And third, He transformed my daily Christian life. Iactually began to sing and didn't know why until I read the words: "Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:18-19).What began to happen to me was not natural—it was supernatural. The Spirit had taken over. He began to baptize me with a love for people and especially for my own father.
It was exactly as the Word declared: "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Rom. 5:5).I became such a changed person that my natural instincts and reactions were replaced by the leading of the Spirit. I learned what it meant to "crucify the flesh." And I realized that I couldn't do it by myself. "For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit youput to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God"(Rom. 8:13-14).
Here is how Job described it: "The Spirit of God has made me, / And the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:4).The moment God breathed into Adam, he came alive. When Adam opened his eyes the first contact he had was with the Holy Ghost. For He was the breath that flowed through Adam's body and remained hovering over him. Adam stood up completely filled with the presence of God.The Scripture tells me that God the Holy Spirit was the power of creation. "By His Spirit He adorned the heavens" (Job 26:13).
What is even more exciting, however, is that God wants to take that same Spirit and give Him to you. He actually wants to "pour" Him on you: Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest.Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, And righteousness remain in the fruitful field. (Isa. 32:15-16) What a wonderful promise. God wants to pour His Spirit on you. He wants to breath His Spirit into you. He wants you, like Adam, to come alive! Realizing that the breath of God is the Spirit of God was for me like discovering a buried treasure.
Have you ever heard the voice of the Almighty speaking to you? Many people have. But exactly who was speaking? Whose voice did you hear?I believe you hear the Holy Spirit. He is the one who communicates the voice of God. The description of God the Father's voice is recorded in Job, Hear attentively the thunder of His voice....He thunders with His majestic voice....God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend (Job 37:2, 4-5).The power of God's voice was more than the people of Israel could understand.
The crowd who heard it said it had "thundered" (v. 29).The only other time God directly spoke was when the clouds surrounded the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration and He said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him" (Matt. 17:5). Again, the voice of God produced an awesome result. "When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, 'Arise, and do not be afraid.' And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only" (vv. 6-8).You say, "Benny, I thought God spoke throughout the Word." Exactly right.
But the one who was speaking was the Holy Ghost. Let me give you an example. The voice that was heard by the prophets was that of the Spirit not the voice of the Son or of the Father. Isaiah talks about hearing the voice of the Lord saying Go, and tell this people:"Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive."Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes ,And hear with their ears,And understand with their heart, And return and be healed. (Isa. 6:9-10) But who was really speaking? Was it really the voice of the Lord? Or was it the voice of Jehovah on earth the Holy Spirit? To find out, let's look at that same Scripture as it was repeated in the book of Acts.
Paul, in Rome under the watchful eye of a guard, preached that The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying,"Go to this people and say: 'Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,Lest they should understand with their heart and turn, So that I should heal them.'" (Acts 28:25-27)
Who really spoke those words? What Isaiah attributed to the Lord, Paul clarified as being spoken by the Holy Spirit. Remember that the New Testament explains the Old. Here's another example. In Jeremiah we read: "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jer. 31:33).
The prophet writes, "says the Lord," but to understand the true source of that Scripture, you need to read it in thebook of Hebrews: "The Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; forafter He had said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them'" (Heb. 10:15-16).Who said it? The Holy Spirit. Not only did He witness it, but Scripture reveals that "He had said before" (v. 15). ( Who Is "Jehovah"?)
A profound change took place in my spiritual life when I realized that the Holy Ghost was God. Millions of people and I was among them are somehow brought up to believe that He is less equal. We are somehow indoctrinated that because He comes third He is not really God.You must come to this truth: The Holy Spirit is God. He is no less God than Jesus. He is no less God than the Father. He's as much God as the Father and the Son.
Jehovah is the name of the triune being not the name of just one of them. The Father is called Jehovah. The Son is called Jehovah. The Holy Ghost is called Jehovah.When God the Father speaks, he speaks through the voice of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus sent out the Twelve,He said, "Do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" (Matt. 10:19-20). Over and over again in Revelation we are advised, "Hewho has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says. . . "(Rev. 2:7,11,17).
