Called to Be a Prophetic People

Image by DS Stories, from Pexels

In Revelation 19:10, John, overwhelmed by all he had been shown by the angel, attempted to fall down and worship him. The angel immediately forbade John from doing so and exhorted him, “…Worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” The New Living Translation (NLT) states it, “…Worship only God. For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus.”

What does this tell us? If we are followers of Jesus, we hold the testimony of Him in our hearts. And because He is our all in all, our primary focus should always be Him. That includes when we prophesy.

God calls His Church to be a prophetic people. It is part of our purpose and inheritance in Christ. The Holy Spirit desires to speak God’s thoughts through us for many reasons, including (but not limited to) evangelism; intercession; revelatory teaching of the Word; encouraging or exhorting; and bringing correction, direction, or counsel. All these elements of prophecy testify of Jesus in one way or another. True prophecy points people to Him.

Therefore, if we suppress the Spirit’s prompting to speak what is in His heart, we are not fulfilling a large part of our calling. Why would we do that? Probably the most frequent reason is intimidation. We fear making a mistake and being rejected, ridiculed, or reproved. Perhaps we think only people who are known as prophets are allowed to speak, but 1 Corinthians 14:31 says, “For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.” Maybe our minds have limited us to the idea that prophecy is only supposed to happen in a church setting.

If you think of prophecy as speaking forth the heart of God, anywhere and anytime He leads, it won’t seem so intimidating to you. You don’t necessarily have to give a “Thus saith the LORD” message. In fact, starting out with that phrase isn’t usually the best idea anyway.

If you feel an urging to encourage someone with a thought you sense is from the Lord, do that. It can be as simple as sharing a Bible verse you think the Lord wants to speak to him or her. Sometimes, the Lord gives me several verses for a particular person to comfort them or to cause them to reach out to the Lord for themselves. The results of sharing them have generally been good.

As you are praying, maybe you suddenly have an idea about exactly how to intercede. Praying by the leading of the Holy Spirit is an element of prophecy. The Lord might urge you to share with a person you prayed for what you received while praying. Do it, and you will bless that person.

Thirty-three years ago, I received a cancer diagnosis. At my first visit to the oncologist, he gave me a devastating report of just how bad it might be. But when I got home, a card from a friend was waiting for me in my mailbox. It simply said, “Lee Ann, Jesus says not to worry. You will be all right.” That friend took a step of faith in sharing what she heard prophetically, but I am grateful to this day for her timely word.

Recently, I shared with our prayer group a Bible verse which kept coming to mind during our worship time. What I didn’t anticipate doing was then going on to expound on how that verse applied in our current circumstances. I didn’t have to think it out; it just flowed. That is an aspect of the prophetic.

A lady in our home fellowship shared a Bible verse I had not previously been aware of, and it taught me a basic truth about the Lord. She mentioned the verse in passing, probably not even realizing she was prophetically flowing in the Spirit. But she was doing just what 1 Corinthians 14:31 says, “For you may all prophesy … so that all may learn.” I learned something new about the Lord’s nature that day.

I know of a few Christian authors who use fiction to speak the word of the Lord prophetically into people’s hearts. They each have a gift for showing people aspects of Jesus through their writing. Their novels act as subtle parables to bring particular truths and to draw their readers closer to Him.

Perhaps God inspires you with songs to glorify Him. Writing lyrics or composing music by the prompting of the Holy Spirit is a form of prophecy. Consider Fanny Crosby’s thousands of beloved hymns. Handel wrote Messiah in about three weeks’ time. He locked himself away, barely eating or sleeping during that time, and when he came forth with the finished score, he said he felt he had been in the very presence of God.

When we understand that prophecy is part of every believer’s calling in Christ, we can be confident that He will use us in it in a variety of ways — often quite subtly. Expect Him to use you prophetically wherever you go. Ask Him to! Ask Him to help you be sensitive to His leading, and to give you the courage to speak forth what He brings to your heart.

The more you step into yielding your words to Him, the more often it will happen. You will end up glorifying the Lord Jesus more than you ever thought possible. It is a satisfying and exciting way to live.
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The Spirit-Filled Guide to Personal Prophecy

The Dream Book: A Practical Guide to Christian Dream Interpretation

Accessing God’s Presence

Do you long to experience God’s presence more than you now do? If you are a believer — one who has accepted Jesus’ atonement on your behalf and who has yielded your life to His Lordship — you don’t have to jump through hoops to get there. You don’t have to follow a ritual, say a certain set of words, or ask God’s permission to enter into His presence. He invites you to perpetually live there.

