Even though the Holy Spirit has taken the place that Jesus ought to have in many a believer’s heart today, we may not disqualify Him nor His work altogether in our lives. He is the wonderful Third Person of the Holy Trinity. It is therefore a shameful thing that He has been forgotten and when He was not forgotten, He was not given the right precedence that He ought to have been given by the Church in the past centuries. Thank God that this error has been corrected within many a Church today. In this way Christianity in past decades could revive again in many a believer’s heart. Even so, the Holy Spirit has never left and has always inhabited a recipient heart who has and had a right standing with God. Remarkable people from the past such as Martin Luther, John Knox, Jon Hus and other Church Reformers were clearly led by Him, reforming and refining Biblical theory which is now available to us today These men risked their lives in order for us to have easy access to the Bible and its teachings!
One of the reasons why the Church lost the truth regarding the Holy Spirit is due to the teachings and dogma’s of the Roman Catholic Church. This Church as you might already know, has been the predominant Church throughout the ages and thus, the predominant religion in the Christian world. They consciously omitted and changed many doctrines displayed in the Bible, disguising in this way, their own greed and lust for power. Their main aim was to enrich themselves at any cost, often at the expense of the salvation of well meaning Christians. They did this very cunningly, often misusing people’s need for a Savior and a God, using man made doctrine infested with idol worship. In order for people to get to know the truth they forbade people to read the Bible. In this way innocent people were kept from the truth. They used fear staking methods such as excommunication and the fear of hell and purgatory. The penalty for even having a Bible in the house could be the penalty of death! Roman Catholicism has always contrary to teachings of God in the Bible!
Even well meaning clergy were kept in the dark. Only the Pope knew the Bible, and he was the only one allowed to read and know it. Needless to say that it often was the Pope who dictated the dogma’s for the churches around the world, thus spreading the man made dogmas that kept millions from the truth and thus from Jesus Christ. Their religion was and still is to a certain point a mixture of Scripture mingled with much mysticism often to the point of occultism.
It is a good thing therefore that the truth about Jesus and our Comforter has prevailed, even throughout the hazardous ages, in which Christians were persecuted for their believe in the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ. Even so, Church history still gives us many examples of courageous apostles of faith who served Jesus under the guiding and leading of the Holy Spirit. Most recent examples of these kinds of apostles of faith are George Muller, Howard Reece and others, who throughout their lives gave evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit Thanks to people like these many believers opened their eyes to the reality and truth of this wonderful Third Person of the Holy Trinity.
You see, one of the other reasons why the the Holy Spirit has not received the right place in Church, is because it has been taught for centuries on end that the Holy Spirit was only given to the Apostolic Church. The truth is, however, He has been there ever since, waiting for us to embrace Him again. Jesus clearly told us that He would abide in us when Jesus would return to Heaven:
“But the Comforter, which is 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(Jn 14:26)”.
And
“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me”(Jn 15:26).
This means, that the Holy Spirit was not only given to the Apostolic Church but to us as well. You see, the Holy Spirit clearly teaches us about Jesus. He brings into remembrance Jesus’ teachings whenever we need them. He aids us whenever we pray to God in the name of Jesus, to fulfil our needs, and He does give us wisdom and understanding while reading the Bible. He is essential to our understanding and fellowship with Jesus! That is why He never left the Church nor us! It is the Church that has forgotten Him, not God. However, we should never put the Holy Spirit before Jesus nor God, for it is clear from above mentioned Scriptures, that He testifies about Jesus and NEVER about Himself. We also should never pray to Him as many do in the Charismatic circles today. This is totally unscriptural!
Now you may ask yourself how do we get the Holy Spirit? Easy. Jesus told us we should ask for Him in prayer. This prayer will surely be answered by God:
“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Lk11:13)
However, you ought to know this very clearly, the Holy Spirit is only given to us for the benefit of God’s Kingdom. He testifies about Jesus to us, in order for us to understand God’s Kingdom better so that we may spread the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven and lead people into His salvation. He never abides in us to gain us personal riches and fame! You do well remembering that. The Holy Spirit is given to us to fulfil Jesus commission:
“Go then and make disciples of the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days to the close and consummation of the age” (Mat 28:19).
And
“And He said to them: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15-18)
The Holy Spirit is there for us to enhance our faith in Jesus. We have been given a commission by Jesus to spread His Gospel. In order to do this, Jesus promised us He would send us help in the form of the Holy Spirit. In this way we could do the same things Jesus did while he walked this earth (John 14:12). Jesus told us so, and because He told us so, we may grasp this promise and ask God for its fulfillment in our lives. However, there is one condition to this promise, and that is that we follow Jesus and Him only. To follow Jesus means to subject our will, our life totally to Him. It means that we must deny ourselves and our wishes and give us totally to God. God looks upon our hearts and if our heart is not truthful to Him, He just simply cannot send us the Holy Spirit. We grieve the Holy Spirit whenever we disobey God.
“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”(Eph 4:30)
A stern warning must be given to every believer today: ‘Don’t believe everybody who claims to posses the Holy Spirit.’ Nowadays, there are many false teachers and prophets out there, claiming to possess the Holy Spirit and His gifts while the fruit of their lives (Gal.5:22) are clearly not biblical. Do not get sidetracked from the truth by these kind of people. They truly operate under another kind of anointing, which clearly does not come from God! Don’t you know that Satan will counterfeit all of God’s miracles? Not everyone who professes to be filled with the Holy Spirit is filled with Him. Yes, they are filled with a spirit, but not the Holy Spirit. Keep that in mind. That is why we are called to discern between the spirits(1 Cor 12:10) and to test them (1 Jn 4:1).
