There are many “unknown” foreign blog readers whom I suspect
do not reveal their location because they do not want to put to themselves in
danger! Please pray for these “unknown” readers. We have no idea of the dangers they, as
Christians, are living in.
Just recently, I heard from an “unknown” blog reader who
declared “Well said, my brother. Please pray for me that, through the strength
of the Holy Spirit, I have received; I can better serve the Lord. Thank you for
your prayers. May our Lord Jesus truly bless you and your family.”
It is such a blessing to know that there are believers who
are blog readers throughout the world, and you would be amazed as to just how
many there are in other countries. I am keeping a log each time a new country unknown
reader is added. In fact, as of now, there
are 50 known countries – the Ukraine thus far has 20 readers! Praise God for
such a blessing in reaching precious Spirit-filled believers world-wide!
My constant prayer is “Lord, thank You for continuing to enlarge
my ‘tent pegs’ concerning new readers.” (Isaiah 54:2) Thankfully, He is indeed answering my prayers!
I would so appreciate your prayers as I create each blog in Godly truth under
the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
I will continue discussing the awesome significance of the
Holy Spirit, His gifts and fruit. Please
keep in mind that He is One of the three of the God head – God the Father,
Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit – who provides comfort for us
believers who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit through Jesus.
It is crucial at this point to read what is declared in John
14:16-18 concerning Jesus’ relationship with the Holy Spirit and just what is
happening to His disciples,
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another
Helper that He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth whom the world
cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him,
for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will never leave you orphans; I
will come to you.”
Jesus declared in verse 18 that He “Jesus” is coming in the person
of the Holy Spirit. In John 16:16 we learn:
“A little while, and you will not see Me; and again,
a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”
The believers, who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit have
been so blessed with incredible gifts/fruit (1 Cor 12-14 and to be discussed in
Blog 6) are tragically in such a minority! We must always keep
in mind just who the Deceiver is blocking.
The Deceiver is blocking millions of people from being born again and, as
well, blocking precious saints from accepting the Holy Spirit into their lives
and not being empowered to accomplish all that the Holy Spirit provides
for His children. He is blocking them, as
just mentioned, from the “gifts and fruit” of the Holy Spirit, and to have our
sins forgiven when we confess them!
This is an opportune moment to ask,
especially for new readers, “How is one who is ‘born
again’ to be baptized in Holy Spirit?” Consider this, that one must first confess
his/her sins and ask the Lord
to be “born again”. Then, a believer must ask the Holy Spirit to “fill/baptize him/her with His fullness”, and then establish
a relationship with Him, giving the Holy Spirit full reign of his/her life, focusing
on Him and being “still” so as to hear His “still small voice” saying “this is
the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:18-21) and seek to discover your Spirit-given “gifts
and fruit”, as we will discuss in Blog 6.
When Jesus was preparing to ascend to the Father 40 days after
His resurrection, He gathered His disciples and shared with them just what was
to happen to them. As He shared with them what was to be, they were more than baffled,
perplexed and frightened at His leaving them to be with His heavenly Father. In their minds, they truly believed that He
was going to establish a new Jewish Kingdom and wrest political control from Rome
and rule forever! Can you imagine what
their thoughts and discussions were as He revealed what was to happen to Him
shortly? Obviously, they were thinking
in the flesh but, thankfully were soon to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. May
I strongly recommend you re-read the first two chapters of the Book of Acts to
learn more concerning the Holy Spirit and as a result, thankfully, God’s church was born (which not
long after, tragically became “man’s church”)! That sequence of events is a
blog of its very own to be written about later.
Consider this, Jesus was sent to earth by His Heavenly Father
for a “season” (33 years thereabouts) (John 20:21) and as we know, tragically paid
an incredible horrific price to “set the willing” free, i.e. giving us salvation,
being set free (thankfully) from having to live in the flesh and its sin.
The believer, who has been so blessed desiring to be baptized
in the Holy Spirit, has been given spiritual gifts/fruit in the Spirit – such
as the incredible supernatural gift of “empowerment”! What is the
meaning of empowerment?
“Authorization, to give legal/moral power,
being able to declare/command a thing” (American Dictionary of the English
Language – Noah Webster 1828)
We are empowered in the flesh and by the Holy Spirit. For example,
in the flesh, we apply for a job, we go fishing/hunting, driving a car, work in
a hospital, etc. Let’s label these skilled people as those who are empowered in
the flesh. Obviously, God has gifted us to be able to do so, however
let’s begin by considering those who are
spiritually “empowered” by the Holy Spirit to
accomplish the following as examples:
“And I will give you the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
an whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Mat. 16:19)
We who have been Spirit-filled are empowered (given
authority) to bind and loosen, without being Spirit-filled, sadly, one is not
able to bind and loosen. Also, we who have
been, are indeed, able to “declare a thing”!
For example, as Jesus declared in Mat 8:23-27:
“Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed
Him. And suddenly a great tempest (a storm stirred up by the devil) arose on
the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves. But He was asleep. Then His
disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are
perishing!’ But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful,
O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm. So, the men marveled, saying ‘Who can this be, that
even the winds and the sea obey Him?’”
In a prior
blog concerning our empowerment for “declaring a thing”, I shared that since I
have been authorized to take my authority in that Jesus (Holy Spirit) lives
within me, I (and you) take my dominion rights as a child of the living God and
speak in the Name of Jesus to whatever storm is harassing me – whether it be a
storm coming my way (especially the 5 tornadoes that were coming our way when
we were visiting in Kansas years ago, and I took my authority and declared
“peace be still to them” and they ceased immediately with the meteorologist declaring
that he was dumbfounded, a dog barking constantly, or even sickness which needs
healing! For example, in healing, after I learned of my Holy Spirit empowerment
and was affected with arthritis in my hand, I declared “peace to the storm to
the foul ‘spirit’ of arthritis” and it immediately ceased, every time it tries
to return, I take my dominion rights, as each Spirit-filled believer has the
same authority. I strongly encourage
you, as a Spirit-filled believer to “by faith” take your dominion
rights and “declare a thing”. Please keep in mind that it must be declared in
that Name above all names – Jesus the Christ!!
I learned years ago that arthritis is indeed a “spirit out of the pit of
hell”! In closing this blog, I will encourage you to begin learning about the
foul spirit world – remember, Satan is out to destroy God’s born-again
believers. We must remember the scripture “Greater is He that is in us, then he
(the devil) who is in the world” (1 John 4:4)
There will be a blog concerning this topic
as well as gifts/fruit of the Spirit in the days to come.
Be Glorified Lord God Almighty, Be
Glorified