Let’s see what the Bible has to say about this:

Psalm 91:1 — “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” This first verse of this beloved psalm is the gateway into all the other promises it contains. God desires for us to constantly live in His presence.

John 15:7 — “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done for you.” John 15 starts out with Jesus telling us He is the vine, and we are the branches. If the branch is not attached to its source, the vine, it withers and dies. The implication, once again, is that we are meant to stay attached to Him continuously (and thereby also to His presence). We are not meant to come and go.

Under the Old Covenant of the Law, there was a specific form which had to be followed exactly in order to enter the presence of God.

The progression for getting into the Lord’s presence started with the outer court of the tabernacle/temple, where sacrifices were brought to be burned on the altar by the priests. Past the outer court was the Holy Place, where the golden lampstand, the table of showbread, and the incense altar were. Only the priests were allowed in the Holy Place. Finally, there was the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence rested upon the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The high priest was the only one who ever got there, and then only once a year. If he did it wrong, he died.

That was all before Jesus’ atonement on the cross.

But what happened when Jesus said, “It is finished”? The curtain which divided the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies in the temple ripped, from the top down. God had torn the veil between Himself and the common man. He made the way of access to Himself available for every believer, and it all came about through Jesus’ once-and-for-all sacrifice of Himself. His blood forever speaks for us on the mercy seat in heaven.

Too frequently, we hear Christian leaders inviting us to perform certain steps to “get into the presence” of God. It sometimes involves a sequence of actions they want us to take, much like passing from the outer court, where we spend time reflecting on and repenting of wrongs we have done. Some teachers talk about making a “sacrifice” of some sort, in order to enter an intermediate “holy place,” where we praise and worship for a period of time. After the leader feels we have praised and worshiped sufficiently, he might invite everyone into a process of saying certain ritualistic words, such as asking God for permission to enter into His courts. Then, after we have done all the right stuff, we can confidently come before the Lord with our requests.

Ugh! It’s not right. The apostle Paul exhorts us to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), and this ritualistic attempt to gain favor with the Lord so we can enter His presence is not discerning the divide between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant in Christ. It is coming back under the Law, but not with animal sacrifices like the Old Testament saints did. Now it’s got a new spin — still with ritual attached. In the process, we have forgotten the veil is already rent, so that we now have the privilege of dwelling in God’s presence.

I love both private and corporate worship, and yes, I understand that spending time adoring the Lord makes us feel nearer to Him — rightly so. With all the distractions we experience on an hourly basis, we tend to forget to stay in our dwelling place in Him. Worshiping the Lord helps us draw near again. It lifts us out of our everyday distractions. Really, it is not that we have stopped being in God’s presence; it is that we have become unaware of His nearness.

In the prayer gatherings my husband and I lead, worship is our first priority. Before we head into intercession, we spend time worshiping God with the help of music which lends itself well to that goal. It helps us all to lay aside the busyness of the day, to settle in, and focus on the Lord. As we all get our attention fully centered on Jesus, His presence does seem to be more tangible to us as a group. But mostly, we worship Him because He is worthy, not so we can experience the goosebumps of feeling His nearness, and certainly not to butter Him up so we get our prayers answered!

The Lord wants us, heart and soul. He wants our attention. And, He wants us to come to the place of recognizing that we have constant access to Him — not through steps and forms, but because He has thrown open the way through His Son. He wants us to see ourselves as living continually in His presence, not coming and going on visits to His throne room.

We have the Holy Spirit living, breathing, and burning in our hearts at all times, always wanting to remind us that not only do we live in His presence, but He has brought His presence right into our hearts. He is always there inside. You don’t have to go through rituals to be catapulted into His audience. You might not always “feel” Him, but He’s still there. Believe His promise, and make it your goal to grow in your awareness of your constant union with Him.

