N O L O N G E R M E

Biblical Reflections on What it Means to Walk in the

Spirit

F. Wayne Mac Leod

Light To My Path Book Distribution

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written

permission of the author.

“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),

Special thanks to Sue St. Amour for proof reading.

CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright
Preface
- Crucified with Christ
- No Good Thing
- Lean Not
- A Temple of the Holy Spirit
- Sheep Hear My Voice
- As You Received Christ
- Waiting on the Lord
- The Vine and the Branches
- Apart from Me
- The Weapons of our Warfare
- More than Conquerors
- Filled with the Holy Spirit
About The Author

PREFACE

n a day when almost anything seems possible through technology and

human wisdom, we need to be reminded again why we need the Holy

Spirit and His enabling power. In a day of mass communication, we

need to learn how to distinguish the voice of God from all other voices

calling for our attention. In a day where individual rights and freedoms are

championed, we need to hear afresh the call of God to surrender and

obedience. In a day of emphasis on education and training, have we come to

a place where we no longer see our need of dependence on God?

The subject of what it means to walk in the Spirit is one that cannot be

reduced to a small study of this nature. Learning to walk as God requires is

a lifetime effort. Scripture, however, does speak powerfully of the need of a

strength greater than our own to live the life God has called us to live. It

reminds us of our true nature and brings stern warnings to anyone who

would seek to live and serve in fleshly wisdom and strength and not in the

power of God’s Spirit.

Could it be that one of the great tragedies of the Christian life is that we

have never truly learned the importance of the Holy Spirit’s role in our

lives? True and victorious service is possible only as we rely and walk in

the leading and enabling of God’s Spirit.

It is my hope that this study will reveal our need of God’s Spirit and show

us what it means to walk in tune with Him. It is my prayer that the Lord

will use this effort to point each reader to the importance of the Lordship of

God’s Spirit in our lives.

F. Wayne Mac Leod

1 - CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but

Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by

faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

(Galatians 2:20)

nderstanding what it means to walk in the Spirit is not something

that can be accomplished in a study like this—it is a lifelong

learning process. All I can hope to achieve is to point the reader

to a series of Bible passages that speak to various aspects of what it means

to walk as Christ intended. For our purposes in this reflection, let’s begin at

the cross of Jesus.

What happened when the Lord Jesus went to the cross? We know what

happened in the physical world but if we had the eyes of Christ and could

see what was happening in the spiritual world, what would we see?

Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20 that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross,

we died with Him. Notice how Paul put it in Galatians 2:20 – “I have been

crucified with Christ.” This is a difficult concept for our minds to grasp but

it is essential that we understand what Paul is telling us here.

What does Paul mean when he tells us that he was crucified with Christ?

When Jesus died on the cross, He did not die for Himself. As the perfect

Son of God, He never sinned. He died, not for anything He had ever done,

but for you and me. Imagine, for an instant, that you were in debt. Your debt

was so great you could not possibly pay it. Along comes a friend who goes

to those to whom you are indebted and pays what is owed. Though it is

your friend's money that paid the debt, it has all been done in your name. It

is as if you had paid that debt personally. In the books, the payment is

recorded as “paid in full”.

When Paul thought about the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, he

realized that the cross paid his personal debt. The transaction records of

heaven stated that Paul's debt was paid in full. When Jesus died, it was just

as if Paul had gone to the cross himself.

Paul so personalized what happened on that cross that he no longer

considered himself alive. He chose to live his life with the understanding

that he died the day Jesus died. "I no longer live," says Paul. When Jesus

died, I died too. There are two principles I would like to underline here in

what Paul is saying.

First, the law of God demanded that the soul that sinned die:

4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the

soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die. (Ezekiel 18)

Paul did not take what the Lord Jesus had done lightly. He knew that

according to the Law of God, he had been sentenced to die. While Jesus

took his place on the cross, Paul chose to live his life in the reality that this

death was for him. He would live now understanding that Jesus’ death was

his death.

Second, the death of Christ demanded a response. With his penalty paid,

Paul could no longer live as he had formerly lived. He was morally

accountable to the one who died on his behalf. He chose to live no longer as

he did in the past. He chose to die to all the sinful passions that had

formerly placed him under this penalty of death. He would show His

gratitude to the Lord by living only for Him.

