Chapter (5) Whose Voice Do You Hear?

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).

( 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,

Chapter (6) Spirit, Soul,and Body

                 Satan, the great deceiver, has done an incredible job. He has convinced the world even dedicated ministers of the gospel that the Holy Spirit is nothing more than an influence or a special power. This deception is a priority of Satan because he knows that the moment you discover the personality and reality of the Spirit, your life will bed ramatically transformed. Just look at history. 
                     Every great revival was accompanied by a revelation of the Holy Spirit. Even Martin Luther credits the great Reformation to the work of the Spirit. He said that Galatians was his favorite book in Scripture because of the verse that says, "Walk in the Spirit,and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). But today few people know what it means to "walk" in the Spirit. 
                       The root of the word means in unison with, onewith, or connected to even fellowship with. It's astounding, but people who have been raised in a "spirit-filled" church have asked me: "Am I supposed to talk to the Spirit?" Recently I was invited to speak in a large historic pentecostal church, and the congregation was shocked when I said, "You are the ones who have rediscovered the Holy Spirit, but you have placed Him in a cage." 
                   I explained, "You thought that the Catholics couldn't have Him. You thought that the Baptists couldn't have Him. But I've got news for you. He's jumped over your fence and walked into Saint Michael's, First Baptist, United Methodist, and all the rest."Millions of people have been touched by the Spirit, but their spiritual growth has been stunted by clergy who, for whatever reasons, choose to subordinate the third person of the Trinity. 
                  Unfortunately the Church of Jesus Christ has ignored what I am sharing with you. The fact that you are reading this book, however, tells me that you have a personal hunger to know the Holy Spirit. You can be "filled" with the Spirit and have an undeniable encounter with Him, but a deep understanding of the Holy Ghost does not come overnight. For me it has taken years and years of His leading and revelation in Scripture. And I am still learning every day.

 ( THE GODHEAD) 

What I am about to share with you regarding the Godhead gave me an entirely new picture of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I found that God is eternal spirit yet with nonmaterial form, but He often reveals Him self through human form and other human traits. 

( God the Father) 

What about the way God frequently appears to man? When Ezekiel had his vision of God in 593 B.C., he described Him seated above an expanse that separated creatures from the glory of the Lord. He saw "the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone,... with the appearance of a man high above it" (Ezek. 1:26). What was the appearance of God the Father? Like that of a man.You say, "I've been taught that God is spirit." Yes, but He is spirit with mysterious form, not some cloud floating in space. 
                The apostle John, in Revelation, described Him as the reflected brilliance of precious stones. He said,"Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat therewas like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance" (Rev.4:2-3).The prophets describe the features of God in greatdetail. Isaiah says, "His lips are full of indignation, And Histongue like a devouring fire. 
                   His breath is like an overflowing stream" (Isa. 30:27-28). And God revealed the fact that He can see. "They did evil before My eyes" (Isa. 66:4).To my amazement I found that God is described as having the likeness of fingers and hands and a face. After the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the tablets of stone, "written with the finger of God" (Ex.31:18). 
                     Then the Lord said to Moses, "You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me, and live" (Ex. 33:20). He even talked to Moses about His "back." He said,"While My glory passes by I  will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand,and you shall see My back; but My face shall not beseen" (vv. 22-23). If God reveals himself as only invisible spirit, how was it possible that Adam and Eve heard His footsteps? "And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Gen. 3:8).
                      God also has a heart: "The LORD was sorry that He hadmade man on the earth, and He was grieved in hisheart" (Gen. 6:6). ( Like a "Blazing Fire") Now let's look at the Son. Before the Lord Jesus came to earth, He, with God the Father, had only an immaterial form. His earthly body off lesh, blood, and bone was given Him when He was born asa babe in Bethlehem. And, like you, He grew to be a man. If I were to ask "Of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,which is a real person?"most people would say the Son.
                       We can identify with Christ because He took the form of ahuman being. In fact, if you do not believe that Christ lived, died, and rose from the dead, it is impossible for you to be a Christian. It is the foundation that makes possible your salvation. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus part of the Godhead has a soul. At Gethsemane, before the crucifixion, he said to His disciples, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death" (Mark 14:34). 
                         We have a physical description of Christ that shapes our image of Him. We know, for example, that he wore a beard and had long hair. In Old Testament prophecy concerning the suffering of the Messiah, the Lord says, "I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard" (Isa. 50:6). Christ was also a Nazarite, from a city where the men customarily wore longhair. Today, Christ in His resurrected body sits at the right hand of God the Father. 
                     And what does He look like? John,in Revelation, saw a vision of Him "clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. . . . His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength" (Rev.1:13-14,16). On his head was "a golden crown" (Rev.14:14). And on his robe were written the words, 

 ( KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS")

 (Rev. 19:16).It is not God the Father that John is talking about. It is the "Son of man." And His glorified human body is distinct from the divine form of God the Father. ( A Mind of His Own ) But what about the Holy Spirit? Does He also have a mind, a will, and emotions? Does He have a body? He certainly does. It's a subject that most ministers are afraid to discuss, but I have experienced the person of the Holy Ghost.
                   Without question we all agree He is a "Spirit." That's part of His name. But what about His inner being? Is Here ally a "person"?First, the Holy Spirit has a mind of His own. Speaking of the Holy Ghost, Paul said, "Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:27). The mind of the Spirit is distinct from that of the Father and the Son. He also has emotions. 
                   He has deep feelings that allow Him to grieve and to love: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). His heart can be touched, and it has the capacity to express love. Paul, writing to the Christians at Rome, said: "I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God forme" (Rom. 15:30). Can you imagine loving without emotion? 

( THE PERSON OF THE SPIRIT) 

What about the will of the Holy Spirit? Perhaps you have never considered it possible for the Holy Spirit to make His own decisions. He certainly can, but His decisions are always in harmony with the Father's and the Son's. Speaking of spiritual gifts, Paul wrote, "One and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills" (1 Cor. 12:11). In other words, the Holy Spirit makes the decision. 

( Doves and Lambs )

               It is the question of the "body" of the Holy Spirit that causes much confusion. A man recently said to me,"Benny, the body of the Holy Spirit is really that of a dove. That's how He descended from Heaven." I replied, "If that's true, then you must believe that Jesus was really a little lamb. That's how He is presented in Revelation."In the book of the Revelation John the apostle heard an elder say, "Do not weep. 
                Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda . . . has prevailed" (Rev. 5:5). He turned, expecting tosee a roaring lion, and instead he saw a gentle lamb that had been slain. Now Jesus went to heaven with a physical body,with nail prints in his hands. But the symbol John saw was alamb. Why? The lamb symbolized the Lamb of God Jesus Christ. 
                 The Holy Spirit was seen by Jesus immediately following His baptism: "the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove an dalighting upon Him" (Matt. 3:16). Just as the Father and the Son can be seen, so can the Holy Spirit. But His descent as a beautiful dove does not mean that He flies around in heaven like a dove. Nor does Jesus walk around heaven with the body of a lamb. 
                   In Revelation the Holy Ghost was seen again as "seven lamps" of blazing fire (Rev. 4:5). If the Spirit came as a dove in Matthew, you can't expect Him to have a body made out of seven candles or seven pieces of fire. The Holy Ghost is not seven lamps, nor is He a dove. A lamb, a dove, a lamp—these are all symbols, not physical forms of bodies. 

