God created man for relationship.
In Scripture we see that without blood covenant there can be no relationship; that is God's terms for relationship. People become dysfunctional because one or more relationships have been broken. Broken relationships are the primary cause of all of our problems, addictions, and most ungodly behavior, and evil.
One more thing: there can be no covenant without death, or without blood shed by both parties. Throughout this book we have often spoken about our cross and His Cross. We must take up our cross (as we have described), which is our way of “shedding blood.” We have seen God’s wonderful commitment to us to give us His Spirit to inhabit our very beings through the blood covenant.
Not only is the blood covenant with God a total exchange of our sinful nature for His righteous and perfect nature, it is the very basis for continued fellowship. Even more, fellowship with Him is the very reason for the blood covenant. A dog can only have so much fellowship with a human because they are not of the same species. An unregenerated person can only have limited contact with God because that person is of a different species. But if somehow God can change his species, to a New Creation, then the fellowship can be complete and be returned to normal.
Jesus’ blood was shed so we could receive the Holy Spirit.
In a previous chapter we covered the story about Abram in the blood covenant ditch. There were two figures of Deity walking that ditch. One was Jesus who was making the covenant with the other figure of Deity on behalf of Abram, and in the end, you and me. Had Abram attempted to make that covenant, he would have failed. Jesus took that failure and gave us the benefit.
What happened in that ditch? God exchanged natures with mankind. He gave Abram, through Jesus, the nature of God, the Holy Spirit. He took, through Jesus, and for Abram and you and me, the nature of Adam, the curse, the old nature that is destined for Hell.
Galatians 3 tells about this.
Galatians 3:13-14 says,
13 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Galatians 3:29 says,
29 “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Do not settle for anything except for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 3:11 says,
11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
To baptize means to totally immerse, to dunk something into a liquid until it dies, changes, and comes back to life in a different form.
“Baptize” is defined in Strong’s Concordance as follows:
“Baptizo. Not to be confused with bapto. The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be ‘dipped’ (bapto) into boiling water and then ‘baptised’ (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change.
When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism. e.g. Mark 16:16. 'He that believes and is baptised shall be saved.' Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough. There must be a union with him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle! Bible Study Magazine, James Montgomery Boice, May 1989.”
God offers all of us a “flooding” of our souls with the Holy Spirit. Too often believers settle for less. Usually it has to do with obstructions which keep the Holy Spirit confined to our spirit, rather than allow Him access to our mind, will and emotions.
When Jesus came into my life, I saw Him in the Book of Revelation as the ascended Christ, the victor and deliverer.
At that point I became a man completely filled with the Holy Spirit. Rivers of living water gushed up out of my soul.
John 7:38-39 (NIV) says,
38 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.
39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
I did not speak in tongues right away, but received that gift about two months later after I discovered it in Scripture. The one predominate work that the Holy Spirit did in my life from the beginning, was to make Jesus real to me. I knew that Jesus was alive. I could experience “real-time communication” with Him through the Holy Spirit. People tried to give me their own and often false opinions about Christianity, but the Holy Spirit was always my teacher.
I cannot explain everything about the Holy Spirit of God. I do not understand the various ways the Holy Spirit is experienced by different people. There are a few simple things that I can share with you.
In order to be a child of God, you need to have His Spirit joined to your spirit. That is what happened when you were re-born. You were joined to God, much in the same way Adam was before he rebelled against God.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV) says,
19 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”
You became a container for the Holy Spirit when you made Jesus Lord.
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would come after He (Jesus) ascended back to Heaven to take His (Jesus’) place here on earth.
Knowing how we could feel fatherless if we could not experience His presence, Jesus said the following, “I will not leave you as orphans [fatherless]; I will come to you” (John 14:18).
He told His disciples, after His resurrection but before he ascended, that they would be immersed into the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:5 (NIV) says,
5 “For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:8 (NIV) says,
8 “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.”
He told them not to worry after He left. He explained that the Holy Spirit would take His place and make Him (Jesus, God) real to them. Read what Jesus told them in John 14:16-26.
Jesus told them that the Holy Spirit would make Him real to them.
John 15:26 (NIV) says,
26 “When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.”
John 16:7 (NIV) says,
7 “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
Jesus told His men that he would come back soon. He did! He came back in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and Jesus are not different people; they are the same, but in different form. The Holy Spirit can actually dwell inside humans, where Jesus was restricted to one human body.
That sounds simple, but the devil has convinced men and women to complicate things. Entire denominational structures have been built around what people believe or do not believe about the Holy Spirit. Often what people believe is some sort of tradition that is not even Bible based.
How does this filling happen?
John 15 says that we are connected to our source like a branch on a vine. We are not independent containers like a water glass that must be filled from an outside source.
It is a matter of staying connected to the vine. The sap in the vine represents the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. We need to abide in the vine. Jesus says that obedience to His Word is what keeps us abiding. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is being flooded with God when we are connected to Him, as the vine is to the branch. His “sap” flows into us and we stay connected if we abide.
I submit that we become flooded or filled with the Holy Spirit when the various obstructions, in the connection between the branch and the vine, are removed.