24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh

with is passions and desires (Galatians 5)

Notice in Galatians 5:24 and Galatians 2:20 that we have been crucified

with Christ. This is something that has already taken place. If I belong to

Jesus, I have been crucified to the sinful nature.

When I come to the cross I lay all that I am and have down. I accept

Christ’s death as my own and choose to live as one whose old nature has

died with Christ on the cross. The day I came to the Lord, a spiritual

transaction was made. I died to myself and my sin and was born again as a

new creature into the kingdom of God. I became a new person.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old

has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this, is from

God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the

ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5)

Notice what Paul says here. He tells us that the "old has gone." This is a

finished work. Our old selves died with Christ. We died to who we were

and what used to motivate our thoughts and actions. We are no longer the

people we used to be. We have been born again as a new creation. The cross

changed everything. I rise from the foot of that cross, not only forgiven but

changed.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that we still feel the

pull of the flesh with its lusts and desires. If we have died to this flesh, why

do we still feel its pull? Let me answer by saying that there is a world of

difference between dying to the flesh and the flesh itself dying. As long as I

live in this mortal body, I will be tempted. Evil and sin are still alive in this

world. Jesus was tempted by sin, the flesh and the devil. He was tempted

because these great enemies have not been completely defeated.

When I died with Christ, however, a new life was planted in me. This is the

life of the Holy Spirit. The day I died with Christ I chose to reject the flesh

with its lusts and attractions. I chose to kill their influence in my life. I

chose to no longer be governed and ruled by the flesh but by the new life of

the Spirit in me. This is the life I chose to live. I no longer trust the flesh. I

no longer identify myself with that old nature. The old nature is no longer

who I am in Christ. I chose to divorce the old nature and renounced any

right to it. It also has no longer has any right over me. The bond between us

has been legally broken. If I return to that old nature I commit spiritual

adultery. My allegiance now is to Christ and His Spirit in me and to them

alone.

Understanding that I was crucified with Christ ought to change how we see

ourselves. We have been released legally from the flesh and are now

children of God. If I have been crucified with Christ and legally separated

from the old nature—I no longer find my identity in it. That is no longer

who I am.

There is a custom in some places for a woman who marries to take on the

name of her husband. She no longer uses her maiden name. Instead she

chooses to identify herself with her husband and his name. She will, should

God desire, raise a family under this new name. This is how it is for us. We

have taken on a new name. We walk with our heads held high. We are now

part of a new family. We are children of God. We carry His name with us

now. We are joined with Him and no longer identify with our old name and

what it represented.

How we see ourselves will dramatically impact how we live. If you see

yourself as one who is crucified with Christ, then you will live as one who

has been crucified to the flesh and its influences. If you see yourself, as

Paul did, hanging on the cross with the Lord Jesus, then you will live your

life with the understanding that you are no longer alive to the flesh and its

influences. You will bury that old body and move on in your new life.

The old nature that used to define us has been crucified with Christ. The life

we live now we live by faith in Jesus and what He has done. We live as new

creatures. We live our life with the understanding that we are crucified with

Christ. We live with the understanding that we have a new name. We no

longer identify with the old nature. We live our lives with this truth burned

deeply into every thought and decision. I get up in the morning and

remember that the person I used to be died with Jesus on the cross. The life

I now have is a new life. When the flesh rises to tempt me, I turn my back. I

have divorced that old flesh and now have a new allegiance. I have no more

right to please this old nature. It is considered dead to me.

The first thing I need to understand is who I am. I now define myself by the

cross and my death on the cross with the Lord Jesus. I have been crucified

with Christ. Everything changed that day. My allegiance to the flesh died. I

now live in the reality of my crucifixion with Christ. That reality changes

how I see myself. It changes how I live. Who I used to be is no longer alive.

I am legally separated from the flesh. I have taken on my new identity and

live in its wonderful reality.

If I am to learn what it means to walk in the Spirit I must first come to the

cross and die to the flesh. I must understand that my old way of thinking

has been crucified with Christ. My old way of life is no longer what defines

or motivates me. I am a new creation. The life I live now is under Christ

and His purpose. We cannot learn to walk in the Spirit if we first do not

understand this principle.