( Hearing, Speaking, Seeing ) 

Scripture, however, tells me that the Holy Spirit can communicate although He doesn't have ears or a mouth. He certainly can listen and speak to us: "Whatever He hears Hewill speak" (John 16:13). And we must listen to him: "Let him hear what the Spirit says" (Rev. 2:7). And even though He doesn't have eyes like mine, "the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:10). 
            Since you were created with ears, a mouth, and eyes, wouldn't you expect the Creator Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be able to understand and talk to you? I also believe the Holy Ghost can make His presence known through bodily forms, and yet remain without limitation and fully omnipresent. The Bible makes this clear when it says, "The Spirit of God was hovering overthe face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). Now the Bible does not tell me what He "looks" like. 
            I am told a little of how the Father reveals himself. And I am given some description of Christ. But details regarding the way the Holy Spirit unveils Himself to us are rare in Scripture. Sometimes He is seen but not heard; other time sheard but not seen. At any time, however, he can reveal His presence and message through any kind of form he chooses. 

 (A Striking Resemblance") 

What does God the Father sometimes look like?"Although I've never seen Him make a visible, physical appearance, I believe as with the Holy Spirit that Hecan make Himself look like Jesus looked on earth. In fact, many divine character traits are best made known through human nature, which is created in God's image (Gen.1:26-27; Jam. 3:9). Hebrews speaks of Christ as "being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person" (Heb. 1:3).
             I can only come to one conclusion: When we see Jesus, we see the Father also. And I believe that Jesus reveals the Holy Ghost as He does the Father. Look at Jesus and you see the Spirit too. Someday soon I'm going to find out for certain. And I believe that you are planning to be there too. Again, the Holy Spirit is not a heavenly breeze or a hazy cloud floating in and out of your life. 
             He is God, and He resides in us equal with the Father and the Son in the Trinity. Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, said, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are" (1 Cor. 3:16-17). He is saying that the Spirit lives in God's temple. We are that temple, and the Father and the Spirit are equal in us. 

( Co-equal with Father and Son) 

The Holy Spirit is not simply a person, distinct from the Father and distinct from the Son. He is much more. He's God, coequal with the Father and Christ. First, we find that the Holy Ghost is omnipresent. In other words, He can be at all places at the same time."Spirits" are not omnipresent, but the Holy Ghost is. He's just as real in Los Angeles as He is in Leningrad. Just asalive. Just as full of glory. Now some people have needless problems with Satan.They think the devil is omnipresent. Let me assure you that he is not. 
              Satan cannot be at all places at the same time.Why? Because angels cannot be at all places at the same time, and the devil was an angel, an archangel. The angels Michael or Gabriel are not omnipresent, and neither is Satan. The omnipresence of the Holy Ghost is described in thePsalms: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 
               If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. (Ps. 139:7-10). But not only is He omnipresent; the Holy Spirit is omnipotent all powerful. The angel said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you" (Luke 1:35). The power of the "Highest" speaks of the Spirit of God. That same power of the Highest is the Holy Ghost, and He is omnipotent. All glorious. All powerful. Almighty God! The Holy Spirit is also omniscient. He's all knowing. 
                 I get excited when I read the words, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Cor. 2:9-11)
              Think about it! The Holy Ghost actually searches themind of God. He finds what's there and presents it to you. He says, "Here's what I've found." How can He search the" deep things of God"? Because He is all knowing. There's something else you need to know about Satan. 

             He cannot read your mind. Angels can't read your mind, and the devil is an angel. If he could read your mind, he would be an all-knowing spirit. But that place is reserved for the Father and the Holy Ghost. Satan cannot read your mind. (Should He Be Worshiped?)

 Here is an important question I must ask. If the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, if He is omnipotent, if He isomniscient, should we worship Him as God? Does He deserve our praise and adoration? Christians have a major problem when it comes to thetopic of worshiping the Spirit. It's a subject they would rather not discuss. And if you ask them, "Why don't you worship the Holy Ghost?" they can't seem to find an answer. Oh, they'll say something like, "Well, we're not supposed to."To be honest, I had the same problem. Why? Because the devil deceived me as he has deluded so many.
              I thought,"How can I worship Him? It's just not the way I've been taught."The Holy Ghost, however, is much more than a bird flying in the sky who gives you the pentecostal experience. If He is all the things we've been discussing equal with the Father and the Son, then He is to be worshiped. After all, don't we worship the Father? And don't we worship the Son?You may wonder, "How should the Holy Spirit be worshiped?" Well, how do you worship God the Father? And how do you worship the Son? There should be no difference. You should shower Him with your devotion and your love.
                The Bible tells us that the Godhead Father, Son, and Spirit is self-existent: "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?" (Heb. 9:14). When we learn about angels, we find that they only are present because of the existence of Jesus. But I've got news for you. God the Holy Spirit can be referred to as the "I Am," just like God the Father and God the Son. 

      ( Oil, Water, Clouds, and Light) 

Since my first encounter with the Holy Spirit, I have experienced a growing reality of His presence. Every scripture, every encounter, and every revelation makes my walk in the Spirit more complete. Recently, during a time of study in the Word, I said to my wife, "You know, I feel the presence of God all over me." Here's what touched me that night while I was tracing the meanings of words and their connection with the Spirit.
               I was wondering, What does it really mean to "grieve" the Spirit? What I learned was that the Holy Ghost is not just aspirit who can have shape. He's so real He can be resisted. Now many people think the Holy Ghost is a wind. But He isn't. That's just another in a long list of descriptive symbolsused to communicate the Spirit oil, water, a dove, a cloud, light, and so many more. It certainly doesn't mean that helooks like His symbols.Wind is invisible to the eye, but you cannot resist it.The word resist means to oppose. You cannot oppose wind. 
              Try to stand against wind and it will pass right by you. Yet you can oppose the Holy Ghost. You can actually stop Him from working. Stephen, in his speech to the Sanhedrin, quoted Moses saying: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; As your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51).They opposed Him and, unfortunately, they were successful. 
             Remember this: you cannot resist wind, oil, oreven a dove that will just fly away, but you can resist aperson and that is what the Holy Spirit is. Then I traced the words grief and grieved in the original Greek. The root word is loopa. And here is what it means: to feel pain in body and mind. It means to suffer mental and physical anguish. The Holy Ghost is a person, or Paul would not have said, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit" (Eph. 4:30). 
           The Holy Ghost doesn't just hurt. Hurt operates at the level of the emotions. He grieves, and that goes much deeper. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit can be quenched. The word means to put out. Paul warned the church at Thessalonica, "Do not quench the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5:19).You cannot quench the wind or other symbols. But you can stop a person. And that is what the Holy Spirit is. 

