Promised from Old Testament times by the prophets, spoken of by The LORD Himself before His ascension, the whole and point, the guarantee and seal: The Holy Spirit indwelling. God with us. God in us.
Many have heard reference of Him, but have not been taught about Him. Some have been taught of Him, and believe they know all about Him, yet confess limited understanding. Some have had encounters, some operate in Gifts-given, some believe and wait for more. I’m sure the scenarios are endless from His perspective.
Many are afraid of this subject. Many are defensive. Many are excited to share their experiences, and sadly, some are arrogant. How? Why? How can one feel full, one dry, one haughty, one afraid, one completely in the dark, and another have strong desire, yet feel denied? The answer: Held Beliefs. Or rather, held Disbeliefs. Not unbelief…necessarily…but DIS-belief: Flawed belief held in blind understanding of Truth. So many stand on what has been taught by man, what grandma said, or what our parents told us to believe over knowing Him, and what the Word says, for ourselves. As I’m typing, the words from the prophet Isaiah come to mind:
“Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people.” Isaiah 28:9-11 KJV
Truth is available to all who ask in sincerity. But Who will bring it? Who will set this record straight in all who seek? The Holy Spirit Himself. For He is our Teacher. He will lead ALL into Truth who cry out to know Him greater. (1 John 2, Hebrews 8) And this is my prayer!
Hear the words of our Lord in John 7:37-39:
“…Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
Grab a cup of coffee and let us reason together from the Word. 🙂
Look at what Jesus said to the disciples after His resurrection, yet before His ascension, concerning the Holy Spirit in John 20:22:
“And when He had said this, He breathed on and saith unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost…”
Jesus had just completed redemption. He had been crucified, raised from the dead, and was awaiting His ascension back to Glory to sit at the Father’s right hand. Now that blood-bought fellowship with the Father had been restored, the Promise foretold could be given.
In our present-day living of the Truth and being “saved by Grace through Faith” (Eph 2:8), we forget that this relationship was BRAND NEW to the disciples.
Remember, up to this point they had physically followed Him for about three years, but it wasn’t until after His crucifixion and resurrection that the ability to receive the Holy Spirit upon them, as He breathed on them in John 20, could happen (John 7:37-39). And a few days after that wonderful Breath, He promised even MORE! Jesus told them in Acts 1:4-5, just moments before His ascension:
“And, being assembled together with, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which’, He saith, ‘ye have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence’.”
They believed Jesus was Who He said He was. They had received the Holy Spirit when He breathed on them–but there was MORE in His Plan: The Promise of the Father!
Picking up in verse 7:
“And He said unto them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His Own power. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”
Up until this time, it was the disciples’ held belief that Jesus was getting ready to restore the Kingdom of Israel here on the earth. They had pridefully discussed who would sit at His right and left, argued amongst themselves on who was the greatest, and here they are again (as seen in verse 6 of Acts 1) asking about that very subject. Yet…
There was no time to ask more questions or divert to selfish reasonings, The Truth had spoken and was taken up. The stage for the next season was set. As for His Kingdom restoration here on earth: we still wait for His triumphant return.
I believe Jesus spoke this as His final earthly command because, even if in their minds they saw His ascension as a delay of their hope of a restored Kingdom of Israel, the greater Truth was yet to come: It was time to Go and wait for the Promise of The Father!!
His Kingdom was about to blaze a flame that no one on earth had ever yet known! He was going to The Father, so that He could send His Holy Spirit UPON.
We know from scripture that the Holy Spirit “moved” prophets of old, and various others, and they prophesied and wrote great things (2 Peter 1:21)–but this Power UPON action was a new thing.
They heard Him. Now they had a decision to make: Heed His last words and obey His instruction to tarry and wait for this promised power? Or go home, cherish how well they knew Him, knowing that He would not leave them, and patiently wait for His return? After all, He had already breathed The Holy Spirit (John 20:22)–why the need for this Promised Baptism? (Acts 1:5)
They had been water baptized. But this Baptism was coming after Christ’s ascension. This was different. This was new. And water wasn’t involved.