For Prayer:

Father, Your Word teaches that the soul that sins should die. I confess that I

have sinned and deserve the ultimate penalty for that sin. I thank You,

however, that the Lord Jesus died on my behalf, paying the full price for my

redemption. I recognize that when He died, He died for me, taking the

penalty that I deserved. When I came to the cross, I died with Him. I died to

my old way of living. I died to the sin that placed Him on the cross. I rose

from the foot of that cross a new person –set free from sin. Help me to live

in the reality of this new life. Teach me to look to you for direction and

guidance. Teach me to die daily to the sinful impulses and reasoning of the

old nature. Teach me instead to look to you and walk in this newness of life

you have given. Teach me what it means to walk as a new creation in

Christ.

2 - NO GOOD THING

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh,

For I have the desire to do what it right, but not the ability to carry

it out. (Romans 7)

his statement of Paul is a very difficult one. Yet it is at the heart of

what it means to walk in the Spirit. Let’s take a moment to

consider the man who spoke these words. The apostle Paul was a

well-trained and dedicated believer in the Lord Jesus. Through his ministry,

the cause of Christ was wonderfully advanced. Here was a man who loved

the Lord enough to lay down his life for Him. He was mocked, threatened,

beaten, stoned and left for dead on the road. He suffered for the cause of the

Gospel and never gave up. Numerous souls were won to the Lord. Many

churches were planted. His impact continues to be felt in this day as the

largest part of the New Testament was written by him. What was his secret?

He has just told us. His secret was in his understanding that nothing good

lived in his flesh.

It is one thing to say that we are sinners and that our hearts are wicked, but

it is totally another to live in the reality of this truth. Before we examine the

implications of Paul's teaching, it may be helpful to look at what the

prophet Jeremiah said about the heart and flesh of humankind in Jeremiah

17:

9 The heart is deceitful above all things

and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17)

Jeremiah makes a strong point here. He not only tells us that the heart is

deceitful but it is more deceitful than “all things.” In other words, there is

nothing more deceitful in the universe than the heart of man. Consider this

for a moment. Where do the most violent crimes originate? When you think

about the terrible events of history, what was the source of these events?

Did these things not begin in the desires of a sinful heart?

The human heart is capable of terrible evil. Out of that heart comes lust,

envy, jealousy and bitterness. From their source in the heart, these evil

thoughts find their way into our words and actions. The sinful desires of the

heart have started wars. They have been the cause of the most vile and

terrible crimes this world has ever seen. They have wrecked homes,

destroyed reputations and split churches.

Notice that the prophet tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that the heart is

“desperately sick”. The word he uses here could also be translated by the

word, “incurable.” In other words, it cannot be fixed. It is so desperately

sick that there is no longer any hope of a cure.

It took me a long time to understand the reality of this statement. I believed

it as a doctrine, but never really understood its implications for my personal

life. Many believers are the same. They teach that the flesh is evil and that

nothing good dwells in the flesh but they still trust the wisdom and strength

of the human flesh.

Listen to what the prophet tells us in Jeremiah 17:5:

5 Thus says the Lord:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength,

whose heart turns away from the Lord.

6 He is like a shrub in the desert,

and shall not see any good come.

He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,

in an uninhabited salt land. (Jeremiah 17)

Consider what the prophet is saying in these verses. He tells us that the

person who trusts in the flesh is cursed. The person who trusts in the flesh

will be like a bush in the desert which has no water to drink and withers

away in the heat. He will dwell in a parched place of no blessing. He will be

planted in a salt land where there will be no fruit or growth in his life.

Do you see what the prophet is saying? If you trust in the flesh you will not

prosper. You will perish and wither away. All blessing will flee from you.

The joy and the fruit of the Spirit will not be evident in your life. There

have been times when these words of Jeremiah have perfectly described my

life as a believer. This is the natural result of trusting in the flesh.

What do we need to understand from Paul and Jeremiah? We need to

understand that we dare not trust the flesh. The writer of the book of

Proverbs understood this truth as well.