Are there degrees of being filled? I submit that there are degrees. When you are full of the Holy Spirit, all areas of your life will begin to be changed. The fruit of the Spirit will begin to be manifested in your life.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) says,
22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
You will be hungry for the Word of God. Jesus will be real to you. Christianity will be more than a mental understanding; it will be alive and real. You will know that you are in relationship with God.
Ideally, every Christian would be filled with the Holy Spirit when they are born again. Sometimes it happens like that (as it did with me), but not always. The New Testament shows different experiences. At Ephesus, Paul encountered a group who had believed, but who had not even heard of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 19:6 says,
6 “And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”
Another incident took place while Peter was preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Acts 10:44-46 says,
44 “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.
45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God…”
Paul prayed a blessing for the church in Ephesus. He wanted them to experience the reality of God in their present day lives, “…experience for yourselves, the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience…that they may be a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself” (Ephesians 3:19, extracted from Amplified Bible).
I believe that a lot of obstructions can keep us from the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
The major obstructions are:
- Pride (James 4:6)
- Religious tradition (Mark 7:13)
- Fear (Luke 11:11-13)
- Doubt (Luke 11:9-10)
- Inadequacy (Luke 11:13)
Other big obstructions are:
- Not wholly submitting your will to God.
- Refusing to give up some sin in your life.
- Not living in obedience to the Word of God.
- Not addressing spiritual and demonic strongholds in your life.
- Going to “other gods” to obtain your needs.
Ask God to show you what may apply to you.
The Holy Spirit desires to do two fundamental things in your life:
1. To make Jesus real to you so that He (Jesus) can make you whole. He wants to set you free from past bondages and prisons. He wants to make you holy like God.
2. To make Jesus real to the world through you. In other words, to glorify or reveal God. Jesus’ only body on this earth is the Church. The Church is His body. We represent Him to the world in the same way that He represented the Father to the world when He was here. You are part of His body, the Church.
What about the gifts of the Spirit?
Please study 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4. One type of gift is part of our personality, and other types are given to operate in special situations as determined by God. I have personally had many of the gifts operate in my life from time to time, but not all of them. I have witnessed gifts such as the word of prophecy and the word of wisdom that only the Holy Spirit could have spoken. My wife and I have participated with the Holy Spirit in casting out demons, and have seen the results of people being healed and set free.
I do not feel it is proper for people who have received the gifts to make those who have not received them feel as if there is something wrong with them. Neither is it proper for those who have not received the gifts to criticize those who have; that is criticizing God!
Speaking in tongues is a valuable and powerful gift. God uses it not only in public ministry, but more importantly, He uses it to take control of our mind for His benefit. James 3:4-5 says that the tongue is like the rudder that guides the entire ship. Science has shown that the speech center in your brain controls the entire brain. If you want to give Jesus the rudder of your life, you should give Him your tongue. It will renew your mind, pray the perfect will of God, and resist Satan. Praying in tongues privately for extended periods of time is powerful. It has produced miracles in my life. Far too many Christians have not enjoyed the benefits of this gift due to ignorance. There is a more in depth teaching on the Holy Spirit in the ISOB curriculum, lessons 117 and 118 [1].
One time, early in my walk with God, I took a Jewish friend to church with me (he asked me, I did not pressure him). During the service, the person right behind us was prompted by the Holy Spirit to speak out in tongues. My friend turned and stared at him while he spoke. Later, my Jewish friend invited Jesus to become His Lord. He saw Him as the Jewish Messiah.
On the way home he asked me about the “funny language” this man spoke. I explained 1 Corinthians chapter 12 to him. Then he told me that he understood what the man had said in Hebrew and that he had learned it in Hebrew school as a young boy. Here is what my Jewish friend heard that morning:
“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days… Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem…They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks ” (taken from Isaiah 2:2-5).
However, wholesome speech in your native language is more important to God. Your words are much more powerful than you can imagine. What you say will not only tend to cause things to happen on earth, but your words will tend to bind the underlying thoughts to your mind forever. Negative words will put you and others into darkness. Positive and God-controlled words will set you and others free. You will experience a peace that is much like Heaven in your heart. Negative words will put “Hell” into your heart.
Ask God to show you what areas in your life are keeping the fullness of the Holy Spirit from being manifested in and through you.
The presence of God through the Holy Spirit is worth any adjustment you may need to make.
Prayer.
“Lord Jesus, the Word of God says that you have a desire to fill me with your Spirit so that You and I can be more intimate. I am hungry for you and your presence in my life. Jesus, I believe your Word. I confess to you that I want everything you have for me. Come, Jesus, baptize me with the Holy Spirit and fire. I am open and ready for the fire in my life. I renounce and repent from all sin in my life. I forgive everyone who has wronged me. I offer myself to you a living sacrifice. You are sovereign over my life. Have your way. I offer to you all of my members, my mouth, my tongue, my hands, feet, ears and eyes. Take it all!”
For more information on this subject, read Chapter 11 of the book Grow or Die. The reference is on the second page of this book.
[1] International School of the Bible curriculum is available free at www.isob-bible.org, or you may send email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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