The Holy Spirit Series 12

Today we explore the first name that the Lord Jesus used to signify the Holy Spirit in Jn 16:7. The word used here is the Helper or Advocate. This title has multiple functions in the life of a believer so I will try to cover as much as the Lord has taught me. God bless you as you read on.

I.    To Help/Advocate:

“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.” Jn 16:17

This is the most prime function of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We already saw that His presence signifies the presence of the Lord making His promise to never leave us as orphans true. The word for Helper in Greek here is ‘Paraklēton’ which has a three-fold meaning:

       I. One who pleads another's cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant; an advocate

    II.  Universally, one who pleads another's cause with one, an intercessor

  III.  In the widest sense, a helper, succourer, aider, assistant

Let’s examine each of these meanings for a deeper understanding of what these words actually talk about the Holy Spirit.

             i)The first speaks of the Holy Spirit being our Advocate to plead our cause before the Judge. As a child of God we are being accused on a daily basis in front of God. The accuser being none other than satan himself Rev 12:10. This is a fact…satan cannot lie before God. He will always tell the truth. The truth here is that every one of his accusations are based on the sins we commit. Basically he is asking God to judge us without any leeway. Why does he do this? He does this because he is going to be eternally condemned without any chance of redemption; and this provokes him to take as many of us along with him as possible. The Bible clearly shows us that our Advocate during these times is Jesus 1 John 2:1-2. Now this is in Heaven; what about here on earth. How does the Holy Spirit advocate on our behalf? It is the Holy Spirit who makes know to us our sins, and it is He who bring us to repentance, it He who teaches us and preserves us in this world. So, basically the Holy Spirit executes the interests of God in us through Christ. What does this mean? From a legal point of view He is Heavens advocate (voice of authority) to champion God’s cause or plans in us to bring us to the full measure and stature of Christ. An illustration of this ministry is that of Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, who was sent to find a wife for Isaac. He had to find her then get her to follow him to Abraham’s house to be Isaac’s wife. During which time Rebecca was being prepared to be Isaac’s bride. The story of Esther, similarly undergoing various preparations to meet the King, under the guidance of Hegai the Eunuch, is also a similar example. Another scripture portion that comes to mind is how Ezra prepared the people of Israel, who had drifted away, to return to God after the exile. This grooming process of preparing us to the standard of Christ likeness is what the Holy Spirit advocates on behalf of the Lord Jesus, thus making Him our Advocate, as He preps us to meet our King. Amen.

              ii) Now we shall look at the second meaning of how He is an intercessor. We saw a bit of this portion earlier when we discussed how the Holy Spirit prays on our behalf when we do not know how or what to pray. He knows us best and so is always in a better position to petition God on our behalf. The greatest assurance that anyone can have is the assurance of being the child of God and we all know that this is only possible to them that have been born again of the Spirit.

“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:16

On reading this verse contextually we see that the Holy Spirit along with our spirit testifies that we are the children of God, thereby revealing our new born spiritual nature enabling us by spiritual birth to call God “Abba, Father.” Being aware of our born again spirit we seek to be led by the Holy Spirit. Thus we have the verse, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Rom 8:13. This Spirit of Advocacy I believe is mentioned as ‘The Spirit of Adoption’ in Rom 8:15. This adoption is mentioned as being grafted into the family of God in Rom 11. Once a child is adopted into a household the child is trained in the ways, beliefs and traditions of the adoptive parents. Likewise once born again we undergo the same process where we are taught the ways of God, and are led by His Spirit in the paths determined by God fulfilling His pre-determined good works thereby accomplishing the very purpose of our birth in this world Eph 2:10. If this witness or advocacy of the Holy Spirit did not exist we would be like men out at sea without a map or charts to plot the course in this life.   

          iii)The third and final meaning speaks of the Holy Spirit as our Helper. 
        
         Why do we need His help? The people of this world seem to do just fine without Him so why do we need Him? One of the differences between a child of God and a person of the world is that the former depends upon the Father to provide for them and they know that the words of Eternal Life are with Him Jn 6:68, without which they would not know how to live a godly life; that is wholly acceptable to God. They depend of Him to guide them through all that life brings them. It is here that we need a Helper to help us live according to our election and calling; to fulfil the purposes of Him. The Holy Spirit is not distant from us but rather lives within us. The following verse gives us a visual image of how He helps us:

