Lesson 86 The Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit

     Luke 3:21-22 (Amplified) says, "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus had also been baptized, and (while He was still) praying; the (visible) heavens were opened And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, saying, You are My Son, My Beloved! In You I am well pleased and find delight."
     Luke 4:1 (Amplified) says, "Then Jesus, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in (by) the Holy Spirit."
     Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19 (Amplified) that, "The Spirit of the Lord (is) upon Me, because He has anointed Me (the Anointed One, the Messiah) to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed (who are down trodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity) to proclaim the acceptable and accepted year of the Lord (the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound)."
     These scriptures illustrate how the full ministry of Jesus didn't come into full power until the ministry of the Holy Spirit came upon Him in power.  From that point on, His ministry was actually the very work and ministry of the Holy Spirit.  The very "indwelling" of God Himself in Spirit form, was working and ministering through Him.  Jesus said in John 14:10 (Amplified), "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? What am I telling you I do not say on My Own authority and of My Own accord; but the Father Who lives continually in Me does the (His) works (His Own miracles, deeds of power)."
     We know that the Holy Spirit is God, or the Father Himself.  The works and ministry of the Holy Spirit is the Father Himself actually living out His life among mankind, through us, just like He did through Jesus.  We've never been cognizant of the full truth and ministry of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.
     Jesus said on more than one occasion, that "It is not Me, but the Father in Me that does the works.  The same Holy Spirit working in our lives is the Holy Spirit Who worked in Jesus' life.  The only difference is that Jesus yielded Himself over to the Spirit and allowed the Spirit full access in His life.
We've heard Christians say, "Yes, but that was Jesus and I am not Jesus."  But, Jesus kept saying, "It's not Me, but the Father in Me."  When we learn to yield to the Holy Spirit, then we can also say, "It's not me, but the Father in me that's doing the works."  Jesus was dependent upon the same thing in His life that we are, the Holy Spirit.
     Somehow, we've portrayed the Holy Spirit as being more dependent on us, than we are on Him.  Everyone should know that it's not you healing the sick or raising the dead.  God never intended for us to do that.  He intended to do it Himself, through us.  It was to be Him in us doing the miracles.  We've become so self-centered that we thought we had to do it.
    The work and ministry of the Holy Spirit hasn't changed since He came into this earth at Pentecost.  We've been the only hindrance to revealing the Father to the world.  God has been ready ever since He made His entrance in the Upper Room.  We've been so afraid that we were overstepping our own authority, that we've never thought it was His authority through us, that was to be revealed.
     It's not a matter of pride, but of understanding that will release God into the masses of people today, like it was in the early Church.  We've successfully talked ourselves out of having the indwelling power of our Father in us.  All He needs for us to do, is recognize His presence in us and to simply allow Him to be Who He is...God!  "With God all things are possible."  It's not with us, but with God.
     We continue to focus more on our own inability rather than on His ability.  2Corinthians 4:6-7 (Amplified) says, "For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as (to beam forth) the Light of the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God (as it is manifest in the person and is revealed) in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah). However, we possess this precious treasure (the divine Light of the Gospel) in (frail, human) vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves)."
     Jesus repeatedly taught that the glory and the Light of His message and power was not Him, but the Father in His earthly vessel Who did the work.  Jesus was without sin, but we must realize that because of Him, God sees us without sin too.  2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away, Behold, the fresh and new has come."
     We've been seeing ourselves as our old selves, instead of the way God sees us, as new selves.  We still view ourselves from the frailty of the flesh, and thus, we disqualify ourselves.  God sees us by the faith of our relationship with Jesus as Lord, and sees us without sin.  Our faith in Jesus as Lord has qualified us and the Holy Spirit chooses to live in us like He did in Jesus.  Now He can be exalted even in our earthen vessels.  And we know that the glory be of God and not of ourselves.