If you read the whole story from Genesis 37 onwards you'll see how this interesting story reached to it's climax when Joseph became the Prime minister (second to king in position) of this foreign land where he came as a slave boy. Then the bad famine hits the world and his brothers come to buy food. Joseph meets his brothers who betrayed him and who sold him as a slave. The most shocking thing happens when the whole story unfolds before their eyes and to their utter shock and dismay they figure out that the man in authority and power was none other than their long lost brother Joseph. There we see Joseph's brothers bowing down before him many times. These were Joseph's older brothers who wanted to see this dream die but they could not stop it from fulfilling.
Well, God given dreams never die but they come to pass in their own time. So Joseph's dream never died but it came to pass after 13 or so years. The same brothers who hated him and wanted to see him dead finally bowed down to him. Yes, God of the Bible speaks through dreams. When you get filled with Holy Spirit these types of dreams become regular occurrences. We find in the Bible that Joseph saw many more dreams which came to pass why? Because he was spirit filled. Gen 41:38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?" God gives dreams and visions to tell what is coming and how it is going to affect your life. God shows good and bad dreams. Good dreams which bring promises and hope for the future while bad dreams that tells us what the enemy is planning behind the scenes and how to foil their plans and win victory over those circumstances. Isn't it wonderful? When we love Jesus, He gives us His Holy Spirit and then prophecies, dreams, visions and revelations become a reality. You can have these experiences by getting filled with Holy Spirit. Christian life is not a dull and fruitless life but the God of the Bible offers many exciting things if you know how to get hold of them.
To be continued...
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Through the Valley of Death & other Books
As many of you know that in the year 2005, our dad was very sick even unto death. God miraculously healed him. We have compiled it in a book form. I sure believe that it will inspire you and encourage you greatly.
This book is available for purchase at JasmineCorp Store
Also read these two books by Sherly Isaac "Allah and Elohim - Are they the same God" Available at JasmineCorp Store, and "Is Jesus God?" Available at JasmineCorp Store,
Both books compares the Bible and the Quran and read eye opening facts about Jesus, God of the Bible, Allah and Islamic faith. I am sure that you want to read this.
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