Spirit of Truth & Grace

…grace and truth came to be through Jesus Christ. ~ John 1:17b NASB

Dear friends,

The past eight years I have done a lot of listening, observing, waiting, and writing. A new batch of grapes has been thoroughly trodden with the Spirit of Truth – rendering new wine and much-needed fresh oil of grace. Having recently concluded the Pattern of Seven: The Armor of God series over on nancybentz.com, I thank the Lord for His consistent beckoning on when one assignment is done and the next waits in His wings.

Eight years ago, I wrote and published Vineyard Days – Weathered Wineskins. In the last eight days I determined it was time for a new one. Mainly because I cannot keep a cork in it any longer; His wine is stronger these days. (When a little niggling wouldn’t go away, I checked my online files for the date I began Vineyard Days. April 18, 2013. Eleven years to the day of this post. These are timings I do not plan. But the Lord does.)

Spirit of Truth & Grace

In my marked-up Bible, John 16 has two subtitles, the first of which is ‘The Work of the Holy Spirit’. In verses 12-13a, Jesus tells His disciples,

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”

The other subtitle is ‘The Disciples’ Grief Will Turn to Joy.’

Friends, the Spirit of Truth is here in all the mercy-full graces of Christ Jesus. Taken in, wineskins are outgrown. There are some spiritual growth spurts that require a new wineskin as the old no longer suffices. However,

Our all y’all’s ‘new wine’ needs the Spirit of Truth & Grace to aerate what is of Him and what is man’s mixture.

Welcome to a new category in Wellspring of Life ~ the blog the Lord planted, tends, is growing, and harvesting.

When Light Resolves to a Steady Flame

Earlier this month, I posted the following on my Facebook page:

Writing. I’m used to feeling the fire stirring within (or blazing), but this time all that stirring and blazing feels like a steady flame of Grace and Truth. Not one without the other. They are paired because Jesus was full of both. His Spirit’s been quite chatty lately. Darkness has never overcome light. It never will. Says He.

A week later my husband and I pulled the travel trailer to a restful RV park on land owned by the Kalispel Tribe. Armed with camp food, our Bibles, reading and redemptive gifts material, and a sense of expectant time with the Lord to hear His heart more clearly, we added on a fourth night the last day.

We’re so glad we did. It was the last day of not leaving, but staying, that resolve came with that new wineskin.

Standard of Truth, Guardrails of Grace

The writings in this new category stem from the beautiful description John the Beloved wrote in John 1:14 – And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Full of grace, full of truth, full of glory. The birthright of the Son and those in Him.

For those familiar with my writing, I love metaphors and painting pictures with words. This, though, is a series of posts where the metaphors end. I don’t know how many there will be by the time I’ve depleted this supply of stomped grapes and pressed oil. What I do know is that true grace speaks the language of the Spirit of Truth.  

I am tired. Tired of what I am hearing, witnessing, and experiencing in the body of Christ. I just came through nine months (6/23/23-3/26/24) of expressing the Armor of God “putting on Christ” articles. The morning that we decided to stay one more night, came the next order in this warfare: specific battles and Satan’s deceptions.

I got untired in a hurry. Holy Spirit may just as well have audibly said, “Here’s your new wineskin.” The juice of The Vine started effervescing. I almost named this category Water & Wine, for Wellspring will never fail to be the artesian well fountaining above-ground, because the pressure in our day is increasing, not decreasing.

Whether it comes forth as a river of living water, threshing floors of grain, or new wine and purified oil, Jesus is the Standard of Truth and Guardrails of Grace with Whom I am covenanted to write. It is who I say that He is.¹

As the Heart Turns

Sometimes a little jab’ll do ya. After musing on Facebook and before we headed out to camp, I received a comment on a five-year-old Wellspring post; unusual after that long. Expectantly opening the email notification, I was met with one who took aim. Leaving a bit of wiggle room with the word “if” – targeted arrows read “grossly mistaken” and “bordering on blasphemy.” The topic in question? God’s grace, in a specific application.

It was a test. I knew that as the heart turns, so do our responses when we have determined to “put on Christ.”

The commenter received a thoughtful, kind but direct, teachable moment reply. I recommended they go back to the beginning and read in context, to whom the post was directed, and by the way – note the correct scripture reference. I hope they did. I signed off sincerely, Grace and Peace. I don’t know them; they obviously don’t know me. But as one who seemed to be a fellow Christian defending God’s grace with enemy arrows, I found I was prepared to not respond in kind – nor take to myself what Holy Spirit and I know is not true.

It is refreshing when trust in the Lord and perseverance in hard labor, within and without, yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. It wasn’t the first time; it won’t be the last. The Spirit of Truth & Grace will see to that.

For comrades and companions who desire to grow together into the fullness of Christ,

~ Gracefully Free

¹ Mark 8:27b-29: On the way He began to ask His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” “John the Baptist,” they replied, “but others say Elijah, and others, that it is one of the Prophets.” Then He asked them pointedly, “But you yourselves, who do you say that I am?” “You are the Christ,” answered Peter. 

Photo Credit: Pexels-Pixabay-33783