Holy Spirit Manifestation

 

 The Holy Spirit of God has His own profound ways of manifestation in the life of a believer. These avenues are basically three (3) namely:

1.      The Gifts (Read 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, Ephesians 4:11,12).

2.      The Fruit (Read Galatians 5:22 and 1 Corinthians 13)

3.      The Signs (Read Mark 16:16-20; Luke 10:19 and Acts 1:8)

Our Father in heaven so loves us that He always takes it upon Himself to search for man from the torrent of the world and works on us by His Spirit in getting us saved as believers. Even when we were an unbeliever, He did not give up on us in working for our salvation as He is still doing even up till now on every one that is yet to come to Christ (Romans 5: 6-8). He has never lost hope on anyone however bad he or she seems to be at present because of His unspeakable love for mankind. This is what God usually do until a man finally dies thus defying further remedy as there is no repentance in the grave. The only thing He will not do is to force anyone; therefore, everybody has to make his/her own choice. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 and Isaiah 1:18 & 19 say:

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that thou and thy seed may live: that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life and the length of thy days…….”

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land”.

It is only those who yield to the workings of the Holy Spirit that eventually receives Jesus as his/her Lord and savior; it’s not foolishness at all and never the result of human eloquence or efforts. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says that

“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 Lord, but by the Holy Ghost”.  

When one yields to the Holy Spirit in this way, faith in Jesus arouses in such a person and with the Help of the Spirit of God, such a one is welcomed to the “kingdom of His dear light” and the work of transformation instantly begins in such a life. This first faith is of the Fruit aspect of the Holy Spirit which will now work in such a life to bring about the person’s gradual change of character (intrinsic personality) in conformity to that of God as he/she fellowships with the Lord Jesus Christ through reading, meditating, obeying, teaching and preaching the Word of God; praying as well as fellowshipping with the brethren – the redeemed like him/herself (Romans 12:1-4; Hebrews 10:25).

The fruit of the Holy Spirit makes a genuine Christian to instantly become a wonder to friends, colleagues, neighbors, family and everybody he/she is having contact with immediately after receiving Jesus Christ into his/her life. They will notice a sharp change in his/her behavior from those old sinful ways to an uncompromising life of righteousness if genuinely born again this way. Above all, they will notice the working of a kind of uncommon LOVE in the person’s life. This kind of love is not natural; it is of God because the Holy Spirit Himself does shed this love abroad in a believer’s heart for God is love (1John 4:8). This Love is also the fulfillment of the law and; there is no law against it. That is how the Spirit of God do blossom and bring forth the only one fruit in our lives which is love. Love is an envelope or pod containing seeds. All the ingredients (seeds) in love make a person to have God-like character. Seeds, as we all know, usually depict the type of fruit we are holding or seeing and as well serve as the major means of propagation for such a plant. Therefore, the ‘seeds’ of love are: “joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance” which are listed out in Galatians 5:22; each of which, if well cultivated and utilized, culminates into genuine love in operation.

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ also said that by this love shall all men know that we are His own (John 13: 34-36). Therefore, anything or service you render which does not emanate from love is not acceptable before God; Read 1 Corinthians 13. If you now say you have Jesus or you are filled with the Holy Spirit and manifesting His gifts without love and what love entails, you are just kidding! If you also say you have love and those ‘seeds’ cannot be seen in you, check it up; it may be another thing, not love and therefore you have to make a redress. Since both His Fruit and Gifts are necessary, your faith (which is available in the duo or connects both) must work with love. Faith is essentially the spiritual switch that puts the power flow or anointing of God into action in a believer’s life when rightly used. You can either use this switch to turn your anticipated answer to your desires from God off or on as does a switch to the flow of electric current in our homes. Your faith in Christ Jesus, as a child of God, had already connected you to the heavenly grid of power while the exercise of your faith determines what your life and situation gets as expected of every believer as in Mark 11:23-24 which says:

“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore, I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”.   