 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

For we do not have a high priest Who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one Who was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. — Hebrews 4:14-16

Come boldly, because Jesus has already made the way, and your Father has invited you to live in His presence. Come boldly, because the Holy Spirit’s dwelling place is now inside of you. Live in His fire, His counsel, His love, and His peace. Because He said you can.
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Yes and Amen
God’s Promises from Genesis Through Revelation

(Choose from King James Version or Modernized King James Version)

Before Whom We Stand

Old Era Closing, New Era Opening

Image by Squirrel_photos from Pixabay

I mentioned last time that I had two dreams to share with you. Here is one of them. It is about an event shortly to come:

My husband Paul and I were at a grocery store we used to frequent. In real life, that store hasn’t been in business for about thirty-five years. It went bankrupt back then.

The setting was a dark, dreary, rainy Saturday evening, just a few days before Christmas. When we got into the store’s entryway, we saw some featured specials there, and I put several items in our cart.

An instrumental version of Christ the Solid Rock had just begun playing over the speaker system, and when it got to the chorus, I started singing along:

On Christ the solid rock I stand /
All other ground is sinking sand /
All other ground is sinking sand.

I noticed there was an older couple in the entryway with us, and as soon as I began to sing the words, they quietly joined in.

I continued on, singing the third verse, and they sang along with me as we entered the main part of the store:

His oath, His covenant, His blood /
Support me in the ‘whelming flood /
When all around my soul gives way /
He then is all my hope and stay.

We had barely started shopping when we noticed the lights were dimming, and  we realized the store was closing early, because it was a Saturday night. (Stores did that on weekend nights in those days.) Paul said he would wait for me by the checkouts with what we already had in the cart, while I quickly went through the store to grab other deals I wanted to purchase.

I didn’t find anything in the next few minutes, and in the meantime, the lights were dimming even more. We checked out the items we had, and as we left through the exit-way, I saw a lady in a wheelchair. I stopped to ask her if I could pray for her, and she allowed me to, so I briefly laid my hands on her and prayed a simple prayer for her healing.

What does it mean?

As I prayed for interpretation of the dream, this is what I felt the Lord was showing me:

A prominent theme was darkness. It was dark and dreary outside, and the lights were growing dim inside the store. The times we are living in are very dark spiritually.

It was Saturday evening, right before closing. I felt the Lord showed me that we are at the very end of an era, but we are in anticipation of a new era. Sunday’s coming. Saturday is the end of the week, but the next day begins a new week. Sunday, for the Christian, often represents resurrection as well.

Also, it was just a few days before Christmas. At Christmastime, we celebrate Jesus’ first coming to earth as a baby. But traditionally in the Church, Advent (the time leading up to Christmas) is also celebrated as the expectation of Jesus’ second coming — first for His Bride, and then to physically rule on the earth.

The sale items we purchased represent taking advantage of what God provides in the closing days and hours. We are to wisely use the material things which still remain available in the world. The time is short when we can still do so. We should also be wise in taking hold of opportunities presented to us.

The specific words of the song I’ve recorded here were prominent. I didn’t sing any other verses. There’s a message in them for us.

I was sharing the hope of Jesus in small ways. That started with something as simple as a song. Hearing it gave other people courage to retake hold of these truths for themselves. Somebody needed to start it, but others then joined in. I also shared Jesus’ love by stopping to pray with the woman in the wheelchair. Sometimes we think the little things we do every day as we are led by the Holy Spirit don’t matter much. They do.

John 9:4, 5 came to mind as I thought on the dream: “I must work the works of Him Who sent Me while it is day. The night is coming, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” These are Jesus’ words about Himself, but they apply to us as well. He told us that we are to do His works (John 14:12), and He also said that we are to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). We can do this through “Christ in [us], the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

So, the era we are in is coming to a close. Old things are passing away, and Jesus is on the verge of making all things new. “Sunday is coming!” While we wait for the old to pass away, we need to make good use of the time remaining to share Jesus and to strengthen other people’s faith in the face of the darkness.

Does this mean the Rapture of the Church is nearly upon us? I hope so! The Lord did not clarify for me what the old era moving into the new one means. People who are of a different end-times mindset than mine would see a “new era” quite differently. We will just have to see how it all plays out.

In the meantime, we are to bring Jesus to the world around us in every way we can.
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The Dream Book: A Practical Guide to Christian Dream Interpretation

Hearing God Through Your Dreams

The Table Is Set

Image by Jordan Stimpson from Pixabay

Some years ago, the Lord said to me, “My halls are ready. My table is set.” I was startled, as I had not been thinking about anything like that at the time. But I immediately knew He was speaking of the Lord’s imminent return for His bride and the marriage supper of the Lamb.

