Serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:12 ESV)
Preaching of the good news is done by the Holy Spirit through men. He calls men, anoints them, gives them gifts and enables them to preach the gospel. It is the work of the Holy Spirit not the work of men, however, He does it through willing and yielded vessels who cooperate with Him. He is a Spirit and needs to fulfill His ministry – the ministry of the Spirit through mortal physical men.
Some men are still struggling to grasp this reality as they rely on themselves and make loud noise believing it is by noise making. No, it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that men are won and converted to Christ. It is also God that convicts and draws men to Christ. Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing. It is the Spirit of Christ that spreads the gospel on earth.
Regardless of the style of preaching adopted – either preaching softly, calmly, shouting, writing books, blogging, vlogging, Youtude, podcasts, TV, videos, radio, or any other media channel, men will not be effective in winning souls if they are not empowered and the Holy Spirit is not with them. He is the one that makes men effective in ministry.
May we give Him His place and be loyal and yielded vessels. May we always pray that the good news be spread to hidden places of the earth. May we pray and intercede with God to bring more souls into His kingdom. May we fulfill our own role and part in spreading the gospel. As we pray, preach and obey, God Himself will step into time and convict souls.
For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live. Romans 8:13
It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can defeat sin. Sometimes, we actually forget that without Him, we can do nothing and that it is God’s Spirit that gives life, grace and Holiness.
There is a law and a power that is at work in us, making us have the propensity to sin. Man is naturally drawn towards sin as a result of the fallen human nature. However, the grace of God to live above and beyond sin is greater and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace.
May we step aside today and let Him lead us and empower us to live above sin. May He kill the desire and lust for sin in us and wash us from the inside out. May we let Him be the captain of our lives because that is why He is here on earth.
How much greater is the glory that belongs to the activity of the Spirit! 2 Corinthians 3:8
The activity of the Holy Spirit is always good. He was the one that was at work with Jesus, Moses, Joseph, Abraham and the Apostles.
The activities of the Holy Spirit are very many but I will mention some of them. He is the one that does creative work. He heals and delivers, performs miracles, and anoints men into ministry.
He purifies and sustains. He produces the fruits of the Holy Spirit and gives wisdom, understanding, revelation, wisdom, life, truth, grace, love, mercy, comfort, endurance, and fear of the Lord. He did all the great works through the prophets of old. He was with Jesus and had to come upon Jesus for Jesus to start, perfect, fulfill and complete His ministry.
Amazingly, the Bible talks about the Spirit of mercy and prayer. He is the Spirit of mercy and prayer. It is the Holy Spirit that silently instructs and enables men to pray and show mercy. He is also the source and transmitter of mercy on earth from the throne of grace. He makes mercy and glory available here on earth. He is the source and channel of glory and honor and makes men vessels of honor. Glory to God!
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him– the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD. Isiah 11:2
I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son. Zechariah 12:10
He was with the apostles and did great and mighty works in the acts of the apostles. Some people have even argued and suggested that acts of the apostles be renamed acts of the Holy Spirit. He was the one behind the scenes, performing wonders and spreading the gospel like wild fire. He is not wild but His love and mercy are wild and glorious.
He is the head of the Church on earth and is waiting for people who recognize His place, ministry, work, glory and activities to wait upon Him for fresh fire. With constant, daily, fresh, fire and anointing, we can do the mighty works of Jesus. Remember it’s a promise by Jesus.
May we constantly recognize the ministry and activities of the Holy Spirit, our Lord on earth. May we also always invite Him to take His place in our lives, among us and in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16 NKJV)
This Scripture tells us that we are being renewed, day by day. We are constantly being renewed in Christ and by Christ. Sometimes it will seem like we are physically perishing and decaying because of the physical challenges and affiliations that we face, however our inner man is being renewed by God.
As long as we are seeking Him and pleasing Him in Spirit and in truth, we must not be discouraged or fear. After renewal comes glory and when glory appears, shadows and difficulties disappear into the night where they belong. When glory appears light rules and reigns and no darkness will survive there. However, we must keep marching forward to the place of glory without giving up.
As we trust God, depend on Him, walk in Him and not give up, God Himself will perfect all that concerns us and our temporary afflictions will give way to power and glory. May we never look back in Jesus name. Amen.