( So Easily Wounded ) 

You also need to realize that the Holy Spirit can be afflicted and tormented. He can be vexed. Isaiah talked about the lovingkindness of the Lord and his mercy toward Israel: "But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them" (Isa. 63:10 KJV). It's difficult to imagine, but it'strue. The Holy Ghost can be tormented by human beings. 
           In the original language, to vex carries the meaning of wearing down, troubling, even afflicting. Only a person can become the target of such torments. A strong wind cannot be quieted, but the Holy Spiritcan: "And He called to me, and spoke to me, saying, 'See, those. . . have given rest to My Spirit'" (Zech. 6:8). The Holy Spirit is a person who responds to your wishes. You can tell Him to be quiet and He will. But then you run the risk of grieving Him. 
             So many times in public meetings, I have seen the Holy Spirit about to speak and then quieted by some fleshly manifestation. At such sacred moments I have felt the Holy Spirit with drawing.The Holy Spirit is not a fighter; He's a lover. If you resist Him, He will just leave. He's not like Satan, who the Bible says will "flee" from you if you resist him. The Holy Spirit will not run away in fear, but rather He will leave your presence with a wounded heart. 
              If He is grieved, He will gently retreat. If He is quenched, he will quietly depart. How tragic to think that people would vex or attempt to quiet such a lovely person. But they do. The Children of Israel did. And today while he is still longing for our love and our fellowship, we wound him through our ignorance and rebellion.I can still hear Kathryn Kuhlman in Pittsburgh sobbing with such agony: "Please! Don't wound Him. He's all I've got."

Chapter-7 ( Wind for Your Sails )

I Every morning my brothers and sisters walked with meto the Catholic school. And sure enough it happened more than once. Almost by instinct, without a word we remembered Daddy's advice and walked on the other side of the street until we were well past the drunken man. How did we know he was intoxicated? Well, we didn't walk up to him and say, "Mister, are you drunk?" Or "Let me smell your breath!" Of course not. 
             Even as children we knew he was inebriated. Everything about him told us the way he moved, the look on his face, his disheveled clothes. As they say in England, he was "three sheets to the wind."The truth about his ungodly behavior was simply this: He was being controlled by the wrong power. He had surrendered to the wrong influence. The apostle Paul could not have been more blunt when he said, "Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). What a contrast between riotous living and righteous living. Drunkenness, Paul warns, brings ungodly actions. 
             But ifman or a woman can be controlled by alcohol, how much more than a new song it's a change that takes place in your heart. When you have been transformed on the inside, a melody will bubble up. It's a spontaneous reaction. I don't claim to be a singer, but I've had a song on my lips since the moment I met the Holy Spirit. The third manifestation is that you'll start giving thanks: "Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 20).Suddenly you will begin to thank Him for everything. 
          You'll thank Him for the good, and for the not-so-good. You recognize that the giver of every gift knows exactly what you need. The result is a transformation of your attitude. No matter what happens, you'll say, "Thank you."The fourth obvious sign is that you'll become a servant. Paul says, "Submitting to one another in the fear ofGod" (v. 21). 
           That's what "honoring one another in love" is all about. Your heart will yearn to help people. The Holy Spirit brings you to the place where you'll say, "Just let me know I'll do it!"What does it mean to be "filled with the spirit"? Some people think it is exactly the same as driving a Honda into a service station and filling the tank with fuel. But that's not itat all. In my pulpit I have a bottle of oil. 
            I use it, just as the Scripture directs me, to anoint those who come for healing. It is a simple little container, and it is filled with olive oil. But when I use it up, it's gone. The bottle doesn't fill itself up again. The words "be filled" in Ephesians have no connection to a bottle or a vessel being filled. The Greek present tense is used to tell you that the filling of the Spirit is not a once-and-for-all experience. 
            It's a continuing experience. Have you ever spent a day on a sailboat? It's a great thrill. What happens to the boat when the sails are filled? The ship begins to move. That's what Paul is telling you. He wants you to be filled, not like a container that has no action but like a sail that continues to be filled with wind. Over and over again. He wants you to move forward with the never-ending breeze of the Spirit filling your spiritual sails. 

 ( "Who Do You Think You Are?") 

            Being filled with the Holy Spirit causes action. It happens in your speech, in your heart, in your attitude, and in your activity. What a change! Now your words are uplifting, there's a harmony in your heart, you give thanks to the Lord, and you truly and humbly serve people. How can a man or a woman who is filled with the Spirit speak with profanity?
             How can he or she have a heart filled with jealousy, bitterness, and criticism? A Spirit-filled person doesn't say, "Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?" Or "How can God treat me that way?" These are signs of a self-centered person who is "Spirit empty, "not " Spirit filled." When Christ returned to the Father, He did not intend for you to make it on your own. 
               Help was on the way! After all, it is not your power or your strength that's important:"Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, / Says the LORD of hosts" (Zech. 4:6).It's by the Spirit that you are able to glorify Jesus. It's by the Spirit that your heart is filled with song.
           It's by the Spirit that you are able to say, "Jesus, I thank you for everything." And it's by the Spirit that you are empowered to say, "I forgive you."How is the love of God "shed abroad in our hearts"? the Holy Spirit. You've never seen the wind, but you have certainly seen the results of the wind. The tree bends. The flag waves. And the ship begins to move. Oh, the force of it. You don't have to see the Holy Spirit to know that He isalive. You can feel the evidence in the power He gives you.Once He fills you, seeking a confirmation is an exercise in futility. A man once asked: "Benny, tell me.
           Am I filled with the Spirit?"I said, "Brother, if you don't know, then you're not!"You don't have to ask when you see the results. Those who question their infilling have never received it.

