Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever known anyone who throughout a long life had never been sick, never been in the hospital? I knew one such man, although I think before his long life was over, he did have some problems. Not only do most of us need some physical healing at times, we all need healing of the soul all the time. And Christ's ministry as great High Priest is especially that--His primary work is not bookkeeping, as many have supposed, but it is healing the soul of His people so that they can get well spiritually, and prepare for Christ's second coming. That means overcoming sin, cleansing from sin, from its deepest roots.
Someone, who acknowledged an obsession with food and needed to lose over a hundred pounds, wrote sincerely wanting help. She asked, "Will this Divine Physician hospitalize me, or treat me as an outpatient?" She was not ridiculing the idea--she seriously wanted to know how to get help from Christ.
Yes, He will put you in his hospital, His holy sanctuary. He will put you in intensive care, and further, He will monitor you 24 hours a day with angels serving as special duty nurses, with you as their only patient.
The Holy Spirit is God, and He is the Spirit of Jesus. We are closer to Christ today by the Holy Spirit than the disciples were 2000 years ago when they walked with Him down the dusty paths of Galilee. The Holy Spirit does not come for the purpose of just indulging you; or encouraging you to remain self-centered, lukewarm, and world-loving. His first work is to convict us of sin (John 16:8). Like a doctor, He diagnoses our case and identifies the disease that makes us sick.
But the Holy Spirit has a second work--to convict us of righteousness, and then of victory over sin (vss. 9-11). His work is all Good News to the one who believes what Jesus says.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: 1994 Phone Message.
Copyright © 2017 by "Dial Daily Bread."
