Walking Past the Porter

By Harold Davis

These inspirations came over a period of forty years, and I kept writing them down. Walking past the porter, which is the Holy Spirit, is ignoring the Lord and his gentle promptings. God will not force anyone; we all have free choice. The Lord said, "If my people will humble themselves and come back to me, I will heal their land." People need to come back to the Lord. The answers to this nation's and everyone's problems are really very simple.

The chapters and titles depict some of man's basic lust, sins, and nature that we must see and repent of.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639610884

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Walking Past the Porter

Harold Davis

ISBN 978-1-63961-087-7 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63961-088-4 (digital)

Copyright © 2021 by Harold Davis

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Walking Past the Porter

Chapter 2

The Holy Spirit

Chapter 3

Quiet and Listen

Chapter 4

The Whores of Babylon

Chapter 5

The Flood

Chapter 6

Battle from Behind

Chapter 7

Complacency: Arrogance

Chapter 8

Father's Garden: Breach of Contract

Chapter 9

Sacrificing the Children

Chapter 10

Spanking Your Children

Chapter 11

Contention: Vaunting

Chapter 12

Smoke Signals

Chapter 13

Robbing the Threshing Floor: Wasting the Master's Goods

Chapter 14

Chafed

Chapter 15

Thankfulness

Chapter 16

Stand Thou beside Me

Chapter 17

God's Waitresses

Chapter 18

Who Is My Neighbor?

Chapter 19

Divorce

Chapter 20

Foul Language

Chapter 21

Hell

Chapter 22

Stand in the Gap

Chapter 23

Discouragement

About the Author

Introduction

This book, with its many scripture references, would be ideal for Bible study, debates, and conversation.

This book is not what many would call politically correct and some of the subjects or contents may be controversial, but there is no offence intended. The intent is, with urgency, that all would reconsider their life and come back to the Lord. Human nature always will seek out an easier way out. God and his laws have not changed.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Come let us reason together. (Isaiah 1:18)

The book title, Walking Past the Porter, has reference to the Holy Spirit at the gate of our mind. If we choose to walk past him by ignoring his quiet admonitions, convictions of sin, we are likely living pride and lust. Our human nature or flesh, as the Bible describes, does not want to repent, sacrifice, or change, but if we continue to live and die this way, we may be lost.

I, as the author, cannot and do not judge anyone!

Chapter 1

Walking Past the Porter

To him the porter openeth and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out.

—John 10:3

Some years back I had a vision of a few sheep that had walked past the porter of the gate or somehow slipped under the fence. In the distance I could see wolves and different types of prey animals and birds. I knew these sheep were in grave danger of losing their own lives. This would mean spiritually.

I worked for a farmer, driving tractor, some years ago and I was field cultivating and I circled what is called a pigweed about four or five times. I finally stopped the tractor and got out and pulled it out by hand. There are seven types of pigweeds that are called amaranths, such as the tumbleweed. Amaranthine means undying. Self or the flesh, or our pride and admission of guilt, or sin does not want to die, thereby ignoring the Holy Spirit and abandoning the sacrifice. This does not mean killing ourselves but repenting of all pride and sin. We make excuses for ourselves.

To sell all—that is, to surrender our right to have the final word on buying, selling, owning, giving, sharing, and then to become servants of God to administrate his property—is more than idealism to the consecrated Christian.

Clement of Alexandria (AD 160–220) testified of the Christians in the earliest centuries, that they had their goods more for the benefit of others than for themselves.

The prophets of the Old Testament often reminded the people of God's longsuffering and forgiveness. When the people would not give heed, the message became more pointed and threatening. Jesus also evidenced the love and longsuffering of God, both in deed and message. But as he neared the end of his ministry, his illustrations became more graphic. With great clarity, he spoke of the judgment and hell. Formalism was rebuked with great plainness of speech. Are the leaders of today willing to use plain speech to identify the present-day sins? Is there a readiness to warn clearly about the deceiving spirits about us? Are the reproofs and warnings spoken in love, yet so they are understood? Is the flesh being crucified or catered to?

We need more fathers than instructors (1 Corinthians 4:15). How much provision is being made for the flesh to fulfill its lusts thus squelching the Holy Spirit and the call of God? The continuing hope in the twenty-first century is in Holy Spirit—filled people who are able to overcome sin, Satan, and the world. They will deny themselves and give heed to the warnings, because they want to be saved and have a deep respect and love for the truth. The wisdom of the just is teachable.