 ( It Starts with Salvation ) 

You may ask, "How do I become filled with the Holy Spirit? If I speak in tongues, is that the sign?"The Holy Spirit is present from the moment you ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive your sin and cleanse your heart.
           If you do not believe that, you don't understand the Trinity. As Paul wrote to Titus, "He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:5-7). 
           But now we are talking about the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence that has been experienced by literally hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The statistics are overwhelming. I know that some still like to argue the point, but a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. I'll never forget the first few days after I was born again. 
           I was like a little kid—and you know what they say about babies. They're always falling, crying, and asking for help. That was me. In fact, I shared with a man in the church the same doubt I've heard many times since. I said," Oh, I'm so torn up."He asked, "What's wrong?"I said, "I'm not sure if I've been filled with the Spirit." I wasn't. 
              So he said, "Benny, did you ask?"I answered "Yes, sir."He said, "That's all you need to do."Well, you see, I was a babe in Christ. I didn't know what I know now. I truly did not know what I was seeking, but I heard someone say, "If you speak in tongues, that's all you need."As I learned later, speaking in tongues is only one of the gifts. It is not the gifts you need as much as the giver. Paul wrote to the church at Rome, "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:29). 
                 The gifts will never leave, but the giver's power can be withdrawn and will be withdrawn if the giver is neglected and grieved. Never forget what happened to King Saul. The Lord said, "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments" (1 Sam. 15:11). And as David was being anointed by Samuel to become the new king, "The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul" (1 Sam. 16:14). 

 ( SURRENDER Have You Mended Your Sails?) 

You may ask, "How should I approach the Spirit? How can I become ready to receive Him?"Perhaps I should ask you a question or two. Is your ship ready to sail? Is it seaworthy? Have you mended the sails? Are they ready to receive the wind of the Spirit when He begins to breathe on you? It's like preparing for marriage. You spend time in thought and preparation for that moment you stand before the sacred altar. Then you make a vow "to have and to hold from this day forward." You actually give yourself to your spouse.
            It's an unselfish act of loving surrender. And from that time forward a unique bond of fellowship is created and is known only to a husb and and wife. But what happens when you take back part of yourself that was committed in marriage? "You can't have that! It's mine!" And what if your spouse says the same? It would create a barrier in your relationship. The union would begin to crumble. 
           The fellowship would begin to falter. Only total surrender brings total communion. It produces love and understanding. There is only one way to restore a broken relationship. Like the sail on a vessel, you cannot remain strained and uptight. Just the opposite, you must be flexible and yield actually surrender to a new infilling of love. The moment you surrender to the Lord, He will fill you with His Spirit. 
             You don't need to beg for the infilling. And it doesn't require a bucket of tears. All it takes is a total surrender to Christ and a willingness to embrace His precious Holy Spirit. Total surrender brings total infilling, and total submission brings total fellowship. But just as in marriage, you've got to work at it every day: "Jesus, I love you"; "Father God, I adore you"; "precious Holy Spirit, I long foryour fellowship." If you neglect communicating just one day, the next time it's a little harder. 

 ( Like a Sharp Knife )

 What happens to a marriage when one partner ignores the other? After a short period of time bitterness begins to enter the heart. Words begin to cut like a sharp knife. Soon the animosity turns to anger, jealousy, and even worse. For many it results in separation, divorce, and hatred. But the rift can so easily be mended. 
          All it takes is a fresh surrender that comes from your very soul. And a renewing of the vow to "love, honor, and cherish."The same thing will happen if you neglect the Lord. You will develop bitterness and anger. Suddenly you will be out of fellowship with the Lord. That's what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness. They began to complain, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword?" (Num.14:2-3). 
             And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who murmur against Me?" (v. 27).The children of Israel went from saying, "The Lord isGod," to complaining, "Wouldn't it be better to return to Egypt?" What caused the change? They stopped seeking Him, and their hearts became hardened. And before they understood what was happening, they had forsaken Him. Don't let a day go by without a fresh surrender to the Lord. 
             Paul wrote, "Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day"(2 Cor. 4:16). Surrender must be continual, a never-ending emptying of self to the Lord. And once you make it a habit, you'll begin to experience God's perfect union, perfect fellowship, perfect understanding, and perfect love.
                I believe it is God's will for you to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. Almost in the same breath that Paul says "Be filled with the Spirit," he says, "Do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Eph. 5:17).Paul leaves no doubt that it is the Father's will that the Holy Spirit should abide in every believer. It's God's will forevery mother, for every father, for every young person—and for you.

 ( Relax, Relax ) 

In a church near Toronto I remember seeing a young man praying to receive the infilling of the Spirit.  I'll never forget the look on his face—strained and tense. He was literally begging and begging for an encounter with the Holy Spirit. I walked over to him and said, "Young man, you won't get anything by begging. Just relax. It's so easy when you surrender." That's what he did, and almost instantly the Spirit came upon him. It was beautiful. 
            A smile came over his face as he began to pray in a heavenly language. How do you surrender? It will never happen if you "try to." It's like learning to swim. If you struggle to swim you'll begin to sink, and you may even drown. That's why the swimming instructor first teaches a child to relax and learn to float. Swimming comes naturally when you don't fight it. 
               And that's the way it is with surrender it comes instinctively to a yielded heart. When you met your mate for life, you didn't "try to" fall in love. It's something that is either there or not. You don't have to work at it because love surrenders. When Jesus is your Lord, when you love Him with all your heart, it's not difficult to surrender to Him. It’s the same with the Holy Spirit. Every day when you present yourself to Him, He fills you again. 
             You remain fresh as a flower in the morning sun. He continues to give you life and the blossoms never seem to fade.I can't tell you how to approach Him, but here is what Ido. So many times I enter my room, lock the door, and just stand there with my arms raised toward heaven. He knows Ilove Him; I know He loves me. And I am waiting with open arms to receive Him. Now there was a time years ago that I questioned His love. I'll never, never forget that.
              It was during a time I was having tremendous struggles with my family. My mom and dad were not born again, and there was such pain in our relationship. Then one night in my room I looked up and said, "Jesus, I know You say in Your Word You love me . . . but please do me a favor. Tell me that You love me." And I went to sleep. 
            In the middle of the night I was awakened by a voice that sounded like rushing waters. I can only describe it as a sound that was thick and heavy. Then an audible voice coming from nowhere yet coming from everywhere at once began to speak. Above the torrent of water I heard a voice as clear as any I have ever heard saying, "I love you! I love you! "It was the voice of Jesus. 
            At that moment the walls of my room actually seemed to be shaking. I was frightened because the presence of the Lord was so unusual. But since that moment I have never questioned His love. I believe He gives us such experiences when we need them not when we want them.Many times I stand in my room and don't say a word. 
             I keep total silence. I'm sure you have experienced times when you didn't have to utter a word to assure someone of your love. There are special times between two people that if just one sound were made, an unforgettable moment would be destroyed. Quietness is often the best language. So many times I have stood in my room and suddenly tears have filled my eyes. 
            An unexplainable warmth and beauty fill the air as He begins to fill me afresh. How did it happen? What did I do? Really, I did nothing but just standin His presence with an inward surrender. But what started in perfect quietness continued with worship and adoration that I never wanted to end. When you are continually filled by the Spirit of God, your prayer life takes on a dimension you never thought possible. To experience the refreshing breeze of the Spirit that fills your heart with praise, you need to understand how to approach the throne of God in prayer. 

