By The Spirit I
1Cor.12:31 “But earnestly desire (covet) the best gifts…” (emphasis added, KJV paraphrased]
There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit and twelve fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are focusing first on the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit enumerated in 1 Corinthians 12. I encourage you to sit with, read, and study 1 Corinthians 12 again and again. Read the rest of this entry
New Wine
Mark 2:22 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”
1 Cor.12:7 “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (NRSV, emphasis added). Yesterday, I shared how we used to take people through a spiritual experience. However, because we recognize that man is spirit, it is possible for people to be spiritually active even before they surrender to Jesus. Read the rest of this entry
In His Service
1 Cor.12:4-5 “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.” (emphasis added).
It is so important for us to understand that spiritual gifts are for service, for the benefit of others. So, these spiritual gifts we have been given, we have received, and we have activated is not about you or me. Read the rest of this entry
Taste Test
Ps. 119:103 “How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.”
When people encounter you, what taste does it leave in their mouths? Bitter, sweet, or bland? God wants people to encounter us as His children and have an unforgettably sweet taste, a sweetness that they cannot shake off. Remember our illustration from yesterday’s devotional? Read the rest of this entry
Conscious
1Cor.12:1 “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant” (KJV)
When Christians operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they totally frustrate the enemy. Therefore, the enemy is excited when Christians are ignorant. For the enemy to succeed, the Christian has to be ignorant. For the enemy to succeed in your business, in your finances, in your health there must be ignorance somewhere. Read the rest of this entry
Be Well-versed
1 Cor.12:4-5 “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.” (emphasis added).
Over the next few days, we will be examining an aspect of the Holy Spirit that is so fundamental and pivotal to our faith. It is also an aspect that perhaps a lot of Christians really do not understand. However, to be all that God had called us to be as Christians, we need to understand the aspect of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is fundamental to our faith. Read the rest of this entry
In His Name, V
Zech. 12:10 “And I pledge that I will pour out a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy on the family of David and the citizens of Jerusalem…” (Voice)
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Grace. When the Spirit of Grace is upon you, things become effortless. I acknowledge the Spirit of Grace upon my life and I am totally grateful for it. Sometimes, when I share the amazing things that God is doing or has done in my life, people are literally in shock. Read the rest of this entry
In His Name, IV
Isa. 11:2 “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” (emphasis added).
The encounter that prophet Isaiah had with the Lord paints a very graphic picture of the connection between the knowledge and the fear of the Lord. In the first five chapters of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah was prophesying doom to everybody. Then in Isa. 6:1-5 “It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
Isaiah’s response to the revelational knowledge of God was the fear of the Lord. Isaiah said, “It is all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man.” When you really can say, like Isaiah said, I am doomed, that is the beginning of humility. Humility is not putting yourself down; that is ‘humbility’ and not humility. ‘Humbility’ and humility are two different things. True humility is, stand as tall as you can then look at the glory of God and you will be humble. It is the Spirit of Knowledge and Fear of the Lord that brings that to bare.
The Holy Spirit is the Power of the Highest. Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (NKJV). The Holy Spirit will come upon you [say amen], the power of the Highest will overshadow you, and that which will come out of your life will be born of God, in the Name of Jesus. Remember the illustration of the cups from days back? Two of those cups were open and one was closed. You have to make sure that you are not closed. So, in your business, in your finances, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, in the Name of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is the Breath of the Almighty. Job 33:4 “For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (emphasis added). I pray that God will breathe upon you. When God breathes upon a situation, He is infusing the Holy Spirit into that situation. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Grace. Zech. 12:10 “And I pledge that I will pour out a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy on the family of David and the citizens of Jerusalem…” (Voice). When the Spirit of Grace comes upon you, when you unleash that dimension of the Holy Spirit, things just work for you. You enter into a level of grace that allows you to do difficult things with great ease. It is God’s grace.
Prayer [song]: Anointing fall on me. Anointing fall on me. Let the power of the Holy Ghost fall on me. Anointing fall on me. Amen!
In His Name, II
Isa. 11:2 “the Spirit of Yahweh will rest upon him, the Spirit of Extraordinary Wisdom, the Spirit of Perfect Understanding the Spirit of Wise Strategy, the Spirit of Mighty Power, the Spirit of Revelation, and the Spirit of the Fear of Yahweh” (TPT)
The third Name of the Holy Spirit that we will be looking at is, The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding. Isa. 11:2 “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” (emphasis added). Read the rest of this entry
