It is normal for the world to be oblivious of Who the Holy Spirit is. The scriptures tell us in
John 14:17 “The Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
Those who do not have the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ find the things of the Spirit strange, or somewhat foolish. However, when those who believe in Jesus Christ and are professed Christians are still ignorant of the Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit, then there is a big problem. The enemy will use all tactics to alienate God’s people from the ministry of the Holy Spirit because he knows that the Holy Spirit is at the core of who we are and all we do as God’s people. He is the one key that puts the entirety of the Christian life together; so if we miss Him, we miss out on everything.
HAVE YOU RECEIVED THE BAPTISM OF FIRE?
From time to time, I ask many professed Christians the all-time Question: “Have you received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues?” When the answer is not an excited Yes, the following lines reveal one tactic or another which Satan is using to block yet another believer from experiencing the reality of God’s Presence and Power in their lives. Yesterday, a lady told me. “Well, I am Catholic and we do not believe in such things” That’s the spirit of religion and the doctrines of men because Catholics or not, everyone who can read the pages of the scriptures will see how Jesus Christ points out that all Christian believers must be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26
These are some of the reasons you will hear other Christians give: “Well, I tried but it just has not just happened” “I do not feel comfortable with the speaking in tongues part” “I am nervous, I don’t know if it’s real or not” and many more. Whatever the excuse might be, it is all part of the devil’s tactics to disconnect the individual believer from the Holy Spirit. This contradicts God’s purpose for your life. He wants you to experience the Holy Spirit, to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, and to grow in your walk with the Holy Spirit. It is amazing how believers are engrossed with many aspects of the Bible such as spiritual warfare, prosperity, favor, and breakthrough and yet forsakes the One Person Who makes all these things and much more possible.
Do you want to experience the supernatural power of God and be a world-changer, bringing souls to the Kingdom of God?
Do you want to advance to the enemy’s lines of defense and engage in victorious spiritual warfare to vanquish demonic spirits, cast down strongholds, and subdue principalities and powers?
Do you desire to walk in Kingdom prosperity and breakthrough and use the tool of finance to promote the Work of the Kingdom and bring joy and hope to a dying world?
If you answered yes, to the above questions, then you need to prioritize the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life. I believe that the Lord is calling the Church more than anything to emphasize the Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. In the following weeks, I will be exploring different teaching on the Holy Spirit and how you also can experience Him in your life. Today, I will give you some keys that anyone that will experience authentic baptism of the Spirit in their lives needs to possess.
REMOVE THE DOCTRINES AND TRADITIONS OF MEN ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM YOUR MIND.
The first key to learning the truth is to unlearn the lies. You have to challenge the things you have learned about the Holy Spirit by the revelation of God’s Word. Deception and ignorance are the two most important weapons which the enemy. Ignorance is a terrible thing, but I believe deception is even worse. Ignorance is not to know – but deception is to know the wrong thing. An ignorant person can still learn but a deceived person is twisted and first has to unlearn the lies in order to embrace the truth of God’s Word.
The scriptures are very clear and open about the Person of the Holy Spirit, but the majority of Christians do not read them anymore. They embrace the opinion of men or the traditions that have been laid down by some religious dogma and make that their subject of their faith and not the Word of God. Regardless of what you believe or the denomination that you belong, if you are experiencing the Person and the Power of the Holy Spirit in your life, then something is deeply wrong. You need to open the Bible for yourself or at least google all the Bible references about the Holy Spirit and study them carefully. You cannot afford to base matters of eternal value on mere hearsay. You have to be certain that what you know is the truth and that truth has given you access to living your life in the Holy Spirit.
The narrative of Paul the Apostle in Acts 19 sheds more light on the state of most post-modern believers about the Person and Power of the Holy Spirit.
- While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples.
- and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
- So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” John’s baptism,” they replied.
- Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
- On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
- When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
- There were about twelve men in all. Acts 19:1-7
These twelve believers were alienated from the experience of the Person and Power of the Holy Spirit because they were ignorant of Him. They were good men who loved God and wanted to do His will, but they were ignorant of the revelation of the Holy Spirit. They only had half the truth; they were baptized into the baptism of John the Baptist. Well, Paul admonished them concerning the ministry of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
The truth of God’s Word resounded in their belly and they yielded to God. Instantly, they were baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit came on them all and they spoke in tongues. You cannot manifest a dimension of God of which you have not first received a revelation. Today, I pray that Lord will open the eyes of your understanding as you journey with me on these teachings on the Holy Spirit and allow God’s truth to illuminate your heart so that you can live in the reality of the Person and Power of the Holy Spirit.
DEVELOP AN INSATIABLE APPETITE FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT.
You cannot see God’s glory unless you find Him and seek Him with all your heart. Many times a lot of people encounter our ministry with an attitude of indifference. Some of them are skeptical of the work of the Holy Spirit and are only there to investigate or analyze the entire ministry of the Holy Spirit. Once I detect this attitude, I usually refrain from ministering to such people, because I know their hearts are not open to receive from God and God does not force Himself on people. Whenever there is a deep hunger in the heart of man to experience the supernatural Presence and Power of God, there will always be an answer from God. Right after my first encounter with Jesus Christ in 1989, when He revealed Himself to me as a little boy, a well of desire for His Presence and Power was birthed in my soul. I just want more and more of God in my life. That desire has taken me to isolated mountains where I turn off the mobile phone and turn my plate upside down for many days, doing nothing but worshiping, praying, and asking God to reveal Himself to me.
You cannot be nonchalant about your desire for God. He needs to be the Center of all it all. This was the secret of David’s exceptional success. He desired God passionately. He wrote in Psalm 63:1
O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.
Do you also desire God as David did? Would you give Him the number one place in your heart? Just like Israel Houghton wrote in his song, “Nothing in this world can satisfy, Jesus You are the cup that won’t run dry” Make God the priority of your life and then He will fill you with the overflow of things that are beyond the scope of this life.
PROPHETIC DECREES
Father, I thank you because it is Your Will that all Your children experience the Persona and Power of Your Holy Spirit. Today, I come to you with a heart yearning to know You and walk in the reality of your anointing in my life. Living God delivers me from the ignorance and deception that has pervaded this world. Open the eyes of my understanding to comprehend Divine revelations and insights on the Holy Spirit. Give me access to Your Word so that I may know Your Truth, Your Way, and thereby experience Your Life.
Today, I confess and decree that my number one desire in this life is to have an intimate fellowship with Holy Spirit. To make Him the center of my life and embrace Him more than my beating heart. I will serve no foreign god or put anyone or anything in the place of God at the center of my heart.
Fill me with the fullness of your glory, power, and Presence. Let my life be saturated with Your anointing and let me be empowered and strengthened in the inner man by Your Holy Spirit in Jesus Name.
P. S. Watch out for the second part on the series on the Person and Power of the Holy Spirit