Manifesting Presence of the Holy Spirit

I wrote on the Todd Bentley issue and the Lakeland Revival last week. If you have not read it and desire to do so, it is the previous post to this posting. Since this post relates directly to my previous post, I suggest please that you read it first before proceeding with the below posting.

Greetings friends!

I have had a response to my last posting on the Lakeland Revival that asks some very serious questions as to the validity and value of the complete Bible being the singular and only word of God. The brother brings up such a very important question that begs the need to discuss how the Lord speaks and how we hear what the Lord is trying to communicate to us.

His questions are so important in my mind that rather than posting an answer to his response, I would like to speak to this issue in a new posting.

This brother asks, “I hope I am misreading what you’ve written, but it appears you refer to God speaking outside or apart from the truth already revealed in scripture. I believe the Holy Spirit comes to reveal or quicken Gods truth as revealed in His word. To walk down a path that says God’s revelation to me can supersede scripture is, at the very least, dangerous.”

The main questions are these, “Is the Bible the only way that the Lord speaks to us today?” “Can the Lord speak something to us that is not referred to in the Bible?”

Indeed I agree with the brother in principle. The Bible is the complete word of God as to who he is and how he works. We cannot add to or take away from the word of God. To do so enters into the realm of cultic activity. Indeed that is not at all what I suggest in my writing.

True Kingdom revelation knowledge never supersedes the word of God as it is written. It just violates our understanding of the word as we think of it. The big problem then becomes a wrong conclusion followed quickly by man-made definitions of the scriptures that are in various levels of error; all because of an unwillingness to change.

The key is in our understanding of how the Lord wants us to comprehend the word he has given to us. Perception is everything! As to the word and its revelations, God clearly intended us to be in a state of personal and corporate complete dependence to the Holy Spirit to understand it. Without the Holy Spirit, we are left to conclude what the word means. The result can be nothing but error over time. Such arguments eventually lead to divisions that render the Body of Christ all but ineffective in the world.

Process of Revelation

Simply said, the Father wills a thing. Jesus speaks the thing. And the Holy Spirit makes the thing known and then manifested. The Father willed the Bible. Jesus spoke the Bible. But today the Holy Spirit must actively make the Bible known and manifested in our hearts to have its desired effect. In essence, the Bible is all but meaningless to those who do not (or choose not to) gain a revelation of what it means.

The very first scriptural purpose of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus known by revelation to a dyeing soul. When a lost soul picks up the Bible and reads about Jesus, if the heart is ready for change, that soul gets a revelation that the word is true.

Reading the word alone is not enough. The Holy Spirit’s revelation of Jesus, coupled with a ready heart is the spark that starts faith. Thus, necessary ingredients to start a person’s faith include the will of the Father over his/her life, the word of Jesus and the revelation of the Holy Spirit. God’s will, God’s word and God’s revelation of it all are required. The key to understanding the first of these two processes is the necessary power of revelation knowledge. Therefore our whole walk of faith starts and grows by revelation knowledge. The word and revelation are inseparable as to Kingdom truth. As scripture says in Col 2:2-4 (copied below) all mysteries of truth are hidden in Christ. This means that there must be a means to have those mysteries revealed.

As to the Bible, the word outlines the principles of God and which cannot change or be changed. The Bible is the complete word of God as to establishing benchmarks of who God is. However the Bible does not define what the Lord is doing in the here and now, besides scriptural prophesies that require revelation knowledge to understand. Interestingly, the last book of the Bible is all prophetic visionary materials, named “The Book of Revelation”.

Just before Jesus went to the cross, he said to the apostles (paraphrased from John 14-16 and Acts 1-2), “I will not leave you as orphans; I will give you the Holy Spirit who will lead you into all truth. When he comes he will make me known and then you will go out to all the ends of the earth and testify about me.” Jesus did not say, “Waite for the Bible to be written in full form, only then will you know what to do.”

Outside of revelation, the Bible remains open for interpretation and manipulation by those who are operating in what they think vise what they have been revealed to. The literal word, coupled with what people think, is the very cause of so many divisions among the Body of Christ. It is for this very reason there are so many denominations of Protestant beliefs.

The Bible does not contain God. This is a critical understanding! It means that God can operate outside of what we think whenever he wants to. He does this regularly. Just because I can’t find the literal word that defines what he has just done does not mean it was not God.

Two key scriptures: The first one says that the Lord is always doing a new thing that requires perception (Isa 43:19). The second scripture says that of the increase of his government and peace there is no end (Isa 9:6-7).

The new thing and increase. This means that there are things being done today that have never happened before. It means that when God does a new thing, it is bigger than what it was yesterday. These are key principles that the Bible cannot speak to in literal terms. These things must come by way of revelation. We have to be made known to what these things are through a trusting faith in the Helper (Holy Spirit) who leads us into all truth.

God did not stop doing new things at the point of completion of the Bible. Therefore what has happened since then and in the days ahead will require prophetic revelation for them to be made known.

