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Gifts
of the Spirit - Shaking in the Spirit - What is the Holy Spirit? According to
Jesus he is a "helper"! How does the Holy Spirit help?
Jesus said: He teaches you all things and he makes you
remember all the words Jesus spoke to you! How do you
get the Holy Spirit? The Father sends him, in Jesus
name.
Have
you ever been sitting in church listening to the sermon,
when the pastor suddenly adds: "and everyone here, of
course, remembers the day, hour and exact minute they
were saved and received the "Holy Spirit". You look
around to witness everyone in the sanctuary, nodding
their head. (It's supposed to be like - "everyone
remembers where they were when John Kennedy or John
Lennon was shot")
You
of course are nodding also, because to be seen "not"
nodding in agreement, is to broadcast to everyone that,
you must not be saved or have the "Holy Spirit" in you
if you do "not" remember such an earth shaking moment as
when you received the Holy Spirit and got saved!
Well,
let me be the first to shout: "I DON'T REMEMBER!" I
don't remember the day, the hour, or
the minute! I'd love to be able to tell you that:
"Yes! The holy spirit grabbed me, picked me up, and body
slammed me on the altar".
He
roughed me up and I wandered around for days in a
blissful stupor and I've never been the same since!
Sorry! I just don't remember. This is not to say that
this does not happen to some people, but it does not
happen to very many of us ordinary folks that God loves
equally as much.
THESE ARE THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
1Corinthians
12:8-10
-
For to one is given the
word of wisdom
through the Spirit, and to
another the word
of knowledge
according to the same Spirit; to
another faith
by the same Spirit, and to
another gifts of
healing
by the one Spirit, and to
another the
effecting of miracles,
and to another
prophecy,
and to another the
distinguishing
of spirits,
to another various kinds of
tongues,
and to another the
interpretation
of tongues.
A LIST OF THE
GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Wisdom
Knowledge
Faith
Healing
Miracles
Prophecy
Distinguishing Spirits
Tongues
Interpretation of Tongues
Sadly. it would appear on the surface that the Holy
Spirit has given "everybody" the gifts of prophecy and
tongues, and almost completely neglected to give away
any of the other 7 gifts. This is mostly peoples
Vanity". In most churches, there is no shortage of
prophets or people with a "Word from the Lord". However,
you will be hard pressed to find anyone claiming that
the Holy Spirit has given them the gift of "Wisdom or
knowledge". (You could easily test a person on
those)
Don't
seek after the gifts of the spirit! I am amazed to see,
mostly women, walk up to the front of the church, every
service, and share the "Word from the Lord" that God has
given them. The prophetic word that they share is
usually a quoting of scripture, introduced with: "Thus
sayeth the Lord".
When
we hear these "Words from the Lord" What are we to
think? That God is repeating himself again! I don't think so.
Prophets usually don't quote scripture, they write it.
Unfortunately, in the body of Christ, everyone wants to
be the head and no one wants to be the "little toe".
Everyone serves a purpose in Christ's body.
Don't strive to
take the most important position in Christ's body!
(Jesus already filled that position) Don't you
know that the "real" prophets were persecuted and died
horrible, painful, humiliating deaths? Do you
really want to be a Prophet? If your answer is "No",
only then, the Holy Spirit might choose to give you that
gift on a permanent basis! (Like it or not)
1Corinthians 12:11-12
- But one
and the same Spirit works all these things,
distributing to each one individually just as He
wills. For even as the body is one and yet has
many members, and all the members of the body, though
they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
The
key words here are: "distributing to
each one individually just as He
(the Holy Spirit) wills". The
Holy Spirit gives them to "who he pleases, as he
wills". This is not something you can take by force!
When the time comes and when it is needed, the Holy
Spirit "will" provide you with the gift that is most
needed and appropriate at that time! When that time
comes, don't be surprised to find out that the gift of
wisdom will be your life saver.
HOW DO YOU
KNOW YOU HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Question is, did "I" receive the Holy Spirit? YES! How
do I know I have the Holy Spirit? Well, For me a big
change happened when I finally started reading the Bible
and praying to god. All of a sudden, one day, I'm
reading the bible and I find myself repeating the word
"WOW". Scriptures I'd read before started leaping off
the pages at me with "new meaning". The feeling was
better than any drug you could possibly take.