Now, if you do not believe in Jesus’ power to settle you in healing, blessing, or deliverance as your situation demands right now, you will not be able to get anything even though the Lord is visibly touching others (that believe) around or beside you. Faith is thus a very important seed in the Fruit of the Spirit. Somebody acclaimed of being mightily used of God without bearing the fruit of righteousness (i.e. love) is evidently not of God! Therefore, the measure and quality of the fruit of the Spirit a believer bears speaks of his/her level of Godliness and Christ-likeness but not by the gifts.

Gifts of the Spirit on the other hand are the supernatural endowment of the Holy Ghost on a believer in Christ Jesus to further help in edifying both him/herself and the congregation of the saints (the Church) as well as for rendering services to God and humanity. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are neither for fashion nor funfair as some people suppose: it is given to achieve God’s purposes alone without monetizing it. Some believers fail in their quest for the gifts without alluding to the indwelling of the Giver of these gifts in their lives. Some may be initially very fervent for the Lord and thus get endowed with the gifts but may later relent on their fervency and/or begin to drift toward their old sinful ways of life or newly introduced ones, thinking they are still on course. Well, since the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29), some of the gifts may still be working while such individual is personally unfruitful. A person in that shoe together with his/her undiscerning followers will be fooled thereby and be misdirected. Such ‘leaders’ have the resemblance of godliness but deny the power and virtue therein. They may still be Prophets, Pastors, miracle workers or whatever nomenclature; who were initially called or saved and endowed by God but their lives now show that they are actually not of God. Such people shall be conspicuously known by their fruit on closer look however clever they seem to be. To such the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23 that

“Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

 A good ambassador of Christ should not be like them but rather be guided by God’s Word in all his/her doings, being the Christ’s ‘salesman’ through positive evangelism. Therefore, for an effective witnessing of Christ through a passionate evangelism, a believer must combine his/her newly acquired godly personality through the fruit of the Spirit with the gifts of the Spirit before a virulent and abiding impact or result (sign) can be obtained.

Fruit of the Spirit   +   Gifts of the Spirit---------GO YE------→Produces IMPACT, EXPLOITS (SIGNS)

 When a believer has all these and does not obey our Master’s command to ‘GO’ and preach the gospel, such a believer will be limited and will not even know his/her worth as well as the usage of the arsenal at his/her disposal. Such may not experience or enjoy to the fullest the workings of the power of God in his/her life. Therefore, those believers may not be accorded the signs that Jesus promised to follow those who heed the command to “GO YE” as written in Mark 16:15-18 and Luke 10:19 as follows:

“And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these SIGNS shall follow them that believe(AND GO); In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues (languages not previously learned); they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” 

“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Soul winning is a clear mandate for which adequate unction had been made available. It is highly imperative for every saved soul to rescue others by the power of the Holy Spirit because of their blood as Ezekiel 3:17-18 puts it:

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shall surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand”. 

Proverbs 24: 10-12 also says:

“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. If thou forebear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, ‘Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his works?

Signs are therefore the demonstration of the power of God through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life in order to practically show to the world the sovereignty of God’s power over every situation and circumstances. God wants a believer to give him/herself fully to Him in complete obedience and holiness and then the gifts in his/her life will advance to genuine signs and wonders even beyond those of the old time we heard of. This is because there are still some manifestations which are yet to be accessed by the believers as Jesus said in John 14:12:

“Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”

So, there is no limitation to what the Holy Spirit can do through us in these our days but the power is on the ‘GO’. This is because tools and equipment are given to active workers on the field! All these have to be accomplished by faith, which is the life gate to God’s own supernatural. It is through this faith we are saved as well as receiving all things from God on our journey to our destination of eternal bliss. This faith also works by love. God can still endow a believer with a special type of faith that does not believe that anything (whether physical, spiritual or whatever) is difficult or unsolvable by God. This type of faith is deeper than the one earlier expressed above but is beyond worldly or physical and human imaginations. It usually brings mighty things into manifestation. This one is the special gift of faith. It should not be used in any way for show off; it must be used to do good works that will glorify God and not self as the Lord directs. So, to adequately launch into the realm of this supernatural in Christ, you begin by receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.