Faith Justifies Us

“He staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was also able to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:20-25

Abraham was a hundred years old and his wife Sarah was about ninety years old when they were promised a son. Our Father not only promised them a son, He promised Abraham that He would establish His Covenant through that son. Abraham staggered not at what our Father had promised him. Abraham believed God was willing and he believed that God was able to do what He had promised them. Abraham believed that our Father would reward him for it to and since Abraham did believe, our Father justified him with His covenant!

There is another important Truth here and it is this: our Father did what it would take for Abraham to believe. Our Father actually came down and ate with Abraham. He didn't just show Abraham a dream, He came and allowed Abraham to see His power and our Father exerted His influence on Abraham. Our Father gave Abraham His grace so that he could believe.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” Romans 5:1

We are now justified by Christ and we are now empowered by the Holy Spirit to believe in God. We now have Jesus Authoring and Finishing our Faith, Hebrews 12:2, so that we may be justified in believing that we will be rewarded for doing so. We are rewarded just as Abraham was justified and counted as righteous for believing in the promises of God.

So when will we receive our reward and justification from God? Is our reward reserved for us in Heaven, waiting on us for when we arrive there, or is our reward to be enjoyed right now, on this earth, or is it both?

“(For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2

Our Father proclaims that now is the time of our reward and justification, as well as in the future! Once we are chosen by our Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit to say yes to Jesus, we have peace with God. We are rewarded from that point on, right now and forever more! Abraham had Isaac, the son that God had promised him while on the earth; the Covenant that God created with Abraham came into existence on this earth. Abraham didn’t have to wait until Heaven to receive these rewards and we don’t have to wait for the promises of God to be realized and lived. Heaven will be great, it will be better than the earth, and our eternity with God in the New Heaven and new Earth will be stunning! But we have great and precious promises for our lives right now and to please our Father we have been empowered to believe that we have both! What faith Authored and Finished by Jesus really allows us to believe is that our Father is every bit as much a force in our lives right now as He will be in Eternity! This Truth is what Jesus now Authors and Finishes within us, because this is the Truth that He lives in, and we are now one with Him! We enjoy the blessings of God that Jesus enjoys!

What Faith Is

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” Hebrews 11:6

It is impossible for us to please our Father without faith, now here is the question, what exactly is faith? According to the Word of God, faith is believing that God is and believing that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! Now a lot of people believe in God, just go and ask them. But when was the last time you heard it preached, that to please our Father, you also had to expect that He would reward you for seeking Him. Well, if we want to please our Father, according to His Word, we have to have both, and that is the glory of our salvation, our Father wants us to have both! Our Father wants a relationship with us and He also wants us to be rewarded with all that He has because of that relationship.

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

Faith that is pleasing to our Father accepts this Truth! And our faith is now Authored and Finished by Jesus Himself. The faith that Jesus empowers us with doesn’t stumble at the blessings of God, blessings such as an abundant life; love, health, peace, joy, hope, wisdom, knowledge, spiritual gifts, and sanctification. The faith that we have been blessed with now diligently seeks out these promises of God. Our faith knows that we have been chosen by God and our faith knows that now is the time of our salvation through Jesus Christ. Our faith authored by Jesus knows that all of the blessings and powers of our Father are for us right now through His Anointing! Our faith is all of these things, because our faith is Jesus’ faith! Jesus is now our head, we are now His body, we now have His mind, and He now Authors and Finishes our ability to believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who are empowered to diligently seek Him.

Never be ashamed or afraid of wanting everything that our Father has. Actually we should eagerly desire everything and believe that our Father will reward us for doing so. This is the spirit that has been born into us, a spirit of hope, faith, peace, and a sound mind. We have not been given a spirit that fears the promises of God, but one that diligently seeks them! The Holy Spirit of God Who now dwells within us. The Holy Spirit now strengthens us and He now comforts us. He also now teaches us all of our Father's Truths. The Holy Spirit believes that God is willing to give us everything and He believes that God is able to give us everything. Through Christ we are now God’s children. We are now joint-heirs with Jesus and our Father has created us in His own image, so that we can have fellowship with Him. Our Father has strengthened us with His Anointing, so that just as Jesus has fellowship with Him, so can we. Our Father has accomplished everything needed for us to be eternally in perfect fellowship with Him! This is the abundant life that Jesus came for us to have and this is eternal life!