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Mt 11:29

Another one of Jesus’ profound statements encourages us to learn from Him. How can we learn from Him is He is not here with us? We learn by seeing, hearing or reading tangible things. Since He was to ascend into Heaven this statement would only be possible if the Holy Spirit was to be present in us to fulfil all that Christ promised He would do. A technique used to break/train a new ox is to yoke it with a seasoned one. The new ox would learn from the old without much effort because the old one would guide it in all its daily functions. If this form of teaching and learning is applied to the verse then it would make more sense. We get yoked with Christ and He will teach us the way we ought to go and function. Now with the presence of the Holy Spirit this yoking would literally be possible and we can learn from Christ because the Holy Spirit presence is the presence of Christ in us. We would be co-workers with Christ and not as slaves under a hard taskmaster. This companionship enables us to fulfill His purpose of evangelism where we plant or water and God gives the growth 1 Cor 3:5-9. In this partnership we are held up when we falter. We never go through life without His counsel, provision, and protection. This is why we are called His ambassadors 2 Cor 5:20. Just as an ambassador’s needs are met by the country he represents our needs are also met by God, when we represent Him in this world. Amen.

Another point I would like to explore regarding the Holy Spirit being our Helper is by looking at it as our protector. Does the Holy Spirit protect us? Although there is not direct verse to indicate this, there are however many verses that imply it. Let’s take a look a couple of them.

A Tester of spirits: The Bible in 1 John 4:1 informs us to test every spirit. A spirit is a non tangible entity that cannot be observed or tested using regular techniques so in a worldly sense it is impossible to test a spirit since the laws of testing require the subject and result to be quantifiable at the least, and it also requires that we get the same results each time the testing procedure is followed. This is where the Holy Spirit enables us to recognize the spirit at work. The wild man of the Gadarene would have been called a mad man by the people while Jesus revealed the true nature of his madness. The Bible records how the evil spirits began to manifest as Peter walked by them. This would be the physical verification of the spirit, where, as a child of God we carry His presence and as the Bible declares we are the light of the world Mt 5:14 and our presence itself can expose the evil spirits at work Eph 5:13. It is this same light that enrages (Jn 3:20) those under the influence of satan to attack the believer.

The Holy Spirit also protects us from false doctrines and heretical teachings. This mode of protection is dependent on our ability to hear His voice. My personal experience with this inner voice is that it would alert me to verses that would counter the teaching and also provide me the reason why it is wrong. For this to function properly we need to study the bible because the error can only be revealed if the counter verse is within us.

A Revealer of the signs of the times: Jesus was very vocal about the times that were ahead of the Church and especially of that right before His coming. Many of the Old Testament prophets and the apostles also voiced their revelations of what is to come. The average believer is oblivious of these things because he/she isn’t looking and so is unprepared to deal with what happen. The 10 virgins (Mt 25: 1-13) are basically a parable of those who were prepared and those who weren’t. There are so many references to these times, some of which are direct while many are hidden. The hidden ones are the most difficult to understand, not to mention that even the direct ones are not so direct as well. The Holy Spirit is the only One who can teach us what to look for and how to interpret things as and when they happen. We have seen many so called Doomsday prophets, proclaimed men of God, predict the end of the world only to find that they were terribly mistaken; while others have demonstrated great miracles and signs through their flamboyant ministries, deceiving thousands  even the hundreds of thousands into believing lies. The end result is people falling away from the faith (Mt 24:10/1Tim 4:1) and also of others mocking the word of God because of them. It is high time that we believers woke up to realize that the eye is not to be believed nor the ear of what it hears. It’s time to study His word and keenly rely on His Spirit to guide us into all righteousness; seeking God and pursuing holiness without which we men set adrift in the vast ocean of confusion.  

For now I will only deal with these two points. We will study this is greater detail when we come to Spiritual Warfare. I hope to continue the study with a look at the Holy Spirit function within the Church as a body, till then God Bless

Holy Spirit Series 11

G: To Teach the word of God:

The division in Christendom today is because of the fallacies taught by people within the church. Honestly! If God was the source of the teaching we would not be having any denominations in terms of doctrine. According to the bible there is only one body (church), one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God the Father who is above all Eph 4:4-6. Why then we have so many versions of these? The answer is simple; the author of these teaching is not the Holy Spirit. The Bible clearly shows God’s intent for His flock in the following verses:

1.  In Eph 4:11-13, where Paul says that the five-fold ministries were inducted into the church hierarchy to train people to minister and edify the church until there is oneness of the faith and the knowledge of God to the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ.

2.    Jn 17: 20-21 is the verse where Jesus prays that the disciple and the future believers will be one with the Godhead just as He and the Father are One.

