A Story to Tell to the Nations

February 5, 2008

Dear Friend of Mary Craig Ministries,

The Holy Spirit is speaking expressly to you who believe in Jesus Christ. He is the Eternal Spirit, the One who raised Jesus from the dead. He moves and no man, no one resists Him, for He is God, and He is true.

I am to tell you a story. It is a story of tragedy. It is a story of destiny. It is a story of love. It is a story of war. It is a story that speaks the heart of the Holy Spirit and one in which He has poured His very soul.

It is a story that begins “eons” ago as the Holy Spirit hovered over the face of the deep, bringing about the creation of the world. (Genesis 1.2ff) The Holy Spirit moved in power and saw the worlds created upon command. The Lord God is our Creator.

God saw all that was created and declared it “good.” He loved and enjoyed all that He had done. He loved each thing, each animal, every creature, all the work of His hands, for it came from His heart, mind, and soul.

Whatever comes into the mind of God, He is able to perform; for all that comes into His mind to do conforms with all that He is, and He is able to perform all His good pleasure, whatever pleases Him to do. He is the Creator, and He creates. It is what He does. He creates. He does not make or mold only as we do from materials already existing, from materials which He has already created. God creates. He began with nothing. Upon command it came into being by His power.

We have little comprehension of God’s power. We do not see “creation,” only “making.” We do not see the power of creation. We cannot fathom God’s power, not even the power taken to raise Jesus from the dead. This makes it difficult for us to let God be God, because of this lack of understanding; but we must know and believe that God is the Creator.

In these last days people have drawn away from God as Creator to the creation. It is because all is going according to God’s Word. But those who know Him worship Him as the Creator/Redeemer. He is behind and is the “because” of all that is. He is the Almighty in our midst.

God grieves because we do not acknowledge Him. Not that He needs acknowledgment, but for our sakes we are to encourage acknowledgment that God is the Creator God who has power to make, to do, to create whatever is in His mind and pleases Him to do. Therefore:

Let us worship the Creator, knowing that He loves His creation, all of it.

The tragedy in this story is sin. Sin is tragic. Believing the lie, that “other word,” brought corruption, curse, and corpse. The fire of the Holy Spirit consumes such as is contrary to Him, for He is truth, pure, holy, admirable, worthy of our praise. He is worthy of whatever misfortune occurs, for nothing occurs by chance or happenstance, but only by His perfect plan emanating from the perfection of His mind.

The story of the Holy Spirit is a story of love, a love for all that God has made, a love for His creation. It is a story of tragedy because of what sin has wrought. It is a story of power, for God has prevailed in the destruction of His enemies, all that opposes Him, all that does not conform to Him. God is the Great and Terrible One who terrifies the wicked and comforts His own who are righteous only by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Yes, His is a story, too, of destiny.

His destiny is one of eternity, for He is eternal and God forevermore. He changes not. He is. He has always and does and will exist. But there is a destiny for His creation, the work of His hands. Each and every creation has its purpose, its predetermined course, its destiny. Some things have been created just to give God joy, as a work of art that gives pleasure, pure pleasure. Sometimes God looks at such which He has created and looks at it just for the joy of seeing the work of His hands. Some things are created to give Him joy.

He exults over you with joy. (Zephaniah 3.17) He looks at you and joy fills His heart, His Being. He loves what He has done and is doing and will do in you, with you, for you, through you.

Let us praise Him for the marvelous work of His hands, walking in our destiny and entering His joy.

The story the Holy Spirit tells is also a story of war. Conflict occurs with resistance to God, the Creator and Determiner of creation’s destiny. It is sin to resist God, our Creator. It is rebellion. It is a sinful self asserting itself, its mind. God calls it pride because it is an absurd stuffiness in His face. It is ridiculous in the knowledge of His power and in the express Being of His presence. So He wars against the flesh that resists the destiny that would give joy to existence.

“Each in its place for its purpose and for its season.” See and seek to understand God’s eternal pleasure in the moment of a flower, in the fleeting of a butterfly—His eternal joy and pleasure. Enter into His satisfaction in the work of His hands. Though temporal, His joy is eternal. Enter into His eternal joy over a blade of grass, over the flowers of the field, over a word well-spoken. Feel His pleasure, the pleasure of the Eternal God in the moments of time, in the moments of your life. Live life in the fullness of His joy, and you will come into a fuller measure of your destiny as God’s child. Come and enter into His love for you, His eternal love.

Let us not resist the Spirit of Grace, for apart from grace we have no hope and are helpless to enter the fullness of God.

Only those who believe in Jesus Christ, His righteous life, His death on the cross to pay the penalty of sin, His resurrection, His ascension into glory, His coming again, know that it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Of Jesus’ fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. (Ephesians 2.8, 9; John 1.16) There is no other way back to the Father, the Creator, but through the redemption in Christ Jesus.

Let us embrace holiness, for without holiness we will not see God; we will have no comprehension of who He is.

God is holy, holy, holy. The angels cry “holy” because in God’s presence His holiness causes them to praise, to acknowledge His holiness. He is the Creator, separate from His creation. Union with God, your Creator, therefore, brings separation from the world, from what is “common,” defiled, impure, of the world.

God is heavenly—“of the Heavens One.” Union with God means separation from things worldly. God is eternal, having the power of an endless life. Union with God means identifying with the eternal, not just the temporal. God is life, light, love. Union with God means putting off darkness, death, division, discord. God is pure…without deceit, lies, perversion, excuse, paradox, contradiction, counterfeit. Union with God means coming to Truth, and truth entering your innermost being. It is more being true—true to God, true to your true nature in Christ, speaking truly, walking in truth, in unfeigned love.

God is the Creator. Union with Him means that He will create in us. His power will bring His good pleasure and purposes to pass. We are creation, creatures made in the image of God. We watch what God works! We tell the story of the good work He has wrought in us.

God loves you. He has chosen you and loves you. God desires a holy, common union (Communion), a free flow without barriers, without resistance, without fear, without frenzy. He knows your frame and all that you are, were, could be, and will be. He is your Healer, your Hope, the Health of your countenance.

From Genesis to Passover to Jesus Christ to Pentecost to Tabernacles to Revelation, the Holy Spirit is telling a story of creation and redemption. He exalts Jesus Christ. As we tell the story, we, too, are to exalt Jesus Christ; for Jesus is the exaltation of glory. He is the glory of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus.

Rev. Jim Craig and I leave in March for Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and France, God willing. Help us go to the nations, telling the story of creation/redemption. Help us in the call to bring healing and restoration to the Body of Christ; to prepare the Bride for His return; and to call the nations to repentance and resurrection.

Thank you for the letters and email notes of encouragement, for your testimonies, for your prayers, and for your offerings of labor and love. I know your giving is from your heart and because you hear and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. Those of you who have been with MCM from its inception in 1993 have witnessed its growth; and we expect even greater things from our great and good Lord in 2008.

Thank you for your generous gifts to MCM. Whether your heart leans toward Craighouse®, the Barnabas Project, evangelism, MCM media, Home Visitation Ministry, MCM mercy ministries, or MCM world missions, your gifts demonstrate the love Christ has put in your hearts.

Telling His Story,

Mary Craig

P.S. Go to www.marycraig.org. Order books from our Catalog section, using PayPal Worship with us 4:30 p.m. Sundays. Grow and flourish in small group ministry at Craighouse®, located in the Pompano Plaza at 114 E. McNab Road, Pompano Beach, FL 33060. Log on to www.craighouse.org for a map and more events and Bible studies. Reach MCM at 954-491-7270. Send in your prayer requests.