A Spirit Controlled Life

[Anne]

Sorry folks, for taking so long to get back to this, but I have other studies which take up alot of my time, but I hadn't forgotten about this one. The next part that is pointed out is the Emotions of the Holy Spirit.

EMOTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Now lets look at the third fact, that the Spirit of God loves. We speak of love as being related to the heart. Both the Old and New Testaments have much to say about the "mother heart" of the Holy Spirit. In this connection James chapter 4 v 5 says: "Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? (Loveth us even to the point of jealousy)." A power cannot love us, nor can an influence be warm toward us. But a person can love us and a Divine Person can and will love us with an infinite love. We learn here that the Holy Spirit loves us to the point of jealously!

He controls the master plan of God which embraces the globe. He accomplishes this work of reaching the world through His people; consequently, anything in our lives that goes contrary to that plan distresses Him greatly. It grieves Him according to what we read in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30.

Now, we cannot grieve a person unless that person loves us. We are admonished to "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." This brings home the truth to us that a Divine Person, the Holy Spirit, loves us as infinitely as the Father and just as personally as the Son.

That love is a condescending love. It is matchless mercy. It is divine patience. At the moment of our conversion, the Holy Spirit came into our hearts bringing with Him the Lord Jesus Christ, and making our dead Spirits live. He witnessed to us, with conviction, in our hearts and in our minds that we are the children of God. Such a work as this is a gracious work; and He continues it day by day as He, through love, leads us into a warm, rich experience of Himself.

An intellectual presentation only of truth can leave one's heart barren. Statements of truth may be wonderful, yet lack warmth or nourishment, having no inward moving of the Spirit on the deep vitals of the life. What is needed in much Christian work is that something called UNCTION- heaven's dew. Far better than beautiful auditoriums, well trained choirs, and intellectually challenging messages is to witness the workings of the Holy Spirit.

Now don't get me wrong, these things are all good in themselves, but our greatest need is for a group of people with their mind (intellect) together with their heart (emotion) fixed on God, and on their knees before Him, and the Lord coming down upon them. When we be in the right position before Him, He can visit us in this way.

[Anne]

WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Lord Jesus said in John chapter 14, "I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter." This Comforter, The Holy Spirit, is God's love gift to every child of His. This fact ought to bring a holy hush into our lives as we realized that as children of God we are indwelt every moment of every day with a Divine Person who is like Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus said the Father would give another Comforter, He used the word in the New Testament which speaks of "another of the same kind." The Comforter who was to come was not another of a different kind but Another of the same kind as our Lord himself. Though our Saviour left us to go home to his Father in glory, Another like Him came to indwell us and abide with us forever.

During the last world war, Mr Horn was speaking to a group of young men in an induction camp in Queensland about this fact of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In that group was an airman who was visiting from another district and had joined the Bible study for the evening. He knew this truth concerning the indwelling Spirit intellectually, but stated that he could not and did not understand it.

Mr Horn said to him that he would not be able to grasp it on the intellectual plane. It was a revealed truth, and the subject with which it dealt was not a natural experience but that of the supernatural. Mr Horn went on to tell him that he should pray to the Holy Spririt as a person, since He is a person, in something of this vein:-

"Spirit of God, be gracious and inwardly reveal Yourself to me, so that under Your control and through this life of friendship with Yourself, I shall know Christ in clearer measure and come to know and do the will of God." Mr Horn told him to pray that once every day and really mean it.

The airman continued to do this for the following seven days and came back to the next Bible study a new man. He was indeed transformed!

Now, in his conversion he had had a very glorious experience. He had been a night club operator for some time in Sydney prior to the war, and through faithful preaching of the gospel he had been won to Christ. He himself had been used in evangelistic services as he gave his testimony, and people saw the clear-cut break he had made with the old life. But when he cam back after this week of special prayer, he said to Mr Horn, " Neville, I have had a new experience. It is as though I have been reconverted. I have a new understanding of the Lord Jesus. Something has burst upon my inward life that gives me a new and deeper understanding of Him."

That is what we all need, don't you think?

So often the One who brings the Lord Jesus to us is forgotten or unrecognised, and in many cases He is not even wanted. But it is the Spirit of God who was sent to lead us into all understanding and in all truth.

He is truth - supremely so. We need to let Him be our teacher, and He will always exalt Christ. For there is no jealously within the Trinity.

In answer, then, to the question: Where is He? From Scripture we now know, that not only is He here in this world, but He is right where He was when you cried those words "JESUS SAVE ME", He is in you as He indwells every believer, you have but to ask Him for His help.

[Tribulation]

Thanks for sharing this with us Anne! It has been a blessing to me!

God Bless!

[Anne]

Thank you trib, for the compliment however, the writings come from a gentleman called Neville Horn, so I can't take credit for any of it except the sore hands I get from typing it out....... ......... I have changed just a few wee words, to make it more relevant to here, but nothing major. Anyway, on with the next bit, which i've expect i'll have to split into sections as its rather long, but this is the last in the series of "The personality of the Holy Spirit", deep breath..................

WHAT DOES THE SPIRIT WANT/THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Two great statements in the New Testament indicate clearly to us the ministry of the Holy Spirit. First of all there is His work within the believer's heart.