( Step by Step) 

There are seven distinct steps to prayer.The first step is confession. Begin by acknowledgingwho God is. Abram called him, "the LORD, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth" (Gen. 14:22). 
             Begin by declaring the power of the Almighty. Elijah began his prayer on Mount Carmel, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac,and Israel" (1 Kings 18:36). If you want the fire to fall, begin by confessing who God is. The next level of prayer is supplication. Simply, "Let your request be made known to the Lord." Unfortunately, this is the step on which many people spend far too much time. Their entire prayer life seems to be concentrated on needs, wants, and desires. 
                 Of course your personal problems are worthy of God's attention, but when you have shared them, it's not time to say "Amen." The best is yet to come. The third step and one that I dearly love is adoration. It should be a time of absolute beauty and worship. Loving Him. Adoring Him. It may begin with the words, "Jesus, I love you." Suddenly you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, and two hours later you look at your watch and say, "I can't believe the time has gone so fast."It's so real, so alive. Fourth, there is a time of intimacy. 
            It is almost too loving, too sacred, too beautiful to describe. There have been times when, deep in prayer, I felt as if someone was standing there, rubbing my forehead. It was as if the Lord were saying to me, "Thank you. I'm so glad to be with you. "Remember, the Holy Spirit will never force Himself on you. He doesn't place demands and stipulations on your prayer life. But if you say, "Help me pray," He is ready to respond.At times in my life my prayer at this level has continued for hours. 
            But intimacy is not a place you can begin. Nor is it possible to rush through the early steps to arrive at this point.The fifth level of prayer is intercession. Jesus said the Spirit would reveal things to us, and that is what happened to me. When you invite the Spirit to help you pray, He does not focus on your selfish needs and wants. No! The focus is outward. 
           He has placed the names and faces of people before me that I had not thought of in years. And I interceded in prayer for them. But don't believe that it is a period of joy and worship. Just the oppositee. The first time I moved into intercession Iwasn't sure I wanted it. The communion left. The closeness left. During these times I have felt pain and agony that is difficult to put into words.
            I have literally pounded the floor with every ounce of my strength as I prayed for my family, for friends, for ministers even for nations. Let me warn you. It is impossible to move into intercession with a snap of the finger. It does not come instantly because it is a partnership with God that requires a deep and intensely personal relationship. You see, the Holy Spirit leads your prayer life step by step. With me, it did not happen on the first day, or the second, or the third.
              It was at least six months before I was moving into the depths of prayer. Scripture teaches that if we are faithful with the little things, God will give us more. That's what He does. He's the perfect Father.The perfect teacher. But what happened next was worth the travail. The sixth step in prayer is thanksgiving. As Paul wrote, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:57).
              I always spend time giving thanks to the Father, to the Son, and to the HolySpirit. Finally, step seven in prayer is praise. Sometimes I sing. Sometimes I speak in a Spirit language. But from the depths of my being I burst forth into total praise. It is the purest form of prayer I've ever experienced.You may ask, "Benny, do you always include all seven steps?" My answer is "Yes!" And here's what's so wonderful about the Spirit: 
               If you allow Him to work through you in prayer, you'll discover that you are not doing much of the praying. He seems to be doing it all. Even in intercession, as painful as it is, the arms of the Spirit are lifting you up, giving instant refreshing when your praying is through. Paul was right when he said, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit" (Eph. 6:18). He knew there was more than one kind of prayer.

                       ("He's Here!) 

"There is no substitute for the filling of the Spirit that comes as a direct result of your prayer life. It is the power that will affect everything you do. Recently I was invited to speak in Colombia, South America. It was a three-day crusade, and on the evening of the second day, Wednesday, I was speaking on the Holy Spirit. In the middle of my message I felt the power of theHoly Spirit move over the service. 
         I felt His presence, stopped preaching, and told the people, "He's here!"Ministers on the platform and people in the audience felt the same thing it was like a gust of wind that entered and swirled inside that place. People stood to their feet in a spontaneous outburst ofpraise. But they didn't stand long. All over, people began to collapse and fall to the floor under the power of the Holy Ghost. 
               They were "slain" in the Spirit. What happened next was exactly what I have seen repeated in services all over the world. People began to receive Christ as their personal Savior, and healings began to take place across the auditorium.When I speak about the Holy Spirit an un usual anointing follows the teaching. Always. There is an incredible manifestation of God's presence very different from at any other time. The miracles seem to be more intense. 
                A greater number of people are saved than in other meetings. The touch of God on people's lives is more pronounced. In those services the altar calls seem to be so easy. There's no begging or pleading. Instantly, people flock to the front for salvation. Just as the Lord promised, the Spirit draws people to Christ. After the services people come up to say, "This was the most powerful meeting I have ever been in!" It's as if the Holy Spirit has honored the service because He is such a welcomed guest.
             During that same crusade, Pastor Colin, my interpreter, came to me just after a morning teaching session on theHoly Spirit with nearly two thousand preachers. He beganto sob. Then he lifted his head from his hands and said with great emotion, "Dear Brother, I know so little about the Holy Spirit. I feel like I'm in kindergarten." He was overcome with the reality of the message. At other times I've seen an interpreter stop right in themiddle of my message and begin to cry uncontrollably. 
               That's the power of the Spirit.What happens in a service can happen to you right where you are. That's why I am asking you to surrender totally to the Spirit. You'll begin to understand what Paul means when he says: "Be filled with the Spirit. . . speaking to one another in psalms . . . singing and making melody inyour heart to the Lord. . . giving thanks always . . . to Godthe Father." And you'll know why he says, "Submit to one another" (Eph. 5:18-21). 

( A Second Wind )

               Are you ready for God's heavenly breeze to fill your sails? It starts with salvation when you confess your sin and commit your life to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. EvenChrist talked about the wind when He talked about redemption. He told Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit"(John 3:7-8).
                 Just as salvation is described as a wind, the Holy Spiritis described as a second wind a wind of power. On the day of Pentecost, "Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting" (Acts 2:2). The wind of the Spirit is rushing, and it is mighty. It is a power that will setyour life in motion. It's time to launch your vessel. Hoist your sail, and begin to be filled continually filled with the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 8 ( A Mighty Entrance )

              How could it be? I had just given my life to the Lord,and I was struggling to live the Christian life. When I think about what is happening to me now, its ounds impossible. In February 1972 after my "born again"experience, I knew my heart had been cleansed, but the difficulties I faced seemed insurmountable. There were conflicts at home, indecision about my future, and a self-image as low as the floor beneath my feet. Oh, how I wrestled with my life! It was even difficult at times to give my total love to the Lord. 