It does not take much imagination, as we look around us, to know that we are in the last of the last days. Unthinkable wickedness abounds at greater levels than we ever imagined. We see that geologically, the earth is shuddering and convulsing at an accelerated rate. The climate appears to have gone bonkers. Mankind, hard as we try, has been unable to solve pollution, new diseases, insect populations gone wild, technology developments which have escaped our grasp, and on and on it goes. In fact, we, in our humanistic attempts to better ourselves, have caused many of the problems.

Even though it’s been a while since I heard, “My halls are ready; My table is set,” the lapse of time does not dismay me, for I know what 2 Peter 3:8 says: “But, beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Our Father in heaven does all things perfectly. He will send our Lord Jesus to receive us at the very best moment.

Peter gives us a reason why He still waits: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing for any to perish, but that all would come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He delays because of His great mercy.

How should we respond to the seemingly long wait until Jesus appears for us? First of all, we are to occupy until He comes (Luke 19:13). We serve the Lord in whatever ways He directs us to, using our time well, especially in sharing the good news of Jesus in every way we can.

You no doubt are familiar with the story of the five wise and five foolish virgins, found in Matthew 25:1-13. We must keep our “lamps” full of oil, having reserve oil stored up within ourselves, in case He takes a while yet before He comes. How do we do that? By making sure our lives stay filled up with the Holy Spirit through prayer, the Scriptures, worship, and fellowship with other fervent believers.

We are to “love His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8). Hebrews 9:28 tells us “…To them who look for Him He shall appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation.”  Jesus exhorted His disciples time and again to be watching for Him, to be ready for His return, because we do not know the day or hour when He will come. (See Luke 12:35-44; Matthew 24:36-44; Mark 13:32-37; Luke 21:36; Matthew 25:13.)

I truly shudder when I hear Christians say Jesus will not come back for a long time yet. They haven’t heard that from the Spirit of God, for it contradicts what Jesus Himself said and what His apostles reiterated throughout their epistles.

Whether your end-times belief is pre-Trib, mid-Trib, or post-Trib makes no difference to me. While my understanding of the Scriptures causes me to lean toward a pre-Trib catching away (Rapture) of the saints, the Lord once explained to me that no one’s eschatology is completely right on all points. I can live with that. I think we all have to live with that until it unfolds. Then, how events play out will make perfect sense.

In the meantime, we need to be diligent to be ready, setting right the areas where we are not living purely, waiting expectantly, knowing that He could come at any moment, just because He said He could.

Occupy until He comes. Make sure your “lamp” is continually filled with the oil of the Spirit. Be ready at all times. And love His appearing.
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Yes and Amen: God’s Promises from Genesis Through Revelation
(KJV or Modernized KJV editions)

All-Surpassing Peace in a Shaking World

The Seven-Fold Spirit of God in Your Life (Part 4)

Photo by Arnau Soler on Unsplash

We’ve been talking about the seven-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit as expressed in Isaiah 11:2-4. Here is the passage again:

And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD, (v. 2)
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, (v. 3)
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor…. (v. 4)

We began this series with another reference to the seven-fold Spirit of God, Revelation 5:6, where He is symbolized by the seven eyes of the Lamb (His all-knowing nature) and seven horns (representing power or might). These same two aspects are revealed in 2 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward Him.” The all-knowing Spirit is mighty on our behalf, if we are committed to the Lord.

The Spirit of might assists us, so we can live in overcoming victory. Ephesians 3:16 puts it, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” He “always causes us to triumph in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:14).

Furthermore, He demonstrates His might through us. Jesus was anointed and filled with the Spirit of might; we have also been given this same attribute of the Spirit — and we are expected to operate in it. This is why Jesus, before He ascended into heaven, commanded His followers not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4). He said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8).

When we are a powerless church, we are not living in the Spirit’s anointing of might. This is abnormal Christianity, for Jesus said, “And these signs shall follow those who believe: In My name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them [supernatural protection]; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:17, 18).

The apostle Paul reiterated that we are to be a people of power in the Holy Spirit: “…[I] will know, not the speech of those who are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:19, 20).