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

and do not lead on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3)

Proverbs 3:5 is a direct command of Scripture. We are told in very clear

terms here that we are not to lean on our own understanding. To lean on is

to trust or to find support in. In our day, education and training is becoming

more easily accessible. We like to see ourselves as people who are mature

enough to make wise decisions. Many of us have had years of experience

and with that experience comes great wisdom and understanding. We like to

think that somehow all this wisdom and understanding will be of benefit to

us. The writer of the Proverbs tells us not lean on that understanding. All

too often our experience and understanding can be our downfall.

If we really believe that no good thing dwells in our flesh this will be

evident in the way we think and minister. We need to trust the leading of the

Holy Spirit more than we trust our own reason. This may seem to be quite

radical for some but it is at the heart of what Paul and Jeremiah are teaching

us here.

If I truly believe that in my flesh dwells no good thing, I will distrust what

comes from the flesh. If I believe what the Scriptures say about not leaning

on my own understanding, I will not base my decisions on what I think is

right but rather upon the teaching of God’s Word and the leading of the

Holy Spirit in my life. If I believe that there is no good thing in my flesh, I

will trust more in the promises of the Word of God than in what I see

around me. When faced with worry about finances, I will not look at my

earthly bank account but to the promise of God to supply all my needs.

If we truly believe that in our flesh nothing good dwells, it will have a very

dramatic effect on how we do our business as church leaders. I have often

been amazed at how many decisions were made in the early church through

prayer. As the church gathered to deal with their problems, they got on their

knees and sought the Lord. Very often, the Lord would reveal to them what

they needed to do in that time of prayer. How often have we handed over

the leadership of our churches to business people who are skilled in

decision making? Would it not be as wise to have a simple man or woman

of prayer? I am not downplaying the importance of committees in churches.

What I am saying is that if we truly believe that nothing good dwells in our

flesh then we will be more prayerful in our business meetings. We will be

less concerned about pleasing people and more focused on seeking God and

His purpose.

Sometime ago I remember reading about a man of God who spoke out

against the church of his day because they no longer sought pastors who

were Spirit filled men of prayer. Instead, they chose them because of their

education and how they could answer theological questions. Correct

doctrine is vital if we are to be effective in our service of the Lord. How

often, however, have we so emphasized education and experience in our

selecting a pastor or leader for our church that we have downplayed the

importance of his spiritual life and dependence on the direction and

enabling of the Spirit of God.

As you go through life, are you trusting your fleshly wisdom? How much of

your day is spent seeking the purpose of the Lord and His will? Are you

willing to let the Lord change your plans? Are you willing to open your

eyes to see what He wants to do? Will you surrender your agenda for His?

Proverbs 3:6-7 challenges us:

6 In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths.

7 Be not wise in your own eyes;

fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3)

Notice what we are told to do here. We are to “acknowledge” God in all our

ways. What does it mean to acknowledge God in our ways? It means to

bring Him into our plans and to recognize His Lordship over every decision

and action we take.

If we are going to acknowledge God in all our ways, this means putting

aside our own ideas and plans to walk in obedience to His purpose. The

writer of Proverbs makes this clear when he goes on in the next verse to tell

us: “Be not wise in your own eyes” (Proverbs 3:7). How many times have I

been wise in my own eyes and felt that I could make decisions myself. I did

not consult the Lord but did what I felt was best. This is what the writer of

Proverbs is telling us not to do. Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Remember

that the heart is deceitful above all things. Those who trust in the flesh will

be like a desert with no blessing. Seek God. Seek His will. Seek Him in

everything you do. Bring Him into every plan you make. Commit your

ways to Him and let Him lead you.

Notice finally the promise of God for those who will acknowledge Him

instead of being wise in their own eyes:

8 It will be healing to your flesh

and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3)

God knows what it best for us. His plan is so much greater than anything

we could ever imagine. As we walk in His purpose, the path may not be

easy but it will bring healing and renewal.

If we are to learn to walk in the Spirit, we must accept what Paul tells us in

Romans 7:18 -- there is nothing good in our flesh. Instead of trusting our

own reasoning and wisdom, we will listen to the Word of God and the

leading of His Spirit who lives in us. We will commit all our decisions to

the Lord and seek Him and His purpose. How thankful we need to be that

while our hearts and flesh are deceitful, God has given us His Word and His

Spirit to be our guide in all matters. May we learn to walk in tune with

them.