3.    Jn 15:1-5, again talks about the unity within the church by being attached to the True Vine, who is Christ. Thereby, being able to be fruitful unto God

Because God speaks of unity in Him, I know that something much more sinister is at work in the body of Christ, seeing the prevailing trends, to derail the purpose of God for His Church and through it. Jesus forewarned the rise of ‘wolves’ from within the Church Mt 7:15 and also in His parable of the wheat and tares Mt 13:24-25. This satanic ploy has become somewhat successful in that the world stands declaring that the church is forcing itself upon people with its own motives propagated behind a veil of hypocrisy. The Tares have done their job of choking the witness of the Church, while the wolves have devoured the young and the weak in faith. Whatever the strategy used the name of the Lord is being profaned.

                        Jesus said that the world will know that we are His disciples by our love Jn 13:35. From a worldly perspective it is clear that this commandment by the Lord to love has sadly not been followed. Dear brothers and sisters all is not lost. We can still redeem the time. We have been taken away by the flamboyance of today’s ministers and their ministries. We have let our guard down and not sought to be taught by the Holy Spirit. Our laziness has overtaken us Pro 24:34. Being a student of the Holy Spirit requires dedication, discipline, and diligence. Nothing can replace the time you spend reading and studying the word of God personally. However, no one can be taught by the Holy Spirit unless they be born again and receive the power (anointing) from above. Wrong doctrine arises from wrongful interpretations of the word, which happens when our dependency is on our intellect rather than wisdom from above. 1Jn 2:19-29 is key to understanding that the anointing will teach you and also expose the works of the evil one to you. It will equip you to stay away from heretical teachings that keep creeping into the church through various alleyways. Jesus clearly said that the Holy Spirit would teach us all things Jn 14:26. One advice that I will give regarding scriptural interpretation is that any interpretation must agree with all of scripture, both the Old and the New Testament. It must also agree with the nature of God. If the understanding is deviant in any of these, then it is in error and therefore must be discarded. The learning and teaching go hand in hand. Without learning one cannot teach as it is said a teacher is first of all a good student.                           

The Church today is like Jerusalem without its walls during the time of Nehemiah and it’s my prayer that people would stand up and build the wall. Sound doctrine must prevail and may those anointed by God take up their positions within the body and teach all without any adulteration, till we are united in the faith, and the knowledge of God to the full measure and stature of Christ. Amen

H. Bring to remembrance:

This is the most helpful function of the Holy Spirit to me personally whenever I have faced challenges and questions in life; the words would suddenly pop up. Its arrival can be likened to the flash news we see announced on the news channels. It’s not just that the verse comes to mind; the meaning and the application of it in relation to the situation is also made known. What a great blessing it is to receive His word in times of need, it is like cool water to a thirsty soul. The Holy Spirit brings the words of Jesus into remembrance when He teaches us the word Jn 14:26. The key to remembrance is to hear and read the word of God regularly. We can only remember something that we have learnt or are familiar with. The word of God does not generally pop up to those who have not read it. There is however exceptions where God reveals Himself to those who have never known Him with words they have never heard before. Such are purely the work of the Holy Spirit, without any effort from the recipient to either hear or learn it and they can happen to a believer/unbeliever in moments of urgency as decided by the Lord. Form my experience it is to avert serious disasters in a believers life or to prevent the lost from dying in their sin. A classic example is the conversion of Saul. The Lord appeared to Him and spoke to him. The words were specific: 

“…It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Acts 9:5. 

This is the exact term written concerning the word of God in Ecc 12:11, where it says “The words of the wise are as goads…which are given from one Shepherd.” Saul being a Pharisee knew the Tanak (all of the Old Testament) inside out and this term hit right home. This would be how Saul knew who he was talking to. I personally call this the greatest head hunting in history. Jesus recruited the one man who would turn the world upside down and still continues to do so today. Truly nothing compares to the way the Holy Spirit teaches us. So, I encourage each and all to seek to be taught by the Holy Spirit primarily and we are the adjuncts that help Him build His Church.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom 10:17

This verse is like a reversible chemical reaction. The two halves of the statement are co-dependent upon each other. To simplify: Faith comes by hearing the word of God and the ability to hear also comes by the word of God (when God permits us to hear; which means to recognize it and understand it). We forget how privileged we are to be able to understand the word of God. We forget that there was a time when we could not understand the Bible but since the day we accepted the Lord as our personal Saviour we could somehow understand what we read. It felt like a veil had been lifted. This lifting of the veil is what the latter half of the verse in Rom 10:17 indicates. The word of God no longer speaks just to our mind but it goes into our very being just as the seed is sown into the ground. The remembrance comes when the Lord calls out the word that He had sown into us. The understanding that the remembrance triggers is like the growth stages of a plant from seed to full grown. There are stages and in this way the Lord accomplished the teaching process:

“Whom will he teach knowledge?  And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” Is 28-9-10

This verse reveals to us the process of how the Holy Spirit teaches. It is always one precept at a time, like building a foundation layer by layer. Now another point I would like to mention is also that the teaching is directly proportional to your growth and your ability to give it out. I will deal with this when we begin our discussion on the gifts and our ministry later on in the series. 

