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Francis Harper Message for 12/22/17
Dear Ones,
Making room for Jesus, is a challenge for all of us, even as it was for the foolish virgins in Matthew 25. They had failed to establish an intimate relationship with the Bridegroom, Jesus. He said, “Ye know me not” (Matthew 25:11 I.V.); “Verily I say unto you, I know you not” (Matthew 25:12 KJV). “And the door was shut”! How tragic!
Above all the other things that take our time and attention, we must make room for Jesus, and His agenda. We must take time for daily prayer; speaking to the Lord, hearing Him, and responding to His will in our lives must become a daily regimen, like brushing our teeth and combing our hair. Studying; meditating and feasting upon His word must not be neglected. If we allot time for these most important things, some of the things of lesser importance will need to be eliminated. It is a matter of priorities.
The foolish virgins were caught without oil [the Holy Spirit] in their lamps. According to the words of the Lord to Nicodemus, the Holy Spirit is an absolute necessity to enter His kingdom. “Verily, verily, [truly, truly] I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [baptism], and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
We must have the Holy Spirit within us [the incarnation] to transform us from the carnal, “earthly, sensual, devilish” (James 3:15), beings we are, into the Christ-like persons we are designed to be. “For the natural man is an enemy to God…but if [unless] he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man, and becometh a saint” (Mosiah 1:119-120).
Paul wrote: “…the carnal mind is enmity to God,… Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his…And if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [enliven] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:7-11).
Without the Holy Spirit within us, we are spiritually dead. Have you ever seen a dead man walking? It is possible! When we partake of the bread and wine it is symbolic of the incarnation, making room for Jesus in our lives. Jesus said: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh [bread] of the Son of Man, and drink his blood [wine], ye have no life in you… He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56).
The Holy Spirit within us is the powerful ally we must have to overcome all that keeps us from loving God and neighbor as we should. Many of us have experienced temporary moments in our lives when the Holy Spirit has touched our hearts with celestial love; the pure love of Christ. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will become a permanent resident within us. Being filled with the Holy Spirit should be our most earnest prayer. See 3 Nephi 9:10.
A missionary team in South Africa labored for 20 years with very little success in saving souls and changing lives. Finally in desperation they went to a little shed where they studied and prayed as the saints of the first century. And the Holy Spirit came as at Pentecost. They said, “After the Holy Spirit came, more was accomplished in a few days than had previously been done in twenty years!”
The indispensable presence and power of the Holy Ghost will be within the hearts and lives of the sons and daughters of God when Jesus returns with Zion. Being with the saints at the time of the Lord’s coming should be our highest aspiration.
Merry Christmas to All,
Francis Harper
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Making Room for Jesus
There were no vacancies for the poor couple from Nazareth. “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Why make room for such common, ignorant, unknown people? Perhaps Joseph was already acquainted with the pain of rejection. The Son of God was “despised and rejected of men” (Isaiah 53:3), even before his birth. “There was none to give room for them in the inns” (Luke 2:7 I.V.). Is it any different today? Is there any room for Jesus? “Let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare him room” (Joy to the World, Hymns of the Restoration 116).
The Incarnation is the most significant principle in the world. Jesus was called Emmanuel. “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call him Emmanuel, (which being interpreted is, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23 KJV; 2:6 I.V.). Jesus was God in the flesh; this is incarnation: the union of divinity with humanity.
Jesus was speaking of his incarnation when he chided Philip for not understanding this most important principle. Philip asked: “…Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth [will satisfy] us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me…” (John 14:8-10).
The principle of incarnation, exemplified in the life of Jesus, should also be seen in our own. Jesus prayed “…as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me… I in them, and thou in me,… (John 17:21-23).
Paul was referring to the principle of incarnation when he wrote: “…Christ in you, the hope of glory;” (Colossians 1:27). You may be asking, even as Mary asked the angel; “How can this be? And the angel answered and said unto her, Of the Holy Ghost, and the power of the Highest” (Luke 1:34-35).
Those who are filled with the Holy Ghost will be one with God and each other. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own… neither was there any among them that lacked;…” (Acts 4:31-34).
It is written: “ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2, 1 Peter 1:15). John wrote: “…we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him;…” (1 John 3:2). Jesus asked: “Therefore what manner of man ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, Even as I am” (3 Nephi 13:5). Holiness is nothing less than oneness with God, which we can have in a moment when we are in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord is anxious to fill us with his Holy Spirit but none will be filled against their will. The incarnation must become a reality in our lives. Without the incarnation of his Holy Spirit we are spiritually dead. “Oh Holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us to us we pray; cast out our sin and enter in…be born in us today…O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Immanuel” (O Little Town of Bethlehem, Hymns of the Restoration, 113).
Remove the No Vacancy sign. Hang out the Welcome sign. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all” (Revelation 22:20-21).
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