A Testemony

When the Lord delivered me of smoking many years ago, he did it supernaturally. I literally felt the demons leaving me on the day that happened. After that day, I was completely released from that addiction, never again to touch cigarettes. What left me were demonic spirits of addiction that had right by my choice of sin.

The Bible outlined my sin. It outlined the rights demons have to take hold of me. It outlined that deliverance was available to me thru repentance. What the Bible did not do for me was to define when, were or how that deliverance would happen. Herein is a key point. The Bible speaks to who God is, but which is incomplete as to what, when, where and how God does it.

The Bible says this in Amos 3:7-8, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets…” This is an unchanging principle of the Lord (as are all declarative statements in the Bible). This makes it clear. What is about to happen must first be revealed to the prophet, spoken to the people and then will come to pass. Because of the completed work of the cross we all can prophesy, we all can hear the voice of the Lord. So this principle has been expanded beyond the choice few to us all. The point is that no one in the Body of Christ is exempt from hearing the voice of the Lord!

This makes clear that what God is about to do in our day is not spoken of anywhere else but thru prophetic release. The reason God makes foreknown what he is about to do by way of prophesy is this: The written word is not enough as to the complete picture of God. The whole picture includes more than just who and what he is.

Scripture also says to not go beyond what is written (1 Co 4:6). In this truth, we check everything to see if it aligns with the word of God. When a prophetic word comes that says something new, we check that it aligns with the principles within the word. Indeed this is true, God never violates his character.

However, everything I have seen of the Holy Spirit, including all the wild and radical experiences I have been privileged to experience have all aligned with the word of God; mainly as written in Acts. I am very careful to check alignment with the word. However that alignment must only be checked by way of Holy Spirit revelation combined with the word, not by what I think or by what I believe the word means.

The Bible is incomplete and meaningless without the revelation power that brings light to what it means for us today. The word becomes a tool to fulfill our own agendas when the Holy Spirit is shut out of this revelation process and purpose to reveal Jesus. The Bible reveals Jesus and the Father. It is not a box that we put them into. The religious box we form is what we think over revelation.

The pride of man’s correctness… it starts wars, divides nations, breeds hatred, destroys families and renders people’s hearts cold and calloused! We need the Holy Spirit to walk in one singular spiritual Kingdom truth as the Body of Christ. No wonder why Jesus made this known with such clear words in John 14-16 to the Apostles. He knew that without revelation knowledge, the flesh and the devil would have the means to silence his word to the nations for generations thru good sounding arguments!

Col 2:2-4 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

The spiritless lifeless religious church gives the world nothing but the written word and their interpretation of it. The power to make the word known to those who are dead is all but gone from the word. In such a way, the world gets nothing but fine-sounding arguments.

The Living Bible

I assure you that when the Holy Spirit manifests the heart of the Father and the word of the Son, the Bible comes alive in ways we can never know outside of this great gift called revelation.

I remember the first time I read the word after having been baptized in the Holy Spirit. I had this continuing ringing in my mind. God was speaking to me his desire… “Read my word.” Over and over again this statement rang in my mind. “Read my word.” My response was, “OK Lord, where do you want me to begin?” All I sensed was that the Holy Spirit was telling me to just pick up the Bible and start to read, and to just trust him.

So I bought one of those red One Year Bibles and I began. Oh my goodness! The word literally exploded before me in such an intimate way! It was one revelation release after another. I still have that Bible from back in 1997. It’s in pieces because the binding gave way; all marked with underlines and exclamations of joy. I devoured the Bible from cover to cover. It was such a deep time between me and the Father, with Jesus and with my beloved Holy Spirit! The Bible came alive to me where before it was all but lifeless in my eyes.

Without the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in and upon my heart that year, the Bible would not have come alive to me. I came out of the place of having to conclude into a place of being revealed to. I was gaining the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ as outlined in Col 2:2-4! I came out of independence into a place of dependence. Many of my paradigms shifted because revelation knowledge was shining thru. What I knew got changed. What I did not understand became understood. Much was left unknown, but my relationship with Father God and my Jesus just took off and soared! My faith grew ten-fold (read 1 Cor 12!). My love for the whole of God just exploded that year!

New Things of God

Consider this. If God is always doing a new thing as scripture declares, then what is happening right now in the Kingdom of God must be greater and larger than in the day that the Bible was complete. Though what happens today does not exceed the word of God as to principle, what God is doing in this day does. Such things may not be outlined in scripture except thru prophetic scriptures that might speak to these times. Likewise, God chooses to keep things hidden until he desires to make them known. Even in the word contains understandings yet revealed by the Father. Those words wait the right “Kyros” time for revelation to come forth. Kyros is a Greek word meaning a critical point in time.

Does the Lord operate outside of the Bible, indeed yes. Does the Bible define the existence of dinosaurs? Does the Bible define the expansion of the universe? Does the Bible define the existence of life under the seas? Does the Bible define the makeup of the atom? Did the Bible define who this current President would be? It says that God puts authorities in power but does not say who or how or when.

