Do not let religion and doubt make you think the Holy Spirit is not for you, for now, in this day.
The gifts of the Spirit are as available today as they were to those believers of old.
After my husband became a Christian it was not long before the Lord gave him visions, and dreams with words of knowledge. Always these gifts were to warn him to protect him, or to witness to someone, or to pray for someone. It amazed him and further sealed his understanding of the power of Jesus Christ.
Many of us see the manifestation of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. These become more and more evident as we read the Bible, and grow closer to God through His Son Jesus.
They are: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.
The gifts
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In John 3:8 He said,
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
We have no control over our Spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit comes as He wills to protect us or others, to give knowledge that lifts the church as a whole. He comes to give us warning, wisdom and help for those God loves. He gives us the Lords healing in our hands acting as His conduit.
We pray to the Lord in the language only God knows, unless one has been given the gift of interpretation.
The Holy Spirit does not come by a religious ceremony, but comes when we receive Jesus. Afterward, it is God who will send the gifts as He sees we need.
Christians are often ridiculed for this manifestation. People do not understand how God speaks to us. That is because they do not know God. If that is the case, it is time to ask God to clean our hearts. We need ask Him to show us where hidden sin is in our lives. We need spend time daily and I mean each and every day, in the Word of God. We need pray, fast, and live as is outlined in Matthew 5, 6 and
In the film “The Holy Ghost People,” right away we get individual accounts of what the “Holy Spirit” is to certain individuals. One woman says the Holy Ghost guides her and keeps her going. The people are very intense about their beliefs, which comes from the religion Pentecostalism, which has a hyper focus on personal experience with God and baptism with the Holy Spirit. We see them in their church, we hear the sermon, and see the ritualistic dances and the way the prayer overcomes them, and causes seizure like motions. We see and hear the prayers for the healing of one woman’s eyesight, and another woman’s back pain. One man, seemingly the pastor, says that “if God is not doing what they ask, people aren’t believing hard enough.” Later we get an account from a woman of how she was nursed back to health as a little girl brought her nutrients, and she believes it was
The Spirit helps us implore (Romans 8:26-27). He gives us new life (John 3:3-6). He is our consoler, and he helps us comprehend God's statement (John 14:26). He lifts up Christ (John 15:26). He convicts us of wrongdoing (John 16:7-11). He helps us to live holy lives (Romans 15:16). He gives us love, happiness, peace, tolerance, thoughtfulness, goodness, faithfulness, tenderness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). He helps us share our confidence (Acts 1:8). What's more, he lives inside us (Romans
spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” Holding the scriptures close to us is the best way to
Now that we have established the Spirit as a person, how does He play a personal role in our lives and what is His role in the Trinity? When we are faced with trials and di...
The Holy Spirit is for everyone. When the Holy Spirit came in Acts it fell on everyone who was in the room not just certain people. According to verse 17 the sign of the Holy Spirit is that you speak. When the Holy Spirit comes on falls on you the only response is to tell people about it. As the NT church today we should be cautious not to put limits on the Holy Spirit.
The Church as a whole debates many concepts that are in the Bible, in both theology and in practice. One of these debates surrounds the gifts that are spoken of in the Bible. In one corner are those who believe that charismatic gifts are alive and well in the church today. The Continuationist view believes that the gifts have continued on through Biblical times and are still relevant for today. In the other corner are those who believe that particular gifts have ceased to be used in the modern church and that they were only given for a particular reason in Biblical times. This view is called the Cessationist. Today each view, and other views in between, and the practice of the gifts in the current culture will be examined for truth, validity, and application by searching through each view and holding fast to the scripture as the final word of authority.
In the book, The Gifts and Ministry of the Holy Spirit, Sumrall states the meaning of spiritual gift comes from the Greek word called “charisma”. Charisma
The Continuationists believe that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit are still distributed today, are still presently active, and are still required in the church. James Fowler, author of article Charismata: Rethinking the So-Called Spiritual Gifts explains, “God used the gifts of the Spirit to testify to His message (Heb 2:3-4). His message has not changed. Although Christians have the complete Bible now, the concept of using all of the gifts to testify to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ remains sound. The words Paul used referring to the supernatural gifts of the Spirit were charismata and pneumatika, translated as "spiritual gifts" and conceived to be "detached entities or abilities distinct from Christ and distributed by the Spirit".
A debated issue throughout the Christian world since the early church has been the issue of baptism of the Holy Spirit. Questions of when does a follower of Christ actually receive God’s Spirit have been in dispute and scrutinized with very different understandings of the scriptural references to this splendid transformation that takes places in the life of a Christian. In both the Old and New Testaments, The Holy Spirit is a constant person that works in and amongst God’s people. In Numbers 11:24-25, the Spirit of God is displayed when “the Spirit rested on them”, referring to the seventy elders that were appointed to aid Moses. 1 Samuel 16:13 states that the mysterious Spirit of God rushed upon David during his coronation as the King of Israel. In Joel 2:28, the Spirit is promised by the prophet. “And it shall come to pass, afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” These are only a few of the references that appear in the Old Testament to the Spirit of God, but there is a very active present of the Spirit of God. John Stott writes, “In the Old Testament days, although all believers were indeed regenerate, the Holy Spirit came upon special people for special ministries at special times.” The differences in the Old and New Testament inner workings of the Spirit seems to be for temporary appointment in the Old Testament and permanent indwelling in the New Testament.
Pneumatology is the doctrine that focuses on the personhood of the Holy Spirit. Through out the New Testament the Holy Spirit is granted specific characteristics and duties. Following the resurrection, Jesus said “another” is coming in my place. In John Jesus says, “Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever.” During the ministry of Christ, Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the encourager, comforter and enabler. This paper will discuss the multidimensional portrayals of the work of the Holy Spirit as it applies to global missions. In the Old Testament the Spirit of God is described in terms of God’s efficacious authority and in the New Testament Jesus refers to the spirit of God as another advocate who was sent from the Father. While the Holy Spirit does not pose a physical body it contains the characteristics of a person. “In accordance with Scripture the “personality” of the Holy Spirit is confessed and defined in the Creeds and in all the Church’s doctrinal judgments concerning the divine Trinity.” The Hoy Spirit embodies the essence of both the Father and the Son.
As we search the word of God with passion and earnestly, the Holy Spirit will illuminate us, so we can grasp his will in our life “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:13).
At one point or another in one’s life you are faced with God, eye to eye and you know it. You can feel the Holy Spirit’s presence, like a humming sound that’s too low to hear, but it’s there and you can feel it, a feeling that you are not alone. For some, this feeling lasts for eternity, and for others God works within them again and again because the Lord’s love is persistent. The feeling I had came and went, for it was not strong enough as a child. But now, I am the strongest I have ever been.
When one fully gives himself to God, but has not receive the Holy Spirit, he must just keep trusting God that His word is true and that He will do the work. Also one can expect temptation just like Jesus did. When the Holy Spirit comes, He does not leave quickly. When one seeks the Holy Spirit when He is already there, it grieves Him. One should be prayerfully watchful and seek to be an open channel instead of seeking for more power.3
The Holy Spirit is the gift given by God freely to those who repent their sins and believe in Jesus Christ (Acts 1:4-5, 2:38). It is God’s promise for all the people (2:39). The Holy Spirit is available to any believers even if they are the gentiles. Peter was astonished when he saw that the gentiles also received the Holy Spirit (10:24-48). He realized that ‘God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right’ (10:34-35). Since it is the gift from God, it cannot be purchased with money (8:19-20).
In the first case, the apostles experience the Holy Spirit in the same way that Jesus experienced