Picking up in Acts 2:
Oh the immense joy the 120 must have experienced that day in the upper room! The Promise arrived suddenly and in full force, flames seen, languages heard!! It must have been magnificent!
I can only imagine that God’s FULL return to earth will come in even greater manifestation! 🙂
Lives changed, power given. The Way found a voice, a witness, and an indwelling Holy Spirit lead that manifested and altered thousands in a single day! Then that selfsame Fire swept the known world as the Truth of Jesus was spread to all who would heed, surrender, and receive the same.
This was SO powerful, SO never-before-seen that it caused the religious to pick up stones! Oh how we should cry out for this same mighty, transforming encounter, this same manifestation, this same call, purpose, and power!
God’s Great Gift! The Gift of The Holy Spirit!!
James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Ezekiel 11, verse 19: “…and I will give them one heart, and I will put a new Spirit within them…” In Ephesians 4:8: “…When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”
Not wages for well-worked labor, Gifts.
Seekers need not seek as much as they need to surrender. Surrender to The Promise of the Father. Surrender to a Power-filled Life. Receive and surrender to Truth. Surrender to Love Himself.
“Love? I thought we were talking about the Holy Spirit here?” We are! Love in Person. Love in Deed. Love, indwelling, to all who would open the door and are willing–and He’s still the same to everyone who will surrender!
Stay with me…I’ll show you what I found in the Word.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
God has always had a good Plan. Even from the fall of Adam, until right now this very second, God’s good Plan is at work. And LOVE was, and is, The Plan!
As this revelation began to saturate my mind, scriptures began to focus in ways that I had not seen them before.
Oh how I’d love to quote all of John 13-17! But for time and space here, I will make short quotes:
“By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” 13:35
“If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him; but ye know Him for He dwells with you, and shall be IN you.” 14:15-17
“He that has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” 14:21
“But the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” 14:26
“And I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare that the love wherewith Thou has loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” 17:26
Love. Truth in Love.
Ephesians 4 is another worthy read! Oh there are so many!!
In Galatians 5:22-23, we find the Fruit of the Spirit. Love is the first thing listed. (And in reading over the whole of scripture, it is the center of ALL God is: LOVE.)
Love, not as man defines it, but as He defines it in the Word. Jesus makes that abundantly clear in John 15-17.
In John 15:13 Jesus declared, “Greater LOVE hath no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His friends.” He spoke of His love concerning His death. The Father declared His love by resurrecting Him and granting eternal life to all who are His (John 3). And the Holy Spirit is Love’s Promise. (1 John 4) And in 1 Peter 4, Love covers a multitude of sin. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 8) LOVE.
Love, God’s definition and manifestation of love, looks and acts SO completely different than the world’s–it makes the flesh of the righteous nervous!
If you don’t believe me, read the remainder of Acts 2. (I will concede that there are manipulative cults in the earth today that have taken the Truth of God’s Word in Acts 2:44-45 and turned it for manipulation and selfish gain. To those, God will judge and hold accountable, as He will all who twist The Truth.) It was His indwelling Love that brought about such unselfish acts! It is His Love that compels people today to give in ways that defy earthly logic.
Even today, Spirit-led saturated Believers move and act in ways that the world cannot understand.
Love is Real-Truth, Breathing. Love is the Word. Love is HIM!
Love, The Holy Spirit INDWELLING, living this redeemed life WITHIN us, THROUGH us, OUT of us, LOVE.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is Love…” (Galatians 5:22). Love is first in the list of fruit.
