“Our Daily Bread”   http://odb.org/2012/08/15/hopes-and-dreams/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                 http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

Romans 9:21…  Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?  (NKJV)

Yesterday, I started a study on why some Christians are filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit, and why some Christians never share their faith with anyone… My hope, through God’s Word, and my own testimony…is for readers in all stages of spiritual maturity, to see where they fall in God’s scheme of life… The ultimate state of spiritual maturity, should have the Christian “Filled to Overflowing” with the Holy Spirit… I base this statement on this scripture that I posted yesterday, spoken by Jesus, in…

John 7:38… “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  (NKJV)  …Here is the link for yesterdays writing, for people who missed it; and who want to get caught up reading about this possibly life changing study on the filling of the Holy Spirit…  https://godsmanforever.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/gods-group-thoughts-for-8142012-filled-to-overflowing/

As I mentioned yesterday, scripture is filled with the analogy that God is the potter…and that we are His clay vessels that are both fragile and flawed… We are to be molded by God as He sees fit…  All human beings are born as cracked vessels, which are filled with the sins of the world (1 John 2:15-16), with Satan as their father (John 8:44)…

Before a person becomes a Christian in God’s eyes…they have a lifetime of sins and their own self-righteous desires they are filled with, that make them flawed vessels that are both unrighteous in God’s eyes…as well as vessels of wrath… Jesus talks about these sinners headed for eternal destruction, in the following scripture…Romans 9:22… What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,  (NKJV)

We are all born with what is called our natural sin nature…ever since Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent (Satan), back in the beginning (Genesis 3:1-11…&…Romans 5:12)…  Before we become a Christian, God looks at us as a fragile clay vessel, which has been controlled by Satan all of our lives… We are broken vessels, just like God tells the Israelites back in…Jeremiah 2:13…  “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns— broken cisterns that can hold no water.”  (NKJV)

God calls Himself “the fountain of living waters” in this scripture… And God calls the un-repentant sinners in this scripture above…“broken cisterns that can hold no water.”  With what Jesus reveals in…John 7:38…above, and God’s statement about being “living water”…yesterday I equated the Holy Spirit that God gives to all Christians (John 14:26), as “living water” that will flow “out of our heart”, filling our sealed vessel…

Without the Holy Spirit residing in the heart, the mind, and the soul of a person (if they were a  Christian)…they are sin filled, un-repentant sinners…that don’t have a drop of “living water” to be found with-in their broken clay vessel…

Thank goodness that God is a patient and longsuffering God… I know this to be a fact (just like the scripture above reveals in…Romans 9:22), because I was a cracked and flawed, sin filled clay vessel for 52 years…filled with all the worldly sins that the apostle John warns Christians to avoid, in…1 John 2:15-16…

I falsely believed I was a Christian all those years, because I was blinded by Satan to the truth that God’s Word reveals…2 Corinthians 4:4…  whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.  (NKJV)

Indeed, God drew me to Himself (John 6:44), and by His grace through saving faith alone in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9)…my heart was regenerated; and by understanding and obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…I was graced with the free gift of salvation by God… (See the attachment above, for the presentation of the gospel of Christ)…

A lifetime of sins was paid for by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross…as Christ’s righteousness was imputed to me (2 Corinthians 5:19-21)… God declared me righteous in His sight, and a new Christian… I was promised eternal life in heaven as one of God’s children, just over 10 years ago… Praise the Lord for His grace and His mercy !!

All of the cracks in my fragile clay vessel, which had been broken and useless for God…had been sealed by Him, as the Holy Spirit filled my dry as a bone hardened heart, with “rivers of living water”…  The Christians previously cracked vessel, is sealed and filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)…

Here is more scripture revealing the fact that the sinner has to understand the truth found in God’s Word, and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ…to be forgiven of their sins…Ephesians 1:13… In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (NKJV)

And here is eye opening scripture written by the apostle Paul, revealing the wrath of God for all those who do not obey  the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…2 Thessalonians 1:8-9… in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,  (NKJV)

Ok; so the Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment they are saved by God’s free grace of salvation…  Why aren’t all Christians “Filled to Overflowing” with the Holy Spirit (living water), like Jesus tells us in…John 7:38…  Jesus says that there willbe  “rivers of living water”, flowing out of the Christian’s heart ??  Come back tomorrow, God willing…for my thoughts to answer this question…

Heavenly Father, I am so thankful for the truth found in Your Word…  I pray Father, that You would open the eyes of those in need of Your saving grace, as You draw them unto Yourself… I pray Father, that anyone not knowledgeable about the gospel of Your Son Jesus Christ…would not rest by Your urging, until they speak to someone who can explain this key to becoming one of Your children… And I pray Lord, that You would continue to mold all of Your children, to become more “Christ like” as the years roll by… I pray for this sanctification for all of Your children, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills