Tune and Prepare!

meditation This article is part of the "Vitalize" pack By the grace of God, by the mercy of God we, Christians get Life and ID! This is crucial in the New Testament! Did you receive Holy Spirit? - was asked by the apostles. (Act 19:3) Why did they ask this? Because the Newborn Christian lives-out a life, like a tree, rooted into the soil next to the River of Life ! Here the believer brings fruits! He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Psalm 1:3 .. he brought me back to the entrance of the temple and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the Temple toward the east, for the Temple faced east. The water was coming down from under the south side of the threshold of the Temple, south of the altar. Next he brought me out by way of the North Gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate that faced east; there the water was t...

brief notices Pre Prophecy is one of the most mishandled topics in today's church — and also one of the most avoided in serious theological circles. Not everything that was, still is. Read it as a map, not a sermon. Authority and Infallibility In the Old Testament, prophets spoke with absolute divine authority as God's direct mouthpieces, and their words were considered infallible and equal to Scripture itself. False prophets in the OT were to be put to death if their predictions didn't come true (Deuteronomy 18:20-22) In the New Testament era, the gift of prophecy is primarily for edification, encouragement, and comfort rather than for leading and guiding God's people with absolute authority. New Testament prophecy must be weighed and tested by the community of believers, and it can contain human error. {see the notice below} Primary Purpose Nearly every Old Testament prophet pointed forward to Christ, revealing the mystery of God that ...

The Distinction between Old Testament Prophetic Office and New Testament Prophecy: Authority, Function, and Reliability by Stephen Gyesaw, Dr. intro Prophecy has always played a central role in God's communication with His people, but prophecy's nature, authority, and purpose differ markedly between the Old and New Testaments. This distinction is critical to understanding how prophecy functions today within the Church and why it is essential to maintain the authority of Scripture over any individual prophetic utterance. Old Testament prophecies In the Old Testament (OT), prophets spoke infallibly as God's mouthpieces. In contrast, in the New Testament (NT), prophecy-particularly as exercised by ordinary Christians-is a gift primarily for edification and encouragement, but not without the potential for human error. This difference calls for caution, particularly in today's context, where self-proclaimed "prophets" often operate without accou...

"Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." 1Cor 12:3 The Holy Spirit has power to reveal Jesus Christ and His glory to man. When Jesus spoke of the Spirit's coming He said: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me" (Jn. 15:26), and it is only as He does testify of Christ that men will ever come to a true knowledge of Christ. You send men to the Word to get a knowledge of Christ; but it is only as the Holy Spirit takes the word and illuminates it, that men ever get a real living knowledge of Christ. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." 1Cor 12:3. If you wish men to get a true knowledge of Jesus Christ, such a view that they will believe on Him and be saved, you must...

The Holy Spirit and the words of the Lord Jesus The Holy Spirit is closely identified with the words of the Lord Jesus. “It is the Spirit who gives life; (quickens); the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” John 6:63 The Gospel proclamation can not be divorced from the Holy Spirit. Unless He attend the word in power, vain will be the attempt in preaching it. Human eloquence or persua­siveness of speech are the mere trappings of the dead, if the living Spirit be absent; the prophet may preach to the bones in the valley, (Ezekiel 37:1-6) but it must be the Breath from Heaven which will cause the slain to live. In the third chapter of the First Epistle of Peter, it reads, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive (quickened) in/by the spirit.” 1Peter 3:18 Here we see that Christ was raised up from the grave by thi...

Secret of Efficiency I can not help but believe there are many Christians who want to be more efficient in the Lord’s service, and the object of this book is to take up this subject of the Holy Spirit, that they may see from whom to expect this power. In the teaching of Christ, we find the last words recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, the 28th chapter and 19th verse, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19 Here we find that the Holy Spirit and the Son are equal with the Father —are one with Him, “teaching them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Christ was now handing His commission over to His Apostles. He was going to leave them. His work on earth was finished, and He was now just about ready to take His seat at the right hand of God, and He spoke unto them and said: “All authority/power in heaven and on earth has been given to me” Matt...