"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.."(Eph. 1:13)
It is thus clear from above mentioned Scripture, that we have to believe in Jesus and proclaim the truth about His Gospel in order to be operating under His Holy Spirit. However, this gospel is NOT a gospel of prosperity nor a gospel that centers only in healing. Jesus performed many miracles of healing, this He for the glory of His Father, to show us this glory. He never taught about a gospel of prosperity, and what is most important, Jesus never placed the emphasis on His miracles. The emphasis on Jesus' teachings were clearly the Kingdom of God, and repentance. Jesus was more concerned about us repenting of our sins and thus coming into right standing with God again, and about our salvation than He was about the working of miracles. His workings of miracles which He performed were done in order to strengthen our faith, not to focus our faith solemnly on these miracles. This is where many people err, dear brothers and sisters. Do not get sidetracked by this imperative truth, I beg you!
When Jesus promises us in John 14:12 that we would do the same things He did, it was not for our own glory, but for the glory of our Father who is in Heaven. He promised us the Holy Spirit and His power in order for us to help Him spread the gospel, and not for the purpose of enhancing our social position nor for the purpose of gaining wealth. All gifts and promises that Jesus and our Father in Heaven have promised us, are given to us for the sole purpose of the benefit of the Kingdom of God in this world and in our lives. Let me ask you this: ‘Where in the Bible do we see any Apostle or father of faith enriching himself at the expense of the Gospel or getting or requiring personal worship for his duties? Not even Paul who was one of the biggest Apostles the Church ever had, required this nor was he ever given that kind of adulation that these ministers that spread the prosperity gospels etc do!
God wants everybody to be saved, even though He knows that not everybody will be saved. Nevertheless, He will try to reach anyone of us in order to have us saved. The Holy Spirit helps Him and us herewith. He testifies about Jesus, He works miracles through us for the glory of Jesus and for the sake of our salvation. It is for this purpose that God told us in Acts 1:8:
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”. Power to perform Jesus’ work, to continue His ministry down here on earth.
However, in order for us to receive the Holy Spirit there are some requirements. You cannot expect the Third Person of the Trinity to come into an unclean temple. First there must be a confession of all sin in our lives, and a cleansing with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that our bodies are the temple where the Holy Spirit resides. Therefore we must be without sin, and live proper lives. This means that we must live our lives through Jesus, confessing every vile sin and crucifying our flesh on a daily basis.
When the Holy Spirit comes, He always brings a rich revelation of Jesus Christ. This revelation becomes so real to you, that you immediately begin to express your love and start to praise Him with a joyful heart.You see, when the Holy Spirit reveals you something about Jesus and His love for you, your heart leaps with joy. This joy will reverberate in your faith. You will find yourself with such an tremendous amount of faith, that the Words of Jesus “..for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you”(Mt 17:20)keep resounding in your ears.
The Holy Spirit has nine gifts which a Paul sums up in 1 Corinthians 8:10. These gifts are the speaking of tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy, healing, working of miracles, discernment of spirits, word of wisdom and the word of knowledge and the gift of faith. Now Paul also tells us that all these gifts are distinctive in varieties and distributions of endowments to every one of us. Some have the gift of faith, while others have the gift of speaking in tongues .Nevertheless they all are from and operate under the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12: 6).
This simply means that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to us as God pleases, and in the measure as He thinks fit. But to each one of us is given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual illumination for good and profit (1 Cor. 12:7).All these gifts are inspired and brought to pass by one and the same (Holy Spirit), Who apportions to each individually as He chooses (1 Cor. 12:11).
The Holy Spirit carries out the will of Jesus Christ and the Father. If you want to know the mind of God, you must have the Holy Spirit to help you understand His Scripture, the Bible. In this way you will know His will and His mind .Whenever you want to understand more of God, before you turn to your Bible, ask God to give you revelation through the Holy Spirit. God is faithful, He will do so. When the Holy Spirit is present, things will happen. Your understanding of God’s Word will enhance, you will feel His presence and His guiding in your life .There is really no limit to the power and blessing He has stored up for those who love Him. “Be filled with the Spirit”(Eph. 5:18).
These are all powerful promises given to us by God when we receive the Holy Spirit. We ought to be so full of the manifestation of the power of God in our lives,that in the name of Jesus, we can destroy the power of Satan in an absolute way over our lives. Even though we are in the world, we are not of it (John 17:11,14). Jesus overcame the world (John 16:33), and we are in the world to subdue it unto God, as overcomers through Jesus.
We are nothing in ourselves, but in Christ “we are more than conquerors”(Rom. 8:37) through the blood of Jesus, more than a match for satanic powers in every way. We just need to have faith in God and in His power.
We also need the Holy Spirit to pray effectively unto God. If we ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit in order for us to pray accordingly, He will do so. Sometimes we do not know how to pray or what to pray. The Holy Spirit helps us then to pray accordingly. But if we want the Holy Spirit be manifest in our lives and in every area of our lives, we must be faithful to Jesus. We must live like Jesus. In order to do se we need to crucify our flesh on a daily basis, and try to achieve a Christ-like behavior. This is what God expects us to be as His children. Do not forget that we as Christians are His representatives on earth. That is why we need to have the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are here to serve others, just as Jesus served us and not to serve ourselves nor our fleshy lusts. Remember this: The Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit are for the exhortation of the Church and not for the exhortation of the individual as we see more and more on TV.
So let us draw near to God in order to learn from Him and to get to know real close our Father. Let us focus where the focus should be, on Jesus and the Cross.