For Prayer:

Lord God, the apostle Paul tells me that there is nothing good in my flesh.

This is a hard statement for me. I see the reality of this, however, in the

world around me and in my personal life. Forgive me for the times when I

have not acknowledged You and brought You into the decisions I have

made. Forgive me for trusting my own fleshly wisdom more than Your

Word and the leading of Your Spirit.

Jeremiah tells me Lord, that those who trust the flesh will be like a shrub in

the desert that sees no good. Help me to take this seriously. Help me not to

lean on my own understanding or to be wise in my own eyes. Teach me

instead to seek You in all my ways. Lord, I thank You that You have given

me Your Word and Your Spirit to be my guide. I have often neglected them

in favour of my own understanding. Teach me from this point forward to

rely on Your Word and Your Spirit to be my only sure guide in life and

practice.

3 - LEAN NOT

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own

understanding. (Proverbs 3)

n the last chapter, we touched on Proverbs 3:5 but I would like to take

a second look at this important passage. We have seen what Paul and

Jeremiah taught about the flesh and the human heart. Because of the

corruptness of the sinful human heart we cannot rely on it to direct us in the

ways God has planned for us. We are commanded instead to acknowledge

the Lord and let him direct our paths.

The concept is very simple. Don't trust your own reason, experience and

understanding. Instead acknowledge the Lord by bringing Him into every

decision you make and let Him direct and lead you in the way you should

go.

In my culture, we measure maturity in our children by how independent

they are. If our children are unable to make decisions, we feel we have

failed them as parents. On the other hand, we feel that we have been

successful if we raise children to no longer need us and depend on us for

everything. This is not how it is in the spiritual realm. The mature Christian

is not one who is less dependent on God but one who depends more and

more on Him. God is looking for a people who are more dependent.

Our experience and understanding often stands in the way of doing the will

and purpose of God. There are several examples of this in the Scripture.

Permit me to share them with you.

The first example of this is found in Exodus 17:4-6. Here the people of God

were traveling through the wilderness and in need of water. The Lord told

Moses that he was to go to a certain rock and strike it with his rod. When

Moses obeyed, and struck the rock, water came out and the people had all

they needed to drink. Later in the book of Numbers a similar situation

occurred. This time, the Lord told Moses to speak to the rock (Numbers

20:2-9). Instead of speaking to the rock, however, Moses did what he did

the first time and struck the rock again. While the blessing of God still

came, God held Moses accountable for his disobedience and refused him

entrance into the Promised Land. Let’s consider what is happening here?

Experience can be a very great hindrance to hearing God. As I look at this

story, I see a man who had experience with getting water out of a rock. He

had done it before and knew how it was done. Could it be that this was why

he did not listen carefully to the words of the Lord? This time God wanted

things to be done differently but Moses didn't listen. He went up to that rock

and did exactly what he did the first time. He struck it instead of speaking

to it. How many times have ministries failed because we have trusted our

experience rather than the leading and direction of the Lord God? We don't

hear God because we don't believe we need to hear Him. We've done it

before. We feel we can do it again. Instead of trusting God, we trust our

experience. We don't hear God because we have our mind made up. This is

a sure way to fail. We are told by the writer to the Proverbs that we are not

to trust in our own understanding but to acknowledge God. Moses refused

to acknowledge God in this situation. Listen to what God told him in

Numbers 20:

12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not

believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of

Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that

I have given them.” (Numbers 20)

God accused Moses of not honouring Him before the people. Do you

realize that when you choose to listen to your experience before the Lord

you are dishonouring the Lord? In this case, God told Moses that, after forty

years of labour, He would not be able to see the children of Israel into the

Promised Land. This would have been a serious blow to Moses and a

reminder of just how important it was to acknowledge God and His way in

all He did.

