When we realize that the whole ministry is now in the hands of the Holy Spirit, then it seems amazing we don't know Him better. I don't know how many of us look to Him like we really should. I'm sure that some know Him and fellowship with Him on a daily basis. For many though, He is just a presence in the cosmos like gravity or oxygen.
The Holy Spirit is to be to us, what Jesus was when He was here as a Man. Now, the Holy Spirit doesn't live in just one man like He did in Jesus' day, but personally lives inside each believer. The very same Holy Spirit Who led our Savior, is the very same Holy Spirit Who is to lead the Church. He is no less God than He was then.
When Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit, He told us that when He ascended to the Father, then Jesus would sent the Holy Spirit to us. And, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit wouldn't just be with us, but in us in John 14:16-17 (Amplified), "And I will ask the Father; and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby) that He may remain with you forever-The Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart) because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you (constantly) and will be in you."
Notice that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth...God's truth. In 1John2:20 and 2:27 (Amplified), we find some scripture that is overlooked in many Christian circles. Verse 20 says, "But you have been anointed (you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from) the Holy One, and you all know (the truth) or you know all things." Verse 27 says, "But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides (permanently) in you' (so) then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in, never depart from) Him (being rooted in Him; knit to Him) just as (His anointing) has taught you (to do)."
This unction or anointing is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of Truth. Any time some new doctrine or revelation comes to us, the Spirit of Truth will either confirm it or reject it. He is the Spirit of Truth and He lives in us. When John said that we know all things, he is referring to the Holy Spirit within us. What is there that He doesn't know about God? When we allow Him to teach us, we will come into a greater knowledge of the person of our Father. We have received some things through religious teachings that are not truth. The Holy Spirit will refute these things in our lives and will reveal the true nature of our Father.
It has become difficult for the Church to pray the will of God in faith because we were not always sure what His will was. Jesus should have put this very truth in the believer's heart when He said that, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father. He and I are One." Anything Jesus did was the will of God. All the things that Jesus did like healing, deliverance, mercy, love for all, understanding, miracles and so much more, were all the will of God and still are.
Because we don't always listen to the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, we don't always receive Godly counsel. John said that, "We have an unction (a sacred anointment) from the Father (the Holy Spirit) and we can trust Him to give us truth." The things the Holy Spirit tells us might not be what we have always been told in the past, but it will be truth. As we learned in a previous lesson, God deals in specifics and not generalities. Under the old covenant, the people didn't enter into His presence by generalities, they needed to be precise.
Sometimes, we act like the Holy Spirit is our errand boy. We pray for Him to go to the hospital and visit the sick. Jesus told us to go into the world and heal the sick. He also said that the Holy Spirit would go with us; not for us. When we go, He goes and when we sit down, He sits down because He says that, "I will live in you and walk in you."
Being led by the Holy Spirit is success in God. He will never lead us in a wrong thing, but always for the glory of God. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is the person of God Himself. He has a voice, He has a ministry, He has a will and it is the very same will of the Father and the Son. 1John 5:6-8 (Amplified) tells us, "This is He Who came by (with) water and Blood (His baptism and His death) Jesus Christ (the Messiah) not by (in) water only, but by (in) the water and the Blood." Verse 7 says, "And it is the (Holy) Spirit Who bears witness, because the (Holy) Spirit is the truth." Verse 8 goes on, "So there are three witnesses in heaven; the Father, the Word (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit, and these three are One, And there are three witnesses on the earth, the Spirit, the water and the Blood, and these three agree (are in unison; their testimony coincides)."
When the Holy Spirit reveals something to you, it is truth. He cannot speak anything except the truth. He is the Spirit of truth.
There are many things or acts of ministry that the Holy Spirit has come to fulfill in the Church. All of the things He has come to do or show the Church, are all based in truth. He doesn't know anything but truth. When He acts in the ministry of our Counselor, He will counsel by the Word because, "Thy Word is truth." He doesn't counsel as the world counsels. We go to a marriage counselor, but is he a Christian counselor or a worldly one?
God has given us everything needed to walk a successful walk in what He's called us to be. We simply need to invite the Holy Spirit to do what He came to do and then follow His counsel. His way may or may not be the way we think we should go, but His way always works and brings us into the glory of God has for us. We get into places where we don't "feel like we love our spouse anymore," but Jesus said, "We are to love our enemies." Surely, if we can love an enemy, then there must be a way to love our spouse. The Holy Spirit will show us how to do that by His counsel.
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