‘The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before
Pentecost, but He was not here.
Once our Lord was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the
world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth
that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into
our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the
Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.’ CHAMBERS
Do you understand that it is the presence of the
Holy Spirit in you that is the enabler for your new life? The Lord ascended and the Spirit descended and
took up residence in every Believer.
‘Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you
have from God, and you are not your own?
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's.’ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
‘In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of
the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.’ (Ephesians 1:13-14)
‘But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior
toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to His mercy He (God the
Father) saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the
hope of eternal life.’ (Titus 3:4-7)
‘This is He who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ; not
only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For
there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Spirit; and these three are one.’ (1 John 5:6-7)
‘Likewise the
Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray
for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself
makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He (that
would be God) who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He (That would be the Spirit) makes intercession for the saints
according to the will of God.’ (Romans 8:26-27)
Sometimes
I think that we treat the Spirit like we treat our appendix … we know we have
one, but it doesn’t really do anything. Some
Christians are charisma-phoebes, meaning that they don’t want to talk about the
Holy Spirit much for fear they will be thought of as emotional or charismatic. But just a cursory reading of the scriptures I
cited above shows you how important the Spirit is in our new life in Christ. Leaving the appendix analogy aside for the
moment .. think about your shoes .... but maybe you have some footwear on right
now. Until I mentioned it, I am 99%
certain you could not feel your shoes on your feet .. but if you looked down ..
there they are! It is the same with the
Spirit .. we may not ‘feel’ the Spirit .. but He is there … we were sealed by
the Spirit .. He lives in us. How do you
know? That is what the fruit of the Spirit
is about (Galatians 5:22-23) … the Spirit connects us to the Vine … ‘Abide in Me (Jesus), 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. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me,
and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.’(John
15:4-5)
Final Note.
Some years ago I was attending a Promise Keepers conference in Little
Rock .. my last one as a PK staff member.
At the hotel I happened upon Dr. Henry Blackaby (Experiencing God). He was a speaker at the conference. We chatted for a while and I mentioned the
challenge of not running out of ‘spiritual gas’
to which he said .. ‘Oh, we have the living water flowing out is us ..
it will never run dry.” To which I added .. ‘but we can turn the tap off’. The Word says ‘Do
not quench the Spirit.’(1 Thessalonians 5:19)
That is the Spirit that is in you. The Spirit gives life, but we must yield to
His leading, His teaching, His rebuke, His correction …
Do it today ….
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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