Whose voice should we hear? The voice of the Spirit. Even Christ himself does not speak without the Holy Ghost. In Acts we read that He was taken up into heaven, ".. . after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen" (Acts1:2). And in Hebrews we find that Christ offered Himself toGod "through the Eternal Spirit" (Heb. 9:14).Is it becoming clear? The Holy Spirit is the one who communicates heaven into your heart. He is the voice ofGod to you. You say, "Well, I know it was God speaking to me." Of course it was God. It was God the Holy Spirit.
To put it another way, it is the Father, through the Son, speaking by the Spirit. From what you have already learned, you can imagine what would happen if God the Father ever spoke to you audibly. You could not bear it. I doubt that you are even prepared to hear the voice of Jesus, described as "the sound of many waters" (Rev. 1:15). When John heard it, he fell at His feet, "as dead" (v. 17). The Holy Spirit, however, takes the voice of the Father and the Son and makes it quiet, lovely, and perfectly clear.
The moment that I realized that the Holy Spirit was God and began to worship Him and treat Him as God my life began to change. No longer did I see the Holy Ghost as some lesser, weaker, mist-shrouded being standing in a corner. No longer were God the Father and God the Son receiving all of my worship.Let me say it again. The Holy Spirit is God equal in majesty, power, glory, and eternity. He's God. What did Jesus say about the Spirit? He said that when He comes, "He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak" (John 16:13). What does He hear? The precious Holy Spirit hears the Father and speaks directly to you. But when He speaks, He doesn't say,"The Father says." He says, "I say." Why? Because Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always act in harmony.
And so it is with the Trinity. The Father is like the whole sun, Jesus is the light, and the Holy Ghost is the heat you feel. When you stand in the presence of the Father, what do you feel? The warmth, the energy, and power of the Holy Spirit. If you look into the face of the Father, whom do you see? "He who has seen Me has seen the Father," Jesus said to Philip (John 14:9).I get excited when I think about the time I enter heaven. The Godhead will be there. When I stand before the Father I will see all three—the Spirit, the Son, and God Himself.
What does God look like? There's not one place in the Word of God where the Father is described in detail. Stephen, "being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55).Stephen saw Jesus clearly, but when he saw the Father he could only see the "glory" that surrounded Him. Yes,God the Father has a form but no man knows what it look slike (Phil. 2:6). The Word says, "No one has seen God at any time" (John 1:18), but the Son came to reveal Him.
If you look closely at what Christ said, you will understand how the Spirit embraces the Godhead. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father, except through Me" (John 14:6). And Scripture teaches that we are drawn to Christ by the Spirit. In other words, you've got to have the Spirit if you want the Godhead. When you embrace the Holy Ghost, you are also embracing the Father and the Son. I will never forget the day that the Holy Spirit revealed to me that His Lordship is equal to that of Jesus. He showed me in Scripture that He is called Lord. Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17). That's right.
We all confess that Jesus is Lord but so is the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Jesus! The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, but unfortunately liberty and freedom are not found everywhere. Some churches feel more like a hostile prison than a house ofpraise. Why? Because the Spirit is not Lord in that congregation. Never forget it: The Lord is the Spirit! In the very nextverse Paul writes, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (v. 18).
You know it because the Spirit told you.You know it so strongly you'll die for it. Why? Because when the Holy Ghost speaks, He speaks right into your being into your very blood and marrow. In exactly the same way, we know that Jesus is alive. Not because we have seen His face, but we know He is alive by His Spirit. And that same Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Someone recently asked me, "Benny, how do you know you are saved?" All I could say was, "I know that I know, that I know, that I know, that I know." That's the strength,the assurance, the Holy Spirit has given to me. The Spirit is not only the voice you hear; He is also the mighty power that you feel.
The prophet Micah said, "But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, / And of justice and might" (Mic. 3:8). The Holy Spirit is the might of the Godhead. Even the angel said to Mary as she was about to give birth to Jesus, "The Holy Spirit will comeupon You, and the power of the Highest will over shadow you" (Luke 1:35). He is that preeminent power.The Holy Spirit is also your great defender. For example: Who do you think protects you from the attacks of Satan? It is the Holy Spirit. "When the enemy comes inlike a flood, / The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him" (Isa. 59:19).
When you read that familiar verse you come to the conclusion that the enemy comes in like a flood. But I've got news for you: the flood is the Holy Ghost, not the devil. You see, in the Hebrew there are no commas. But the King James translator put a comma after the word flood, and made the enemy more powerful than he actually is. The actual Hebrew says that when the enemy comes in "like a flood the spirit comes against him.""Follow Me!"