God's Love Is Abundantly Within Us

“And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Romans 5:5

The love of God, His very Own love that He has placed within our hearts, allows us to never be ashamed. The love of God allows us to abound in hope. The Truth that sets us free and allows us to have life abundantly is that we have God’s love shed abroad in our hearts by the very Spirit of God. And nothing will ever separate us from God’s love. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Romans 8:35

“Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39 Wow, nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from our Lord and the love of our Father, Who just happens to be God! Nothing present and we are in the present, no creature can and we are creatures, not life, and we are life, do you see where I am going? Once we are truly saved, even our own stupidity can’t separate us from Christ. As we need it, God will prune out anything that is contrary to His Truth, and if it needs to be burned out of us, than Jesus is our refiner’s fire and our fuller’s soap! Once we are chosen by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to say yes to Jesus, than there is nothing that can ever separate us, including ourselves, because we are no longer our own, that can separate us from Love. God and Jesus are Love, and nothing will separate us from Them! This is such a great gift of salvation; nothing will ever separate us from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I hear people say that they can walk away from God, well that’s kind of hard when God said that He would never leave us! Can we walk away from Omnipotence? Now that is peace, perfect peace, that passes all understanding, and that is perfect love that casts out all fear and all torment. We have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and through Him we know who we are, and we know where we are going, and nothing can separate us from it, including ourselves!

God is love, and we are born of Him, through Christ we are one with Him, we now have His Spirit, and we now have His mind. So when we are chosen and empowered to say yes to Jesus Christ and make Him the Lord of our lives, we too become love! And love is not selfish, it is giving, its kind, its helpful, its powerful, full of faith and hope, and love passes knowledge! This is who we are in Christ Jesus and this is why salvation is so great! Through Christ we can’t help but love!

We Are Empowered With God's Love

“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)” 2 Corinthians 10:4

To bring down the strongholds of this world that are against us, we are empowered by God Himself to use the weapons of His warfare, and God’s weapons are spiritual, they are not carnal, and God’s weapons are mighty! God has empowered us with His Holy Spirit and God’s weapons are grace, kindness, prayer, charity, faith, hope, Truth, and love! The Holy Spirit uses us to bind the things that are contrary to God’s Truths with the power of the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Name that has been given us, the Name above every Name! We speak the Word of God through the strength of the Holy Spirit that is within us, and the Word is the sharp two-edged sword of God. God uses His greatest weapon through us, His love. He uses the love that Jesus gave us, His perfect love that casts out fear! As our Father is in Heaven, so is He in this world! We love, even when people are against us! “But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” Ephesians 2:4-5

It can be preached that we have to love, and that is the Truth, we do have to love! But that is not the complete Truth of God, the Truth of God that will set us free. The complete Truth is this, we can’t help but love, because we are born of it, the only reason we are born again is because of God’s love for us. Love is the seed that we come from. Through Christ we are now one with Love! “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16 Jesus is now our Head, He is our Vine, we are His body, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and since we are, we have Jesus’ characteristics; we love all, even when they hate us. We love those who love us and we love those who hate us, just as Jesus loves! Jesus was on the Cross, they were brutally killing Him, and He cried out for their forgiveness! This is the love that is now within us! This is Who we are born again from and this is Who now abides within us, this is the Holy Spirit that we now have strengthening us and teaching us. Love is not just born into us, it is what we have been born of! God has given us a new heart and a new mind that are capable of operating in His perfect love, and He has placed His very Spirit within us that causes us to walk in His love. That is one of the greatest powers of salvation, we cannot help but to just love, and there is no fear in love. We know God loves us and nothing that the world can do to us will take us out of Love’s hand, we are sealed with it, we are one with it, and we are Love’s Temple! God is Love, and we are more than conquerors through Love. Love leads us into the paths of righteousness, we are new creatures in Love, old things are past away and all things have become new for us. Love is now our Shepherd, and Love is for us, so who can be against us? It can be preached that we have to love, but if we don’t preach that through Christ we can’t help but love, than we haven’t preached the Truth that sets us free!

