IF YOU ARE A FIRST TIME READER, MAY I SUGGEST THAT YOU LOCATE PREVIOUS BLOGS THAT RELATE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, FOR IT IS CRUCIAL THAT YOU FIRST OF ALL COME TO KNOW JUST WHO HE IS AND HIS FUNCTION/ROLE AS PART OF THE TRIUNE GOD..."GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON AND GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT". IT IS HE WHO SANCTIFIES US,(WORKNG WITH US AND PERFECTING US) HELPING US BECOME THE MAN/WOMAN THE FATHER SO DESIRES US TO BE, AS WE ALLOW HIM!....HE ONLY EMPOWERED THE LIVES OF THOSE WHOM GOD INSTRUCTED HIM TO EMPOWER, WHEREAS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, AND AS AGAIN JOEL PROPHESIED, HE WOULD BE POURED OUT ON "ALL FLESH"...FOR ONLY THOSE WHO WOULD ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO FILL THEM!
COULD THIS BE THE PERFECT TIME TO EVALUATE JUST WHERE YOU ARE IN YOUR CHRISTIAN WALK CONCERNING THE FUNCTIONING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOUR LIFE? AND AS WELL, TO WHAT EXTENT IS YOUR CHRISTIAN WALK UNDER THE EMPOWERMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
WHAT DOES "EMPOWERMENT" MEAN FOR EACH OF US, AS IT RELATES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT? CONSIDER WHAT THE SCRIPTURE DECLARES IN JOHN 15:4-5 "ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN YOU. AS THE BRANCH CANNOT BEAR FRUIT OF ITSELF, UNLESS IT ABIDES IN THE VINE, NEITHER CAN YOU, UNLESS YOU ABIDE IN ME; 5 "I AM THE VINE AND YOU ARE THE BRANCHES, HE WHO ABIDES IN ME, AND I IN HIM BEARS MUCH FRUIT; FOR WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING". IT HAS BE DECLARED: "WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING, WITHOUT YOU I WILL DO NOTHING"!
JUST HOW ARE THE FRUIT (PLURAL)OF THE SPIRIT GROWING IN YOUR LIFE, WE MUST KEEP IN MIND THAT AS AN APPLE CANNOT GROW ITSELF, NEITHER CAN WE GROW THE FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! AND AS WELL, ARE THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT OPERATIONAL IN YOUR LIFE FOR BUILDING UP THE BODY OF CHRIST. MORE ABOUT THE GIFTS AND THE FRUIT AS WE PROGRESS.
IT IS CRUCIAL THAT WE ESTABLISH THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORKING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD AND IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. WE ARE TOLD IN THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF JOEL (YAH EL IN HEBREW, AND WHOSE NAME MEANS YAHWEY IS GOD) WRITTEN ABOUT 835-805 B.C. AND WHO IS LOOKING AHEAD HUNDREDS OF YEARS DECLARES UNDER THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT GOD WILL POUR OUT HIS SPIRIT ON "ALL FLESH" (2:28).
LET'S VISIT THIS SIGNIFICANT PROPHETIC WORD. HOW COULD JOEL (WHOSE NAME MEANS "YAHWEH IS GOD") MAKE SUCH A PREDICTION 800 YEARS B.C.? IT WAS THE HOLY SPIRIT AT WORK IN JOEL. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE NOTE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT'S ROLE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT....FOR HE ONLY EMPOWERED THE LIVES OF THOSE WHOM GOD INSTRUCTED HIM, WHEREAS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, AND AS AGAIN JOEL PROPHESIED, HE WOULD POUR OUT THE HOLY SPIRIT ON "ALL FLESH"...BUT ONLY THOSE WHO WOULD ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO FILL THEM, ( NOTE: HAVE YOU ASKED THE HOLY SPIRIT TO BAPTIZE YOU IN THE HOLY SPIRIT?) FOR THIS WAS NOT TO HAPPEN UNTIL THE NEW TESTAMENT ADDRESSES THIS IN:
- ACTS 1:4,5.. "AND BEING ASSEMBLED WITH THEM, HE COMMANDED THEM NOT TO DEPART FROM JERUSALEM, BUT TO WAIT UNTIL PROMISE OF THE FATHER 'WHICH' , HE SAID, 'YOU HAVE HEARD FROM ME; FOR TRULY JOHN BAPTIZED WITH WATER, BUT YOU SHALL BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT NOT MANY DAYS FROM NOW."
- ACTS 2:1-4 "WHEN THE DAY OF PENTECOST HAD FULLY COME, THEY WERE
- ALL WITH ONE ACCORD IN ONE PLACE. AND SUDDENLY THERE CAME A SOUND FROM HEAVEN, AS OF A MIGHT RUSHING WIND, AND IT FILLED THE WHOLE HOUSE WHERE THEY WERE SITTING. THEN THERE APPEARED TO THEM DIVIDED TONGUES, AS OF FIRE AND ONE SAT ON EACH OF THEM. AND THEY WERE ALL FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BEGAN TO SPEAK WITH OTHER TONGUES, AS THE SPIRIT GAVE THEM UTTERANCE."
I ENCOURAGE THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE CURIOUS AS TO THE WORKINGS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, TO SPEND SOME TIME RESEARCHING GOD'S MIRACULOUS WORKINGS THROUGH HIM IN EACH BOOK...YOU WILL BE BLESSED AS YOU DO!
BLOG 11 WILL BRING TO LIGHT THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.
AGAIN, MAY I ENCOURAGE YOU TO BE LIKE THE BEREANS: "TO FIND OUT
WHETHER THESE THINGS WERE SO" (ACTS 17:11)
* BE GLORIFIED, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY BE GLORIFIED*
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