Who keeps you safe? The Holy Spirit. That is the task assigned to Him by Christ. So often we call Him Jesus, but He is actually the Spirit of Jesus. Again, we only separate them for discussion's sake so we can better understand them because they are really one in Being. Because where the Holy Ghost is, Jesus is and the Father is. When the Holy Ghost talks to you, all three are talking, but the Holy Ghost is the one you hear.
The Holy Ghost is the one you sense.The Holy Ghost is the one leading you in the will of the Father.When I first read the words of Jesus, "Follow me," I wondered how that would be possible. Were his followers expected to rise with Him at the Ascension? Of course not.When Christ returned to the Father He sent the Holy Spirit, saying, "He will guide you" (John 16:13). Jesus was saying,"Stop following me. I'm leaving, but I'm now sending the Holy Spirit. You must now follow Him." So why do we say, "I'm following Jesus!" when the only guide we have is the Holy Spirit?
I was not disappointed .Paul tells you to "walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law" (Gal. 5:16-18). An amazing thing happened to the apostle Paul and his companions during their missionary travels.
They went toPhrygia and Galatia, having been "for bidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them" (Acts 16:6-7). That's right. They were so in tune with the voice of the Spirit they probably said, "Well,if He's not going, we're not going either."But perhaps the most revealing words in the account were that they were kept "by the Holy Spirit." When Christ returned to the Father, the Holy Spirit began to do the work of Christ on earth.
Have you begun to recognize His voice? Paul did. During that same journey the Spirit, through a vision, showed the apostle a man from a far country standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (v. 9).Paul left at once.
"I know that I know, that I know, that I know." The Lord, through the Holy Spirit, told me to start building. Every decision in my life is based on that same inner voice. The worldly don't have the foggiest notion of the teachings of the Spirit. That's because they are spiritually blind. But you can know. Why? Because you understand how the Spirit operates and you are learning to recognize His voice. It's the same way we know that heaven is real though we have never entered the pearly gates.
It has been made alive to us by the Spirit. Reading about heaven in the Word is wonderful, but that is not what gives you the reality. Countless millions have read the Bible and are still bound for eternal damnation. Why? The Word did not enter their hearts. Here's the answer. He has given you the understanding of a new covenant "not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:6).It is amazing to me how someone can read Scripture and say, "No. I don't think He meant that." Or, "He didn't really perform that miracle." Or, "He wasn't born of the virgin Mary." The problem is simple; they are thinking with a carnal mind.
But you can discuss the same issues with absolute assurance. It was not what you read; it was what the Holy Spirit told you. And you'd stake your life on it! If you truly want to understand how the Holy Spirit speaks, read and reread these profound words: "The Spirit Him self bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom. 8:16). How do we know it is true? His spirit bears witness with our spirit. Again, you know that you know. The Holy Spirit is God the witness.
What did Peter say when the apostles were called before the Sanhedrin? "We are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him" (Acts5:32). It is that continuing confirmation that keeps you in the center of God's will. If there was one particular verse the Holy Spirit revealed to me that turned my life around, it was this: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen" (2Cor. 13:14).
The Spirit brought this verse before me again and again. And the more I studied it, the more excited I became. Suddenly I knew that the Holy Spirit was for me today. Here's what the Holy Spirit showed me. When did we know "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ"? When He diedfor us. When did we know "the love of God"? When we saw the cross. They both refer to the past. But then we read,"the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." I said,"That's it.
The Holy Spirit is here to commune with me and to be with me, now!" ( What a Communion!) What does the Scripture mean when it talks about"communion"? There are seven meanings. First, the word communion means presence. God the Father's desire for you is that the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit will be with you. Second, it means fellowship. You do not need to pray tothe Holy Spirit; you simply fellowship with Him. And youshould seek that communion as you would seek water in the wilderness.The third meaning is sharing together. You pour out your heart and He pours out His.
You share your joy and He shares His. "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us. . ." wrote the apostles to the believers in Antioch (Acts15:28). They were sharing even writing letters together. Fourth, communion means participation with. The Holy Spirit becomes your partner. The Scripture, rilled withphrases like "working with them" and "the Spirit and us," makes it clear that the work of the Spirit is in participation with you. Fifth, it means intimacy. You'll never experience a deep love with Christ until you know it with the Holy Spirit who brings that intimacy. There is no other way. God has"poured out" His love into our hearts "by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Rom. 5:5).