G od is enthusiastic about His works. God is not an absentee engineer running His world by remote control. The Scripture says that He is “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). The presence of the invisible Word in the universe makes things run. God is the perfect creator and He runs everything by being present in His works. That’s all through the prophets, the Psalms and the book of Job –all through the Old Testament. When we hit the age of science, we forgot that. We have “laws” now. The Bible knew nothing about “the laws of nature.” The Bible knew only that God was there. If it rained, it was God watering His hills from His chambers. If there was lightning, it was God, and if there was thunder, it was the “voice of the LORD” that “maketh the hinds to calve” (Psalm 29:9). The Holy Spirit's Presence" – A. W. Tozer

Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain. In vain you get up early and stay up late, working hard to have enough food — yes, He gives sleep to the one He loves. Psalm 127:1-2 …we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 1Cor 2:12

{Rebuilding the respect and authority of the Holy Spirit in your life} (a rude, shaking calling, because sometimes we need that) Dear Reader! Honoring the Holy Spirit does not necessarily mean that we missed the focus of Christ! We do not praise or worship anyone but the Father and Christ. We don't rejoice or worship anyone else or anything else in our blessed new status in Christ! But He, the Lord himself gave the Mighty Spirit for us. Has our relationship with God changed throughout history? Yes. We, humans had tribes, we had nation builder heroes, we had covenants. Then He the Mighty visited Abraham. Then He has built a chosen nation. Then He sent the Promised Son. Has our relationship in Christ changed throughout history? Not. He didn’t withdraw his mercy and gift. He didn't change our intimate relationship in the family. He did not renounce his power as Lord of the universe, nor the supreme authority above us and the visible authority throu...

The * natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are a folly to him, and b he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The c spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. d “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But e we have the mind of Christ. 1Cor 2:14-16 ESV Notes: * psychicos person: It's not simply a "natural" person or "unbeliver" person. When speaking of the inner person, Paul uses the word: psychikos (soulish, 'visible-things-driven', 'emo-driven' or 'fleshly' minds and hearts) for the old character. Meanwhile he uses the word: pneumatikos (spiritual, spirit - driven) for the rescued. This helps us to see what Paul is writing here, in 1Cor 2:14-16 and in 1Cor 15:44. Other correspondent verses: a 1Cor 1:18 b Rom. 8:7 c 1Cor 3:1; 14:37; Gal. 6:1; see: Prov. 28:5 d Cited fro...

There was a time in my life when I rejected, both externally and internally, everything as "useless", such as spiritual gifts, etc. Such (testimony) writings will only impart profound blessings to us if we read them in a spirit of repentance and confess our own sloth and poverty. Then we cannot put them down without asking and pleading with all our hearts, Lord, fill me also with the Holy Spirit and fire! Yes, then it will be great and important, even holy, what is written on the banner of the Salvation Army: 'Blood and Fire'. We need the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit if we do not want our lives to be poor, to be empty and fruitless. Without the blood of Jesus, there is no forgiveness, no healing (Isa.53:5) Without the Holy Spirit, there is no power, no empowerment (Acts.1:7-8) Emil Nigg Emil Nigg interviews, articles

rethink ...that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.. Gal. 3:14 The promise of the Spirit is equated with the blessing of Abraham, even though the Old Testament passage does not mention the Spirit. Since the “blessing of Abraham” came in the form of a “promise,” this word is the one Paul uses throughout the argument of Galatians 3:13-14 to refer to the blessing of the Abrahamic covenant. In a statement crucial to this argument, Paul says the fulfillment of this promised blessing for the Gentiles is in their having experienced the Spirit as a living and dynamic reality. The blessing of Abraham, therefore, is not simply “justification by faith.” Rather, it refers to the life of the future now available to Jew and Gentile alike, achieved through the death of Christ but applied through the dynamic ministry of the Spirit—and all of this by faith.’ The full article is here

This article is part of the "Vitalize" pack Reuben A. Torrey: "How to Obtain Fulness of Power For Christian life?" Chapter 3 — The Power of the Holy Spirit sample part I "Power belongeth unto God." Ps 62 Intro The Holy Spirit is the person who imparts to the individual believer the power that belongs to God. This is the Holy Spirit's work in the believer, to take what belongs to God and make it ours. All the manifold power of God belongs to the children of God as their birthright in Christ, "All things are yours." (1 Cor. 3:21) But all that belongs to us as our birthright in Christ becomes ours in actual and experimental possession through the Holy Spirit's work in us as individuals. To the extent that we understand and claim for ourselves the Holy Spirit's work, to that extent do we obtain for ourselves the fulness of power in Christian life and service that God has provided for us in Christ. A v...

This article is part of the "Vitalize" pack Reuben A. Torrey: "How to Obtain Fulness of Power For Christian life?" Chapter 3 — The Power of the Holy Spirit sample part II "Power belongeth unto God." Ps 62 8. Further down in the chapter there is a new thought. Rom. 8:16: "The Spirit [himself] beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God." The Holy Spirit bears witness with the spirit of the believer that he is a child of God. Note that Paul does not say that the Spirit bears witness to our spirit, but with it— "together with our spirit," is the exact force of the words used. That is, there are two who bear witness to our sonship: First, our spirit bears witness that we are children of God; second, the Holy Spirit bears witness together with our spirit that we are children of God. How does the Holy Spirit bear His testimony to this fact? Gal. 4:6 answers this question: ...