Chronicles of a Watchman by Dr. James P. Norman Jr.

An important work of the Spirit of God clearly is to protect God’s people.   Christians are protected by the power of God and identified as His because He put His Spirit on them as a seal.   This security is a great source of assurance for Christians.   Those who live with such security and assurance, quite understandably experience boldness, joy, and peace as a result the Spirit is also a deposit, or down payment.   A deposit is simply the first payment.   The remainder will come later.   The Gift of the Spirit is God’s first payment to His people.   The remainder of His blessings will be given later in the life to come.   This Spirit’s presence with us is a foretaste of the life to come.   Humanity Restored   God will redeem or fully restore believers in Christ so we perfectly conform to His will.   Until then, the Spirit in our lives guarantees we will be redeemed.   The Church, the saints love “does” more than it “fee...

Hebrews 5:11-14 says, “Of Christ, we have many things to say and difficult to make clear to you, not because they are mysteries, but because you are slow to grasp the doctrines delivered you.   You are dull and slothful not willing to self-judge.   It is not true that it is so complicated.   The trouble is with men who take the wrong attitude due to their religious background.   One factor is that preachers and teachers today do not emphasize the gifts of the Spirit nor do they stir up the gifts.   People are not hungry for Holiness and Righteousness.   Many today are not keeping the principles and standards to continue to build on.   You have been professed Christians long enough to be examples, but because of your laziness and dullness in grasping truth, your desire to be liked has made it a must to be taught a second time the first simple doctrines of Christ.   You have not grown at all.   You have become of those who drawback, and have...

Acts 1:8 says “ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” One of the most common excuses for not becoming a Christian is the fear of failure to live by faith in the Christian life.   Besides overlooking the fact that men cannot be saved on the basis of good works, this objection neglects the truth that God provides the power to live the faith life. Before Christ was crucified He promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to help believers.   The subsequent events of the Book of Acts supply ample evidence of the fulfillment of this prophecy. Let’s stop here for a moment. This is the exit point which every denomination grabs the power, makes it human, and not supernatural. They will use and rely on water baptism as the basis and not Holy Spirit power. It takes generations of developing and working with the power, and autho...

Faith in God makes you an asset not a liability.  You are not here to please the world or the flesh.  You are here to show the world an image of God.  You are showing God that his purpose for you and your faith in the Word is working for the benefit of all. His plan and purpose were ordained and established when he created Man.  Anything that has to do with God's creation, I repeat God's creation, the devil and his cohorts have tried to corrupt and alter God's plan for how it is to operate.  All alterations from God's plan for male, female functions, he (Satan) has altered.  At the fall of Adam, Satan went about attacking everything God created, and God's purpose for that creation.  Satan's big trick was to blame God for the evil creatures, sickness, famine, wars, climate change...etc. Years ago, I did a study  on Solomon and his writings on the Book of Proverbs. I found he could not keep the Proverbs, so he wrote them. The Book of Prover...

The words in Ephesians 5:18 are “Be filled with the Spirit.” There are four grammatical rules in the Greek language which lead us to four truths relative to this great subject.   First, the verb is the imperative mode.   That is, it is imperative that we be filled with the Spirit.   God commands it, and gives access both ways--By Him and by us.   The fullness is the divine enablement in the life of a Christian which results in a Christ-like life.   The fullness of the Spirit, if we are looking to please God in this life, can only happen in the beauty of holiness.   Failure to be filled with the Spirit is sin and results in failure to live a life honoring to God.   Access only makes everything you ask to do by Jesus who is head of the Church clearer.   Second, the tense of the verb is present, and this tense in the imperative mode always represents action going on.   We learn from this that the mechanics of a spirit-filled life does not pr...

Hebrews 11:1-6 states that, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2  For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3  By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. 4  By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. 5  By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”   Terms used as coming to Christ, looking to Christ, and receiving Christ are all descriptions of faith, a...

In times like these, Pastors, Elders, Deacons, and all others need to ask for the gift of discerning of spirits. The New Testament clearly teaches that every Christian needs to be able to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong.   Hebrew 5:14 says that mature Christians have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You shall be able to test teaching, and lifestyles of the pulpit folks against scripture, as we all must, as did the Berean Jews in Acts 17:11.  I John 4:1 explicitly tells us “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.” These passages describe the Christian role of discernment. Within the Body of Christ (Body), however, there are individuals gifted with the ability of discerning of spirits. Those with this spiritual gift must be free and willing to exercise it. Some who have it may be reluctant to use it, because it requires a good deal of courage. It is comforting for the whole Body to know that G...