Chapter 2

The Holy Spirit

The Spirit is the porter.

It is the Word.

It is the sword.

It is the power.

It is the comforter.

It is the divine nature.

It dwells in the temple.

It is a covering.

It is the seal.

Scripture References

Questions

Do we possess the Holy Spirit, or does the Holy Spirit possess us?

If we grieve the Holy Spirit, do we soil or lose our covering?

What is the requisite or protocol to receive the Holy Spirit? If we lay down the sword, are we left to our own defense? Do we regulate the Holy Spirit?

Does the Holy Spirit become our eyes and ears?

If our body is the temple or church for the Holy Spirit, am I keeping it pure and clean?

Let's start with the two questions: do we possess the Holy Spirit, or does the Holy Spirit possess us? Read 1 Corinthians 3:16. A temple is a church, which must be clean and pure in choice and desire. Choice would be total submission, and desire would be submission to greater sanctification. Upon this the Holy Spirit takes over, which gives the feeling of peace and comfort to the soul.

Read Galatians 5:22, 1 Corinthians 13, John 14:17, and Ephesians 4:30.

The Holy Spirit also brings conviction when our peace has been traded for lust or sin to appease the flesh. By this we grieve the Holy Spirit. For example, if we have prolonged thought patterns, offended and frustrated feelings, the Spirit is likely what is already making us uncomfortable. Can we sleep at night? When the Holy Spirit gives us peace, it makes for a soft pillow.

The Holy Spirit also gives conviction of itself—love, joy, longsuffering, kindness. Read 2 Timothy 3:5. It is the power of love that comes from the Father, unless it possesses us, we are not very loving. The Holy Spirit and its love cannot be contained; it must be spent on others. Love is a verb, and our school children know that a verb is an action word; it cannot sit idle. The Holy Spirit is also a covering, which we will talk about some more at the end. Read Isaiah 30:1. It sounds like we can wrap ourselves in our own self-righteousness. Remember the requisite or protocol. The blood must be applied before receiving the covering. If we grieve the Holy Spirit, do we soil or lose our covering? I don't believe we lose our covering unless it is a death sin or prolonged carnality. The Holy Spirit is the sword. Read Ephesians 6:17 and Hebrews 4:12. When I, by choice, grieve the Holy Spirit, am I laying down the sword, thus left to my own defense? As long as we are wielding the sword we can be on offence. Picture a man in battle with all his armor and shield of faith but no sword. There will be a lot of clanking going on with very little progress, if any, and probably he will be running for his life. If we lay the sword down, we are denying the power and are left with form only.

When a new person is hired in our treasury department, they are drilled very extensively to only see or recognize good currency. If they learn this very well, they will very easily recognize counterfeit currency.

If the Holy Spirit possesses us, and we try to listen to and understand, we will easily see or recognize anything evil or sin and have power over it.

How do I see other people? If I have too much of a tendency to criticize or find fault in others, I am not allowing the Holy Spirit to have full control in my life. It is said that there is some good in everyone. It is true that if the Holy Spirit possesses my being, I may be able to see the counterfeit things in someone else's life, but the love provided by the Holy Spirit will not capitalize on those things, thus judging. The love of God will try to draw someone closer. If we capitalize on others' faults, characteristics, mistakes, we will likely drive them away, not yet made perfect in love.

Does the Holy Spirit become our eyes and ears? An example is when studying for driver's license. We are told to stop, look, and listen, when approaching a railroad track. Does the Holy Spirit give you vision to see the world and all its follies? Do we see that which is counterfeit? Do we hear the voice of the stranger and, by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, ignore him or her? If the Holy Spirit possesses us, we will be able to hear and see all that is counterfeit. Read 1 John 4:1. The Holy Spirit is the still small voice of conviction deep within, that usually stands against what the flesh desires.

Is the Holy Spirit your eyes, or are there too many that sleep in Zion, like the five foolish virgins? What causes sleep to come over us? Is it the money and affluence that we have? Money or the pursuit of materialism over time deceives and dims the vision. Saul, who later became Paul, was struck blind because he was bent on having his own way while persecuting the Christians. Was he judging by selfish and worldly standards? Samson was also made blind, being seduced and deceived by a women, and while not the spirit had left him.

Give example of someone being hired to handle currency. Let's use some examples of trying the spirits when we hear a strange voice. The world teaches today that we should not spank our children. How do we feel about this? We can sure see the results of unrestrained children today. If our children don't learn obedience from us, how will they learn to obey God?

We hear many people