Multitudes of believers all over the earth are concerned about their lack of the Holy Spirit. This secret 'concern' may be analysed as follows:
In short, a constant yearning for more of the Holy Spirit is either a sign of healthy spiritual growth or it is a sign of raging doubt. Believers must examine themselves regularly to see to which category they belong. The Bible is the best tool for doing this.
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Yahweh's eagerness to give |
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Luke 11:13 |
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" |
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Yahweh's guarantee to give |
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1 John 5:14-15 |
"And this is the confidence - the assurance, the (privilege of) boldness - which we have in Him: (we are sure) that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan) listens to and hears us. And if (since) we (positively) know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know (with settled and absolute knowledge) that we have (granted as our present possessions) the requests made of Him." (Amplified Bible) |
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Measured giving |
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John 3:34 |
"For since we whom God has sent speaks the words of God - proclaims God's own message - God does not give him the Spirit sparingly or by measure, but boundless is the gift God makes of His Spirit." |
The Most High is happy to give His Spirit to believers: but certain mandatory conditions apply.
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Obediance |
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Acts 5:32 |
"And we are his witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him." |
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Right motives |
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James 4:3-4 |
"You do ask (God for them) and you fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is, (when you get what you desire) to spend it on sensual pleasures. You (are like) unfaithful wives (having illicit love affairs with the world) and breaking your marriage vows to God!" |
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Patience |
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Hebrews 10:36 |
"For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away (and enjoy to the full) what is promised." |
It is essential to differentiate between the following:
Great confusion will result if these differences are not understood. To begin with, all true believers are given the Holy Spirit in proportion to their faith and obedience - and according to Yahweh's will, not ours. Second, Yahweh distributes spiritual gifts to every believer according to His own will and for the benefit of the whole church. Third, all believers are expected subsequently to produce spiritual fruit. Finally, every believer will be baptised (totally immersed and absolutely purified) in the Holy Spirit before we enter the Kingdom of Heaven - yes every believer. (See Lesson 20 of our Course)
Just as surely as a tree's identity can be determined by its fruit, in the same way the presence (and measure) of the Holy Spirit in a believer can be known by his/her spiritual performance - the character. The more of the Spirit a believer possesses, the holier will that person be. To be full of the Spirit means to be an extremely holy person. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
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Galatians 5:22 |
"... The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against these there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." |
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Ephesians 5:9 |
"For the fruit - the effect, the product - of the Light, the Spirit, (consists) in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart and trueness of life. And try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord; - (let your lives be constant) proofs of what is most acceptable to Him. Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead (let your lives be so in contrast as to ) expose and reprove and convict them." (Amplified Bible) |
The Holy Spirit is as essential to spiritual growth as water and sunlight are to a plant. Yahweh, the heavenly gardener, is growing a spiritual crop. The good seed (Truth) has been and still is being sown in the minds of men and women. Without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit no spiritual growth is possible. Agricultural harvests are simply given to mankind to illustrate the great spiritual lessons and realities the Most High is seeking to teach the human race. We are His vineyard, His harvest, His sheep. The whole spectrum of natural activity was ordained to teach spiritual lessons. Failure to learn those spiritual lessons is one of the tragedies of unbelieving 'nature lovers' of the world. Faith and obedience on the other hand will be blessed by God with natural and spiritual bounty.
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Deuteronomy 11:13016 |
"And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine and thy oil." |
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Joel 2:23-32 |
Provides invaluable lessons about spiritual rain. |
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v23 |
He gives the early and latter rain in just measure, (in proper quantities) |
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v24-26 |
There will be a good harvest and a restoration to former bounty. |
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v27 |
"And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel (the church)" |
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v28 |
"And afterwards I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." |
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v30 |
"I will show signs and wonders in the heavens and upon the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes." |
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v32 |
"And whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be delivered." |
This promise has been partially fulfilled. Read Acts 2:17-21 where the Apostle Peter quotes from Joel. But if you study Joel carefully you will see that we are still awaiting several events (blood and fire and pillars of smoke etc) which are to come. Yes, we are awaiting the full and bounteous downpour known as the latter rain.
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Zecheriah 10:1 |
"Ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain. It is the Lord who makes lightnings, which usher in the rain and give men showers of it, to every one grass in the field. |
Our present need and duty as believers living in the time of the latter rain, at the time when the main harvest of humanity is about to be gathered, is to
As promised in Deuteronomy 11:13-14, "If you diligently heed my commandments ... I will give the rain in its season, the early rain and the latter rain that you may gather in your grain, your new wine and your oil." Are you willing to meet those twin conditions of faith and obedience before you too ask for the latter rain? Failure to do so is a form of self-delusion.
July 1999
MatanYah Learning Centre, Duiwelskloof, South Africa
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