ASSUMING THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AT WORK

This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.  What are you, O great mountain?  Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" (Zechariah 4:6-7).

There is one assumption that Christians always must have, The Holy Spirit is always working, strengthening and helping His people to live their lives for the Lord and to accomplish the tasks and bear the burdens that are before them.  In the context of the above text, God had given governor Zerubbabel the job of rebuilding the temple in 535BCE.  The rebuilding was completed in 516BCE.  The job took twenty years of back-breaking effort, fighting enemies from within and without.  I'm sure there were times when Zerubbabel thought, "God, I didn't think it would be this hard--you made it sound so easy--the mountain was going to flatten itself before me."  Zerubbabel had limited resources, little money, limited labor and expertise, and battles to fight, yet, the temple was finished because God was working with Zerubbabel and his people. Zerubbabel could look back and say with out a doubt, "With out God's help we couldn't have built it!"

Because of God's provision of the indwelling Holy Spirit in the life of every Christian, we can always assume the Holy Spirit is working in every situation of our life.  It does not mean that life will go smoothly or that we can be slackers in preparation and in every-day hard work, but it does mean He is working with us to help us deal with the situations we face.  Just like we assume that our heart is going to make the next beat, or we will be able to take the next breath, so we can assume that Holy Spirit is ministering in our lives.  And, when our lives are over, we will be able to look back and say, "It wasn't by human effort, but by His Spirit!"

Our Father's Love,
Tom