Manifesting Presence of the Holy Spirit

Dependency

Regarding the Bible, the word of God is the all inclusive, complete and one and only definer of God’s character, of His heart and desire. Everything we do, all that we understand of God, and every future step we take should very much align with the “revealed” word contained in the Bible. However, while the Bible is our reference, it does not “contain” God. That is to say that God is not limited in what He does today nor in the future by the words within the Bible. God gave us the Bible to be our perfect reference, but Jesus died that we should have the Holy Spirit to be our guide.

Understanding the will and heart of the Father for now and the future requires a combination of both the word of God and the Holy Spirit that reveals the word of God in meaning for us today. This is a critical combination. For without the Revelator, the Holy Spirit, we are left to “conclude” what the word of God means by our very limited intelligence. The result becomes religious error. Not to sound demeaning against humanity in any way. Rather, in humility, we understand that we are completely dependent upon God for our spiritual growth or understanding. If we go by what we think over what God knows, we miss the mark of truth. The key to understanding is found in the humility of dependence that results in the Lord being willing to transmit His thoughts into our hearts and minds. This is critical!

Jesus exemplified all that we are to be in this life. He said, “I do nothing but what the Father tells me.” He was totally dependent on that direct line of communication he had with the Father. Jesus said further in John (paraphrased), “I will not leave you as orphans… I will give you another Helper (Counselor in the NIV) who will lead you into all truth. He will not speak on His own. He will speak only what He hears. He will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”

John 14:25-26 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 14:15-18 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

In my humble opinion, John 14, 15, 16 and 17 (besides the entire book of Acts) are the most important passages in the Bible. Jesus was about to die and complete what He came to do. But He had been God right in the face of these disciples! He spoke to them directly of the word and the truth. He even used parables for the purpose of teaching them the need for revelation wisdom knowledge! But, there was “perfect communication”. God was walking with them. Yet even though Jesus was right there before their eyes, even then, what He spoke of to them all but went right over their heads! Why? They had yet to receive the Holy Spirit, the revelator. Jesus had to complete his work before the Holy Spirit was to come to them (us!).

Jesus had to go to the cross. He had to finish His work. He was about to leave. They were sad. Then Jesus lovingly said, I am not going to leave you without a way to know and understand the truth. He said to wait for the Holy Spirit. Even then they did not understand. But they were obedient to wait for the Holy Spirit as Jesus directed. After the cross, they did just that. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came.

So, Jesus died, rose again, spoke for another few weeks after the miracle of resurrection to the amazement and utter disbelief of the saints. He was risen back to His rightful place next to the Father. And now it is as it was on that day. God is on His throne; Jesus is right by His side. But the Holy Spirit is here.

The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. They got blasted! They spoke in the tongues of every nation. Then they understood what before they had missed.

If you look carefully at the word, you find that even Mary, the mother of Jesus and Jesus’ brothers did not fully understand the purpose of Jesus, even up to the cross. But the Bible then records that after Jesus was risen, they got it. They became key disciples. What was the difference? Before the cross, they did not understand. After the cross the understood easily. The answer:

John 16:12-14 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

Here’s the key: They understood not of their own thinking. They were given revelation knowledge that built up their faith. They got it through a combination of humility, dependence and waiting on the Holy Spirit for revelation understanding as Jesus directed them to do. When the Holy Spirit came, they understood. When the Holy Spirit came, the church began. In Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell, there was a ruckus radical outpouring of joy. It caused a commotion. It caused a stirring of hearts. People from all around came to hear Peter’s explanation of what had just happened:

Acts 2:1-6, 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. Then they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

Acts 2:14-17 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.'”

Peter was holding the very first church meeting! In the humility of dependant faith, some got it. In the pride of their own thinking, others did not. But the result of that day was that three thousand souls were saved. That is the power of revelation knowledge. Those that believed… they got it!

To understand the Bible, today as it was back then, indeed we need the written word of the Bible. But even more then the word, we need the Holy Spirit’s revelation just as on the day of Pentecost. We need revelation knowledge not only for understanding of the written word, but to unlock what it means for us today and in the days to come. We need revelation knowledge to know the seasons we are in and to know where to turn to and what to avoid. We need revelation knowledge to express truth into a dying world.