A Benefit Of Salvation; Love That Casts Out All Fear

100% of the tribulation in this world comes directly from fear. Think about what brings on the torment of tribulation: fear of disease, fear of finances, fear of crime, or fear of failure. Fear causes dictators to kill those who disagree with them. Fear allows people to allow a dictator to gain power in the first place! Fear of failure or being out done causes businessmen to lie and cheat. Fear of getting old causes people to spend millions of dollars needlessly on changing themselves. Fear of not keeping up with the neighbor’s cause’s people to go into debt. Fear of reality causes people to become dependent on drugs and alcohol. There is fear that the world will be devastated if someone is elected who isn’t from a certain political party. Every tribulation has its beginning in fear, and the media and satan play on it all day long! Fear has torment and fear is of the world, it is not of God! God uses His Truth and His Holy Spirit to teach us, He does not use fear!

So what do we do for those who use fear, such as the media, who use fear to sell their wares, which according to Jesus is a very dangerous thing to do! “And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe on Me, it is better for them that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and he were cast into the sea.” Mark 9:42 We don’t hate these people, or lash out against them, we do not use condemnation, just as God does not use condemnation against us, Romans 8:1. We don’t go and create our own media whose sole purpose is to point out the faults of those who are living in the world, or try and use fear of what fear can do to stop people from listening to them! What we do is love them; we love them as God loves Jesus! We pray for them, as Jesus taught us to do, and we ever live to intercede for them in a never ending hope of their salvation! “But I say unto you which hear, love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” Luke 6:27-28 Whatsoever thing a man soweth, that shall he reap, and through the power of the Holy Spirit that is within us we love those who hate us, we bless those that curse us, and if our enemy hungers we feed him! We sow these things because they have first been sowed into our hearts by God, and we reap the harvest of being used by God to further the glorious Kingdom that we have now become one with!

The Power Of God's Love

“And I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast love Me may be in them and I in them.” John 17:26

Jesus taught us that in the world there will be tribulations, just turn on the news or pick up a newspaper and you will see that He knew what He was talking about. But Jesus also told us to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world for us! Jesus has robbed the evil that is in the world of all its power over us, it can no longer harm us, or move us off of our firm foundation of Truth that has set us free! “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 Jesus came and declared God’s Name unto us, and He continues to do so today, and because of the Truth that He gives, we now have love, and not just any love, we have been given the ultimate love, the love that God has for Jesus. This is the love that now abides within us! Remember what Jesus said: that He will continue to declare God’s Name unto us so that we will eternally have love. Jesus ever lives to intercede for us; He is right here with us, He never leaves us or forsakes us!

God’s love for Jesus, the love that Jesus has given to us, is perfect love and God’s perfect love casts out all fear. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18 Jesus gave us the perfect love of God and that love casts out fear! Notice that it’s God’s love that casts out fear. God is the One Who is doing it, He has not left us alone to just use His love to cast out fear, He is right here with us, never leaving us or forsaking us! God does not leave us on our own to love! To become perfect in love does not mean that we will be the ones doing the works; it means that God is the One Who will be doing the works through us, just like it was God in Jesus doing the works. “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father in Me, He doeth the works.” John 14:10 Now if you go on to verse 11, Jesus teaches that it is by the works of the Father that we can believe. If it was just you and I using God’s love, we would fail all of the time! But it’s not us, it’s God in us doing His works through us, and God never fails, and that is why people can believe. People can see God within us, and that is what will bring the hope of an abundant life, a life without fear, and a life of perfect salvation!

The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit: Part VII

“And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” Acts 9:17

Jesus visited Paul on the road to Damascus. During that visit Paul was chosen by God and he believed and had accepted God’s calling. But Paul had not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit until God sent Ananias unto Him, and as soon as Ananias was used to lay his hands on Paul, the baptism occurred! Also as soon as the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurred Paul received back his sight that he had lost as a result of seeing Jesus! The Truth is that we cannot be filled with the very Spirit of God and not have miraculous things happen through us! Jesus taught us that signs and wonders would follow all who believe, Mark 16:14-18.


Be blessed, the Word of God is Truth, and the Truth will set us free, and God’s Word will never fall void to the earth. The Holy Ghost is the power of our salvation, and together we can walk in the fullness of Him. Together with Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, we can be used by God to heal the sick, save the lost, prophesy to the needs of the people, ask and receive, seek and find, and through the power of God all things are possible! The Anointing of the Holy Ghost allows God to be fully Who He is within us! We are born of God, we are His offspring, God chose to have us, we are because He is, and we are because He willed us into His eternal life! Through Christ we have passed from death unto life, and God has delivered us out of darkness and has placed us in His glorious Light. God has saved us to the uttermost, and because of Jesus all things are now possible for us. God is willing and able to do all that He has spoken, and He loves us every bit as much as He loves Jesus! You my brothers and sisters are strong in the power of His might, and we are more than conquerors through Christ that loves us!

