THE REFRESHING OF THE SPIRIT

03/23/2024

"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come" (John 16:13). 

I want you to pause for a moment and say, "Jesus is LORD." If you could construct that sentence with your mouth, it means the Holy Spirit is with you. You don't have to question if He is with you or not. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, "Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit."

But who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead but the first person to be revealed in the Bible. In Genesis 1:1-2, the Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." 

The Holy Spirit is the chief testifier of Jesus. The Bible says, "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me." He is one on whom the testimony of Jesus as the only true Way (out of the over 4000 ways that humanity has discovered) relies. The Holy Spirit will go to any length to reveal Jesus to humanity. John 16:8 says, "And when He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." The word "convict" means "cause to see." In essence, when you begin speaking about Jesus, the Holy Spirit animates sin, righteousness, and judgment in the hearts of your listeners until they make a decision for salvation. 

The Holy Spirit does not always get a good rap among certain believers who tie Him only to the emotionalism of crying, falling under the power, and dancing in the Spirit. They miss the meat of such manifestations which is that a desire to testify of Jesus is born or rehashed out of such encounters with Him. Understand that something in the direction of winning and discipling souls to Jesus happens every time the Holy Spirit manifests Himself among us.  

As you yield to the Holy Spirit today, the one who caused Aaron's rod to bud (See Numbers 17:8), understand your priesthood to God has been impregnated with a fresh urge and power to testify of Jesus. Speak in other tongues in thanksgiving, lifting your holy hands, knowing that the renewed urge to tell about Jesus' lordship is the work of the Holy Spirit in this moment.

God bless you!

Faith-Filled Confession

I am under the influence and leadership of the Holy Spirit. Together we give testimony of Jesus in a way that people cannot refute. I am God's instrument for convicting men and women, boys and girls, of sin, righteousness, and judgment. We were always one--the Holy Ghost and me. Hallelujah! 

One-Year Bible Reading Plan: Joshua 11-13; Luke 4:1-32