Holy Spirit – Part 5:
The Same Spirit
...Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Rom 8:9)
This is a backdoor way of saying that every believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling them. This is one revealed truth from the Scriptures. It is information that is outside of ourselves. Most people generally do not feel spirit. We need the image or the information that the Bible gives us on this subject.
According as his (God's) divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,...(2Pet 1:3)
Everything you need to live this life and to walk with God has already been given to you. You have healing and peace. You already have power and provision. Everything you need has been given to you in the spirit, by reason of the Holy Spirit living in the true believer. Getting it out of there and it being useful to you is another matter. It is never the wrong time to pray, but many times we agonize and struggle to receive those things that have already been given to us.
Among those who believe the Scripture regarding the ever present Holy Spirit, there may be two camps. The first camp believes that the Holy Spirit came when you repeated someone's words thirty years ago. That's it. There is nothing more. It means nothing today. I will live my life any way I want to and never give it another thought until I lie on my death bed. I liken these to those who have driven into the ditch on the left side of the road. They have been there stuck for 30 years and everything is just fine.
There can be an error on the other side of the road also. Some people read the book of Acts and think it would be wonderful to have lived in the first century. To have known the apostles. To have seen the power of God up close. A supernatural hunger grows inside of them. They pray. They fast. They beg God to send power. God wants to bestow power more than we want to see it.
All of these things are good. God is the Rewarder of them that seek Him with diligence and with desperation (Heb 11:6).
All the time you have the universe-creating power living inside of you as your best friend.
I believe it can be an error when we start praying for God to send something that really works this time because we think we have nothing that does. Apparently while we are pacing floor, screaming at the ceiling for more power, God is also pacing the floor. “Power, power. I've got to find more power. I sent Jesus. That didn't work. I sent the Holy Spirit. That wasn't enough. Now I've got to find more power! Where am I going to get it?”
My friends, God may bless us in the midst of our immaturity but He will never agree with us that what we have in our reborn spirit is not enough. God may indeed answer us and meet us where we are but that does not validate our error.
When God finally does meet you with special spiritual enabling, He will not send a different spirit. When God takes the Holy Spirit that is within and places the Holy Spirit upon, that will be the same Holy Spirit. It is not another spirit that is different from the Holy Spirit promised to you. Everything you need and everything you could ever want is already within you. Not within yourself but within what He has already given you.
[This is made somewhat more complicated because there are in fact other spiritual beings also sent to help us.
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Heb 1:14)
This is referring to the angels of God. Often, we can be more aware of an angelic presence than the indwelling Holy Spirit. They are on the outside. They do not live inside of us. They are more evident to our flesh than our spirit, even though they themselves are spirits. The power and authority is from the Holy Spirit. He directs them and decides their assignments. Angels can be felt, at times, by the flesh because they are working on the outside of us even though we cannot see them most of the time. Many times they are used by the Holy Spirit to assist in doing miracles and such,
God did not send these other spirits because we are lacking something with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is He which indwells us, not angels. He is the one who brings comfort, peace, and all the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). He is the power and vitality of our earthly and our eternal life, no matter how He may choose to administer it.]
May the Holy Spirit within become the Holy Spirit upon us also.
Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. (Joel 2:23)
Dec. 25, 2023