Prophesy and revelation giftings fills in where the Bible leaves off. Likewise, prophesy and revelation knowledge never conflicts with biblical principle.

However, what God does will not conflict with the word of God as HE defines the word, not as WE define it. The very great mystery that we must all come to terms with is what it means to be a “Living Bible”. Indeed the word is meaningless and dead of its own as exemplified by my testimony above. But when coupled with the Holy Spirit who brings understanding to it, it comes alive in every way. The word and the Spirit speak to me thru the word as I need it for the here and now.

Worldly Strategies

Satan knows the word better than any one of us. He uses the word for his gain. He is a legalist. We sin; he accuses us before the Lord according to the word of God.

“See God, here it is in your word! Here is the sin that Scott committed, now give me the rights you have outlined in your word.” Satan accuses us day and night with God’s word in hand (Rev 12:10). You see, the devil uses the Bible outside of God’s intent. He uses it to his purpose not God’s.

Are we not doing the very same thing if we reject supernatural revelation and interpret the word by our own intelligence? Could it be the very same with the religious lifeless church that rejects the Holy Spirit in its midst? Who defines the Bible if revelation knowledge has not come to reveal the word? The answer is the mind of man over the mind of Christ, and which is what I spoke of in my last writing. This is independence from God. It is a deadly way.

We can quote scriptures all day long and be absolutely right as to the literal meaning of it and be completely wrong as to the heart of the Father for us. This is what Paul was warning the Romans with (Romans 9:30-33) when he warned against works over mercy (by faith). The literal word drives us by what we do. The spiritual revelation of that word drives us by the revelation of who we are in the Father’s eyes.

Those bent on the literal word cry out for judgment. Those bent on gaining the Holy Spirit in their midst cry out in mercy and then find the face of Jesus Christ! Sin has its price, but we are so fast to forget that sin’s price was paid out of mercy and love. Religious people slam the word down on the desk and point the accusing finger to those in error when all the while the word is really pointing the loving finger of truth towards our own hearts.

Please know that I am by no means interested in deviating from the word of God. However, what I speak to is the revealed word, not the literal “logos” written word. “Rhema word”, or revealed word, is what drives the Spirit filled church. It is full of stuff that seems out of line with how the world thinks.

Read John 16:2-3 very closely. Jesus warns of the day that active Spirit filled Christians will be killed by church parishioners (those of the synagogue) who think they are offering a service to God. Jesus said of these killers, “They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.”

Those who cling to the written word alone, outside of revelation knowledge are the ones Jesus speaks of here. They define what they read by their own intelligence. When they see the radical things of the Lord, they come against it because they cannot understand it or define it. They say, “I don’t see that in my Bible.” In time, concern leads to division, division to hate, and then hate leads to violence. For those whose hearts are filled with pride, very great is the danger!

The literal word starts the thing. But the revealed word grows us up. The literal word is open for interpretation, the revealed word is not! The literal word leads to division when defined by the mind of man, but the revealed word establishes one truth and unity in the Holy Spirit.

We have to decide which road to go on. The wide highway that leads to destruction or the narrow winding spiritual road that leads to the Kingdom of God.

One last thought:

The world wants thoughts that can be defended in worldly terms. “If you can’t defend it, then it is either patently untrue or simply without credibility.”

But I cannot defend what is supernaturally given, revealed and activated. I don’t know how or with what worldly terms to do so. When a dead man is raised to life, how am I to explain that? (Mt 10:8) When someone is shaking in the Holy Spirit in a trance like state, how am I to explain that? (Acts 10:10, 11:5 and 22:17) All I am left to do is to steer someone to the word in hopes that they will see it by faith.

The Kingdom of God is pure supernatural existence. It’s all about what is unseen that is important.

I cannot defend God, he must defend himself by revelation. I can read it in the word all day long and never get it. This is why faith is so critical. Ultimately I must ask myself the question, “Am I operating in what I believe or in what I have dependently been shown.” These two ways are completely opposite of each other. They are in enmity with each other!

Therefore faith is critical to see anything of the Kingdom of God. I can’t explain it away by what I think or see in the natural. Nor can I do so with good sounding arguments that fall short of what really is supernatural unseen truth. All I can do is to act with my heart, take on the yoke of the mind of Christ and then respond with faith when the Lord asks me, “Did you see that? Do you believe?”

So long as we walk on the face of this earth in this lifetime, we will always be asked these two questions. God wants to know, is our faith in him or in our own ability to conclude? Therefore the word of God is but a guide to truth and only a very necessary part of the whole of God. It is not a box to place God in. Nor is it a tool to fulfill the agendas of any person.

To all who read these words: May the Lord richly bless you in the fullness of his heart for you and in your faith filled ministry works. I pray the fullness of love and the Holy Spirit’s revelation of Jesus love for you and the Father’s heart for you just as you are.

With love,

T. Scott Morton