The Holy Spirit – Part 3
1 Corinthians 12:1 NKJV (1) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:
The word “gifts was added by the translators. This verse actually says,
1 Corinthians 12:1 BBE But about the things of the spirit, my brothers, it is not right for you to be without teaching.
The Spirit Within and the Spirit Upon
John 4:13-14 NKJV Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, (14) but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Acts 1:8 NKJV But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Jesus told us there are two distinct works of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. One is in the New Birth where He works in us, and the other is in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit when the Spirit comes upon us.
John 7:37-39 NKJV On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. (38) He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (39) But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Notice Jesus likened the work of the Holy Spirit to water in a well (New Birth) and water flowing like a river (the baptism of the Holy Spirit).
The water in the well is for the believer’s own benefit but the river flowing out of us is for the benefit of others.
Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NKJV (7) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: (8) for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, (9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, (10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (11) But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
We can easily conclude from these two passages of Scripture that the Spirit within is for fruit bearing, and the outpouring of the Spirit is for service.
Three things we need to do to walk in the spirit:
- Constant renewals of the Spirit
2 Corinthians 4:16 NKJV (16) Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
Ephesians 3:16 NKJV that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
Ephesians 5:18-19 NLT Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, (19) singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.
Isaiah 40:31 NKJV But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
We are renewed in the Spirit by:
- Reading God’s Word
- Prayer and fellowship with Him
- Praising and worshipping God
- Walking in the Spirit
We need the Word of God in our lives but we must also have the Holy Spirit in our lives.
2 Corinthians 3:6 NKJV who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Every Born-Again believer can learn to walk in the Spirit, being led by Him in every area of life.
Galatians 5:16-25 NKJV I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (17) For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (19) Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, (20) idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, (21) envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (24) And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (25) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Simply put, to walk in the Spirit is to walk in the nine fruit of the Spirit.
By the way, you are going to have some evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in your life before God will really use you in the Gifts of the Spirit.
- Learn the ways of the Spirit
This is so we can trace God in all the circumstances that form our daily life with Him.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. (9) “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Luke 4:1-2 NKJV Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, (2) being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered.
Hebrews 5:8-9 NKJV though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (9) And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
Don’t confuse His suffering with His substitution. God’s plan is not for us to suffer the things that Jesus redeemed us from.
1 Peter 2:19-23 NLT For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. (20) Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. (21) For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps. (22) He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. (23) He did not retaliate when He was insulted, nor threaten revenge when He suffered. He left His case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
Philippians 2:7-8 NLT Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, (8) He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
The Holy Spirit will never lead you into a situation that you are unable to handle. What you need is already on the inside of you. He knows that even though you may not.
More Ways of the Spirit
One of the ways Christian people get off course is by evaluating the Word of God by their experiences, not the other way around.
We should never measure the Word of God by our experience with the Holy Spirit. Rather, we should ALWAYS measure our experience with the Holy Spirit by the Word of God.
There will always be a precedent in the Word of God for our experiences with the Holy Spirit, otherwise we should shelve or disregard our experience until we receive revelation from the Word.
John 1:14 NKJV And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 14:26 NKJV But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
John 16:13-15 NKJV However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. (14) He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (15) All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
We have this misconception that a service or ministry opportunity is not being Spirit-led unless there is an element of chaos with it.
God’s number one priority is always to win the lost.
God is a planner. Jesus never “flowed” by the seat of His pants in ministry. There was always a plan and order in what He did.
John 5:19 NKJV Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
The more I have become familiar with the Holy Spirit, I have found there are fewer “spontaneous” moments with Him. I mean in the sense of what we call “flowing” with the Spirit in a service.
I found out the Holy Spirit can talk to me on Tuesday as well as He can talk to me in the middle of a service. The real question is, am I listening?
When in doubt, always default to your next level of God-given authority where the ministry of the Holy Spirit is concerned.