How this happens is not by our own understanding or conclusions, but by the Holy Spirit of God in and upon us (John 14:18 above). I am not talking about the Holy Spirit we get at regeneration (point of salvation) which marks us for eternity. I am talking about the Holy Spirit we receive in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Just as these men and women of God were baptized in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Acts 8:14-17 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit , because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:1-7 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.

Notice, there are three baptisms that Paul spoke of in the above event. 1. Hearing the truth unto conviction (John’s baptism). 2. Receiving the truth unto salvation (Baptism of Jesus). 3. And then the third and very separate baptism of the Holy Spirit. This would be the baptism into the power of the cross to gain understanding, and to give others that same understanding.

I submit that without this work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as believers, we are as dart throwers with blinders on. Throwing the darts at what we think is the dart board of truth and missing miserably. All the religions of the world were born from the ways of man’s thinking. Thousands of good sounding arguments, all of them missing the radical mark of Godly Kingdom truth.

There is one truth, one way, One God under one name. But that is the most basic of understandings. The first work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal this knowledge into the heart of the brand new believer. But for us who are in the Body of Christ, God wants us to be moving in a radical truth that will result in thousands saved in one day as on Pentecost. This is easy when the Holy Spirit is welcome to do His mighty work.

We have all experienced events we cannot explain in which God was moving on our behalf. We who believe know that the supernatural acts of God occur today. But I am sensing the Father wanting us to embrace the Presence of the Holy Spirit in such a way as to see the radical things of God happen right here regularly, right now in our everyday lives. Not for our benefit (though we benefit greatly), but for the benefit of the harvest at hand. And the harvest is RIPE where we are! Brothers, we might be in one of the most ripe areas in the world for a rich harvest! It starts with supernaturally given revelation knowledge. It matures in signs that do nothing but point to the wonder of Jesus Christ… namely healing the sick, casting out demons and the raising of the dead.

It’s not a lack of faith that holds these things back, though that is a part of the problem. More so it is doubt.

Brothers, allow me to be an encouragement to you. I am a witness. I have seen it with my own eyes. The power of God is just as available to us today as it was for the first church in the day of Pentecost. There has been no change except decreasing faith and increasing doubt over the years since the cross. This is the only reason we don’t see as much of the miraculous as they saw in the first church.

I have seen with my own eyes the blind see again. I have seen with my own eyes, the cancer ridden healed outright in an instant. I have seen demons flee time and again. I have seen the power of God rest on a person full of anger and rage be turned into an absolute wreck of joyous liberty… tears of joy streaming for hours. I have seen the addicted delivered from their addiction in an instant… I was one of them. I have watched the countenance of the face of a doubter as the Holy Spirit of revelation came on… the face turned from darkness and sadness to shocked understanding and a fresh new peace.

But, these are all the things Jesus was doing in the three years he was teaching. These were all the things the apostles and those that followed them did after Pentecost. All through history, these things have been happening to those who believe. And did not Jesus say:

John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

But all this starts with revelation knowledge. And so I encourage you all. When you study the word of God, seek first the Face of God. Start with a state of worship and seek the Presence of God right by your side before you ever open the word. When you sense His Presence with you, then open the book and just see the wonder of what He will reveal to you! Oh there are many ways to study the word and I am not saying this is the only way. This is just an encouragement.

This is where it all begins. This is how we stay on the same page. This is how we become overcomers. This is how we gain the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven! This is how we reap a real and lasting harvest. Be filled with the Holy Spirit!

It all starts with not just the “logos” or written word, but the “rhema” or revealed word. It requires the overcoming of the pride of our own thinking followed by an honest state of dependence, just as Jesus is fully dependant on the Father and as the Holy Spirit is fully dependant on the Son. So it is with us. Without dependence, we spin around with doctrines in error. We lose the power and all that goes with it. We end up religious and lifeless, just doing church as usual with little ground being gained. That sounds harsh. But this is what the Lord is leading us out of today.

So I would ask you the same question that Paul asked the Ephesian disciples, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” If not, then allow me to invite you. This is a free gift gained through faith and available to all who believe. It’s yours for the asking. But it comes with a price, and which is this… “humility, death to self and lower still.” Kingdom greatness and Gods glory becomes manifested in this way.

May the Lord fill you richly and deeply in the Holy Spirit!

With love in Christ,

Scott Morton