Receive

On September 20, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Galatians 3: 13 – 14

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us – for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

In the Old Testament when God promised that He would pour out the Holy Spirit He sometimes made the promise to the nation of Israel but more often said that He would pour out the Spirit on all mankind. You see, God already knew the future. He knew that through Jesus and His sacrifice all the world would inherit the blessing of Abraham through adoption into the family of God. It was God’s intent that we would all share in the blessing.

Paul, I believe, demonstrates how important this whole structure is. God put together a plan that would ensure that we received all the best He had. It was an elaborate plan and very expensive. It took the sacrifice of the unblemished lamb in order to extend the blessing of the chosen to those of us who were formerly outside the family. God gave His son as that sacrifice so that He could bring us under the umbrella of His protection and into His family. We are now children of the Most High. It cost God everything but through God’s sacrifice, we receive everything.

That is how important you are to the King. And that is how important the Holy Spirit is that God went through these elaborate measures to get the promise to you. The promise is for you.

Now, what do you do? You invite the Holy Spirit into your life. You ask Him to be a part of your daily life; everything you do. You talk to Him just like you talk to God because He is God. He, being the third part of the trinity, is God with you. Ask Him to come live in you. Ask Him to fill you up with himself. And as Paul wrote in the passage above, you must receive Him by faith. You certainly can study more about the Holy Spirit. There are many more verses about Him. They continue to show who He is and how He operates in this world. Many people in the New Testament received the baptism in the Holy Spirit when someone prayed for them so you can ask a pastor or other spiritually mature person to pray with you if you like. There are also plenty of people who have received Him while alone in their own prayers. There is no secret here. It is all in the scriptures. It boils down to acknowledging Him, asking Him into your life, asking Him to live inside of you, to fill you, and then receiving Him. That is really all there is to it. Don’t miss out on the third person of the Trinity. I believe today’s passage shows how important this part of our relationship with God really is. As Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20: 22).

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Fill ‘er up

On September 19, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 5: 18

[B]e filled with the Spirit.

God does not only want you to have a little bit of His Spirit, He wants you to be full to overflowing. Well, that is His nature after all, isn’t it? In everything He does He likes to fill us and more so that our every need is met with plenty left over for others. He never leaves the smallest portion of us unfilled or unfulfilled.

After promising the Holy Spirit for many years, it is not a surprise to me that He wants to completely fill us with this promise. There is no part of us that God, our Father, does not want to inhabit with us. He wants to be a part of everything that is important to you, but He also wants to participate in all of the small things of life with you. To Him, they are all important because they are all a part of you and your life. That is why He wants to fill you to the utmost with Himself. And that is what His Spirit is, His inner being, and He wants to share that most intimate part of Himself with you. God is not a small God and He does not do things in a small way. He gives you His best and He gives you all you can hold and a bit more so that you will have some to share with others. It is God’s intention that you be filled with the Holy Spirit. Make it your ambition to be filled with His Holy Spirit until He, the Holy Spirit, bubbles out of you in your abundance.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and … he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother’s womb.  Luke 1: 15

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  Luke 1: 41

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit.  Luke 1: 67

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan.  Luke 4: 1

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.  Acts 2: 4

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit …. Acts 4: 8

And when they had prayed the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.  Acts 4: 31

But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.  Acts 7: 3

And the statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.  Acts 6: 5

But being full of the Holy Spirit …. Acts 7: 55

[F]or he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.  Acts 11: 24

But Saul who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him.  Acts 13: 9

And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.  Acts 13: 32

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Divine Wisdom

On September 18, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Acts 2: 32 – 33

This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

This verse unites many of the themes we have seen in the scriptures we have looked at regarding the Holy Spirit. God, multiple times, made a promise to pour out the Holy Spirit upon all mankind. Jesus, then, told us that it was imperative for Him to leave so that He could send that which the Father had promised. Receiving the promise unto Himself from the Father, He then poured the Holy Spirit out to all.

It is done. God has done His part. Jesus has done His. The prophecies and the promises have been fulfilled. These are the days of glory that the Lord spoke about. So why aren’t we living in more victory and in more of that glory?

Just like it took some people a long time to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, even when He walked among them and they witnessed His miracles, we are only just beginning to recognize the Holy Spirit and His role. It is much easier to be wise when one can look back into history and see what others missed. It is quite a bit more difficult to be wise in the days of your own history. That is why we need the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would “teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14: 26). Jesus also said that the Holy Spirit would take what He hears from the Father and will disclose it to you (John 16: 13). So, the Holy Spirit’s job is to lead us into this wisdom of the Father. We have been given the scriptures to help us learn about the Spirit. We have the wisdom to seek Him and to learn to work with him because the Holy Scriptures first taught us to expect Him and then informed us as to role in our lives. The Holy Spirit has the Word as one of His tools. He uses the Word to remind us of the things Jesus said and also to lead us in the way that we should go. The Holy Spirit also has the very thoughts of God to minister to us. What we must do is recognize Him. We must be wiser than those who did not recognize Jesus in His day. Then, having recognized the Spirit of God, we invite Him to take an active role in our lives. We invite him to indwell us, teach us and guide us all day every day. He can have as large a role in your life as you want but you must first ask Him into your life. Then let Him fill you up to overflowing.