You can't love God without the Holy Ghost. Sixth, the word means friendship. The Spirit longs to be your closest friend, someone with whom you can share the deepest secrets of your heart. And seventh, communion means comradeship. In Greek the word means commander. He's like a captain, a ruler, ora boss but a loving, friendly one. Just as He instructed the apostles where they should go and where they shouldn't, He must be allowed to rule in your personal affairs.
Remember, since Christ departed, the Holy Spirit is "incharge" on earth. Are you listening for His voice? Are you ready to commune with Him? When I began my fellowship with the Holy Spirit I talked with Him day and night. Not a day passed that I didnot say, "Holy Spirit. Precious Holy Spirit." And we began our time of prayer and communication. Oh, the sound of His voice,
( HIS VOICE)
How are you led by the Spirit? You become familiar with His voice. You recognize it. You respond to it. And themore you fellowship with Him the deeper, the relationship becomes.
( In the Beginning)
From the beginning of time, God made the person and the power of the Holy Spirit clear.
In fact, the Holy Spirit is the first manifestation of the God head in Scripture. "And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2).When God created Adam out of the dust of the ground He began by forming mud. That mud was absolutely dead until the breath of life came. The Bible says that God" breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7).The breath of God is the Holy Ghost.Here is how Job described it: "The Spirit of God has made me, / And the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:4).The moment God breathed into Adam, he came alive. When Adam opened his eyes the first contact he had was with the Holy Ghost. For He was the breath that flowed through Adam's body and remained hovering over him. Adam stood up completely filled with the presence of God.The Scripture tells me that God the Holy Spirit was the power of creation. "By His Spirit He adorned the heavens" (Job 26:13).
What is even more exciting, however, is that God wants to take that same Spirit and give Him to you. He actually wants to "pour" Him on you: Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest.Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, And righteousness remain in the fruitful field. (Isa. 32:15-16) What a wonderful promise. God wants to pour His Spirit on you. He wants to breath His Spirit into you. He wants you, like Adam, to come alive! Realizing that the breath of God is the Spirit of God was for me like discovering a buried treasure.
Have you ever heard the voice of the Almighty speaking to you? Many people have. But exactly who was speaking? Whose voice did you hear?I believe you hear the Holy Spirit. He is the one who communicates the voice of God. The description of God the Father's voice is recorded in Job, Hear attentively the thunder of His voice....He thunders with His majestic voice....God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend (Job 37:2, 4-5).The power of God's voice was more than the people of Israel could understand.
( A Voice from Heaven )
How did God speak to Moses? Through an angel. In the New Testament, there were only three times that God actually spoke. First, He spoke of Jesus: "And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'" (Matt. 3:17).
Then Jesus Himself asked the Father to "glorify Your name." And here is what happened: "Then a voice came from heaven, saying, 'I have both glorified it and will glorify it again" (John 12:28).The crowd who heard it said it had "thundered" (v. 29).The only other time God directly spoke was when the clouds surrounded the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration and He said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him" (Matt. 17:5). Again, the voice of God produced an awesome result. "When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, 'Arise, and do not be afraid.' And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only" (vv. 6-8).You say, "Benny, I thought God spoke throughout the Word." Exactly right.
But the one who was speaking was the Holy Ghost. Let me give you an example. The voice that was heard by the prophets was that of the Spirit not the voice of the Son or of the Father. Isaiah talks about hearing the voice of the Lord saying Go, and tell this people:"Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive."Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes ,And hear with their ears,And understand with their heart, And return and be healed. (Isa. 6:9-10) But who was really speaking? Was it really the voice of the Lord? Or was it the voice of Jehovah on earth the Holy Spirit? To find out, let's look at that same Scripture as it was repeated in the book of Acts.
Paul, in Rome under the watchful eye of a guard, preached that The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying,"Go to this people and say: 'Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,Lest they should understand with their heart and turn, So that I should heal them.'" (Acts 28:25-27)
Who really spoke those words? What Isaiah attributed to the Lord, Paul clarified as being spoken by the Holy Spirit. Remember that the New Testament explains the Old. Here's another example. In Jeremiah we read: "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jer. 31:33).