The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit: Part VI

“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” Acts 19:1-6

Again we see that people believed and some time had passed before they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And here again we see that as soon as they were baptized miraculous power followed! Some of us may be baptized with the Holy Spirit right when we are chosen and accept Jesus as Lord, some of us may be filled later, but the important thing is that we will be filled with the Holy Spirit. The common ground is a believing and having an accepting heart. If you don’t know if you have been baptized with the Holy Ghost, than you haven’t! If you can’t testify of the exact moment when it happened, then you haven’t. I am not trying to be mean, you may very well believe in Jesus as Lord, just as these scriptural examples show us, but look at what Jesus said. “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:38-39

How can we have rivers of living water flowing from us and not know it? When we are baptized with the Holy Spirit our lives are instantly changed, and as we read in the Book of Acts, when people were baptized with the Holy Ghost, supernatural things happened as a result of the baptism. They prophesied, they prayed in tongues, there were healings, mass conversions; power was always associated with the baptism of the Holy Ghost! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He changes not, so the same holds true today! “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6 The baptism and indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not an uneventful or uncertain event in our lives! God does not respect the people in the Bible over us, so if He showed His mighty power through them when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, He will show His power through us! We are all God’s kids and He is able and willing to be all that He is through each and every one of us who believe.

The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit: Part V

“Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” Acts 8:14-17

The people of Samaria had received the Word of God, they welcomed it, they believed it, and they were even baptized in the Name of Jesus, but as Jesus taught, that was only half of the process. Here we see God fulfilling His Truth, the second half of salvation, after believing they were baptized with the Holy Spirit! In the Acts 2 we saw that God just sent His Holy Spirit and the believers in the upper room were baptized, now here we see that God used believers to lay their hands on people and they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. God is God and however He wants to baptize us is fine. But the Truth is this: all who have been chosen of God and who have been saved will receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit! It may occur right away, or it may take some time, but if a person is truly saved then they will be baptized with God Himself! “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.” Ezekiel 36:27

The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit: Part IV

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:2-4

Now is the time for our baptism of the Holy Spirit, it will occur to everyone who is truly chosen of God and saved, and Jesus is the only way for God to make us one with Himself. Salvation is being empowered by God to believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and being baptized is having Jesus make us one with the Holy Spirit of God! Let’s study some scriptures to see exactly how God baptized people with His Holy Spirit. And as we study these Truths over the next couple of sections, remember that Jesus teaches us that there are two distinct things: believing and being baptized!

In Acts 2 Jesus had told the disciples to go into an upper room after His ascension into Heaven and pray and wait, and that He would send the Holy Ghost unto them. These people had already believed on Jesus as the Lord. Many of them had seen Him after He was raised from the dead, but they only had part of the equation filled within their lives, believing, Now Jesus fulfilled the second part, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Notice that as soon as they were baptized, that they were filled with a sign of the power of the baptism. “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:” Luke 3:16 The Holy Ghost is the power of God working within us. He strengthens us with God Himself and signs and wonders that go beyond human power follow Him. This is the fire of God!

The Baptism Of The Holy Ghost: Part II

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” Mark 16:16

“I indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” Mark 1:8

Jesus taught us that salvation is for all who believe and who are baptized. Believing is easily understood, but what does Jesus mean by baptized? Is baptized being sprinkled with water as an infant, is it being dunked in water as an adult, or is it something else? In Mark 1:8 John the Baptist was talking about the power of Jesus. John was baptizing people with water as an evidence of them turning from their sin. It was a testimony to others. As John baptized with water, God began to have him prophesy about Jesus, and what God had him say was that, “He Who was coming after him, was stronger than he was, and that He (Jesus) wouldn’t baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit.” “And I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” John 1:33 The baptism of Jesus isn’t an action by us, or a testimony we provide as an evidence of doing something, it is an action by God. It is Jesus’ testimony that He did something, that He saved us and empowered us to be free from the power of death. “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive evermore, A-men; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Revelation 1:18

The second Truth about the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that it is Jesus doing it to us! Jesus is the only way to salvation and since He is, He is the only one Who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit!