God is ready to teach each every one of His children. We need to have no pre-conceived notions and be as a child before Him ready to learn and not be hardened by our understanding. I know the varieties of doctrine and teachings within the church have brought a lot of confusion and rejection when one is faced with a teaching that seems contrary. Best thing to do is to sit with it before God and He will open your eyes to the truth. I have personally had this and this is what I have done. God will open our eyes. Praise God for His patience and love. 

In our next session we will continue to see the work of the Holy Spirit within the the individual believer. I know this study is exhaustive and believe me it is very important that we are clear on the points being dealt here. We will take our time in exploring and I hope you will continue to follow this study. Till next time God bless.

Holy Spirit Series 10

Last time we saw the ministry (function) of the Holy Spirit to the people in the world. Today we will look at what He does amongst the children of God. This function is two fold (i) among the individual believer and (ii) in the Church as a whole.

(i) To Individual Believers

D. To Guarantee:

Whenever there is a monetary transaction there will always be a receipt. The Bible says that we have been bought by the Blood of Christ. Do we receive an acknowledgement that the purchase transaction went through that says we have been bought by Jesus? In other words do we have a guarantee that we are saved? Well the answer is yes to both!! Let’s read

“In whom also you, hearing the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, in whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest (guarantee) of our inheritance, to the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.” Eph 1:13-14

Other support verses are 2Cor 1:22 and Eph 4:30. The word earnest here is used to denote a down payment. This means that everyone who has received the Holy Spirit has received a token from God confirming their salvation. Therefore, a believer can make the statement that they will be going to Heaven. The only way that a believer can forfeit this is through apostasy Heb 10:26-31. This point will be dealt with in greater detail later. The Holy Spirit therefore; to a believer must be their most cherished possession. To be sealed means to be set apart from mankind as those reserved for the Day of Redemption, while those not are for the condemnation.

E. To Re-establish Communications:

When man fell into sin he lost his connection with God. Therefore, he went about as his heart led him and of course this meant that he was open to the influence of satan much more. Man unwittingly was being led by satan through various guises making man think that he was still in a relationship with God Eph 2:2. Jesus did not come to purchase mankind from satan but rather from the wrath of God, because of man’s inability to keep the law. Through His sacrifice Jesus re-established man’s relationship with God Jn 1:12-13. Man was reinstated to what he was before…the son of God. Please do not misunderstand the term- Jesus is the only begotten Son while man is the son made in His image and likeness. The Bible calls Adam the son of God in Lk 3:38. This was the relationship in which man was made for…to be a child of God. Sin however made man God’ enemy Rom 5:10 & Col 1:21.

                  With the relationship now re-established by and in Christ, we needed an open channel of communication, since He would ascend to Heaven. This is where the Holy Spirit enables us to talk to our Father in Heaven Rom 8:15. Prayer is the most common form of communication we know. Meditation is the other. The fact is true communication is a 2 way one. Most often people pray without waiting for Him to speak. They continue to pray till they receive an answer, this is one of the ways of communication but not THE way. It’s like calling someone and leaving a voice message and waiting for them to respond at their convenience. Have you tried to speak to Him and receive His reply immediately? Yes of course there are times He does not reply immediately but that is not always. God wants to talk to His children. It is the right of the child to be able to communicate with the parent freely. There will be times when we are in difficult times where we are unable to pray or do not know how or what to pray and in these moments the Holy Spirit will intercede for us according to the Will of God Rom 8:26-27. This means that God will help us pray or talk to Him even when we do not know what to say or how to address the issue to Him. I personally have experienced this when I was praying for someone close to me, to be healed, many years ago. The Holy Spirit began to pray and the words I spoke weren't intelligible words per say and I knew that it wasn't me speaking however, the groaning’s were being translated to me as the Spirit prayed. It is an experience that I will never forget. What I want to encourage you is to seek to have conversations with your Father in Heaven. Believe me you won’t be disappointed.

