HOLY SPIRIT:
In the first chapter of Genesis The Father, God, The Word, Jesus, and the Spirit of God, Holy Spirit introduces Himself. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us before Salvation; the Holy Spirit converts you for Salvation; the Holy Spirit revealed the LOVE of God, giving us Jesus Christ, His Son; the Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus, the Holy Spirit leads us to believe in Jesus Christ and leads us to accept Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit endues us with His Power for us to be a Witness of Gods Love which makes us converts for service at Baptism of the Holy Spirit and water. The Person of the Holy Spirit Presence is the Glory of God.
Moses saw the Holy Spirit as a burning bush because the Holy Spirit is FIRE. The Holy Spirit is Truth and therefore the Spirit of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is Compassion, a just God. The Holy Spirit changes us, from glory to glory; The Holy Spirit nourishes us and sustains us. The Holy Spirit is in an intimate relationship with the Father and the Son, the Word—therefore the Glory. When you experience the Holy Spirit, you will cancel yourself, that is, it will result in your death (death to self and alive to God.
The Presence of the Holy Spirit's impartation of what He wants you to have--above what you can think or see, will make you want Him MORE!
I heard a teaching by Benny Hinn, a world evangelist, a special gift to the Body of Christ: Presence of God and the Power of God are two different things. The PRESENCE OF GOD is abiding and eternal; He will never leave you but you can leave Him; the PRESENCE OF GOD is the same as His Glory. He is the nature of the Lord, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, Comforter, and He is justice against wickedness.
Psalm 103.7 says Israel knew God's Power and Moses knew God's heart. In His Presence/Glory is found God's Power. His Power is hidden inside the Glory. When Moses came down from the mountain, his shiny face meant that God was in control. Moses disappeared in that Moses face shone and all everyone could see was the Glory. The Holy Spirit is intimate with the Father and the Son.
The Presence of God is for you, mysterious; the Power of God nourishes others through you. I remember when His Waves of Glory hit me! He made me to ride the high places of the earth then He pulls away and you want to run after Him or pull Him back to you. Jacob urged Him to stay, Samson's parents urged Him not to leave. God wants to be longed for, He seeks to be longed for. Presence comes to you and away from you like a wave. Siphon the anointing; surrender to the Master. A moment comes with strong anointing, and between Presence and Power, when you yield, the atmosphere is from a breeze to a storm. When the Power comes, the people are healed, delivered, set free. Emptiness becomes fullness to empower you and use you. Every empty vessel will be filled, as we give Him our lives to empower them also, bringing them into high places in His Power, healing the body, removing the bondage and infirmity.
My first encounter if I know it that way, with Holy Spirit was at salvation. He would come when I would be praying and interceding and then I would get excited and talk, talk, talk, without listening to Him.When I read the Bible and saw the Old Testament prophets were baptized in the Holy Spirit and in Acts 3,000 were baptized with the Fire all at the same time, I would spend hours on my knees wanting the Holy Spirit and because our five year old son got baptized in the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues, I wanted that too. But He did not come until a few months later when we were in a motor home in Fort Myers, Florida. My family and I were sitting around a table and I felt these WAVES OF GLORY hit me: I was laughing, so full of JOY, unspeakable, then fear of the Lord came on me, and such as I cannot describe, euphoria or good, and I thought I was heaven-bound, wave after wave of His Glory filled me to over-flowing. I thought my husband and our two small boys would be in it too, but they were casual and not paying any attention to what was happening to me. Except for the five year old son, the others were Holy Spirit-baptized later. Here I must say that it is a different experience for every child of God. I got the gift of tongues two YEARS approximately AFTER the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in Fort Myers, Florida.
But, before we deal with the question of how to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you need to settle within yourself some questions. As there are no How-to-be-filled-with-the-Holy Spirit doctrines, and I cannot give you a course on it either, You must know whether you can be filled. Satan has opposed the doctrine of the Spirit-filled life forever. He has confused it, opposed it, surrounded it with false notions and fears. He has blocked every effort of the body of Jesus Christ to receive from the Father the Body's divine and blood-bought anointing with the Holy Spirit. You must be sure that it is God's will for you, that is, that it is part of the total plan, that it is included and embraced within the work of Christ's redemption for you and the purchase of His blood.
The Holy Spirit is the essence of Jesus imparted to believer's. In the four Gospels you see Jesus wonderfully calm, pure, sane, simple, sweet, natural, and lovable. You can be filled with the Holy Spirit as when you breathe. In redemption by our Lord and Saviour Jesus, there is a Spirit-filled life. Jesus is the sweetest, most understanding and wonderful Teacher in the world and Heaven, and there is no fear of this anointing. Fear and panic comes from satan, or there may be sin in your life. You have to ask our Heavenly Father to forgive you for that sin.