This power is not given to us for our own thrills or for any selfish purposes whatsoever. It is for those who, like Paul, make Jesus their All-in-All. He said, “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Jesus and the cross. Always, Jesus and the cross! Those who are focused on Him are the ones who receive His power, because the Spirit in all His fullness is given to us so that we will be Christ’s witnesses in the earth (Acts 1:8)

How do we live out the might of the Holy Spirit? The same way Jesus did. Isaiah 61:1, 2 prophesied of Him, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the meek. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.”

Acts 10:38 says, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

And 1 John 4:17 tells us, “…As He is, so are we in this world.” Jesus said, “He who believes on Me, the works that I do he shall also do — and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12). The Bible is clear that we are to operate in the same might Jesus did, because we are filled with the Holy Spirit, just as He was on earth.

This concludes our series on the seven-fold Spirit of God. I’d love to hear your thoughts or experiences in the comments!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Yes and Amen:
God’s Promises from Genesis Through Revelation

The Names of God
(An alphabetical list from the KJV)

The Seven-Fold Spirit of God in Your Life (Part 3)

Photo by Arnau Soler on Unsplash

We have been taking a look at the Holy Spirit’s ministry to us (and through us) as described in Isaiah 11:2-4. Here are those verses again.

And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD, (v. 2)
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, (v. 3)
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor…. (v. 4)

In our last post, I mentioned that although all the seven-fold attributes of the Spirit in these verses are inextricably entwined, the fear of the Lord seems to be a gateway into the other parts. One of the signs of having the fear of the Lord is that we trust and believe Him. I said that this trust becomes greater as we grow in the knowledge of Him.

I believe that the “spirit of knowledge” is primarily about knowing Him. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian believers starts with, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened…” (Ephesians 1:17, 18).

Knowing Him means we understand His character — that He is completely trustworthy and good in all He says and does. He never makes empty promises to us. When we know Him, our understanding becomes enlightened. It expands. We saw last time that Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,” but it goes on to say, “and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

The spirit of knowledge starts with knowing the Lord Himself, but as we pursue knowing Him, we come into knowing things He imparts to us, too. Take a look again at Ephesians 1:17, 18. Besides knowledge of the Lord, it also mentions the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the eyes of our understanding being enlightened. So, we’ve got wisdom, understanding, and knowledge all working together. (Remember we said that the attributes of the seven-fold Spirit are all intertwined?)

The spirit of counsel is also tied in closely with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. When we have knowledge of the Lord, we can more easily hear what He wants to say. The Holy Spirit counsels (guides) us. He counsels us with knowledge we could not have on our own (the word of knowledge, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8). And, He gives us the word of wisdom (also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8) to counsel others. This involves the anointing to speak a word to someone at the right moment on the Lord’s behalf. “The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned [that’s knowledge], so that I would know how to speak a word in season [that’s wisdom] to him who is weary. He wakens me morning by morning; He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back” (Isaiah 50:4, 5).

Isaiah 50:4, 5 was originally prophesied about the coming Messiah, just like our verses from Isaiah 11 were, but as we have already said, because we now have the Holy Spirit, these things are ours to partake of as well. Jesus said the Spirit would glorify Him by receiving what belonged to Jesus and showing it to us, too (John 16:14, 15).

After listing the attributes the Holy Spirit imparts to us, Isaiah 11:3, 4 says, “He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall he judge….” Wisdom, understanding, counsel, and the knowledge of the Lord all help us to discern on a higher level. We are no longer solely dependent upon what our natural, physical senses tell us about people and situations around us. In fact, the Lord wants us to look beyond the physically obvious to what He sees. We are able to do this because the Holy Spirit enables us. 

The apostle Paul refers to these things as mysteries given to us by God. He says in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 that it is “not the wisdom of this world” (verse 6). Verse 7 adds, “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom,” which the people of this world cannot know (verse 8). “But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things — yes, the deep things of God” (verse 10). 

He goes on to tell us that these spiritual gifts are “freely given to us” by Him (verse 12), but the natural-minded person cannot receive them or know them, “because they are spiritually discerned” (verse 14). “But he who is spiritual judges [discerns] all things… (verse 15), because “we have the mind of Christ” (verse 16).