The prophet writes, "says the Lord," but to understand the true source of that Scripture, you need to read it in thebook of Hebrews: "The Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; forafter He had said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them'" (Heb. 10:15-16).Who said it? The Holy Spirit. Not only did He witness it, but Scripture reveals that "He had said before" (v. 15). ( Who Is "Jehovah"?)
A profound change took place in my spiritual life when I realized that the Holy Ghost was God. Millions of people and I was among them are somehow brought up to believe that He is less equal. We are somehow indoctrinated that because He comes third He is not really God.You must come to this truth: The Holy Spirit is God. He is no less God than Jesus. He is no less God than the Father. He's as much God as the Father and the Son.
Jehovah is the name of the triune being not the name of just one of them. The Father is called Jehovah. The Son is called Jehovah. The Holy Ghost is called Jehovah.When God the Father speaks, he speaks through the voice of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus sent out the Twelve,He said, "Do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" (Matt. 10:19-20). Over and over again in Revelation we are advised, "Hewho has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says. . . "(Rev. 2:7,11,17).
Whose voice should we hear? The voice of the Spirit. Even Christ himself does not speak without the Holy Ghost. In Acts we read that He was taken up into heaven, ".. . after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen" (Acts1:2). And in Hebrews we find that Christ offered Himself toGod "through the Eternal Spirit" (Heb. 9:14).Is it becoming clear? The Holy Spirit is the one who communicates heaven into your heart. He is the voice ofGod to you. You say, "Well, I know it was God speaking to me." Of course it was God. It was God the Holy Spirit.
To put it another way, it is the Father, through the Son, speaking by the Spirit. From what you have already learned, you can imagine what would happen if God the Father ever spoke to you audibly. You could not bear it. I doubt that you are even prepared to hear the voice of Jesus, described as "the sound of many waters" (Rev. 1:15). When John heard it, he fell at His feet, "as dead" (v. 17). The Holy Spirit, however, takes the voice of the Father and the Son and makes it quiet, lovely, and perfectly clear.
The moment that I realized that the Holy Spirit was God and began to worship Him and treat Him as God my life began to change. No longer did I see the Holy Ghost as some lesser, weaker, mist-shrouded being standing in a corner. No longer were God the Father and God the Son receiving all of my worship.Let me say it again. The Holy Spirit is God equal in majesty, power, glory, and eternity. He's God. What did Jesus say about the Spirit? He said that when He comes, "He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak" (John 16:13). What does He hear? The precious Holy Spirit hears the Father and speaks directly to you. But when He speaks, He doesn't say,"The Father says." He says, "I say." Why? Because Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always act in harmony.
( Like the Sun in the Sky )
It is so easy to limit the Godhead or to divide the Godhead un scripturally. Young Christians often ask, "How can God be one and three at the same time?" God is one. But God is three: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And while this book dwells on the Holy Spirit, I am distinguishing them on purpose to show you the triune being. God is like the sun in the sky.
If you look at its brightness you see one sun. In reality, however, it is a triune sun that keeps our planet alive. There are three distinct elements: the sun, light, and heat.And so it is with the Trinity. The Father is like the whole sun, Jesus is the light, and the Holy Ghost is the heat you feel. When you stand in the presence of the Father, what do you feel? The warmth, the energy, and power of the Holy Spirit. If you look into the face of the Father, whom do you see? "He who has seen Me has seen the Father," Jesus said to Philip (John 14:9).I get excited when I think about the time I enter heaven. The Godhead will be there. When I stand before the Father I will see all three—the Spirit, the Son, and God Himself.
What does God look like? There's not one place in the Word of God where the Father is described in detail. Stephen, "being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55).Stephen saw Jesus clearly, but when he saw the Father he could only see the "glory" that surrounded Him. Yes,God the Father has a form but no man knows what it look slike (Phil. 2:6). The Word says, "No one has seen God at any time" (John 1:18), but the Son came to reveal Him.
If you look closely at what Christ said, you will understand how the Spirit embraces the Godhead. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father, except through Me" (John 14:6). And Scripture teaches that we are drawn to Christ by the Spirit. In other words, you've got to have the Spirit if you want the Godhead. When you embrace the Holy Ghost, you are also embracing the Father and the Son. I will never forget the day that the Holy Spirit revealed to me that His Lordship is equal to that of Jesus. He showed me in Scripture that He is called Lord. Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17). That's right.