               I had so many urgent questions. Then two weeks later I was filled with the Spirit. I expected heaven on earth from that moment on. But it didn't happen. My day-to-day struggles continued. Certainly there were great moments of joy and exhilaration. And I would not have traded my spiritual experiences for all the oil in Saudi Arabia. But deep inside there was a gnawing question that haunted me month after month. "Is that all there is?" I wondered. 

                The question would not go away. "Doesn't the Lord have something more for me?"And then, in the middle of a cold December night nearly two years after I met Christ, it happened. As I lay on my bed in Toronto, the Holy Spirit made a mighty entrance into my room. It felt like a jolt of electricity and a blanket of warmth all at once.It took me only a few days to realize the significance of what had happened. My struggle was over! I had found the simplicity of the Christian life  a personal relationship with the Holy Ghost.

             Today, my heart is still troubled, but for an entirely different reason. I am deeply distressed that millions of Christians have never received even a thimbleful of what God has in store for them. They're missing the best part. And they'll never know how marvelous a walk with Christ can really be until they discover the third person of the Trinity. He's the one who helps us with the struggle. 

        (> NO MORE WRESTLING <) 

The moment the Spirit came into my life I no longer had to battle my adversaries. They were still there, but the wrestling and the worry seemed to vanish. What happened to me was the same thing that was spoken to Israel centuries ago through the prophet Ezekiel. Living in a time of political upheaval, he was told by the Lord: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart off lesh. 

             I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walkin My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them" (Ezek. 36:26-27). The problem still exists today! Millions of people are ina daily fight to keep the laws of God, and they are losing the war because they do not understand the Father's battle plan. His strategy could not be more succinct: "I will put my Spirit within you," says the Lord. And why is that His agenda? 

                He wants to "cause you" from deep inside your heart to follow His statutes. He wants to make it easy to keep His laws. Christ even described what it would be like and how it would change their lives: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (v. 8). 

                                 (>  THE SPIRIT'S ARRIVALA <) 

            Violent Wind;Just as real as the coming of Jesus to earth, so was the coming of the Holy Ghost. Just as the prophets predicted the Messiah, so did they foretell the coming of the Spirit. Hundreds of years before Christ, God told Joel,I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions; And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28-29)The Holy Spirit came. 

                And what a mighty entrance! The sound of a thunderous wind. Tongues of fire. Ademonstration of God's power. His arrival on earth was nothing short of spectacular! When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven, a sound of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 

             Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each ofthem. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.(Acts 2:1-4)It was exactly as Isaiah had foretold: "With stammering lips and another tongue / He will speak . . . " (Isa. 28:11).Now when Jesus was born, the moment was marked bypeace and quietness. It was a beautiful night in Bethlehem, so clear that the shepherds followed the star to the manger. What a contrast to the powerful noise that accompanied the arrival of the Holy Spirit. 

                It created such a clamor in Jerusalem that "When this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused" (Acts 2:6). I used to think the phrase "When it was noised abroad" meant that someone was running around the city saying, "Come and see what is happening!" But that's not the case. The pandemonium of what happened literally was heard all over town. 

               You see, "There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven" (v. 5).Can you imagine what they thought? The Word says that when they heard this sound they rushed to the scene in bewilderment "because everyone heard them speak in his own language" (v. 6).Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own native language?" (vv. 7-8). 

                   And when they heard them declare the wonders of God in their own tongues, they asked each other, "What could this mean?" (v. 12).Why 120?His thunderous coming was not scheduled for a temple made of stone. Instead, the Holy Spirit came upon 120 believers who became the new temple of God. Do you recall that when Solomon finished his temple hehad "one hundred and twenty priests sounding trumpets" (2Chron. 5:12)? Scripture records that "The house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God" (vv. 13-14).It happened again in the Upper Room. 

               One hundred and twenty came together and the Spirit of God filled the temple. Why 120? It is the number of the closing of the age of the flesh and the opening of the age of the Spirit. In Genesis, where for 120 years, Noah was building the ark, the age of the flesh ended. God said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his day sshall be one hundred and twenty years" (Gen. 6:3). 

                It is precisely for this purpose that the Lord gathered120 at Pentecost So that God the Holy Spirit could be released among the nations. It marked the beginning of the age of the Spirit. Observers couldn't understand what was happening! Some made fun of them and said, "They are full of new wine" (Acts 2:13). But Peter "standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, 'Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since itis only the third hour of the day. But, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel" (vv. 14-16).

                The 120 were so filled with the Spirit that they could not stand under their own power. The Spirit was so mighty that He took control over the actions of the believers. He was at work changing their speech, their emotions, and their behavior. What Jerusalem witnessed was not drunkenness, but the incredible joy that comes when the Spirit takes control. I've been accused of a few things myself. What a transformation in timid Peter.

                     It brought out the" preacher" in him as he "raised his voice" and spoke with boldness to the growing crowd. But who do you think gave him the words? The captivating message was that of the Holy Ghost. "For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit" (1 Thess.1:5). That's right. The gospel is preached by the Holy Spirit. Remember, the Word says, the Spirit "working with them."He's the one who does the work. Now watch what begins to happen suddenly in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit gives tremendous authority to those who have received Him. 

                It's three o'clock in the afternoon as Peter and John were going up to the temple, and "A certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple" (Acts 3:2).Turning to the disheveled beggar, "fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, 'Look at us'" (v. 4). It's a marvelous thing to see a man completely given over to the Holy Spirit. 

              Peter was filled with a boldness and power he had never known as he looked deep into the soul of thispoor man—right through his eyes.The beggar knew Peter and John were not playing games. A holy boldness had been vested in the apostles. When Peter said, "Look at us," the man immediately "gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them" (v. 5).Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk" (v. 6). 

                 He took him by the right hand, helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. "So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking, leaping, and praising God" (vv. 7-8).Can you imagine the consternation in the temple? The beggar made a mighty entrance of his own. They recognized him immediately and "were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him" (v. 10). 

 ( Not a "Yesterday" Experience ) 

             The power and authority the apostles received began to touch lives at every turn. Their ministry was followed by" many signs and wonders . . . among the people" (Acts5:12). And what was the result? "Believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women" (v. 14). The signs that followed the coming of the Holy Spirit led people directly to Christ. That's an important fact to remember. What happened in the Upper Room was not a one-time experience; nor a footnote of history. 

             The Spirit-filled believers established an ongoing relationship with the Holy Ghost. They continued to be filled. When Peter was called before the Sanhedrin over the healing of the beggar, they asked "By what power or by what name have you done this?" Peter was "filled with the Holy Spirit" when he spoke (Acts 4:7-8). Not past tense, but present tense. "Filled" describes the apostle at that very moment. Over and over in Scripture, when followers of Christ are portrayed as "filled with the Spirit," the reference is to anew infilling, not to something that happened yesterday or last month. 