There is another example of this in the life of Moses. As you know, Moses

grew up in the home of Pharaoh’s daughter. He knew the language and

culture of the Egyptians perfectly. He was a man of tremendous influence

and wealth. One day, the Lord put it in his heart to rescue his own people

(the Israelites) from the land. The opportunity came for Moses to make his

move. He saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite slave and he stuck the

Egyptian, killing him. The writer of the book of Acts tells us why he struck

the Egyptian:

25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was

giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

(Acts 7)

Moses believed that by killing an Egyptian, the people of Israel would put

their trust in him as their deliverer. Moses was the perfect man for the job.

He had the influence, wealth, language and skills necessary. He had a

passion in his heart for his people. He even had a call from God to rescue

the people. The problem was that the people did not stand behind him. His

murder was discovered and he ended up fleeing Egypt to save his life. Why

would the perfect man for the job be forced to leave? He was forced to

leave because, at that time in his life, he was leaning on his own

understanding and resources.

God took him into the desert for forty years. There in the desert he cared for

sheep. He no longer had any influence in Egypt. He lost his fluency in the

Egyptian language and even his sense of pride. Later when God asked him

to return to Egypt to rescue His people, Moses told God that he needed to

find someone else. He was stripped of all confidence in himself and his

abilities. This was the man, however, that God would use to rescue His

people from Egypt.

You see, the greatest obstacle for Moses at the age of forty was his pride. If

he had delivered the people at that point, the people would have seen Moses

as their deliverer. Now at the age of eighty there could be no doubt about

who delivered the people. It wasn't Moses who delivered them but God.

It is vital that we understand this principle in our walk with God. God is not

looking for experience and finely tuned human wisdom. He is looking for

people who will listen carefully, acknowledge Him and obey.

This was the secret to the success of Paul's ministry. Listen to what he told

the Corinthians:

3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4

and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of

wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that

your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of

God. (1 Corinthians)

Paul did not want people to see man's wisdom and understanding in his

preaching but to see the power of God. There is a world of difference

between a message preached in human wisdom and a message preached in

the power and anointing of God’s Spirit. Both may be messages of truth but

one is filled with power to change lives. How often when witnessing and

preaching, do we place our confidence in our ability to teach and reason?

How often have we tried to persuade people by our careful logic as opposed

to trusting God to move in power through His Word? I would dare to say

that there are times when we trust our own reason more than we trust the

power of the Word of God.

Throughout the ministry of the Lord Jesus we see this absolute dependence

on the will and purpose of the Father for everything. Though He is the

perfect Son of God, Jesus demonstrated to us what it meant not to trust in

human wisdom and understanding. In John 10:37 He makes a bold

statement by telling those present that they were not to believe Him unless

he did what the Father did.

37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;

38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the

works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me

and I am in the Father.” (John 10)

What is Jesus saying here? He is reminding us that He lived in total

surrender to the will and purpose of the Father. He did only what the Father

led him to do. This is why we can believe Him – He was one with the

Father in all He did.

In John 5, Jesus went further and said that even as a Son, He could not do

anything by Himself. In other words, he was totally dependent on the Father

for everything. Nothing He did on this earth came from independent human

wisdom or strength. He chose only to minister in the leading and

empowering of the Father.

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do

nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For

the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.

And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may

marvel. (John 5)

There was a deep connection between the Father and the Son. The Son was

not independent of the Father. They were so intimately connected that the

Son only did what the Father led Him to do. They were of one heart and

mind. The Lord Jesus, chose to surrender so fully to the Father in

everything He did that He could truly say: “the Son can do nothing of His

own accord.” It was not an option for Jesus to do anything of “His own

accord.” He lived in absolute surrender to the will and purpose of the

Father.

This principle was not only true in the way the Lord Jesus lived but also in

the words He spoke. The words Jesus spoke were not His own, but the

words the Father gave Him to speak.

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in

me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority,

but the Father who dwells in me does his works. (John 14)

Jesus was led by the Father in what to say. He spoke in harmony with the

Father. What is true of the Lord Jesus is also true of the Holy Spirit. Jesus

clearly tells us that the Holy Spirit will not speak on His own. He will only

speak what He hears.

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the

truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he

hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to

come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and

declare it to you. (John 16)

The Holy Spirit speaks the words of Christ. Christ speaks the words of the

Father. All three members of the Trinity are of one voice. They do not speak

of their own accord.