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant–not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:6
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:11
The Holy Spirit made us and gave us life. He gave us both physical and spiritual life. Jesus was born of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit fathered Him physically and spiritually. We are also born of the Spirit, spiritually. You can now see how awesome our big Daddy is. He is here on earth as both Lord, Master and Father of the redeemed, praise God.
The Holy Spirit not only gave us life but He gives constant life and His life, power and mercies are new everyday. It is available at the throne of Grace. He is the constant source of life that we should run to everyday.
As a father He is our mentor, companion and best friend. The one who gave birth to us will never disappoint us. It is only a thief that destroys but a father will always build up and help even when He corrects.
We must always show Him maximum respect because He deserves it. We must honour Him, love Him and worship Him because He gave us life and His life sustains us. Glory to God! As we rely on Him and depend on Him daily, He will perfect all that concerns us and bring us into maturity and son-ship to reflect the image of Christ. He will make us know and experience the richness of His grace.
Come Holy Spirit, precious Father, we need you.
More Scriptures
But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. Romans 8:10
Those who belong to Christ Jesus are no longer under God’s judgement. Because of what Christ Jesus has done, you are free. You are now controlled by the law of the Holy Spirit who gives you life. Romans 8:1-2
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you–they are full of the Spirit and life. John 6:63
God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature. Romans 8:4
Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants. Romans 8:5
To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. Romans 8:6
But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to—if, in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Romans 8:9
The Holy Spirit talks
The Holy Spirit is constantly talking and telling us how to live and please God. He talks to us by His written word and by His voice spoken directly into our spirits and hearts.
Human nature talks
The human nature also talks. The flesh, the world and the devil also do their special kind of talking, relentlessly, everyday. The flesh talks by uncontrolled appetites and desires – envy, greed, lust etc. The devil and the world bombard humanity daily, with false doctrines, ideologies and evil communications. We easily get influenced by the media, the crowd, celebrities, the world systems etc.
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4
What we do not realise is that we live in a fallen world controlled by the god of this world. Of course the god of this world controls the systems of this world and the undiscerning fall into his trap. He has blinded their eyes to believe the evil system controlling this world through entertainment, media and false philosophies. It is not every media that is bad, but the ones that spread contents and philosophies that are strange and opposing to the word of God are the evil media.
Any entertainment, media, and communication that does not fall in line with the word of God and blatantly opposes, disputes, contradicts and judges the word of God is evil and inherently evil – they are from the god of this world. In order to be victorious in Christ, we must resist and oppose those who oppose the word of God with no other weapon than the word of God Himself. When they spread lies, we must believe, practice and spread the truth fearlessly without timidity and fear of criticism and intimidation.
Only those who are hungry for the truth and Christ Himself listen to the Holy Spirit who is always speaking the truth, wisdom, revelation and the word of God.
We decide whom to obey
We must decide whom to bow to – the word of God or lies. We are the ones who will decide if we want to obey and marry the word of God or marry the devil and lies. If we love the Christ hating media, entertainment, systems and the world we have decided to hate Christ and crucify Him – we decide whom we want to love and obey.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15 – 17
Demas fell in love with this present world and has deserted me, going off to Thessalonica. Crescens went to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 2 Timothy 4:10
It is possible to fall in love with the world just as it is possible to fall in love with Christ -God’s Word and Will. When men fall in love with the world, they reject and abandon Christ and His word and works. Conversely, when men fall in love with Christ, they dedicate themselves completely to His ways, words and will and strive to obey and please Him always – they hate the world, lies and evil.
Loving the world makes men want to enjoy sinful pleasures and to please themselves, men and the world which is under the spell of the devil. Jesus has conquered the devil and overthrown him but a lot of people do not know this and still want to be ruled by the god of this world – death and sin.
They love death and sin and have refused to come to the light, so they empower the false god to rule them. God has given us a choice, so we are to choose between life and death. However, the truth cannot be broken, Jesus has the key of life and death and the devil has been defeated, dethroned, judged and cast away, but because man has a free will he will have to chose whom he wants as Lord – The false lying overthrown god who pretends that he is God or the true God who died for us to set us free from the false god and his lying cheating ways. All power belongs to Jesus.
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. Deuteronomy 30:19
Those who love lies, evil, injustice and darkness will still choose him, that is why an overthrown god still has influence in the affairs of man, so atheists need to stop blaming God – He is not the cause or root of evil, man is. Satan is just a creature with no free will. Man is the one who can obey or disobey. The demons believe in only one God, they believe the word of God and tremble with fear.