                Peter was so full of the Spirit in the temple that he had authority over his critics. Undaunted, he said: "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to the helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole" (Acts4:8-10). Do you realize that the power of the Spirit can so infillyou that you fear absolutely no one? It's possible to establish such a communion with Him that even addressing the leader of a nation would cause no apprehension. 

                The Spirit will lift your head, square your shoulders, and instill in you an unexpected confidence.When I traveled to the Vatican in Rome to meet thepope, Ithought I would be nervous. But it didn't happenbecause I was so full of my subject. And among the Vatican leaders I sensed a hunger for things of the Spirit.   (< Peter the Mighty >) 

Peter was facing more than the priests of the temple. He was actually up against the government of Israel. In fact the night before he was permitted to address the priests, he and John were thrown in jail. But when he spoke, the wordswere hard-hitting. He told them the Lord was "the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone'" (Acts 4:11). 

                It was a direct quotation of Psalm 118:22. Was this the same Peter who, a few weeks before, in the same place, before the same people, had been cowed by the sneer of a girl and had denied his Master? Now here hewas, filled with the Spirit, in utter fearlessness, defying the murderers of Jesus.It was no longer Peter the meek. It was Peter the mighty. What a change the Spirit made! So great was this fellowship with the Holy Ghost that Peter directly challenged Ananias. He said: "Ananias, whyhas Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" (Acts5:3). Peter's words and God's actions were so forceful that" great fear came upon all those who heard these things" (v.5). 

 ( HIS CLOSENESS TO US ) 

I can tell you from personal experience that there comes a point where fellowship of the Spirit becomes so real, so deep, and so great that your words and actions conform to His words and actions. When you know, for example, that He has been grieved, you can speak boldly on His behalf, knowing He is flowing through you at that very moment. You will be so near to Him that you will actually feel Him responding to what you have said.

              I believe the day is approaching when men and women of God will become so close to the Spirit of God that we will witness much more than healings and miracles. We will witness the Spirit as He scatters those who dare to fight Him.Never forget Ananias. He "fell down and breathed his last" (Acts 5:5). And never forget Gehazi. 

                He lied to Elisha about the gifts Naa man brought to him. Naaman was healed, but the Spirit led Elisha to say, "The leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever" (2Kings 5:27). And that is exactly what happened. Jesus made a very powerful statement when he said,"'As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them,' Receive the Holy Spirit.

                If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'" (John 20:21-23). This must have been a soberingthought and not one to be taken lightly by the apostles.

 ( The Face of an Angel )

 Peter was so close to the Spirit he told his accusers," We are His witnesses to these things, and so also is theHoly Spirit whom God has given to those who obeyHim" (Acts 5:32).The Holy Ghost so possessed Stephen that when he was brought before the priests, "All who sat in the council,looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel" (Acts 6:15). But, oh, the words he spoke. "You stiff-necked . . . in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51). Why did he say that? Because of what he was filled with: "But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (v. 55). 

               The presence of the Spirit became so powerful in Stephen's life that he was able to look up and see God's glory. He even took on the emotions and attributes of the Spirit as he was being stoned. Stephen said, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin" (Acts 7:60). Can you imagine such a reaction? He didn't say to God, "Judge them. Kill them. Slay them." The Holy Spirit made the difference. I am convinced there is a point in your relationship with the Spirit when the anointing becomes so heavy on you His presence so close to you that you can look up and see a vision of God. That's how real He can become. 

             Saul, during his dramatic conversion, had a first hand experience with the awesome power of the Holy Ghost. Ashe was on his way to Damascus, breathing out murderous threats against the followers of Christ, "suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'" (Acts 9:3-4).

              He was trembling and astonished. "Who are You,Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," He replied. "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do" (Acts 9:5-6). The men traveling with Saul were stunned and speechless. Saul was blinded by the experience for three days before God healed him and he was "filled with the Holy Spirit" (v. 17).Again the Spirit made a mighty entrance. He transformed Saul the antagonist into Paul the apostle. In touch lives at every turn. Their ministry was followed by"many signs and wonders . . . among the people" (Acts5:12).

                  And what was the result? "Believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women" (v. 14). The signs that followed the coming of theHoly Spirit led people directly to Christ. That's an important fact to remember. What happened in the Upper Room was not a one-time experience; nor a footnote of history. The Spirit-filled believers established an ongoing relationship with the Holy Ghost. They continued to be filled. 

                   When Peter was called before the Sanhedrin over the healing of the beggar, they asked "By what power or by what name have you donethis? " Peter was "filled with the Holy Spirit" when he spoke(Acts 4:7-8). Not past tense, but present tense. "Filled"describes the apostle at that very moment. Over and over in Scripture, when followers of Christ are portrayed as "filled with the Spirit," the reference is to anew infilling, not to something that happened yesterday orlast month. Peter was so full of the Spirit in the temple that he had authority over his critics. Undaunted, he said: "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 

              If we this day are judged for agood deed done to the helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole" (Acts4:8-10).Do you realize that the power of the Spirit can so in fill you that you fear absolutely no one? It's possible to establish such a communion with Him that even addressing the leader of a nation would cause no apprehension. 

               The Spirit will lift your head, square your shoulders, and instill in you an unexpected confidence. When I traveled to the Vatican in Rome to meet thepope, I thought I would be nervous. But it didn't happen because I was so full of my subject. And among the Vatican leaders I sensed a hunger for things of the Spirit. (> Peter the Mighty <) 

          Peter was facing more than the priests of the temple. He was actually up against the government of Israel. In fact the night before he was permitted to address the priests, he and John were thrown in jail. But when he spoke, the words were hard-hitting. He told them the Lord was "the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone'" (Acts 4:11). It was a direct quotation of Psalm 118:22.Was this the same Peter who, a few weeks before, in the same place, before the same people, had been cowed by the sneer of a girl and had denied his Master? Now here he was, filled with the Spirit, in utter fearlessness, defying the murderers of Jesus.

              It was no longer Peter the meek. It was Peter the mighty. What a change the Spirit made! So great was this fellowship with the Holy Ghost that Peter directly challenged Ananias. He said: "Ananias, whyhas Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" (Acts5:3). Peter's words and God's actions were so forceful that"great fear came upon all those who heard these things" (v.5). 

 (> HIS CLOSENESS TO US <)

               I can tell you from personal experience that there comes a point where fellowship of the Spirit becomes so real, so deep, and so great that your words and actions conform to His words and actions. When you know, for example, that He has been grieved, you can speak boldly on His behalf, knowing He is flowing through you at that very moment. You will be so near to Him that you will actually feel Him responding to what you have said. 