Many believers are not tapping into spiritual discernment these days. Too many of us operate on the same level as nonbelievers in how we perceive the world around us. But this is not God’s intent. He wants us to understand freely the “hidden wisdom” which only the Holy Spirit can impart. We can have it by pursuing Him for the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and knowledge. I encourage you to meditate on 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. Read it together with Isaiah 11:2-4 and Ephesians 1:17, 18. As you do, you will learn how you can live more strongly in the manifestations of the Spirit.

Next time, we’ll wrap up this series by talking about the “spirit of might.”

Part 1

Part 2

Part 4

Before Whom We Stand:
The Everyman’s Guide to the Nature of God

The Spirit-Filled Guide to Personal Prophecy

The Seven-Fold Spirit of God in Your Life (Part 2)

Photo by Arnau Soler on Unsplash

Last time, we began looking at the seven-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit, and how it affects believers today. We used Isaiah 11:2-4 as our text:

And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD, (v. 2)
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, (v. 3)
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor…. (v. 4)

The first portion of verse 3 consists of only three Hebrew words, ruach (breath; breathe; to blow; spirit; wind), yirah (fear), and yehovah (God’s name). Translators have attempted to make these three words flow in sentence form in various ways. I mentioned last time that “shall make him of quick understanding” is the King James Version’s rendition of ruach, so we could say the Spirit breathed the fear of the LORD into the Messiah. (And He wants to do the same for us today.)

All of the aspects of the seven-fold Spirit of the Lord are interwoven with each other. Each one leads to and complements the others. We can’t really separate them, because they are all a part of Who the Holy Spirit is and what He wants to impart to us. 

But the “fear of the LORD” does seem to be a door for us to experience the other attributes of the seven-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Verse 2 mentions “the spirit of wisdom and understanding,” and Proverbs 9:10 tells us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Psalm 110:10 also says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and Proverbs 1:7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

What evidence do we have that we carry the fear of the Lord in us? For the believer, this is not a fear of God the Father angrily watching us, eagerly looking for an opportunity to beat us with a big stick the moment we do something wrong. Rather, it is an extreme awe and reverence for Him, coupled with adoration.

If we have the fear of the Lord, we will “worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such people to worship Him” (John 4:23). We worship Him with sincerity; with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). The opposite of the fear of the Lord is insincerity, going through ritualistic motions with no heart engagement, as found in Isaiah 29:13: “…These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and with their lips honor me, but they have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men.”

When we carry the fear of the Lord inside, we obey Him. We submit to Him all that we are and all that we have, including what our preferences would be. We don’t demand that He meet our expectations or conditions. We hold nothing back for ourselves.

A third element of the fear of the Lord is that we trust and believe Him. This goes hand in hand with the spirit of knowledge, which starts with knowing Him — His character, ways, how He thinks. (More on that in the next post.)

God greatly prizes a heart which is devoted to the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 33:6 says, “The fear of the LORD is His treasure.”

Possessing the fear of the Lord is due to the Spirit Himself breathing it into us, but we can cultivate it and make sure it stays fresh in us by cherishing His presence and taking heed not to grieve the Holy Spirit with our attitudes, words, or willful actions. If we see ourselves falling into ritualistic worship ruts, or unbelief, or lack of being yielded to Him (these are easy for any of us to slide into), we can cry out to the Lord to fill us again with the fear of the Lord. He will be happy to help us.

Part 1
Part 3
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Before Whom We Stand:
The Everyman’s Guide to the Nature of God

All-Surpassing Peace in a Shaking World

The Seven-Fold Spirit of God in Your Life (Part 1)

Photo by Arnau Soler on Unsplash

The Book of Revelation speaks of “the seven Spirits of God.” In Revelation 4:5, they are portrayed as seven lamps of fire burning before God’s throne. Revelation 5:6 reveals them as the seven horns (representing power and authority) and the seven eyes (all-seeing and all knowing) of the Lamb of God.The references are not about seven distinct spirits; rather, they are depicting the Holy Spirit and His seven-fold ministry. Seven is a number symbolizing God and His completeness, perfection, and rest.

We also find a reference to the seven-fold Spirit of God in Isaiah 11:2, 3, and that is what I’d like to share with you today. I recently spent time meditating on this passage, and I hope you will be blessed by what I found there:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. (v. 1)
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD, (v. 2)
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, (v. 3)
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor…. (v. 4)

Verse 1, of course, refers to the coming Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). The Holy Spirit rested upon Him and filled Him with all these holy aspects of Himself. Since we have received Jesus and now have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we are also invited to partake of all His wonderful facets.