The Baptism Of THe Holy Spirit: Part III

“I indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” Mark 1:8

God’s Word teaches us that Jesus doesn’t use water to baptize us with; the Word teaches us that Jesus uses the Holy Spirit of God to baptize us. But what exactly is being baptized with the Holy Ghost? To answer that, let’s first look at the Greek word this verse originally used. The Greek word is baptizo, Strong’s Concordance number 907. The example given in the Strong’s Concordance to explain baptized is a cucumber becoming a pickle. The cucumber is first washed, that is a cleansing from all dirt. The Greek word for that is bapto, then after the cucumber is cleaned, you baptizo, or baptize, the cucumber: submerging it in the pickling spices. This baptism forever changes the cucumber into a pickle. The spices become one with the cucumber and it is changed into a pickle. That is baptizo, or baptized. So if you are baptized with the Holy Ghost, you have become one with God, His Spirit is in you, on you, through you, and you are a new creature in Christ, which is God’s Anointing, old things are passed away and behold all things are new to you!

“At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” John 14:20 In the verses right before this one, Jesus is proclaiming that the Holy Ghost was coming. So the day Jesus is referring to is the day of us being filled with the Holy Ghost! The day you will know that Jesus is in you and that you are truly in the Father, is the day that you are baptized with the Holy Ghost, the day that you are filled with Him, the day that He is on you, through you, and one with you! Remember Jesus said for us to be saved is not just believing on Him, but when we believe and are baptized with the Holy Ghost. There are many people who believe in Jesus, think about how many people you know who say they believe that Jesus lived? Yet they don’t trust Him as their Lord and Savior. Man can’t do the things on his own that God has required for a full and rich and eternal life. We could never continue to believe in Jesus throughout our lives without the power of Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God, within us to insure it. We could never even accept Jesus, unless the Holy Spirit empowered us to. The assurance of salvation is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The power of God that birthed Jesus into this world and the power that allowed Him to serve God and to serve us, is the same power that we have been given, and the same power that we have been birthed of!

The third Truth about the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that it is life changing. Once Jesus has baptized you with the Holy Spirit you become one with God, as Jesus is one with God and you are forever changed! “That they all may be one; as Thou Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” John 17:21 We become new creatures in Christ, old things pass away, and all things become new!

The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit: Part I

“He who believes [who adheres to and trusts in and relies on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth] and is baptized will be saved [from the penalty of death]: but he who does not believe [who does not adhere to and trust in and rely on the Gospel and Him Who it sets forth] will be condemned.” Mark 16:16 Amplified Bible

The first step to being filled with the Holy Ghost is to believe in Jesus, to accept Him and to make Him the Lord of our lives. Jesus is the only way, He is the Truth, and He is the Light. Jesus is the only doorway into salvation, and no man can enter in except they go through Christ! “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:9 Now the great freedom in this Truth is this, we are only able to accept Jesus and be born again because God chooses us and because God empowers us to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior! “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:13

“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.” 1 Corinthians 12:3

The first Truth about being filled with the Holy Spirit is that we must first be empowered by God to accept Jesus as Lord! And all who truly accept Jesus as Lord will be baptized with the Holy Spirit! Faith comes from hearing the Truth that God would that all men be saved and that God will empower all to believe who truly want salvation!

We Have Peace In Our Salvation

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

Through the power of Christ in our lives, the pressure has been removed from us! God knew who we were, and He completely knew what we were. So He did something about it, He sent Jesus to pay the price, and then He sent the Holy Ghost to empower us with His fullness. Notice that God said that He, His Spirit, will cause us to walk rightly! God’s Spirit will teach us all things! Jesus said it was better that He went away, so that God’s Spirit would come. There is a truth here that only the Holy Ghost can teach us, and it is this: God placed the responsibility and burden of us walking uprightly on Himself, not on us! Religion and man have placed it all on us, claiming that if we do what is right than we can have some of the glory that God has to offer. Yet that is not what God has said! God’s Truth is that He will cause us to walk in His statutes and in His judgments. God said that He would teach us all Truth. God said that He would do superabundant things through us by the power of the Holy Ghost that is at work within us. There is so much freedom here! My experience with religion is that the burden is placed squarely and completely on us, and our success or failure is measured solely on our desire and ability to perform. Yet God said that He would lead us into the paths of righteousness, Psalm 23:3. You know we only have one work according to Jesus. “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:29 We only have to do this one thing, believe on Jesus, and everything else God will perform through us, and God will even assist us in believing on Jesus, He will Author and Finish our faith, Hebrews 12:2. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to have peace in who we are, just like Jesus had peace in Who He was!

Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly, John 10:10. Well, with the Holy Ghost, abundance is measured on God’s level, not on man’s! A life filled with love, hope, faith, service, forgiveness, miracles, and unbroken fellowship, now that is abundance! These things are not limited to what we can think of either, regardless of what we can ask or think of, God can do more, and He can and will do more through us. We are born of God, He is not ashamed of us, because He has saved us to the uttermost. We are a chosen generation and a royal priesthood. Through Christ we enjoy abundance on God’s level, and it’s the Father in us, He does the works! A-men!

Salvation Means That We Will Be Used By God

“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.” John 14:12

Now you may be thinking, yeah, but He was Jesus! He sure was and here is what Jesus had to say. “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father in Me, He doth the works.” John 14:10 It was God in Jesus Who did all of the Works, the Holy Spirit did the works through Jesus, the exact same Holy Spirit that you and I have been given, and the same exact same Spirit that we have been filled with! And that Spirit now has the freedom to work through us under the power of the New Covenant, a covenant ratified and placed into effect by the Blood of Jesus that was shed on the Cross, the perfect sacrifice of Jesus our Lord and Savior! Remember, Jesus is the one Who said that God would do the same works, and yes even greater works, through us, than He did through Him! That is why it was better that Jesus went away, remember, one of the works that Jesus did while on the earth as a man, was to have unbroken fellowship with God. Through the Holy Spirit, we too have the exact same thing! We are one with Christ, Jesus is in us, we are in Jesus, and everyone is in God, sealed with and filled with the Holy Spirit until the Day of Redemption!

It Was Good For Us That Jesus Was Crucified

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” John 16:7

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, will absolutely cause us to walk uprightly. He is the Spirit of our Righteousness, the Spirit of our Sanctification, and the Spirit of Truth, and the Truth has set us free! The Holy Spirit is ours, He will comfort us, He will give us peace that passes all understanding, and He will give us eternal and everlasting joy. And from the very moment that we are filled with Him, yes, even here and on this earth, from today and throughout all of eternity, we will have all of these things! We are eternally filled with the fullness of God!

“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will shew you things to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall receive of Mine, and shew it unto you. All things the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:12-15

The Holy Ghost will guide us into all Truth, He shall teach us all things, and He will do superabundantly more than we can ask or even think! And praise God we can think of some awesome things! The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus through us. He will cause to walk righteously and He will cause us to do the works of the Lord! The Holy Spirit will cause us to do the works that Jesus did, and even greater works! “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.” John 14:12 The healings, the prophesies, the wisdom, the miracles, the forgiveness, think of what Jesus did, the Holy Ghost will allow these things and even greater things to be done through us, because Jesus has paid the price and the New Covenant has been ratified with His glorious sin free blood! “How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?” Hebrews 9:14 The Blood of Christ has now allowed God to work through us, with all of His fullness, because the forces of sin that caused our separation from Him have been destroyed!

We Can Know All Things, All

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26

How many things did Jesus say that the Holy Ghost would teach us? Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would teach us all things! Remember this Truth, Jesus said it; Jesus said all, the Creator of everything said that we would be taught all, and He said that we would have His glory and that we would be one with Him. Jesus said that we would be filled with the fullness of God, and that we would be perfect in our oneness with Him! God is never limited; Jesus said all, so expect all, look unto Jesus to Author and Finish your faith to live in all! We have the Spirit of God living within us that desires for us to have all. We are one with Jesus who came and died so that we could have all. We are born again of God, Who has it all! Look at what God said through Paul in Ephesians 3, “unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” and how is God able to do this for us? “According to the power that worketh in us,” which is His Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit causes us to walk in the full power of God, the Spirit teaches us all things, the very Spirit of God is why we have life and have it abundantly! True Godly humility is not denying that man can be filled with the fullness of God and thus be perfect and free from sin. Humility is accepting these Truth’s and giving God all of the praise and glory for them! Humility is truly allowing God to walk fully through us, so that the world can see His greatness and receive His salvation!

Just Like Jesus We Are Glorified WIth The Fullness Of God

“And the glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfect in one; and that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” John 17:22-23

Paul controlled by and under the direction of the Holy Spirit prayed that we might be filled with the fullness of God.