             I believe the day is approaching when men and women of God will become so close to the Spirit of God that we will witness much more than healings and miracles. We will witness the Spirit as He scatters those who dare to fight Him. Never forget Ananias. He "fell down and breathed his last" (Acts 5:5). And never forget Gehazi. He lied to Elisha about the gifts Naaman brought to him. Naaman was healed, but the Spirit led Elisha to say, "The leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever" (2Kings 5:27). 

                 And that is exactly what happened. Jesus made a very powerful statement when he said,"'As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And when Hehad said this, He breathed on them, and said to them,'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they areretained'" (John 20:21-23). This must have been a sobering thought and not one to be taken lightly by the apostles.  

( The Face of an Angel ) 

Peter was so close to the Spirit he told his accusers,"We are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him" (Acts 5:32).The Holy Ghost so possessed Stephen that when he was brought before the priests, "All who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of anangel" (Acts 6:15). But, oh, the words he spoke. "You stiff-necked . . . in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51). Why did he say that? 
              Because of what he was filled with: "But he,being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (v. 55). The presence of the Spirit became so powerful in Stephen's life that he was able to look up and see God's glory. He even took on the emotions and attributes of the Spirit as he was being stoned. Stephen said, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin" (Acts 7:60). 
                 Can you imaginesuch a reaction? He didn't say to God, "Judge them. Kill them. Slay them." The Holy Spirit made the difference.I am convinced there is a point in your relationship with the Spirit when the anointing becomes so heavy on you His presence so close to you that you can look up and seea vision of God. That's how real He can become.Saul, during his dramatic conversion, had a firsthand experience with the awesome power of the Holy Ghost. 
                As he was on his way to Damascus, breathing out murderous threats against the followers of Christ, "suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'" (Acts 9:3-4).He was trembling and a stonished. "Who are You,Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you a repersecuting," He replied. "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do" (Acts 9:5-6). The men traveling with Saul were stunned and speechless. 
               Saul was blinded by the experience for three days before God healed him and he was "filled with the Holy Spirit" (v. 17).Again the Spirit made a mighty entrance. He transformed Saul the antagonist into Paul the apostle. In fact, the effect was felt across the land. The church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria "had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied" (Acts9:31).
               I can only imagine what would happen if every minister in the land were to fall prostrate and seek a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. Talk about revival! Ibelieve it would so revolutionize the church world that the sanctuaries could not begin to accommodate the people. Thank God for pastors who are "alive" in the Spirit, but I've heard some ministers that, to be honest, would be better suited as morticians! A continuing communion with the Spirit makes the difference. People are starving for a reality that only the Holy Ghost makes possible. 

| He Never Stops Working |

 From the moment of Pentecost the Spirit began His work on earth, and it has never stopped. Never! It's incredible how He intervened in the life of Peter. As he was praying on a rooftop, God gave him a vision, and "While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, 'Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them'" (Acts 10:19-20).
                  The three men the Spirit told him about were sent by a God-fearing man named Cornelius, a centurion in the Italian regiment. He also had a vision: "He saw clearly an angel of God coming in and saying to him.  'Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter'" (Acts 10:3,5). But it was not the angel speaking. It was the Holy Spirit speaking through the angel. Remember? The "Spirit said . . .I have sent them" (vv.19-20). The Holy Spirit is an active person. He never stops working. He'll even send an angel to you if that is what you have need of. 
               What happens on earth is the Spirit's doing. He's the representative of the Father and the Son. At the house of Cornelius, Peter preached the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And "While Peter wasstill speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word" (Acts 10:44).The believers who had come with him, "were astonished  because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 
          For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God" (vv. 45-46). Never forget that the Word comes first. The message of Christ takes preeminence. The gospel is the foundation for everything God the Holy Spirit was sent todo.The Spirit is concerned about your life even your future. He wants to guide you, protect you, even warn you of what lies ahead. You ask, "Can the Holy Spirit prophesy about things to come?" Look at what happened when Barnabas went to the great city of Antioch. 
          Over half amillion people lived there at the time. For an entire year Barnabas and Saul taught great numbers of people in that growing megachurch. And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. 
             Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.(Acts 11:27-29)That's how close the Holy Spirit was to their daily lives. He revealed a coming drought and thus allowed them to beprepared when the famine actually came. The Spirit is aperson, and He's deeply concerned about people. He knowswhat is happening in your life and has great concern for you. 

( > The Spirit and the Sorcerer <) 

Isn't it time that you allow the Spirit to order your steps? Why attempt to plan your own course when He knows every inch of the road ahead, every dangerous curve, every pothole. That's what the Christians at Antioch learned. 
              "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them'" (Acts 13:2).They responded immediately: "So, being sent out by theHoly Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus" (v. 4). The disciples were doing the work of the Father, but who sent them? They received direct instructions from the Spirit. And during their journey the Holy Ghost never stopped working. He even gave them power over a false prophet. 
                 Elymas was a Jewish sorcerer and a magician. He triedto stop what the power of God was doing on Cyprus. But,"Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at [Elymas] and said, 'O full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?'" (Acts 13:9-10).What an indictment! In fact, the Spirit was so strong on Paul that he told the sorcerer he would become blind. And he did. 
          But as a direct result people began turning to Christ,"And the word of the Lord was being spread through out all the region" (Acts 13:49). "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit" (v. 52).You ask, "Should I allow the Holy Spirit to make all the decisions? After all, didn't God give me a mind of me. Of course He did. But what makes sense to you should also make sense to the Spirit. The church council at Jerusalem wrote, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and tous . . ." (Acts 15:28). When it is right it will be confirmed by the Holy Ghost, and you will know the direction to take. 

( The Message and the Messenger ) 

If the Spirit was so necessary for Christ, He should be every bit as important to you. Jesus was born of the Spirit, anointed by the Spirit, cast out devils by the Spirit, received his fullness by the Spirit, and performed miracles by the Spirit. And it was by the Holy Ghost that He taught, gave commands, empowered and governed the church, offered Himself on the cross, and was resurrected."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?" (Heb. 9:14). The same Spirit that was essential for the earthly work of Christ is necessary for you.He is in dispensable. Your experience of salvation is based on Christ, the cross, and your confession. But how did you receive the reality of your regeneration? How did you know your heart had been cleansed? That, my friend, is the work of the Holy Spirit. 
            It's the Spirit of the Lord that places the message in your very soul. You can't find adequate words to describe or explain it, but you know it is as valid as life itself. If that reality is so strong, so deep, and so personal, then how real is the one who gives it? It's a significant question. How real must be the messenger if the message is so real? The Holy Spirit longs for a daily, ongoing personal relationship with you. He wants to make an entrance—amighty entrance—into your life.