But
you know what? The holy spirit was there all along.
Jesus said that the holy spirit would be sent by the
father as a helper in his name.
John
14:26
"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 that I said to you".
So
don't be so hard on yourself and quit letting the
"nodding in agreement folks" make you feel guilty
because you were not "Slain in the spirit",
shaking and
wandering around blindly into traffic for days
afterward.
WHAT IS THE HOLY
SPIRIT?
In
John 14:26, Jesus tells you what the Holy Spirit is and
what he does! Jesus referred to the Holy spirit as "The
Helper". So, I ask you, what does a helper do? HE HELPS!
How does he help you? He teaches you all things and he
makes you remember all the words Jesus spoke to you!
If you
have not read the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
containing the words Jesus has spoken to you, the Holy
Spirit can't very well make you remember them, can he?
So, blow the dust off that Bible now and start reading!
(I have spoken)
At no
time do I recall Jesus saying that God sent the Holy
Spirit in his name to "body slam" you like Hulk Hogan.
As with anyone sent to help or any "helper", they are
not going to be much use if you do not actually ask
them to help you with something.
If
you couldn't move your television set by yourself, you
would ask someone to help. If you don't feel the holy
spirit is in you, invite him in! Then ask him to help.
If it
comports you to do this, go ahead. There's nothing wrong
with it. But if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your
savior, he's already there. Let him help!
YOU DON'T
BELIEVE YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT?
If you have ever
confessed that "Jesus is Lord", I would strongly
disagree with you based on scripture.
1 Corinthians 12:3
Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by
the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one
can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
I would also add that
if you have heard the message of the gospel and you
believed it, you have already received the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13 In
Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth,
the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you
were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Neither of the two
scriptures above promise an earth shaking experience of
any kind. Granted, most of the instances where someone
received the Holy Spirit in the bible, was witnessed by
someone, but, if it were not witnessed, it could not
have been documented or written about.
Actually, it was not the
holy spirit that was being observed, it was the "gifts
of the Holy Spirit". With the exception of Jesus himself
when the Holy Spirit descended on him "as a dove". There
was no doubt a great outpouring in those days, but the
purpose was to edify the believers of the "new
religion", who were small and very few in number. I
believe this "visible" outpouring was mostly targeted to
this particular group of people. (But not limited to)
How else would you
explain the following scriptures:
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.
In this scripture it
is stated that the Holy Spirit has not yet been given!
But yet, the scriptures clearly state that the Holy
Spirit spoke through David at least twice, (Mark
12:36 and Acts 1:16) and through the prophet
Isaiah at least once. (Acts 28:25)
There are two
possibilities. Either the scriptures are contradictory
to each other, or Jesus was referring to a particular
group of people! With these things said, let me tell you
what is truly dangerous. The belief that a person or
group of people consider themselves or are considered by
others to be "god’s elite" because they have been tossed
around in some dramatic fashion while receiving the Holy
Spirit. (you are just as saved and filled with
the spirit either way)
If a person confesses
that Jesus is Lord, he is every bit as much filled with
the Holy Spirit as the one who prophecies and speaks in
tongues for hours. The gifts of the spirit may vary from
person to person, but that is for the Holy Spirit to
decide.
1Corinthians 12:11
- But one and the same Spirit works all these things,
distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
Some churches and
denominations actually teach people to speak in tongues,
by having them babble until it finally happens!
(True) But you can not "Learn" a gift and you can
not "earn" a gift! The holy spirit will distribute them
to each one as he wills! Too many people try to take
this by force! These things are not only "pride and
vanity" they are not from God.
Paul even had
problems with people concerning the gifts of the spirit.
In a nice way, he had to tell them to stop!
1 Corinthians 14:28
- but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in
the church; and let him speak to himself and to God.
Too many people do
these things to magnify themselves! Including receiving
the Holy Spirit. I do believe that some people have an
earth shaking experience when they get saved and receive
the Holy Spirit. I also believe that most people do not!
I think I’m very safe in saying that God does not hold
either one with a higher regard.
During Jesus’ entire
ministry here on earth, he never condemned even one
sinner! He did however condemn the church on many
occasions. These were the very things the church of that
time was doing. Lording it over everyone else showing
that they were "holier" than the rest and teaching
others to be just like them. "That was dangerous".
(and still is)
God Bless You
Dan Douglass
.
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