In Galatians 5 v 22 we read:-

The fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS, TEMPERANCE."

Now all of these words are words which describe Jesus Christ himself. The Spirit was to glorify the Lord and was to take the things of Christ and reveal them to us. Consequently, the Holy Spirit works within us before He works through us. His purpose is to make us inwardly like the Lord Jesus. We read in Ephesians 1 v 4 how we have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world so that we should be holy and without blame before God in love. That is simply another way of saying God wants us to be like His Son.

How many of us are missing these gifts of the Holy Spirit? Can you honestly say that you have sought these gifts above all else?

Think about it before you dismiss it out of hand:

Do you LOVE your enemy?

Is there PEACE in your life?

Are you LONGSUFFERING towards others who repeatedly attempt to offend you?

When you seek to confront someone do you chastise their errors with GENTLENESS?

Do you seek to achieve GOODNESS in all that you do?

How stands your FAITH in God, do you trust Him in all matters?

Blessed are the MEEK, that's what the Bible says, are you blessed in this point?

And what about that TEMPERANCE, are you of a violatile disposition?

These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we should seek to attain each and every one of them!

Now we cannot do this ourselves. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, a work which He does within us on the basis of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection and our identification with Him in these. The Holy Spirit always operates on the basis of Christ's work for us.

The Spirit of God has come to make us like Christ in order that we might share in His love, His patience, His humility, His purity, and His wisdom.

All these gifts are ours in Christ. These are the signs by which the Christian lives their day to day life and by which you shall know them.

God Bless

[Floatingaxe]

The fruit of the Holy Spirit are not the gifts. When we come to Jesus, we have all the fruit. We need to walk out our salvation and develop this fruit to maturity.

The gifts of the Spirit are something else.

[Tribulation]

Thank you trib, for the compliment however, the writings come from a gentleman called Neville Horn, so I can't take credit for any of it except the sore hands I get from typing it out....... ......... I have changed just a few wee words, to make it more relevant to here, but nothing major.

Oh, I know! But thanks for going to the effort of typing it out!

Colossians 3:23 - "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;"

Colossians 3:24 - "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ."

God Bless you!

[LadyGunivere]

thanks anne

[Anne]

The Spirit of God wants to minister Christ's death to us and lead us by way of that death up to the Throne, so that we might share the Lord Jesus even in the rugged events of everyday life.

It is only as the Holy Spirit is able to work within us that He has opportunity to work through us. Just as He gave power to the disciples to witness of Christ first in Jerusalem and then in Judaea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth, just so does He want to put us in the place where we can be a radiating center for Christ to all parts of the earth. It is a world ministry He has in view for each one of us, not merely a local one. The commission to preach the gospel to the whole world, to every human being applies to us.

This illustration may help our understanding. Here is a young man at twenty one years of age. His father says to him, "Son, what are you going to do for the future? Have you a plan for your life?"

Now, the young man has lived all of his life on a farm. He knows the countryside well and the needs of his community. He says, "Father, for some years I have been thinking it would be a good idea if I built a store at the crossroads and stocked it with the kind of goods our neighbours around here can use. I think I can be a help to them in this way."

The father smiles and says, "A chip off the old block! You have a good head on you. I think I know what to do. I have a friend in the city, the general manager of a large wholesale store. His company carries a wide range of goods and has the very things you say you will need. I will take this matter up with him, and see if he can help you get established."

So the father contacts this friend who proves to be very warm to the idea. He promises that his company will build a store and stock the shelves from their warehouses. He also promises that his company will back the young man for the present and into the future providing he signs a contract to the effect that this one wholesale house will be his sole source for supplies. Each month the young man is to be contacted by the company's agent, kept informed of the goods available, and advised as to how to best carry on his work. The basic requirement of the wholesaler is that the young man cooperate with the agent all the way through.

The store is built, the shelves are stocked, and the business is a success. From time to time the agent comes, and the young man cooperates fully with him. The public is highly satisfied.

But then, various people from the vicinity pat the young man on the back, saying something along the lines of this "You are the young man we have been looking for all these years. You have a good business head on you and you are doing well."

But this soon builds up pride in the young man's heart. The next time the agent comes, the storekeeper shows a self-assertive and uncooperative attitude which becomes worse with each successive visit.

The problem is that the young man is saying to himself, "I am Number One here. The secret of success lies with me. It is to my credit that sales have boomed."

He, of course, is very foolish. He does not realize that he is successful only to the extent he cooperates with the agent. However, so unresponsive has the young man become that the agent can no longer work with him. This means no more goods and no further credit. The young man faces bankruptcy. Only through the agent and his company can the flow of goods continue. The storekeeper has foolishly dried up his resources.

There is an entire book in the New Testament written on this very subject. It tells of how some of God's children started the Christian life under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and then turned from Him to the flesh to complete the work of redemption in their lifes and on their terms. The Book of Galatians tells of this story.

The moment we turn from the Spirit of God we are faced with spiritual bankruptcy. We are shut up to the human plane only while God has made us for a supernatural experience and ministry. This latter can be realized only through our being sensitive to the dealing of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. God grant that we shall not disregard this Heavenly Agent, but lean entirely upon Him so that Christ may be ministered through our hearts to a needy world.