In order to deceive and lie, you must know the truth, so the demons know the truth but will twist it and turn it upside down, in order to catch the evil ones. A thief knows how to catch a thief and a smarter lair will outwit a smart lair, so demons believe in only one God, but man is the doubter and mocker of God.
If you claim to believe in God and you don’t obey Him, you are an unbeliever by your actions. Jesus said, “by their fruits you will know them.”
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. James 2:19
The demons and Satan can’t obey God, because they do not have the power to obey. The only power they have is the power of deception. Every evil starts from deception that is why it is only the truth that can set us free.
Our freewill gives us the power of choice and gives us an upper hand over the devil, demons and the dead. The devil has his own place – to deceive, to tempt, test, try, examine, and carry out divine judgement – he can’t do anything without God’s permission so it is only God that we must fear.
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.” Luke 22:31
That truth and weapon that the devil knows, we also know it because Jesus has revealed the word of God to us. When you know what the devil knows, he will leave you alone and not bother you. Jesus and Paul knew what the devil knows – the word of God, so the devil could not outwit them. They knew the word of God and the demons knew them.
One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Acts 19:15
Remember the temptation of Jesus, when the devil was twisting scriptures and quoting Scriptures in a perverted form to Jesus to get Him to sin and to disobey God. People including, so called men of God still pervert Scriptures today to entice and deceive the greedy mammon lovers. If you are seeking blessings, rewards and materialism without seeking the Kingdom of God, and seeking how to please God, you will be caught in that evil net and fall – you will be deceived.
It is therefore vital to keep our hearts pure and seek to please God and God alone, nothing else will suffice. It is impurity of heart that is the root cause of men embracing deception. When you are pure, there will be no need for further trials and testing because the purpose of trials is to ensure that our faith is pure as gold. When your faith is pure and you are cleansed and purified, you will become a vessel of honour. No one can escape the fire of testing but the tested, purified and trusted are at the golden mountain top and they will enjoy God and His glory, here on earth like Jesus and Paul.
We must keep marching forward to that glorious mountain top and never get discouraged, weary, look back or give up. Jesus is at the mountain top with outstretched arms- softly beckoning to His beloved to meet Him there and embrace Him. After the embrace, he will leave His fragrance, perfume, imprint and footprint on you.
Satan definitely knows that he is not God and knows his end – only the foolish and ignorant believe him, follow him, and worship him. Sometimes, the devil will crown those foolish ones with wealth, power, fame and success and men judge by outward appearance. Men worship demonic celebrities and false prophets and assume that because they have it all, they must be doing something right, however that is all part of the deception and devil’s packaging in order to succeed in enticing men.
The devil knows that men love riches, fame, power and they judge by outward appearance so his agents are packaged with wealth and fame and empowered to entice, lure and deceive. Meanwhile, some of the celebrities and false prophets who are hired agents of the devil are laughing at their followers and saying to themselves, “if only they knew that I am a paid agent with no conscience leading them to hell – if only they knew.”
God is so wise that he judges differently. Remember Lazarus and the rich man. Wealth is not always an evidence of God’s approval. The devil also gives riches and his way is the easy and fast way. The way of God is narrow and difficult but pure and holy. Jesus said, “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and looses his soul.”
Do not be deceived, the devil can offer and give the world to men in exchange for their souls – He tried it with Jesus. He offered all the Kingdoms of the world to Jesus in exchange for worship but Jesus was smarter. Jesus concentrated His energy in obeying Gods will – He was not seeking wealth, fame, power or the approval of men. We must imitate Him as our perfect example.
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” John 4:34
He ignored short cut to wealth, fame and power and followed the narrow way – the high way of holiness. The devil can make the world and humanity fall at the feet of his worshippers. He makes them mini and demigods to their fellow men. Do not be deceived because there is a day of reckoning for every man. Everything, including the devil, demons, unrepentant humans like pharaoh and the world of the dead was created through the word of God and for the word of God.
Satan cannot operate outside the word of God. The word of God says we must be tempted, tried and tested and devil goes to work and does exactly that. A demon needed God’s permission to lie to Ahab and eventually, it led to his death.