Again, before you can be filled with the Holy Spirit, you must desire to be filled. For instance, are you sure you want to be possessed by a Spirit other than your own? Even if it is the pure gentle essence of the gentle Jesus? even though He is sane, pure and free? even though He is wisdom personified? wisdom Himself, even though He is a healing precious ointment for you? even though he is loving as the heart of God? That Spirit, if He ever possess you, will be the Lord of your Life! Are you sure you want your personality to be taken over by the One who will not tolerate the self sins? For instance, self-love. You cannot have purity and impurity at the same time, so you cannot have the Holy Spirit and self-love. He will not permit you to have self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-admiration, self-idolatry, and self-pity. He and He cannot send the Holy Spirit to those that possess a heart where these things are. Is this what you ASK for? He has no tolerance for evil, no tolerance for crooked jokes, no laughing at things that God hates. God will take you in opposition of what the world likes. The world crucified Jesus because they could not stand Him. The world hates the Holy Spirit as much as the world hates Jesus. Are you sure? You want His help, yes, you want a lot of His benefits, yes, but are you willing to go with Him in opposition to an easy-going world? Are you willing to be extravagant in standing with Him in the foreign lands? Don't apply or ask for the Holy Spirit because you don't want Him, you only think you do! You many also think that you can come along the way you are; you have been doing fairly well: you pray, you read the Bible, you give to missions, you enjoy singing hymns, you thank God you don't drink or gamble, or attend theatres, that you are honest, that you have prayer at home. The thing is I think you want to do what Jesus did. He said Are you sure you want to follow me? But Peter said Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal Life. But if you feel that there is something more that your heart must have to be satisfied, that there are levels of spirituality, mysteries, depth of Word, and heights of spiritual communion, purity and power that you have not known, that there is fruit which you know you should bear and do not, victory which you know you should have and have not, I would say to you COME ON, GOD HAS SOMETHING FOR YOU!
You know that there is a spiritual loneliness, an inner aloneness, an inner place where God brings the seeker, where he is as lonely as if there were not a member of the church anywhere in the world; a darkness of mind, an emptiness of heart, a loneliness of soul. But here is how to receive:
First, present your body (your mind, your personality, your spirit, your love, your ambitions, your all) to Him (Romans 12:1,2). God cannot fill what He cannot have. Secondly ASK (Luke 11:9-11) It is all for us. Thirdly, Obey. (Acts 5:32). God gives His Holy Spirit to those that obey Him. What would that be? Simply to live by the Scriptures as you understand them; simple, but revolutionary. The next thing is HAVE FAITH (Galations 3:2). We receive Him by FAITH as we receive the Lord Jesus at salvation by faith. First the Holy Spirit comes to us in some degree and measure when we are converted. He keeps you, but remember, even though Jesus had died and was resurrected, the disciples went back to fishing! Then Jesus told them to wait for Pentecost because the relationship with Jesus was not enough. At Pentecost everything was different; although people thought they were drunk they were baptized of the Holy Spirit with revelation knowledge and could experience God for themselves.
Without the Holy Spirit we could not have become born-again, but this experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the MORE of Life! His coming and possessing the full body and mind and life and heart, taking the whole personality over, gently, and directly, and bluntly, and making it His so that we may become a habitation of God through the Spirit (we are the temple of the Holy Ghost then). I will put my Spirit within you so that you will obey my law and do whatsoever I command. Ezekiel 36:37LB
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the most central promise of the New Covenant without which it is impossible to please God. Each one of you must turn from sin, return to God, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; then YOU ALSO SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT, THE HOLY SPIRIT. Acts 2:38LB
An explanation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit: Take a look at a glass without water. You are the vessel. The water in a big pitcher is the Holy Spirit. When you get saved the Holy Spirit pours a little water in the vessel; when you read your Bible, the Holy Spirit pours a little more water in the vessel; when you give money or help the poor, the Holy Spirit pours a little more water in the vessel, you. But you are not baptized in the Holy Spirit. Jesus said the reason you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit is so that you will be witnesses for Him (to do exactly as He did and greater). So now you, the vessel, full of the water think that you have the baptism of the Holy Spirit, No! You do not. It is something like this. Take the vessel which is full of water and drop the vessel and the water into the pitcher full of water. Now you get the picture! It is an unlimited supply of the Power of the Holy Spirit to be used of God for signs, wonders and miracles like Jesus did! Praise the Lord!
