I want to share portions from two different devotionals today! This from "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers:
Peter’s response to this piercing question is considerably different from the bold defiance he exhibited only a few days before when he declared, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matthew 26:35 ; also see Matthew 26:33-34). Our natural individuality, or our natural self, boldly speaks out and declares its feelings. But the true love within our inner spiritual self can be discovered only by experiencing the hurt of this question of Jesus Christ. Peter loved Jesus in the way any natural man loves a good person. Yet that is nothing but emotional love. It may reach deeply into our natural self, but it never penetrates to the spirit of a person. True love never simply declares itself. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men [that is, confesses his love by everything he does, not merely by his words], him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8).
One of the reasons that Peter could not keep himself from denying Jesus was because his love for Jesus WAS simply emotional! Peter was not yet born again because Jesus had not yet risen from the dead, so his spirit man was NOT alive in God by the Holy Spirit. Peter was a "mere natural man"! Once Jesus rose from the dead, Peter could become a new creature, with the Spirit of God living IN him! He could NOW experience the true Love of God, "agape", that is the type of love that can make a determined purpose and love by decision and not by emotions, which are fickle! Even though Peter now had a new Spirit when Jesus asked him the above question, he still had not yet received the "infilling" of the Holy Spirit, which endues "with power from on high"! This infilling of the Holy Spirit allows us to operate in a realm of power not available to those who will not receive! That brings us to this portion of Kenneth Copeland's "Pursuit of His Presence":
For he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God: for no man understands him; howbeit in the spirit he speaks mysteries.– 1 Corinthians 14:2
What are mysteries? Mysteries are things we don’t know. Sometimes we don’t know what the perfect will of God is for our lives. We don’t know exactly what steps to take and what moves to make each day to fulfill the plan God has laid out for our lives. And no one in the world can tell us!
As 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit”
Besides being endued with power, those who have received the infilling now have this new, powerful prayer language with which we can pray the perfect will of God into the earth, AND into our lives! THIS is how we learn to operate in the supernatural love of God that will not deny Him! Kenneth Copeland also says this:
God has things that are so far better than what we’ve seen that we can’t even figure them out. But if we’ll pray in the spirit, we’ll get beyond our natural knowledge and receive supernatural understanding. Spend time praying in the spirit every day. Tap into the mind of God. Receive wisdom from heaven. And unlock the mysteries of God’s plan for your life!
Have YOU received the infilling of the Holy Spirit since you have been born again? If not, please go to The Spoken Word Church website through the link at the left and find out more! you will be SO glad you did! you will truly never be the same again! Amen! Here is Hillsong with an older song called "Most High":
Shalom in Him!