Micaiah went on: “Now listen to what the Lord says! I saw the Lord sitting on his throne in heaven, with all his angels standing beside him. 20 The Lord asked, ‘Who will deceive Ahab so that he will go and be killed at Ramoth?’ Some of the angels said one thing, and others said something else, 21 until a spirit stepped forward, approached the Lord, and said, ‘I will deceive him.’ 22 ‘How?’ the Lord asked. The spirit replied, ‘I will go and make all of Ahab’s prophets tell lies.’ The Lord said, ‘Go and deceive him. You will succeed.’” I Kings 22: 19-23
23 And Micaiah concluded: “This is what has happened. The Lord has made these prophets of yours lie to you. But he himself has decreed that you will meet with disaster!”
And if a prophet is deceived into giving a message, it is because I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet. I will lift my fist against such prophets and cut them off from the community of Israel. Ezikiel 14:9
The Bible advises us to fear God but never advised us to fear the devil but to resist him. If the Bible tells us to resist the devil it means that we can, by the grace of God and God is very gracious.
Our own place is to resist the devil and stop all the irresponsible blaming. whether we like it or not, we are in a battle as ordained by God and we must fight to win instead of blaming God or the devil. God’s commandment to man is fight, period. If we fight and are pleasing in Gods sight, the demons will know and obey us like they knew Jesus and Paul and obeyed them.
The devil is just an enabler and an accomplice and without man’s consent, the devil cannot succeed, that is why man is judged. Man needs to take responsibility for sin and evil and stop sinning and blaming God or the devil. Adam blamed God and Eve blamed the devil, however they were both judged. They did not escape punishment.
The same story of Adam and Eve is being made manifest in the lives of many men – accept evil because we believe there is good in it or because of some perceived benefit and later blame God or the devil to escape responsibility and judgement. It is not a new trick but an old trick that started long ago in the garden of Eden, however, God cannot be fooled, deceived or mocked – He is the author of knowledge and intelligence. He is all-knowing and much smarter than our human smartness.
We can only be smart here on earth and run our mouth around uttering profanities against God but the truth is that in the presence of God we are utterly speechless, subdued and paralysed from making lame excuses for sin. What excuse did Ananias and Sapphira come up with? None. God is not our problem and the devil is not our problem. Man is the real problem with this world.
Those who love Christ and His words listen to the Holy Spirit and live by the the Holy Spirit Of Christ. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can obey the Holy Spirit and walk by Him, however, we must decide whom we want to obey – the voice of the Spirit or the deafening voice of the world.
And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,“ we also believe and therefore speak, (2 Corinthians 4:13 NKJV)
The Holy Spirit is the spirit that produces faith. Any one who is trying to produce faith by his own power lacks humility and wisdom. Faith is spiritual and the author, source and giver of faith is the Holy Spirit. It is only when the word of God dwells in the hearts of men without expulsion that a men have faith. It is only by the Holy Spirits power that we can retain and not expel the word of God.
But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:23
Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop–a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Mathew 13:8
The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. Matthew 13:37
If we study the parable of the sower, we will observe that it is the son of man than plants the word of God in the hearts of men represented as different qualities of soil. The son of man plants the word of God by His Holy Spirit that is here on earth. It is also the son of man that breaks the soil and makes the soil a good soil, capable of accepting the good news and the commandments of God.
He prunes and purifies us by His Holy Spirit in order to enable full indwelling of the word. That is only when the fruits including faith are produced a hundred fold.
The Holy Spirit is all we need and He alone can produce mature faith and purity in us. The kind of faith that relies and depends on God not on self or our own faith. He alone is the author and giver of faith. Glory to God!
According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (1 Peter 1:2 ESV)
The Holy Spirit sanctifies us. He is awesome and powerful and He is the Lord. He is also God. Because of this, He is the only one that can make us Holy, complete and pure. He does this by planting the word of God inside us and also enables us to accept His word and retain them in our spirit. It is only by His power that we can understand, keep and practice the word of God.
Without the help of the Holy Spirit we are nothing and less than nothing – we are simply helpless and powerless.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:7
Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Acts 5:3
Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” Acts 5:4
Jesus Himself constantly walked with the Holy Spirit – He needed Him. Jesus was full of wisdom, truth, grace and power by the Holy Spirit. This should serve as a lesson to us and give us some wisdom. If Jesus, the son of God needed the Holy Spirit to fulfil His fathers will, we also need Him.
We must be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to please God completely and be healthy and effective in our daily walk with God including being successful in ministry. Nothing else will do.