F. To provide Counsel:

The Bible says that there is safety when you have a multitude of counsellors Pro 11:14. This verse specifically talks about receiving godly counsel. The more we have the better we are able to see the wisdom that God had granted His children. It gives you the ability to choose wisely. King Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon, received wise counsel from his father’s counsellors but refused to listen to them instead gave heed to his friends, thus the kingdom was split into two. Seeking godly counsel is the first thing that a child of God must do before making decisions. That does not mean running to another man of God. The first act must be to ask God directly first. My personal experience is that God will not tell another person what He has not told you first! Let this be a key counsel from me to you.

                      Jesus is called the Counsellor in Isaiah 9:6 so how can He be our Counsellor if He is in Heaven? The answer lies in His promise, “I will not leave you as orphans: I will come to you.” Jn 14:18 Jesus made this profound statement when He was talking about His ascension to His disciples. The disciples had no clue of what Jesus was talking about nor did they fathom its significance. If Jesus was to ascend how can He come to us so that we are not left as orphans? Since, Jesus took up the human form He became limited to be in one place and one time. However, the Holy Spirit has no such limitations. He is omnipresent and so can be with every one of God’s children all the time. This omnipresent quality is one of the main reasons that Jesus had to ascend so as to facilitate the arrival of the Holy Spirit to dwell within His children. In this manner Christ, who is One with the Holy Spirit, is also now living within us. To receive God’s counsel we must have a proper communication with the Father, otherwise we will have no idea what He is speaking and so will end up listening to ungodly counsel. This in itself should be an encouragement to seek godly counsel when we face problems or have to make tough decisions, so that we stay in the Will of God. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will be given to all who ask the Father for Him in Mt 7:11 and Lk 11:13. 

                                 In Jn 10:5 Jesus speaks about the sheep that hear His voice and follow Him. The imagery is pretty straightforward and is easily understood that He is talking about the Jewish and Gentile believers, who follow Him hearing His voice. This recognition of voice comes through relationship, for example I would be able to recognize the voice of someone with whom I have had a lot of interaction rather than someone I met recently. Hearing Jesus’s voice means two things to the believer:

1. Jesus will be speaking to him/her. 

2. It refers indirectly to the Holy Spirit who will enable the believer to hear His voice as per Jn 16:13.

In Jn 16:13 we read that the Holy Spirit will reveal to us what He hears from the Father. So, when we ask for counsel from God, He will inform us through the Holy Spirit and so we can receive His Will regarding anything. God really wants us to come to him with even the most silliest things in life. Our God is not far from us and His ears are ever open for His children to hear them and to enjoy their conversations with Him. Try talking to Him today and open your heart to Him, seek His word for every situation and you will be surprised at how He hears and answers. 

We will continue with the ministry of the Holy Spirit among the individual believers, so stay tuned. Till next time God Bless.

Holy Spirit Series 9

The function of the Holy Spirit in the World:

The Holy Spirit function in the world is basically more towards the church because He came to be with the believers. The following are His function towards those who do not believe

B. To testify Christ:

We think that we are the ones that testify Christ because we are His witness. The truth is we cannot fully testify of Him because we cannot prove anything that the Bible states by ourselves. Our preaching, knowledge and understanding are foolishness to men. When we declare the Gospel our words mean nothing if the Holy Spirit does not testify of Him: by confirming the words we speak. This is how the power is manifest externally. The early church grew leaps and bounds because of this Acts 2:43-47.  So far when we talked about being a witness of Christ it was about how the power transforms us and empowers us before men. However, the effect of our personal witness is seen externally through the witness of the Holy Spirit through signs, miracles, wonders, brotherly love and resolute faith. This is where the glory belongs to God even though people come to the faith through us. Paul captures this when there arose some contentions among the Corinthians. Paul says that though he planted and Apollos watered, it is God who gave the increase therefore the glory belongs to God 1Cor 3:5-7.

“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it...” Ps 127:1.

Likewise unless the Holy Spirit testifies our preaching and witnessing is in vain. Paul  is speaking about this in 1Cor 2:1-5, where the faith of the people is not established by man's wisdom but rather by the Spirit of Power. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit esp. speaking in unknown Tongues are meant to be a sign unto the unbelievers when it is interpreted 1Cor 14: 22 & 27. We see this on the day of Pentecost when the Jews from different regions heard the disciples speaking in other languages without learning it. Following this demonstration Peter explains the phenomena to them and quotes the prophecy in Joel 2:28 as scriptural proof. That day 3000 were converted instantaneously. This is the power of the testimony of the Holy Spirit. This dynamic of the Holy Spirit testifying  is very similar to how the Holy Spirit brings about what has been spoken by God; when we discussed the triune nature of the Godhead and their function within. 