We all confess that Jesus is Lord but so is the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Jesus! The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, but unfortunately liberty and freedom are not found everywhere. Some churches feel more like a hostile prison than a house ofpraise. Why? Because the Spirit is not Lord in that congregation. Never forget it: The Lord is the Spirit! In the very nextverse Paul writes, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (v. 18).
( How Do You Know? )
Next, you need to understand that the Trinity is the glory of God. God the Father is the glory of God; God the Son is the glory of God; and God the Holy Spirit is the glory of God. But who manifests that glory? It is the Holy Spirit. That is part of His work.
Let me ask another question. Do you know that you have been saved from your sin? Well, how do you know it? Did you hear a celestial voice from heaven? Did Jesus appear in a physical body and say, "You are saved"? How do you know that you have passed from spiritual death unto life?You know it because the Spirit told you.You know it so strongly you'll die for it. Why? Because when the Holy Ghost speaks, He speaks right into your being into your very blood and marrow. In exactly the same way, we know that Jesus is alive. Not because we have seen His face, but we know He is alive by His Spirit. And that same Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Someone recently asked me, "Benny, how do you know you are saved?" All I could say was, "I know that I know, that I know, that I know, that I know." That's the strength,the assurance, the Holy Spirit has given to me. The Spirit is not only the voice you hear; He is also the mighty power that you feel.
The prophet Micah said, "But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, / And of justice and might" (Mic. 3:8). The Holy Spirit is the might of the Godhead. Even the angel said to Mary as she was about to give birth to Jesus, "The Holy Spirit will comeupon You, and the power of the Highest will over shadow you" (Luke 1:35). He is that preeminent power.The Holy Spirit is also your great defender. For example: Who do you think protects you from the attacks of Satan? It is the Holy Spirit. "When the enemy comes inlike a flood, / The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him" (Isa. 59:19).
When you read that familiar verse you come to the conclusion that the enemy comes in like a flood. But I've got news for you: the flood is the Holy Ghost, not the devil. You see, in the Hebrew there are no commas. But the King James translator put a comma after the word flood, and made the enemy more powerful than he actually is. The actual Hebrew says that when the enemy comes in "like a flood the spirit comes against him.""Follow Me!"
Who keeps you safe? The Holy Spirit. That is the task assigned to Him by Christ. So often we call Him Jesus, but He is actually the Spirit of Jesus. Again, we only separate them for discussion's sake so we can better understand them because they are really one in Being. Because where the Holy Ghost is, Jesus is and the Father is. When the Holy Ghost talks to you, all three are talking, but the Holy Ghost is the one you hear.
The Holy Ghost is the one you sense.The Holy Ghost is the one leading you in the will of the Father.When I first read the words of Jesus, "Follow me," I wondered how that would be possible. Were his followers expected to rise with Him at the Ascension? Of course not.When Christ returned to the Father He sent the Holy Spirit, saying, "He will guide you" (John 16:13). Jesus was saying,"Stop following me. I'm leaving, but I'm now sending the Holy Spirit. You must now follow Him." So why do we say, "I'm following Jesus!" when the only guide we have is the Holy Spirit?
( FOLLOWING HIS VOICE )
From the moment of my first encounter with the Spirit I knew I must follow His voice. There were only two options. Either I could follow the sound of a carnal, fleshly world, or I could follow Him: "Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit" (Rom. 8:5).
It's as basic as life itself. If you desire the flesh, you will follow the flesh; but if your heart yearns for the Spirit, you'll be drawn to Him like a magnet. It starts with desire. For me, I had one great question: "How can I really know You?" That question was the cry of my heart. My great hunger was to know the Holy Spirit personally.I was not disappointed .Paul tells you to "walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law" (Gal. 5:16-18). An amazing thing happened to the apostle Paul and his companions during their missionary travels.
They went toPhrygia and Galatia, having been "for bidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them" (Acts 16:6-7). That's right. They were so in tune with the voice of the Spirit they probably said, "Well,if He's not going, we're not going either."But perhaps the most revealing words in the account were that they were kept "by the Holy Spirit." When Christ returned to the Father, the Holy Spirit began to do the work of Christ on earth.