If this is true of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, how much more should it be true

in our lives and ministries. We dare not trust our own wisdom. While our

experience and understanding are important, we cannot allow them to take

the place of the clear leading and direction of the Spirit and the Word in our

lives.

This calls for a people who are in tune with the Lord Jesus. God does not

leave us to face the world alone. He wants to work with us and through us.

For that to take place, He asks us not to lean on our own understanding but

to acknowledge Him. To acknowledge God is to seek Him in our plans and

decisions. When you acknowledge God in a decision you bring him into

that decision. When you acknowledge God in a ministry you invited Him to

be Lord of that ministry and you submit yourself to His leading and

direction.

When you acknowledge the Lordship of Christ in your life, you surrender to

His leading and enabling. Notice that the writer to the Proverbs tells us that

we are to acknowledge Him in "all our ways." That means that He needs to

be Lord over every decision and every task. We will surrender even the

smallest detail to Him.

What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? It means surrendering to the

Lordship of Christ. It means committing ourselves to acknowledge the

Lordship of Christ over every aspect of my life –over what I do and what I

say. This requires a conscious decision not to lean on my own

understanding but to submit to God and His ways. This is the challenge of

the writer to the Proverbs. It was the 40-year lesson Moses had to learn in

the desert. It was the way the Lord Jesus Himself lived before us and the

example that we are to follow.

For Prayer:

Father, I thank You for the many things you have taught me and the

experiences you have brought me through in life. Teach me, however, to

trust You and Your leading more than these experiences so that I do not fall

into the error of Moses. Thank you for the example of the Lord Jesus, who

declared that He did nothing of His own accord and spoke only what the

Father gave Him to speak. Thank you for the heart of Paul to speak not in

persuasive words but in demonstrations of the Spirit’s power. Forgive me

for trusting my education and human wisdom more than You. Teach me to

acknowledge your Lordship in all things. Help me to live like Jesus in true

connection with the Father in all I do and say. Break my independent and

proud spirit and teach me to live as one with you in all I do and say.

4 - A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY

SPIRIT

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit

within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for

you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1

Corinthians 6)

here is a real mystery in the verses quoted above. Paul tells us that

our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God

has chosen to take these frail and sinful human bodies and make

them a place in which He dwells. More than this however, He has made

them His temple. Let's take a moment to examine this truth and its

implications.

What is a temple? The temple, in the Old Testament context, was the place

where the Lord God chose to manifest His presence. While it was

understood that the Lord, in all His fullness, could not be contained in any

temple, He did choose to make His person known there in a special way.

The temple was also a place that was consecrated for the Lord's use. It was

a holy place. It was not a place of worldly business. Jesus made that clear

when He drove out the money changers telling them that the temple was a

place of prayer and worship (see Matthew 11:15-17). It was separated from

the ordinary and secular matters of life for the honour and glory of God.

When Jesus tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, He is

telling us that they are the places where the Holy Spirit has chosen to make

His presence known in a very special way. He is telling us that the Holy

Spirit has set these bodies aside for His special purpose. It is in these bodies

that the Lord will be worshiped and honoured.

It is important that we notice that Paul tells us that our bodies already are

the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is not something we are striving for. It is

already the case. If you are a child of God, then your body is already the

temple of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul puts it this way:

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the

Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of

Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8)

Do you see what the apostle is saying here? He is telling us that if we

belong to Christ the Holy Spirit lives in us. If the Holy Spirit is not in you,

you do not belong to the Lord Jesus. The body of every believer is a temple

of the Holy Spirit. You may not understand it. You may not live in the

reality of this fact but it is true nonetheless.

It is an amazing thing that these frail and temporary bodies should become

the place the Holy Spirit has chosen to make His temple. It is in these

bodies, however, that God has chosen to reveal His power. Listen to what

Paul told the Corinthians:

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the

surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4)

The treasure of the Holy Spirit is contained in jars of clay. These jars are

fragile and common, but they contain a treasure of infinite value and power.

This is who you are as a believer.

It is for this reason that we are exhorted in the Scriptures not to lean on our

own understanding. We have within us a wisdom worthy of greater

confidence. The Spirit of God has chosen to live in us. Paul tells us that the

Holy Spirit comes to show the world that the power in us is not from us but

from God. People look at these feeble jars of clay and they are amazed at

the power and wisdom of God demonstrated through them.