C. To convict the world:

Everyone in this world has a chance at eternal life, because God is a just God and His love is infinite. Jesus commanded His disciples to go and preach the gospel to everyone. Today there are thousands of preachers and people are being converted to the faith in the tens of thousands all over the world. Do people come to Christ because of the preaching? The Bible teaches us that it is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of their sins. It is He who makes people aware of sin, righteousness and judgement Jn 16:8. The preacher is merely the messenger and not the one who convicts people. However, a lot of people do come to Christ to receive something they need. I have seen people come to prayer meetings, bible study groups, and church services when they have a need. The need can vary from a job, to a financial crisis, marriage breakdowns and even sickness. When the need is finally met, they suddenly disappear. I have also seen people accept Christ out of emotions and then break off all relations at the slightest friction. While they were in the church their interest and piousness seemed genuine. After having fed the 5000 Jesus went over to Capernaum. When the people they found Him they quizzed Him. Jesus’s reply is a shocker here. He tells them that they do not seek Him because of what He had done but rather because He met their need Jn 6:26. Coming to Christ so that our needs are met was not the reason for which Christ sacrificed Himself. We come to Him because we need a Saviour to save us from our sins so that we can have a relationship with God. It is true that through this relationship God meets our needs but the true reason must never be forgotten or misplaced. Genuine faith is God originated and so is not shaken. If Christ did not ascend into heaven the Holy Spirit would not have come and if He had not come would any of us have accepted Jesus as our personal Saviour? I sincerely doubt it would have been possible. So the very presence of the Holy Spirit is a blessing to mankind in that He is here to bring us to Jesus, who then leads us to our Father with whom we will live forever. Amen

Holy Spirit Series 8

To grant Power 2:

In our last session we saw what it means to be a witness for Christ. We studied that being a witness is not just about preaching the gospel. We saw that the power is actually the Anointing and that its purpose is to empower the recipient to fulfill the purpose of God, no matter how miniscule it may be. We also saw that the power changes you and so in this session we will delve into this change. In this session we will be exploring how the power transforms you in order to fulfil the Lord’s work.

Faithful to the End

When you think about what Jesus said in Mat 10:22-23 and Mat 24: 9-13 it is not very encouraging esp. when the implications of your faith will cause people to pursue you with hatred and deliver you up to be killed. Relationships by blood or not will not matter and those whom you trusted and loved may one day turn on you. How can people overcome this fear, accept Christ and stand for Him in their hour of trials and persecutions.

                   The Apostle Peter was a jump first, think later kind of guy and this impulsiveness did not do him any favours. After being approved by God to be a disciple and an inner core member; we see him falter exactly when the Lord needed him the most. With great confidence he looked into Jesus’ the eyes and professed that he would rather die than deny Him and within a matter of hours he found out the strength of his faith. We all have this notion that our faith is strong and that we would stand for Christ no matter what. Only when time and situation tests us will we know how strong we really are. The fact lies in what Jesus told Peter – “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not…” Lk 22:32. Our faith stands on what Jesus has done and is presently doing for us. Peter would have perished had Jesus not interceded on his behalf. Today Jesus stands and intercedes on our behalf just as He did for Peter Heb 7:25. The same Peter, who denied Christ, after receiving the power, witnessed Him on a day when every Jew was gathered in Jerusalem. He who faltered in front of three people now stood before thousands. This dramatic change is what the power brings. When the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon you the first thing to go is our fear of death and inhibitions about what other people think when we witness Christ. The focus shifts from self to God. From what I have personally experienced ─ you make your stand and speak because there is a quickening within that literally propels you to do so. There is joy that rises up from within that makes the task no matter how hard or dangerous seem insignificant.

The Heart of Jesus

Being a witness of Christ means to represent Him in every way conceivable. No one has seen Christ in this generation but they see us who represent Him. We see this in Stephen`s preaching and even while dying his prayer mirror`s the Lord`s prayer upon the cross. First he says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Acts 7:59 which is what Jesus prayed in Lk 23:46. His second and final prayer was, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Acts 7:60 which is also what Jesus prayed Lk 23:34. I seriously do not believe that anyone can pray both these prayers without the Holy Spirit initiating it. To pray like Christ is something the disciples had desired to do Lk11:1 and here Stephen just does it after seeing the Glory of God Acts 7:55. This vision was initiated when he was full of the Holy Spirit. It is at this moment with his last breath he prays the final prayer of forgiveness. The heart to pray such a prayer can only come from the Holy Spirit and for a man to utter it means that he has been granted the power to do so. The power grants us Christ likeness during your ministry. Are we able to forgive and pray for those who have hurt us, or rejected us or have spitefully used us and maybe even accused us falsely? The Beatitudes are the pinnacle of what I believe to be empowerment from above in having the heart of Christ. Truly flesh cannot accomplish such deeds fully. That is why it is considered by all to be the greatest narrative by Jesus in his entire ministry.

