HOLY SPIRIT COME FILL OUR HEARTS!
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." (John 3:3-8 KJV)
How many times have we heard the above and said to ourselves, 'What does it mean to be born of the Spirit?' My understanding of; "Born of water" as being born of flesh. But what is it truly to be born of the Spirit? We must look into the Word of God and see what He will show to each and every one of us.
First we should put aside our doubts and fears and confess these to the Lord. The Holy Spirit when He comes upon us with a new anointing does not do anything out of character for us. If we are bashful and shy we will still be bashful and shy after a fresh anointing. We will however become more bold only because the reality of who Jesus is to us, becomes more real. We will be able to share our testimonies of Jesus with more confidence because He will have sent His Spirit of Truth to us.
We can not let the lies of the devil hold us back anymore. We will not be told to go stand on some street corner with a sandwich board proclaiming the gospel of Jesus. Now if you are still doubting and fearful that you can walk in the Spirit, we should look at something deeper.
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep."(1 Cor 15:1-6 KJV)
If we have believed sincerely in our hearts and not just with our mouth this scripture was not for us. If on the other hand we have only said the words and have gone to church because it was the right thing to do, then we need to repent of that and ask Jesus into our heart. Were they just words to us or did we just believe the words in our prayer, but we were not able to surrender all of our sins to the Lord Jesus? We all have to ask the Lord to reveal to us, what hidden sin we might still have in our heart. Then confess it.
Are we ashamed of our faith and therefore can not share our testimony? Confess that. If we do not believe that the Bible is the Living Word? Confess that and ask Him to make it more real to you. Are we like Peter when an opportunity comes along for us to say yes I know Jesus, yet we deny Him? These are some of the sins we are not that familiar with and we also need to confess all unbelief and doubt. Remember, we will be alone with the Lord on judgement day, so it does not matter what anyone else thinks or says.
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"(2 Cor 13:5 KJV)
Examine yourselves, see your self in the eyes of the Lord. A young boy came to church one day with some of his young friends. They were thirsty so I gave them some kool-aid and water. As I was showing them around church I pictured these small little ones, as us to God. Our curiosity is aroused by the things of God yet when we are invited to come in to meet Him, we say , “Some other time maybe.” The young man asked me if he could bring his rap music to church. I surprised myself with my quick response when I said, “If Jesus were sitting next to you, would you want to play your rap music?” He said no almost immediately, without any hesitation. I told him, “There is your answer.”
If we can not have Jesus with us during everything we do, those are the sins to confess. After we confess and get right with God then we can start seeking a fresh and new anointing.
"Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"(Ezek 18:31 KJV)
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."(Ezek 36:26 KJV)
Jesus is telling those of the house of Israel that he wants to give them all a new heart. He has told us there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, so you see our Lord wants to give to all who believe on Him, a new heart. The Lord tells us to cast away all our transgressions and He will give us a new heart and also give to us a new spirit. Do you know all the different Spirits the Lord has for us? The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spririt of the fear of the Lord and a lot more. The Lord gives only good gifts to those who seek Him.
"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."(1 John 5:11-13 KJV)
We have asked for forgiveness and have accepted Jesus or have re-dedicated our life to Him. I expectantly now look to see what promises the Lord gives to us now.
"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."(Eph 1:13-14 KJV)
Besides getting written into the Lamb’s book of life we also get sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Jesus promises us He will keep us and call us all friend. Praise you Lord Jesus!
"Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear."(Acts 2:33 KJV)
"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."(Acts 2:38 KJV)
Wow! Here for all to see is the promise that we shall indeed receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So we have indeed accepted Jesus into our hearts and we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost.
If we have accepted Jesus into our heart as our Lord and Savior and have been baptized in water , then we indeed have the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Lord desires to release His gifting in you. How then do we walk in the Spirit? I personally think it is walking by faith, and trusting the still quiet voice of the Lord. With confirmation from His word and others we can indeed know we are walking in the Spirit.
"We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you."(2 Cor 4:13-14 KJV)
Notice it said, “The same spirit of Faith.” When we realize that we recieved the Spirit of Faith, the truth shall set us free to praise and worship the Lord. Why do we not know that we indeed have this spirit of Faith? That we also could have the other spirits that the Lord would want to give us? I would only be able to ponder on these questions, but I would think that the schemes of the devil will be playing a part in our unbelief. Have you ever heard this in your head when you wondered about raising your hands in submission and worship to the Lord, “Oh if I raise my hands in worship I will feel foolish?” Well let me tell you that is yet another lie of the enemy. For when you submit to the Lord and praise Him from your heart with hands raised high you shall be released from that lie forever, by the power of the Holy Spirit who resides within you. That is also true when we hear the lie the devil tells us about speaking in tongues.
We should now realize that we can walk in the Spirit by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now is the time to release all the power the Lord Jesus has given to us. Test your walk by the Word of God.
"Praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also."(2 Cor 8:4-7 KJV)
"Abound in everything, in faith, in utterance, and knowledge and in all diligence,” the Lord wants us to abound in these areas. When I first read the word utterance I pictured the Gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of tongues. We will abound which tells me we will grow in these areas. Now scripture tells us that not all speak in tongues, not all prophecy. Yet, it is a gift that the Holy Spirit would want to give us. I personally would not know what to do without this gift.
There are times when I receive a burden to pray for someone and I have no words to pray for I do not know what to pray. At these times I use my prayer language and it is a wonderful time with the Lord. I enter His courts with praise and worship. I would pray that all would desire the gift of tongues, not for any other reason except the joy of being in the presence of the Lord with all the fullness that He would want to give us.
I was out at a restaurant one Wednesday, with a group of friends, all non Christians. I always stopped by after Bible study on Wednesday nights. I loved the banter of, “Well what did you learn tonight?” One night the gal who owned the restaurant asked me, “Are you one of those tongue speaking Christians?” I told her, “Yes I was.” I added, “You know sometimes I wonder if it is real, but then I realize that I really don’t care, for when I am praying to my Lord in tongues, it is coming from my heart, and my mouth is not messing it up.” She said it was the best explanation she had ever heard. Praise the Lord!
Do you know that for a fact that you walk with the Lord in the Spirit, yet you do not have the gift of tongues? I would pray that you would all search your hearts and believe by faith and the Lord will meet you and give to you His gift to make your walk even more powerful. He gives us all good gifts.
“ And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” (Acts 19:6 KJV)
by Linda Marie
© 1998