The Lord is good to all that
call upon Him, and so we have called upon Him; knowing we need the power of the Holy
Spirit. Jesus assures us that: "You shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses for Me …even
unto to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8
We have been imbued with power
from on high. We can manifest His life and glory. We can express the reality
of Christ within us. Christ as our forerunner has entered in through the
veil and has become our high priest. This assures us of the fulfillment
of the promise that we should enter in with Him.
Hebrews 9:24,28 - "For
Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are
the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God for us:" "So Christ was once offered to bear
the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the
second time without sin unto salvation."
By His Spirit God has hidden us in Him so that we will be able to appear
with Him in glory.
1Corinthians 2:12 "Now
we have received; the Spirit that is of God; that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God."
Our experience of
God is potentially unlimited. To receive the fullness of the promise each
one must seek and continually experience the working of the baptism of
the Spirit. A believer who receives Jesus Christ as his Savior has the
Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit
is not about getting the Holy Spirit into you, it is about a release of
the indwelling Spirit so that can be an out-flowing. The inflow brings
about your salvation and you are joined to God by the Spirit. You receive
new life and are born again.
The
out-flowing causes the Spirit to effect every part of your life. The Spirit
can then also flow from you to others bringing peace, love, joy and healing
to them. When the Spirit has freedom to move He baptizes your mind and
thought, your emotions, your will and your desires.
We are filled with the Spirit in order that we may glorify the Lord. God
is able to manifest His purpose through us. The Lord wants us to move
from faith to faith, from glory to glory, from fullness to overflowing.
I am emphasizing what we have always emphasized; the importance of
the manifestation of the Spirit that is given to every one to profit withal.
As you yield to the Spirit of the Lord He has power over your intellect,
over your heart, and over your voice. The Holy Spirit has power to unveil
Christ and to project the vision of Christ upon your mind. Then He uses
your tongue and life to glorify and magnify Him in a way that you could
not do apart from the Spirit's power.
This power is the power of His resurrection.
The baptism of the Spirit is to cause us to become sons of God with power.
We remain conscious of our human limits, but we do not limit the Holy
One who has come to dwell within.
We discover that all things are possible
to them that believe. We launch out into the deep believing that God has
His all for us, and that we can do all things through Him who strengthens
us. We have experienced His Glory, we have been given divine utterance.
We have seen conviction come upon people who have heard our words. We
have come upon a wonderful thing. Our words can work powerfully within
us as well. The secret of this anointing is the unveiling of Christ within,
the revelation of God who abides within us.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit will further enable us to have insight
and understand the three basic areas of our life. The first is the area
of existence;
especially our own existence. We come to realize that our existence is
no greater a problem to comprehend than the fact that anything exists
at all.
Hebrews 11:2-3 "By faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that the things that are seen were not made
of things that are visible."
The baptism of the Spirit enables me
to understand the process of God's creation as I see and participate in
the will and foreknowledge of God.
The baptism and the gifts of the Spirit
enable me to understand the mind of Christ as it operates in me. I can
see the process by which the old is taken away to bring forth the new.
I can see that God gives a body to each seed as it pleases Him. You can
see that I am not separating the working of the Spirit and the baptism
of the Spirit.
Then there is the consideration
of our actions and works in this world. We are personal, and yet we are
finite; so we are not a sufficient integration point for ourselves.
We realize that though we are finite beings we can find true meaning;
because in God we have an identity that provides an infinite reference
point.
The baptism of the Spirit further reveals the mystery of relationship
that deals with knowing. Without reference to God (who is a person)
life loses meaning because the value of personality is elusive and hard
to lay hold of. But because God is a person personality is justified.
God has sent forth this outpouring of His Spirit that we may all be brought
into a revelation of our sonship; that we are sons of God, men and women
of power. We have come to understand the value of life and the knowledge
that there is something great about being a human being. God has granted
it to us. There is something great about human beings because God has
chosen us to give Him expression on earth. The baptism of the Spirit further
reveals it That's why we emphasize and pray for the full revelation of
"Christ in you the hope of Glory."
*For more information on this topic simply E-mail Michael Brod at: michaelbrod@hotmail.com
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ANSWERS TO THE CHALLENGES OF LIFE: BY MICHAEL BROD