When the Messiah came, the Holy Spirit  rested upon Him. This prophecy was physically fulfilled at Jesus’ water baptism, where “the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him” (Luke 3:22). At Pentecost, He rested upon the disciples in the upper room as well: “And there appeared to them cloven tongues like fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 2:3, 4).

After Jesus’ ascension, just like the Spirit had rested upon Jesus, He likewise rested upon the first disciples. In the same way, He is now available, and eager, to rest upon us. That rest means He settles upon us, remains with us, deposits His anointing upon us. He also rests within us, bringing into us all His attributes. We find inner rest in His presence, His assurances, His leading. His anointing burns inside of us.

When we are baptized in the Spirit, it is a full immersion, inside and out. The best illustration I have seen of this is a pitcher of water which has been filled beyond the brim, so that it is overflowing and spilling all around it. That’s what we are called to be — so filled up with the Lord that we spill His presence and power out to others wherever we go.

Verse 3 says the Spirit would “make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD.” That’s is the way the King James Version puts it. Most translations say something like, “He will delight in the fear of the Lord.” I wanted to know what the Hebrew actually said, and was surprised to find that the whole phrase “make Him of quick understanding” is just one word — ruach, which means wind, the breath (spirit), to breathe, or to blow upon. So, we could say that the Holy Spirit breathed the fear of the Lord into Jesus.

He wants to do the same thing with us.

 I frequently ask the Lord to increase the fear of the Lord in me. I get alarmed with how casually God’s people often treat the Lord of Hosts. Each of us needs a personal revelation of the fear of the Lord. It’s seems to be a rather untranslatable concept. “Extreme reverence” and “awe” give us some idea of what it means, but I think those both fall short of the whole picture.

The fear of the Lord is mentioned twice in this passage: as one of the aspects of the Spirit, and also as what He wants to breathe into us, so it must be particularly important for us to pay attention to. As I meditated on this passage, the Lord seemed to be showing me that acquiring the other facets of the seven-fold Spirit depends upon having the fear of the Lord first. We’ll talk about that more next time.

Part 2
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Before Whom We Stand:
The Everyman’s Guide to the Nature of God

The Baptism in the Spirit:
Why You Need It and How to Get It

How to Renew Your Mind (Part 3)

Image by Bernd from Pixabay

The Bible, prayer, and worship are all vital components of renewing our mind. However, we must also recognize that the natural mind is not thrilled with the idea of being transformed, and the devil doesn’t like the idea of change taking place there, either.

If we do not discipline our minds and continually insist they line up with what God says, strongholds (mindsets) which oppose God and His plans for us are gradually built up in how we think. The longer we allow that to go on, the more formidable those strongholds become. When we habitually think in patterns which don’t align with God’s thoughts, this is a sign that a stronghold has become well established in our mind.

How do strongholds get there? They often start with hurts we have received which cause us to feel inferior, unloved, unworthy, bitter, or rejected. And the enemy of our souls loves to capitalize on any of these unwholesome thoughts by furthering them. He injects unbidden ideas (which sound like our own) into our heads. These sound logical and solidify the poor mindsets we already have.

This is why the apostle Paul spoke, in 2 Corinthians 10:5, of “casting down imaginations and every high thing which exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Taking every thought captive — that’s what we have to do.

Our personal warfare for control of the mind also requires paying heed to what James 4:7 says: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Now, none of this is easy. Battles, including in our own minds, never are. We need to be vigilant, on the watch — especially while we are in the process of tearing down strongholds which have been there for a long time. God is certainly fighting for us, but we can’t be passive and expect Him to do it all. We partner together with Him to come into the right thinking He intends for us.

When we succeed in tearing down an incorrect mindset (stronghold), the Lord does not expect us to have an empty spot in its place. As the old one comes down, a new and opposite one must go up. We can, by agreeing with what God speaks, build holy strongholds in our thinking.

The key is to commit ourselves unrelentingly to align our thoughts with what God speaks — in His Word and in things He has personally told us which are in agreement with His Word. Has He given you a promise? Insist that your mind thinks likewise.

The greatest battles you will ever fight will be concerning the thoughts of your own mind. We cannot effectively wage war to take territory for the Lord in any other area if we are not making progress in conquering the unruly thoughts of our own mind.