“May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” Ephesians 3:18-20

Our Father had Paul write that His desire is for us to be filled with all of His fullness, which means to be filled with all of His Holy Spirit. Ezekiel prophesied of it, Paul prayed for it, and Jesus taught of it and prayed that we may be made perfect by it. We walk in total power, because our Father, Who is God, walks in total power, and through Christ, God walks fully within us! Our Father loves us so much and so unwilling to be without us that He gave us all of the glory that He gave to Jesus, which is all of Himself! TheTruth is that our Father wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of His Truth. We have been made to be perfect in Christ, which is God’s Anointing, just as Jesus was made perfect in Christ! Jesus was born perfect because God bore Him that way. Jesus did no work to earn His perfection, though He was used by our Father to do many works. Jesus was just simply born into perfection by the power of His Father, and through Jesus we too have simply been born again into God’s perfection! And Jesus said that the power of God’s perfection through us would allow the world to believe and be saved!

Our Father will us us mightily to show the world that He is here and that He is active in all of our lives. We have been made perfect in Jesus and we now have all of our Father's glory. We are filled with it and through His power we will be used to produce much fruit! 

Through Christ We Now Have All Of God's Fullness

“May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” Ephesians 3:18-20

Our Father does not say that He will only place part of His Spirit within us. Our Father does not limit His Spirit to only as much as a man can handle. Our Father is never limited by man; look, a man couldn’t save us, so our Father sent Jesus. Which was God in the flesh, born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and bam, salvation came into the world! There are no limits with our Father, He is the great I Am and He knows how to solve every problem. Our Father will place His entire Spirit within us, and God through His Spirit will cause us to walk in His statutes. Therefore He will cause us not to sin, and He will cause us to do what is right and what will bring life and glory. Remember how the Greek Word for saved, “sozo,” means to be saved from the power, the presence, the pleasure, and the penalty of sin? Well, we have all of this redemption because we have all of our Father's Spirit dwelling within us, and He is able and willing to save us completely!

"Wherein He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. Seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25

The things that man has struggled with from the time of Adam, have been removed from us by the power of Christ in our lives. Through salvation our Father has provided an escape for us! God does it for us by His power that is within us. Our old sinful body has been destroyed through Christ, Romans 6:6. God has removed the wage of sin from us, which was death, John 5:24. Our Father causes us to stop sinning by being a refiners fire and a fuller soap for us, Malachi 3:2. Jesus leads us in the paths of righteousness, Psalm 23:3. And our Father causes us to no longer stumble and fall short of His righteousness, Jude 1:24. Our Father is God, and God alone, possesses the power needed for us to not sin. Our Father has given us the complete power of His Spirit, and He has held nothing back from us. Our Father has given us all of Himself! Our Father's Spirit of forgiveness, His Spirit of Love, His Spirit of Power, the exact same Spirit that He has, He has given us! I could write here for pages about the glorious Truths of having God’s whole Spirit dwelling within us, but entire books wouldn’t begin to adequately describe the glory of it! But that doesn’t hinder us for one second; we can know the full glory of it, because all of God fullness now dwells within us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We are the Temples of the Holy Ghost, and His Spirit will teach us all things!

We Are One With The Very Spirit Of God

“And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.” Ezekiel 36:27

There is so much power for us in this one little verse. The first thing that I want you to notice is that our Father says that He will put His Own Spirit within us. When we are chosen and empowered to say yes to Jesus and make Him the Lord of our lives, we are baptized and filled with God’s Holy Spirit. We just don’t receive a rejuvenated human spirit, or an angelic spirit, we receive God’s very Own Spirit. Stop and allow the Anointing of the Holy Spirit to reveal all of the Truth of what our Father is actually saying here.

“But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of things, and is Truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.” 1 John 2:27

Think of God for a minute, think of His power, His wisdom, His forgiveness, His abilities, His presence, His love, His knowledge, all of His glory, and think on the indescribable awesomeness of God. This is the Spirit that our Father wants us to have and this is His Spirit that He gave us. Our Father did not give us a spirit that is like His, that would be awesome in and of itself, but the glory of our salvation is that our Father gave us His very Own Spirit. We now have the exact same Spirit that He has! We have the Spirit of the Living God abiding within us. We are sharing and one with the exact same Spirit as God!