Signs and Wonders

Signs and Wonders Anointed with uncommon compassion, utterance and power for good Copyright Doug Blair, Waterloo ON, 2019

On Cessation

Do you call on the gifts In your walk even now?

Some have said they have ceased Tell me when; tell me how?

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They suggest only First Church Had needed the lift That the speakers of grace Were endorsed with some gift.

But anon came “perfection�

The Canon they say And it ended the child-like Now mature held the day.

Mature without utterance?

Mature without power?

Mature missing wonders Or healing this hour?

Perhaps comes a balance Thessalonians five Receive gifts with caution

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But keep them alive.

Abuse we have all seen Presumption as well But quench not the Spirit And then who can tell? ​9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (1 Corinthians 13)

Holy Ghost, Indweller

Peace, be still, little heart,

I am here.

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Now you hail Christ as Lord-

Cease from fear!

I am​ your promised help,

Draw from me.

My sure wisdom is yours,

You will see.

As the​ mysteries of God

Are made known,

And the scriptures bring life

From his throne.

Did I​ not once inspire

Holy men

To record the Lord’s will

By the pen?

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Will I​ not open such

Truths to you,

In a way just as clear

To your view?

We will​ grow in friendship

As you pray.

Simply ask for my help

Each new day.

I have​ kindled my spark

Deep within.

Please, permit it to burn-

You’ll not sin.

Once, my​ task was to claim

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You from Hell.

Now, praise God, you have come.

All is well.

I will ​lead, I will check ‘Long the way.

Lest you err, I’ll be there.

Come what may.

Can you​ see, I am sent

As a pledge?

Just as deep calls to deep

‘Cross time’s edge.

There are​ fruits of my love

For each day.

Please, dear heart, do not grieve

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Me away.

And, of​ course, you may ask

For my best!

A baptism of power,

You’ll be blessed!

Just as​ Peter emerged

From all fear,

In a Pentecost blaze

Of good cheer.

You will​ witness on fire

To God’s Word,

With a joy that is strength

From your Lord.

I will​ consecrate you

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For the task.

And take charge of your tongue

If you ask…

As the​ finger of God

I will point.

And with ministry gifts

Oft’ anoint.

Thus equipped,​ you may serve

Much like Paul,

Who abandoned all else

For Christ’s call.

Learning sin​ had no hold

O’er one dead

To the flesh, but alive

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Where I led.

Please, accept​ me as your

Inner guide.

Let us witness to Christ

Glorified!

I will​ offer help as

You allow.

Bold adventures in love

Begin now.

The Anointing, Respectfully Considered

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In the Old Testament the anointing was for the King. It was for the priest and prophet. It was designed to commission and to set apart for holy, God-directed purpose. It was not earned. It was bestowed.

In Psalm 23 we have the image of the shepherd anointing the sheep's head with oil. In a very practical sense, in the hot eastern summer, this act relieved the sheep of the peace-threatening, life-threatening attack of insects upon the eyes and nasal passages.

This resulted in calm, comfort and order for the flock. Can not the same be said about the settling influence of the Spirit?

Consider Isaiah 61 and the wonderful outworkings of the anointing. In Luke 4 Jesus announced that His ministry was all about the same things:

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

I would also draw your attention to Peter's sermon to the Gentiles of Cornelius' house at Acts 10:37,38:

37 That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;

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38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

This confirms that the marvelous miracle service of Jesus was the result of the obedient submission of a man to the anointing of God for power, doing good and overcoming the Devil. The same anointing is available to the humble and dedicated believer today. What a promise! What an opportunity!

Is it not said in the Revelation that we are made kings and priests unto our God?

I often hear reference to a believer or minister who is "much anointed". The context sounds the same to me as if one were referring to a professor who is "much published" or a soldier who is "much decorated" or an actor who is "much celebrated". Certain God-given talents have been enhanced by training, education, experience and single-minded dedication.

But the anointing is NOT a commodity to improve self. It is not a spiritual "power drink". It has to do with dying as did the ingredients of the holy anointing oil prescribed to Moses (Exodus 30).

The name Christ or Messiah means "anointed one". If we would have this appointment, this anointing, we must have Christ, and we must have cast away self-reliance and the distractions of the world, the flesh and the devil.

Believer, I exhort you to dedicate yourself to Christ, to the "anointed One and His anointing". Who knows what fruit may come?

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Quench Not the Spirit (james denny d. d.)

Conversion to the Christian faith, the acceptance of the apostolic gospel,

was not a

thing which made little difference to men : it convulsed

their whole nature to its depths ; they were never the

same again ; they were new creatures, with a new life

in them, all fervour and flame.

A state so unlike nature, in the ordinary sense of

the term, was sure to have its inconveniences. The

Christian, even when he had received the gift of the

Holy Ghost, was still a man ; and as likely as not a

man who had to struggle against vanity, folly, ambition,

and selfishness of all kinds. His enthusiasm might

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even seem, in the first instance, to aggravate, instead

of removing, his natural faults. It might drive him

to speak—for in a primitive church anybody who

pleased might speak—when it would have been better

for him to be silent. It might lead him to break out

in prayer or praise or exhortation, in a style which

made the wise sigh. And for those reasons the wise,

and such as thought themselves wise, would be apt to

discourage the exercise of spiritual gifts altogether.

"You contain yourself," they would say to the man whose

heart burned within him, and who was restless till the

flame could leap out; "contain yourself; exercise a

little self-control ;it is unworthy of a rational being

to be carried away in this fashion."

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...Every one knows that a fire smokes most when it is

newly kindled ; but the way to get rid of the smoke

is not to pour cold water on the fire, but to let it burn

itself clear. If you are wise enough you may even

help it to burn itself clear, by rearranging the materials,

or securing a better draught ; but the wisest thing most

people can do when the fire has got hold is to let it

alone ; and that is also the wise course for most when

they meet with a disciple whose zeal bums like fire.

Very likely the smoke hurts their eyes ; but the smoke

will soon pass by ; and it may well be tolerated in the

meantime for the sake of the heat. For this apostolic

precept takes for granted that fervour of spirit, a

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Christian enthusiasm for what is good, is the best thing

in the world. It may be untaught and inexperienced ;

it may have all its mistakes to make ;

it may be wonderfully

blind to the limitations which the stern necessities

of life put upon the generous hopes of man : but it is

of God ; it is expansive ; it is contagious ; it is worth

more as a spiritual force than all the wisdom in the

world.

I have hinted at ways in which the Spirit is

quenched ; it is sad to reflect that from one point of

view the history of the Church is a long series of

transgressions of this precept, checked by an equally

long series of rebellions of the Spirit.

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" Where the

Spirit of the Lord is," the Apostle tells us elsewhere,

" there is liberty." But liberty in a society has its

dangers ; it is, to a certain extent, at war with order ;

and the guardians of order are not apt to be too

considerate of it. Hence it came to pass that at a very

early period, and in the interests of good order, the

freedom of the Spirit was summarily suppressed in

the Church.

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