Love is: Patient, Kind, Does not envy, Does not boast, Not proud, Not rude, Not self-seeking, Not angered easily, Keeps no record of wrongs (thinks no evil KJV), Does not rejoice in iniquity (does not celebrate sin) but rejoices in Truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, Love never fails. (see 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
When the Holy Spirit was unleashed upon carnal believers in the upper room that day, they were changed into saturated, brave to the death, speakers of Truth IN LOVE! Instead of a wind rushing in and extinguishing the flames, THIS WIND (Pneuma) brought THE FLAME and IGNITED all who gathered there!
Oh the magnificence!! God’s breath (pneuma) breathed on all who were gathered there!!
…”And they were all filled with The Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:4)
Love Breathing…
I noticed something while studying the 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 passage. I noticed the words look a lot like breathing. Action within, action to others, love in, love out. Look at it with me: Love is patient (in), love is kind (out), Love does not envy (in), love does not boast (out)…in, out…breathing…PNEUMA! God’s Pnuema!!
This impossible Love list is not mine to struggle to perform–it is for Him to bring forth as fruit as He breathes in and out of me!!
“By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if you have love one to another.” John 13:35.
Lord! Send Your BREATH! IGNITE THE FLAME!!
I love examples…
During my study, I felt compelled to reach out to a sizable group of people God has blessed me to know from all over the globe. I asked if they would be willing to share their experience concerning this biblical Holy Spirit baptism and evidential gift.
I found of all who dared to be open, their experiences mirrored the experiences outlined in the Bible. Some received by the laying on of hands. Some received while praying alone. All conclude with biblical evidence (prayer in “the tongues of men and angels” (1 Cor 13:1) following. And some received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with evidence of tongues, prior to following the Lord in water baptism. (See Acts 10:44-48 for a biblical account of the same) But there was one account that fit so perfectly with the others, but with one beautiful addition: (I have been given permission to share a portion of that conversation)
“I received Christ as my Savior when I was 5 years old. Yes, I really did know that I was a sinner. I was raised in church, read my Bible, prayed and grew. When I was 16 years old, I was sitting in Study Hall thinking about Jesus and how He is the same yesterday, today and forever. I silently prayed that He would reveal Himself in my life. Waves of Love washed over me again and again. I was not the same. After that day in Study Hall, it felt like I was walking on the water….” M.C., Midwest
There, in the words of their experience, a reflection of my own. Separate from, yet in addition to, the language evidence: Love. A Love so overwhelming, you feel drunk. So saturated in the Love of God, you literally see everything in a different Light! Love. A revelation of God’s Love that changes you, draws you, causes you. Love that lines up with 1 Corinthians 13. A Love received that mirrors Galatians 5! Love in the Book of 1 John! Love, not from you–Love IN you! AGAPE LOVE! Oh how we NEED THAT INDWELLING, ALL-CONSUMING LOVE TODAY!!
BUT WHERE DID THE LOVE GO?
Sadly, many who have had that exact experience, as described in the Word (Acts 2, Acts 8:5-25, Acts 10:24-48, Acts 19:1-7 and 1 Corinthians 14), have felt that LOVE dwindle. MANY admit to it only being a spark and a smoke stream of that previous FLAME. They still have their evidential prayer language, but that Fountain of Love, that should be FLOWING from “out of their belly”, appears to be down to a drip. Why? Jesus said it best in Matthew 24: (Please allow His Words to search your heart, yet for time’s sake I will quote only verse 12)
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
It is Last Days. God’s people need Truth revealed and true repentance. We need surrender to the sanctification work of The Holy Spirit within us! We need to read, heed, and obey the Word of God over popularity with men–or with the half-dead, lukewarm church! We need to stop being content with, and hawking, some past experience–we need living, real, daily signs and wonders. We NEED HIS LOVE!!
Fellow Believers: I BEG you! Stop showcasing loveless, dust-covered gifts–and pray for a fresh out-pouring and a continual filling of the Holy Spirit Himself!
WE NEED HIS LOVE TO BREATHE THROUGH US TO EVERYONE HE PUTS IN OUR PATH!! We need to allow Ephesians 5:18-21 to be a reality in us: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.”