Have you begun to recognize His voice? Paul did. During that same journey the Spirit, through a vision, showed the apostle a man from a far country standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (v. 9).Paul left at once.
( Your Conscience Confirms It )
How does the Holy Spirit speak? He witnesses to your very conscience. In Paul's letter to the church at Rome, he says, "I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 9:1).You should never doubt the leading of the Holy Spirit. At a time when your "inner man" is troubled, don't move.
If you attempt to be your own guide, you'll literally collapse. Listen to His voice as He speaks to your very soul. During a church building program I was asked, "How do you know you're doing the right thing?" The answer was the same as if I'd been asked about my salvation."I know that I know, that I know, that I know." The Lord, through the Holy Spirit, told me to start building. Every decision in my life is based on that same inner voice. The worldly don't have the foggiest notion of the teachings of the Spirit. That's because they are spiritually blind. But you can know. Why? Because you understand how the Spirit operates and you are learning to recognize His voice. It's the same way we know that heaven is real though we have never entered the pearly gates.
It has been made alive to us by the Spirit. Reading about heaven in the Word is wonderful, but that is not what gives you the reality. Countless millions have read the Bible and are still bound for eternal damnation. Why? The Word did not enter their hearts. Here's the answer. He has given you the understanding of a new covenant "not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:6).It is amazing to me how someone can read Scripture and say, "No. I don't think He meant that." Or, "He didn't really perform that miracle." Or, "He wasn't born of the virgin Mary." The problem is simple; they are thinking with a carnal mind.
But you can discuss the same issues with absolute assurance. It was not what you read; it was what the Holy Spirit told you. And you'd stake your life on it! If you truly want to understand how the Holy Spirit speaks, read and reread these profound words: "The Spirit Him self bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom. 8:16). How do we know it is true? His spirit bears witness with our spirit. Again, you know that you know. The Holy Spirit is God the witness.
What did Peter say when the apostles were called before the Sanhedrin? "We are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him" (Acts5:32). It is that continuing confirmation that keeps you in the center of God's will. If there was one particular verse the Holy Spirit revealed to me that turned my life around, it was this: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen" (2Cor. 13:14).
The Spirit brought this verse before me again and again. And the more I studied it, the more excited I became. Suddenly I knew that the Holy Spirit was for me today. Here's what the Holy Spirit showed me. When did we know "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ"? When He diedfor us. When did we know "the love of God"? When we saw the cross. They both refer to the past. But then we read,"the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." I said,"That's it.
The Holy Spirit is here to commune with me and to be with me, now!" ( What a Communion!) What does the Scripture mean when it talks about"communion"? There are seven meanings. First, the word communion means presence. God the Father's desire for you is that the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit will be with you. Second, it means fellowship. You do not need to pray tothe Holy Spirit; you simply fellowship with Him. And youshould seek that communion as you would seek water in the wilderness.The third meaning is sharing together. You pour out your heart and He pours out His.
You share your joy and He shares His. "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us. . ." wrote the apostles to the believers in Antioch (Acts15:28). They were sharing even writing letters together. Fourth, communion means participation with. The Holy Spirit becomes your partner. The Scripture, rilled withphrases like "working with them" and "the Spirit and us," makes it clear that the work of the Spirit is in participation with you. Fifth, it means intimacy. You'll never experience a deep love with Christ until you know it with the Holy Spirit who brings that intimacy. There is no other way. God has"poured out" His love into our hearts "by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Rom. 5:5).
You can't love God without the Holy Ghost. Sixth, the word means friendship. The Spirit longs to be your closest friend, someone with whom you can share the deepest secrets of your heart. And seventh, communion means comradeship. In Greek the word means commander. He's like a captain, a ruler, ora boss but a loving, friendly one. Just as He instructed the apostles where they should go and where they shouldn't, He must be allowed to rule in your personal affairs.
Remember, since Christ departed, the Holy Spirit is "incharge" on earth. Are you listening for His voice? Are you ready to commune with Him? When I began my fellowship with the Holy Spirit I talked with Him day and night. Not a day passed that I didnot say, "Holy Spirit. Precious Holy Spirit." And we began our time of prayer and communication. Oh, the sound of His voice,
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