The sole difference between in the flesh and being in the Spirit is who you rely on, yourself or the Spirit of God. I will send the Comforter--the Holy Spirit, the source of all truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all that I said to you. John 14:26 LB
The priesthood of Melchizedek (spiritual) was based on a friendship relationship with God and Abraham but the priesthood of Levi (physical) was a relationship based on the Law. That the blessings of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:14)
Two great faith that Jesus saw were both gentiles: Cornelius and the woman whose child was demon-possessed. Faith for these gentiles were exactly like Abraham's. Abraham was and is the father of faith: God said it, he believed it and that settled that. With Cornelius and the woman, they saw the WORD, Jesus, they believe Him and that settled that.
What a shame that most do not see that we cannot follow the Law, the Law lives in us by the breath of God. Jesus healed us; Jesus delivered us; Jesus saved us; All we do it believe it! Grace, Grace, Grace, wonderful unmerited favour God has bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the God of Israel, the One true God.
Also in Ephesians 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of our salvation--having also believed, you were sealed IN HIM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE. Paul, on one of his journeys to Ephesus, a city where he had spent much time in the past, met some believers whom apparently had not seen before, and he asked them Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? (Acts 19:2). They replied NO and after instruction, in this case water baptism, Paul laid his hands on them, like Ananias did on Paul, and The Holy Ghost came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied (Acts 19:6). This happened 26 years after Pentecost of Chapter 2 of Acts! And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. (Acts 19:10).
Peter said back in Pentecost, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the GIFT of the Holy Ghost...for the promise is unto you, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (Acts 2:38-39). Peter was prophesying form this: It shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions (Joel 2:28). Upon Whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33). John was giving testimony of Jesus, Who is the MIGHTY BAPTIZER. Yield yourself to Jesus. He will baptize you. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ASK HIM. (Luke 11:13). Jesus says to ASK Him FOR THE BAPTISM. You will receive nothing unless you ASK. You shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).
The purpose of the Holy Spirit baptism is to possess power for witnessing for Jesus. Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; but (tarry), you wait in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:29). You will be able to say with the prophet Micah 3:8 Truly I am full of the Power by the Spirit of the Lord.
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (Acts 2:38-39). The Holy Spirit baptism is for you; it is God's gift for you and your household!
As long as there are believers on the face of the earth, they will be receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is not for just a few or the elite, it is for every believer. One of the keys of the Kingdom of God is praying in the Holy Spirit (tongues); another key is Fasting in the Holy Spirit; another key is Compassion in the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 13:8); another key of the Kingdom of God is Hearing from Heaven to only do what Jesus shows.
We will never reach the unreached with the sweet message of the good news of Jesus:
1. Man's need (Romans 3:23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
2. Sin's penalty (Romans 6:23a) For the wages of sin is death;
3. Christ's remedy (Romans 5:8) But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
4. God's gift to man (Romans 6:23b) but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
5. How to Receive (Romans 10:9,10,13) That if you shall confess with your mouth and in your heart, that God has raised Him for the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 13. For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.
Unless we have the Power of the Holy Spirit to do what Jesus did: save sinners, heal the sick, cast out devils, heal the broken-hearted, give the good news to the poor that Jesus became poor that we might be rich, we will never reach the world with the good news. If we walk in the Spirit, our fruit will be love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance...so when trials and tribulations come, and they will for sure, you will not be whining and carrying on, but trusting God who is with you forever.
The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus before salvation.
The Holy Spirit convicts you for salvation.
The Holy Spirit revealed the love of God by giving us Jesus.
The Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus for you to believe in Jesus.
The Holy Spirit with you accepts Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is within you in salvation.
The Holy Spirit is eternal.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit endues you with Power for you to be a witness about Jesus.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit anoints you for service.
The Person of the Holy Spirit (His Presence) is the Glory of God (Exodus 33:18)
The Holy Spirit shows us His Glory in His Presence, and His Power in service.
The Holy Spirit is truth descended from the Father. He revealed His heart (glory).
The Holy Spirit shows us the Father's heart Himself and His nature (what is He like).
The Holy Spirit reveals compassion, a just God.
The Holy Spirit reveals to us the Presence of God, the Person of Jesus Christ, the Lord, the way He is.
The Holy Spirit fills us with Himself at salvation (from glory to glory).
The Holy Spirit changes us, nourishes us, sustains us.
The Holy Spirit has an intimate relationship with the Father and the Son - the Glory.
The Holy Spirit reveals His heart to you in stillness. Be still. Psalm 46.
The Holy Spirit Presence results in your death to self.
The Holy Spirit Presence is an impartation of what He wants you to have, above of what you can think or see.
So Come, taste and see that He is good. His fullness in you, to do exactly what Jesus did: ...and He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire...Come to Him and Ask! (I deliberately repeated myself to make sure you remember these words).
Notes from saints: Morris Cerullo, Benny Hinn, Don Gossett, Alexander Ness, T.L. Osborn,W.V. Grant, Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Tozer and Nelson and Ele Schultz
|