Chains of Joy

Paul though in chains and miserable situations counted it all to joy. This is the empowerment that comes by the power from above and just like love it`s cardinal quality is that it does not seek its gain in any form except that which is for Christ. Many of have not considered the cost that Jesus bore for us. We always talk about His sufferings but to Jesus the sufferings pale before His separation from God. The Spiritual implication of His sacrifice was far more painful than all the physical abuse and torture He went through, yet we read that He counted it all to joy in Heb 12:2. To count suffering as joy is beyond understanding esp. if it is for no fault of yours. The mind begins to play when one undergoes miserable situations. The types of chains vary from person to person, it could mean imprisonment, constant jesting by people, poverty, and physical ailments, so on and so forth. It could be anything that restrains us from being free to live and serve Him.  We see the people of Israel asking what profit is there in serving the Almighty God if they are constantly suffering while their enemies suffer no loss Malachi 3:14-15. Now that the Lord’s coming is near the need of the church in the dark hours ahead is the power of the Holy Spirit, by which they will be faithful witnesses as persecutions and various trials are on the rise presently and will peak during the reign of the antichrist.

Christ Likeness

Being a witness of Christ means to represent Him in every way conceivable. No one has seen Christ in this generation but they see us who represent Him. One quote I always refer to is what Mahatma Gandhi made when he said I would have become a Christian had I met one! Think of what might have been had he accepted the Lord seeing the life of a believer or anyone who remotely represented Christ. India as a nation wouldn`t have been the same. Our only focus would be to get the word out however you can and dependency is on prayer, supplication and humbleness before God. The true revelation about the power is that it empowers us to be and do that which we cannot by ourselves. People are so finicky about Christians today that they are on the lookout for the slightest or errors. Christians are accused of being judgemental bigots who think they are above reproach, because the gospel is preached. If we carefully read the scriptures we will see that Jesus never confronted sin head on rather He ministered to people through their situation or need. Though no one acknowledges it, everyone knows that they are not always right. To address peoples sin directly sets them on the offence at the very beginning; thereby rending the goal of introducing them to Christ in vain. We need to remember that we too at one time did not like being called a sinner and may have hated being preached to yet today we are not understanding that others might also be in the same situation. Thus being sensitive enough to know how to conduct ourselves in society in a way that portrays Christ truly requires power from above. Being harmless as doves yet being wise as serpents (Mt 10:16) is something that only the Holy Spirit can teach us. Jesus is the epitome of this verse for He confounded all those who opposed Him leaving them speechless, without being aggressive. Today the Church is in great need of this empowerment to be as Jesus is.

I will not go too deeper than this for now because as I said earlier the Power from Above and the Anointing are synonymous and I would like to leave sufficient space to do an offshoot series on the Anointing specifically once we finish our current topic. One thing I would like to say is that there are a lot of overlapping sections within this study and so there are and will be times where I would have to delay the teaching so that I can do the foundational sections before I go into deeper things. Till next time, God Bless.  

The Holy Spirit Series 7

The Work of the Holy Spirit on Earth 2

We just celebrated the Resurrection Day a few days ago and what a glorious event it was indeed. All of Heaven rejoiced and all the forces of evil trembled and gnashed their teeth. I can imagine satan banging his fists and shouting seeing what had transpired, his victory was turned into defeat. The cheers had now turned into anger and frustration now that Jesus was no longer in the grave. For a believer the five most foundational days of faith, on which stands the Christian doctrine is the day of Crucifixion, the Day of Resurrection, the Day of Ascension, the Day of Pentecost and finally the Day of His return. I will talk now about the fourth day since that is from where we must begin in this topic ‘The Holy Spirit’s function in the New Testament.’

In The New Testament:

As we all know the Holy Spirit descended publicly upon men on the 50^th day from Passover. This day was also known as the Feast of Weeks. In scripture this event was prophetically called the Day of Promise. The Promise was made by Christ Himself in Mt 19:20 (Lk 12:12), Lk 11:13, John 7:39, during His discourse with the disciples however, Jesus alluded to what the scriptures spoke of in Is 32:15, Is 44:3, and Joel 2:28. The Disciples tarried in Jerusalem at the instruction (Lk 24:49) of Jesus just prior to His Ascension and this is what Luke is mentioning again in Acts 1:4.