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Resident

On September 17, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 1: 33

He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come “on” someone and that person would perform anointed works. Gideon blew his horn; many prophesied. But the Holy Spirit would lift off them after their task was accomplished. He did not come upon them and remain. The time of the Holy Spirit was not yet.

John the Baptist baptized in water but announced that one was coming after him who would baptize in the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3: 11, Mark 1: 8, Luke 3: 16, John 1: 33). He spoke, of course, of Jesus. When Jesus ascended to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to be with us, to live with us forever as we saw in John 14: 16. No longer was the Holy Spirit to come “on” us and then vacate. Instead Jesus said that He was going to send the Holy Spirit to be with us forever to be our constant helper, teacher and guide. So now the Holy Spirit has come and made His abode with us. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3: 16). Then in Romans 8, the eleventh verse Paul wrote, “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” Now we have the Holy Spirit with us, dwelling in us all of the time rather than coming upon us in a time of need. He is here to be your constant standby and He couldn’t do that very well if He had to come and go. So, Jesus sent Him into the world to be with us and to stay with us until Jesus comes back to establish His Kingdom in the earth. We are never abandoned because God has made provision for us to have a divine helper with us at all times.

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The Gift

On September 12, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 11: 13

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?

The Father promised the Holy Spirit to His people for years. Then when the appointed time came, the Holy Spirit was poured out onto all who would receive; all who ask. Jesus promised that all who would ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit would receive. God is not trying to make you earn this gift. He is not withholding the Holy Spirit or reserving it for only a precious few. Jesus said that God is a good Father, a better parent than any of us even have the capacity of being. Yet, earthly parents give good gifts to their children. You don’t make your children earn your gifts. They are not gifts if they are earned. They would be payment instead. You give good gifts just because you love your child or grandchild. It does not even have to be a birthday or holiday. You just give to your children because they are your beloved.

How much more is God a good and gracious parent? How much more does He love us? Therefore, He wants to bestow good gifts upon us, especially the gift of the Holy Spirit. That is the point Jesus is making here. Your heavenly Father loves you more than you can even imagine and out of His love for you flows His unfailing gift of love, the bestowing of the precious Spirit of God. You have only to ask.

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Time of Delivery

On September 11, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 7: 39

But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Jesus was speaking to a crowd and teaching them of the things to come. In fact, he was teaching them about the Holy Spirit. This statement indicates that the Spirit is to be received. In other words, He is a gift and those who wish to receive the gift shall have it. But the Holy Spirit is not going to be forced on those who are unable to receive Him. There is the element of choice on the part of the recipient. The Holy Spirit is for all who choose to receive Him. Receiving Him is not automatic. You have to make your own choice. Not even God is going to make it for you though Jesus did command His disciples to remain in Jerusalem and await the gift of the Holy Spirit which makes it clear that His intent is for us all to receive the gift.

We also learn who is eligible to receive this gift. The gift is for those who believe in Jesus. That is the only requirement. If one truly and honestly believes in Jesus as the Messiah, the chosen one of God, then that person is eligible to receive the long-awaited gift of the Holy Spirit.

We also see in this passage the timing of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been received into glory. We know that during the 40 day period between when Jesus arose from the dead and when He ascended to the Father He appeared to His disciples. One of the things Jesus told them was to await the promise of God because they would receive “the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1: 5). Shortly thereafter Jesus ascended to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God after which, the Holy Spirit was sent into the earth to be with us for all time.

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The Role of the Holy Spirit

On September 10, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 14: 16               (Amplified Version)

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever.

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s psalm, indeed that you are enjoying Psalm Mondays. It is a good way to start the week. Today I want to continue the series I began last week on the Holy Spirit. It is my hope that these several days we are spending on the Holy Spirit give you an inside look at who the Spirit is and what role he plays in our lives. You may want to copy these “Spirit” Words of the Day and paste them into a document of your own. Also, if you visit my website, www.iveyministries.org, you can search Spirit or Holy Spirit in the Daily Devotion tab and discover an entire treatise, practically, on the Holy Spirit.

The central role of the Holy Spirit and God’s main reason for sending Him to us is for the Holy Spirit to accompany us continually and aid us in whatever capacity necessary. That is why He is often referred to as the Helper. Jesus frequently called the Holy Spirit our “Helper.” If the kind of help we need is prayer, then the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. If we need strength, then He strengthens us. He was sent to us to be our constant companion, to standby us every minute of every day to help us in every situation. That is the role of God’s Holy Spirit. I think that is exhilarating. Just think, God’s own Spirit has been assigned the job of being with you constantly so that He can help you every second of every day. He is to stand by you and await any opportunity to aid you.

Now, some people may say, “Well, He doesn’t seem to be at my side helping me daily.” That could be true because one thing you can bet on is that the Holy Spirit of God is a gentleman. He must first be invited. He will not horn in on your life; He will not push his weight around on you. The Spirit of God is gentle. Remember that gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22). He is powerful but He absolutely will not force Himself on you. So just invite Him into your life. Give Him permission to take up permanent residence with you. You are going to experience a whole new life with God through His own Spirit when you do.

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