Philippians 4:8 gives us practical advice for building godly strongholds within ourselves to replace the old ones: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, … honest, … just, … pure, … lovely, … [and] of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things.”

Our ultimate goal is to be like Jesus, including how we think. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Spiritual warfare, watchfulness, and perseverance will be needed in order to get there. Depending on the Lord’s constant aid is essential. We don’t do these things by our willpower, but by the power of the Holy Spirit Who fills us.

It takes much time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a renewed mind.

But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
— 1 Corinthians 15:57, 58

Part 1

Part 2
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Yes and Amen: God’s Promises from Genesis Through Revelation
(Available in King James Version or Modernized KJV)

Encouragement from God’s Word

How to Renew Your Mind (Part 2)

Gerd Altmann from Pixabay (Modified by Lee Ann Rubsam)

In our last post, we talked about renewing our mind through God’s Word and the various methods of reading it we can use. Most people stop there, thinking the Bible is the only tool we have for renewing our minds. However, there are more.

Really, renewing our mind always starts with our spirit. It is not merely an intellectual retraining of our brain. It’s about connecting with the Holy Spirit and then staying connected to Him. Another way of phrasing this is “abiding in Him.” That is why reading the Bible from the heart works, while only reading it from a scholarly desire for knowledge is likely to leave us untransformed and can even lead us into Phariseeism.

Therefore, the other means of renewing our mind also involve interacting with the Holy Spirit.

Worship

When we worship the Lord, placing our entire focus on His greatness, holiness, and worthiness, our thoughts are lifted into pure places. Fear, doubt, self, and the cares of earth are replaced with awe of Him. We enter into His presence, a place of peace and joy. Problems may not seem to matter as much, at least while we are actively engaged in honoring Him with our lips and hearts in this way.

Worship involves praising the Lord, yielding ourselves to Him, deeply reverencing Him, humbling ourselves before Him, and waiting expectantly upon Him.  It is setting our affections upon Him, rather than on the things of earth (Colossians 3:2). It’s a time of expressing, “I’m here to extol You. You have my undivided attention, and nothing else matters right now.”

The more we live in a state of worship, the closer we grow in fellowship with God. He draws near to us as we draw near to Him (James 4:8). The more we worship, the more sensitive to His presence we become — and we are transformed by this intimate communion with Him. His nature soaks into us supernaturally through worship, and our thinking begins to mirror His thinking.

Prayer

It is the same with prayer. Prayer takes many forms, whether conversational, intense petitioning, or quiet listening. When we pray, we also take on the very nature of Jesus. How did He know what the Father would have Him say and do? By spending time with Him in prayer. How did He overcome temptation and the devil’s plans to foil Him? Through prayer. What does Jesus do, even now, in heaven? He is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34). Praying in any of these ways is behaving just like Jesus does.

Jesus warned Peter, “Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).  Prayer strengthens us to overcome what our flesh wants to do. It shifts our mind into submission to what our spirit knows is right to think and act upon.

We can pray for wisdom and understanding, for the ability to discern rightly, and for a greater sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s whispers. We can cry out to God for help in our attitudes. We can plead along with King David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). These, and any other prayers to know God better and to be like Him in our thinking, are a delight to our Father. He will faithfully answer them.

Praying in tongues

When we speak in our prayer language, we engage in pure, unhindered communion with the Lord. Praying in tongues bypasses our mind, but our thinking gradually changes through the frequent use of this valuable gift from the Lord. As I have shared at greater length in my series, The Power of Your Prayer Language, communion between our spirit and the Holy Spirit through tongues leads to a more orderly and peaceful mind, which tends to think like God thinks.

We pray perfectly, because the limited understanding of our finite minds is not in charge: the Holy Spirit is. Our faith is also built. “But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 20). How does all this happen? It is a mystery how God does it, but we can trust that He does.

Whether it is through Bible reading, worship, or prayer, the bottom line in renewing our minds is becoming intimate lovers of God. As we spend time with Him, we change. He infuses into us His thoughts and His character. The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23) grows more bountiful in our lives.

Next time, we’ll talk about how spiritual warfare fits in with having a renewed mind.

Part 1

Part 3
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Yes and Amen: God’s Promises from Genesis Through Revelation
(King James Version or Modernized KJV editions)

River Life: Entering into the Character of Jesus
(For adults and older teens)