There are a few reasons why the Holy Spirit was sent to us and these reasons maps out the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and the individual believer and non-believer. We will look at these roles one by one:

A.   To grant power: The last instruction that Jesus gave His disciples before ascending into Heaven was to tarry in Jerusalem for the promise. Only one reason was given for this wait and that was to receive power to be a witness for Christ. By the power received the Apostles witnessed Christ and His work on the cross until their end.  

What kind of power is this?

Many are confused as to the nature of this power from above. Well to simply put the power here refers to the Anointing, which means that it is an ability given by God to accomplish certain tasks which would otherwise be impossible to achieve by our own ability. It will not turn us into superheroes rather the man of God would actually be aware of his own limitations in ministry and would rely more on the Holy Spirit to get the work done. Jesus clearly said that the power was to make us into His witnesses.

What is implied by this statement?

Being a witness for Christ is not as easy as it sounds. The Greek word for witnesses here is Martus from which we have the word ‘Martyr.’ So, when Jesus said this what did He mean exactly: Is it to be a witness in a legal sense e.g. when signing a contract, or is it to be a witness to an occurrence like an eyewitness and finally in an ethical sense where the witness follows the same path that Jesus took to die for the sake of God’s purpose. When you consider these it is obvious that we are His witnesses in all three capacities. Many are all three but not all are martyred for their faith. We are most often ridiculed or even ostracized for our faith, which is the mildest form of persecution. However, in general everyone professing their faith must be ready to die for Jesus when faced with radical persecution. This is when the true nature of this power is revealed. Jesus taught His disciples not to fear those who can kill the body but to fear Him who can destroy the body and the soul in Hell Mt 10:28, Lk 12:4. No one knows the full details of their Calling ; it is revealed to us over time on a need to know basis. None of the disciples knew that they would be killed for the gospel, except Peter , but they were ready to die either way. This kind of faith is not normal. When Jesus died the disciples were living in fear but after they saw and spent time with the risen Lord they were completely transformed; Peter on the Day of Pentecost is a prime example. The power changes you. The Spirit man is empowered to lead the soul and body.

           

In Mt 10:16 Jesus said that He was sending the disciple out as sheep among the wolves. His warnings are clearly outlined in the following verses. Being a follower of Christ has its inherent dangers which I believe to be summed up by “And you shall be hated of all men for My Name’s sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved” Mt 10:22. People will hate us for our faith. The Greek word for hate here is Miseó which means to hate/pursue with hatred or with detest. As I write this I am reminded of the ever increasing persecution that our fellow believers face today.  I am in no way trying to scare people but am trying to put things into perspective because these things are never preached or taught in churches today. I always knew that what I had learnt in church was somehow incomplete that’s why I pursued the matter with God.

A lot of people think that the power is to demonstrate supernatural gifts and the ability to supplant the works of satan in people’s lives. This is a fact that we are granted such a power but the teaching is not wholesome. Every child of God is anointed and under the anointing we accomplish His purpose. This could be at your home, workplace, your neighbourhood, your society; it could even extend to other countries. The point is; everyone has a part to play. Now comes the catch to having this power. The power is for function and it will demonstrate itself as we 'Go' for God. Go in the sense that we are ready to minister even in the smallest thing. Stephen is said to have been filled with the Spirit of God and he ministered to widows by serving when they came to eat! He would preach time to time too. Check out the sermon he gave that led to his death. What a message he preached? Where did he get such words and courage and how was he so articulate when facing authorities (who knew the Torah and were rulers) and not the average person? Stephen spoke with understanding and authority. His speech cut the hearts of those who heard him Acts 7:54. This impact and effect upon the heart is seen in Jesus's preaching as well. The power allows us to speak as God speaks and it speaks to the core of man and not his mind.

This my dear brothers and sisters is the power at work. It is not our ability nor our talents that helps us in the God's work. The mind and body follow the leading of the Spirit of God as per Lk 12:12. We need the power of the Holy Spirit for this to be a Spirit led work otherwise it will be a flesh led work. A flesh led ministry is HARD WORK! with a very low success rate. We are not called for a fleshy ministry. We are to minister as per His leading. We will study deeper into this Spirit led ministry later since there is lot of dynamics to it. I know you will be wondering how can you do a Spirit led ministry. I assure you I will explain it throughly as we progress. Right now I am laying the foundation to teach these topics which will follow. In our next session we will look at how the Power changes us. Till then God Bless.