Why "Life-Giving Spirit Ministries?"
Debbie and I were praying about a name for our ministry. Because of some things that we were going through at the time and other things that we've seen and learned over the years, we decided to call it "Life-Giving Spirit Ministries." The wording of it comes from two different verses in the Bible:
"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." - 2 Corinthians 3:5,6
"And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam (Jesus) became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." - 1 Corinthians 15:45-49
The verses in 1 Corinthians 15 tell us that "as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." Years ago there was a bracelet with the letters "WWJD." It stood for "What would Jesus do?" We could expound on that and ask, "What did Jesus look like or act like? Was he angry all the time? Was he domineering? Was he a bully? Was He harsh or critical? Did He go around talking about how great He was and how everyone else was a loser?
John 1:14 says that Jesus was "full of grace and truth." Verse 17 of the same chapter says, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. We are saved "by grace." We're all glad that God was gracious towards us when we were ignorant wretches, dead in our sins. Two of Jesus' disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven to burn up the people who had rejected Him. He told them that "you don't know what spirit you are of." It certainly wasn't a life-giving spirit! He went on to say, "The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." Matthew 12:20 says that Jesus "would not break a bruised reed." We have all been like a bruised reed. Some would tread upon you or throw you away, but Jesus will never break the bruised reed. The same verse goes on to say, "and a smoking flax he will not quench." Many of us have been at times like a smoking flax, barely hanging in there. A rougher spirit would say, "PUT OUT THAT SMOKING FLAX! IT FILLS THE ROOM WITH AN OFFENSIVE STENCH!" It has been said that "Christians kill their wounded." This is actually the spirit of anti-Christ.
We need to be like Jesus - a life-giving spirit, full of grace and truth.
"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:31,32
