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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)
1 Corinthians 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 started reading the Bible and
praying to god. To my surprise, 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) Both from the old testament, before Jesus.
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.
1 Corinthians 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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