The Holy Spirit.
“…for the
Our last chapter on generational curses show how our family backgrounds can cause curses in our lives. Those curses have many manifestations, including bad habits, like gluttony and drunkenness. Most of all those curses cause unrighteousness and lack of peace. But notice what Romans 14:17 says that the Holy Spirit will do in you, counter to your old nature.
If we act like our ancestors before we are born again, then why don't we immediately act like our new Father when we are born again? The answer is, our old nature is so deeply embedded in our souls, and we may not have allowed the new nature, the Holy Spirit to invade and change our souls!
In Luke 3:16 John the Baptist said, “I baptize you with water, but a mightier one than I is coming and He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
My experience.
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. “‘Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ 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” (John 7:38,39).
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 opinions about Christianity, but the Holy Spirit was always my teacher.
I cannot explain everything about the Holy Spirit of God.
I do not completely understand the various ways the Holy Spirit is experienced by different people. I cannot totally explain why some people receive the Holy Spirit's fullness more than others. 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. “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” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
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. “For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in
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. “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 15:26). “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” (John 16:7).
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. “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” (Galatians 5:22,23). 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
Another incident took place while Peter was preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. 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. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God…” (Acts 10:44-46).
Experience God through intimacy!
Paul prayed a blessing for the church in
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. (John 14:21-23)
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. This is so you can have intimacy with Him and 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.
Criticism is unholy.
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. 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. 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
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!”
Be real with God.
Now listen for His voice.
“Hello there, my Name is Jesus. I love you.”
Click here to Return to the front page of Be Real with God Click here to Go to Chapter14
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.