Love is not tolerance of deceptive error, or refusal to speak the Truth because it might offend. Love, His Love, doesn’t say to look the other way and keep silent. Love, God’s Love, does not embrace evil. His Love calls out to the perishing and declares sin’s full price already paid and deliverance from sin in Jesus ALONE! Love bids anyone who will heed to come and drink! Love, His Love, binds up and heals the broken-hearted and sets them on The Rock. Love reaches down and pulls the deceived and perishing from the fire! LOVE IS HIS TRUTH!!
Don’t believe me?
Stop and truly look at the motive behind the world’s definition of Love. You will find it is mere pander to deception and death–and Hell is it’s prize!
His Truth is Truth. His Love is Love. And in 1 Corinthians 13, His Love is the standard:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not love, I am become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.” (vs 1-3)
LOVE, His indwelling, saturating, completely new-man generating, greater than the flesh’s desire to give, suffer, martyr, and beat into a well-disciplined example Love! Why? Because apart from HIS Love, we are nothing.
WE NEED A DELUGE OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT! LORD, SEND YOUR FLAME! SEND YOUR PROMISE OF THE FATHER UPON THIS GENERATION OF BELIEVERS IN YOU!! SEND YOUR LOVE!!!
Wherever you stand, and whatever you choose to believe, that is between you and God–but, my prayer is this:
O that the Fire that blazed through the world during those early days would FLAME mightily in EVERY believer today! Lord, Fan Your Flame! Pour out Your Holy Spirit on ALL who cry out in earnest and in truth! In Jesus’ Mighty Name I pray!
AMEN!!
To my doubt-filled friends still reading, and to those of you who have been taught by man that what God did then is not for now. Hebrews 13:8 must be reckoned: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Remember: There can be no tape or scissors allowed in the Word of God. It is either all true, or all false–not just on this subject, but on all declarations of faith. It is your decision to decide where you stand. But please make sure it’s your stance and declaration, and not someone else’s. (Suggested reads: 2 Corinthians 5 and Romans 14-15)
And as to man’s doctrinal theology that tongues shall cease, prophesies fail, knowledge vanish away (1 Corinthians 13:8), that idea must heed verses 10-13:
“But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. for now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.”
Jesus (the Perfect) hasn’t returned, yet. You and I cannot see “face to Face”, yet. And I’ve witnessed many be childish, yet. As to the “know even as also I am known”, I can say for me: I have questions, even of myself, everyday. But oh when Truth returns! When Perfect is come to gather us to Himself! When Jesus returns THEN these scriptures will be fulfilled!! Then there will be no need for tongues, prophesies, knowledge for we will speak plainly and face to Face with the Lord Himself! We will no longer suffer childishly or have infinite questions! We will see clearly!!
I am compelled to quote and stand with Peter and John as in Acts 4:20:
“For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Must you speak in tongues? That’s a good question–you should ask Him. But first ask yourself why you are asking: Is it in unbelief? In fear of the unfamiliar? Fear of man’s rejection? Fear of the unknown? Or worse, fear of surrender to His lead?
Many earthly maturity events bring fear beforehand. But Love compels you to brave the unknown. Love goes all in. Love surrenders. Love draws to full surrender to the God Who took on ALL, in order to restore fellowship with frail, fleshy man.
Our response to this wooing Love? Allow His Holy Spirit to have full-access, full control, full lead, full possession of our lives. Oh that this Promised Love consume us! He said He would never leave us nor forsake us! Oh what Love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God!
PRAISE TO OUR COMING KING! JESUS IS HIS NAME!!
There is MUCH to be gleaned from Ephesians, I dare you to sit and ask Him to teach you ALL that is in there. It will “altar” your walk!
I will leave you with Ephesians 6:18:
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…”
FAN THE FLAME LORD, FAN YOUR FLAME AND CONSUME US IN YOUR LOVE!!
