The Holy Spirit

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. -Acts 2:1-4

Ever since YWAM, the Lord has been teaching me about this persona of God, the Holy Spirit. This revelation has revolutionized my faith. Without the Holy Spirit, without the Spirit of God living on the inside of me, I am nothing. I am dead. I cannot accomplish anything I am called to do, because I can do nothing in my own strength.

It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. -John 16:7

When I read this, it hit me as so profound that Jesus told his disciples that it is BETTER to have this invisible, unseen Sprit rather than the real, physical presence of Jesus. I knew a lot about the person of Jesus, but I didn’t have much knowledge of the Holy Spirit. Reading again through the New Testament, with the focus of gazing at this aspect of God, I have had so many revelations about the Holy Sprit.

Shekinah glory. It is amazing that I am a dwelling place and I carry the very presence of God. I am His hands and feet on this earth. I therefore carry the authority of heaven, of the Most High.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. –John 14:12

What!? I can do the same things that Jesus did? EVEN GREATER!? This is the power that we have in Him. God is alive. He is living on the inside of us, and he shows the world who He is - through us.

Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. -Matthew 10:6-8

            Do I really believe that I have the power to do these things? If you asked me this a year ago, I would have said no. But through the testimonies I’ve seen and heard in the past year, and the things I’ve experienced through YWAM, I absolutely believe in the power of God and the miracles that He still performs through us.

            The Holy Spirit is our counselor. He is our teacher. With the Spirit manifest in us, we receive revelation while in the Word. We are convicted of sins and impurities that separate us from more of His presence. If there is something in our life that doesn’t belong, a habitual sin, or lie we believe, that takes up room in our heart. It puts up a barrier between the Lord and us. The more sanctified we are, and pure in heart, the more of His presence we will have dwelling in us. We need an undivided heart. He asks for all of it.

            Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have    
            received from God? You are not your own. -1 Corinthians 6:19

            When we are fully surrendered, His presence rests on us and He makes our heart his dwelling place. It is the Spirit that equips us with the strength we need to accomplish God’s purposes. It is His Spirit that gives me Life. Without Him, I am dead. The Holy Spirit is my comforter, advisor, encourager, and strength.

            Through Him, I have experience so much joy and freedom. I feel His presence. He brings life and freedom. Where the Spirit is, there is freedom. In Him, I have received a spirit of adoption as a child of the King of Kings. I am royalty. He gave me a crown of Life.

            My job is to love. It’s to receive the love God is pouring into me, to have an encounter with His love, a revelation of how crazy He is for me, and then manifest that love by pouring out and loving others. It is my job to be obedient, lay down my own pre-perceived expectations of who I have always grown up thinking God is, and simply allow the Holy Spirit to work in me, teach me, and use me to do His work on earth. His job is to heal through me, to speak words of life through my lips; He will make my heart His heart. He removes from me my heart of stone and gives me a heart of flesh.

            Before YWAM, with my own experiences growing up in the church and living a luke-warm life, I had my own ideas of who God is and my limited capabilities of bringing the Kingdom. I put limits on the work that God could use me for, and I didn’t understand the power of spiritual gifts at all. I was very uncomfortable with a lot that went on at YWAM, thinking it was just crazy, charismatic stuff. The truth is, I was very judgmental, and I needed to look to fact, to the Word of God, rather than to my experience. I went through the New Testament reading about spiritual gifts, prophecy, and the Spirit, and it completely changed me and radically shifted my theology. My God is a God who makes the impossible, possible. He works through the Body of Christ to reach the lost. We can do miraculous things through Jesus. If we allow Him to manifest His Spirit in us, we can heal the sick, open blind eyes, and set the captives free. We can do even greater things than Jesus because we have the living God inside of us. We are to be empty vessels, jars of clay, to receive an outpour of His Sprit and in turn have the power and love to showcase our great God to an unbelieving world.

            I believe there is SO MUCH MORE to be had than this life I’ve been living. I know there is. God has so many gifts He is longing to release on us if we would just open up and let the King of Glory enter in. The church has been missing out for too long. God wants to do so much in and through us. We have been in the wilderness for too long. When will we believe that God is truly who He says He is? He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Captain of Captains and General of Generals. We are heirs to the throne and we stand under an ancient authority. It’s time that we step into destiny in God’s promise. WE WERE MADE TO CARRY THE VERY PRESENCE AND POWER OF THE LIVING GOD.

            It’s hard to put into words my revelation of the Holy Spirit. All I know is it is something worth running after. Since I have caught a glimpse of it, I have felt the presence of God so much more; my eyes have been opened to spiritual gifts and the prophetic. When we fully surrender to Jesus and let his Spirit reign in us, we will bring the Kingdom and turn this world upside down for His glory. Come, Holy Spirit, come.

My God is not dead

He's surely alive

He's living on the inside

Roaring like a lion