How often have you looked at others and been amazed at how the Lord uses

them? Remember, however, that the same Spirit dwells in you if you belong

to the Lord Jesus. You are as much a temple of the Holy Spirit as any other

believer. The same power and wisdom is available to you. How important it

is for us to tap into that power.

What we need to understand is that if our bodies are the temple of the Holy

Spirit, they do not belong to us. Paul reminds us that we were bought with a

price. In other words, we do not have any right or claim over our own

bodies. If this is the case, we need to seek the Lord God for all that we do

with these bodies. Because we belong to the Lord, He has the right to ask of

us anything He desires. He holds the deed to our bodies. The Spirit of God

does not come as a tenant but as the owner. We have been purchased

through the death of Christ and we now belong to Him. We are His

servants. Because our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit we need to

be careful about what we put into them and how we use them.

It would be easy for us to assume that because the Holy Spirit resides in us,

we can use Him in whatever way we like. There are people who try to

control the Holy Spirit and tell Him what He is to do. The reality of the

matter is that the Holy Spirit owns us and bought us for a price. He controls

us. He did not come to dwell in our hearts to be bossed about by sinful

creatures. He came to guide, empower and control. If we understand that we

are servants of the Holy Spirit, we will listen to Him and obey His

prompting and commands. We will let Him control us and do what He likes

in and through us. We are merely the temple. He is the owner and manager.

The Spirit of God lives in us and uses us for the glory of God. He comes to

empower and equip us in ministry. He comes to guide us into God’s heart

for our lives. What good would it be for the Holy Spirit to take up residence

in us if He could not communicate with us and guide us into the will of the

Father? In Matthew 13, Jesus reminds His disciples that they were truly

blessed because they had been given ears to hear:

16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they

hear. 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people

longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you

hear, and did not hear it. (Matthew 13)

Not only does the Spirit of God come to live in our heart but He also gives

to believers the ability to know and hear His leading and promptings. The

challenge for us is to learn to distinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit from

the voice of our own understanding.

This is how the Lord Jesus ministered. This is how the apostles ministered.

The apostles learned not to trust in their own wisdom and understanding.

They had learned how to walk in the truth of the Word of God but also to

hear the inner voice of the Holy Spirit who lived in them. They had learned

how to be a channel through which the Spirit of God could flow freely in

their lives.

Those who understand that they are temples of the Holy Spirit willingly

surrender to the work of God’s Spirit in their lives. They bow to His

authority and wisdom. They step forward in obedience to His leading with

confidence in what the He can do in them and through them.

Those who know that they are temples of the Holy Spirit do not rely on

their own strength and wisdom because they have a much more reliable

source of wisdom and power in the Spirit of God who lives in them. They

understand that because they have surrendered all rights to God, they are no

longer in control. They understand that the Holy Spirit has taken up

residence in them for a reason. He wants to use them and empower them.

They expect Him to move and communicate God’s heart to them. They

make room for Him to act. They turn from their own understanding and

trust Him and His leading. They make it their priority to hear His voice

because they understand that in so doing they will accomplish far more for

the kingdom then they ever could in their own wisdom and strength.

This indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is something we need to

understand if we are to walk the walk God calls us to walk. We will surely

fail if we do not understand that our bodies are the temples of the Holy

Spirit. We are mere jars of clay but God has put a wonderful treasure in us.

The Spirit of God has come to live in you. If you belong to Jesus, this Spirit

is already in you. He comes to empower and enable you. We must make it

our number one priority to listen to Him and obey His voice.

Let me say in conclusion that there is a world of difference between

accepting the truth of 1 Corinthians 6:19 as an intellectual fact and

accepting it in reality. You can accept this as a truth and never live in its

reality. You can believe that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and

never understand the power of this in real life. Let me underline this and

state is as clearly as possible: The Holy Spirit of God with all His power

and wisdom, lives in you! He has come to live in you for a very particular

purpose—to lead you into the purpose of God and to empower you in doing

what God has called you to do. Will we ignore His presence and trust our

own wisdom instead? Will we refuse His enabling and do things in our own

way?

God forbid that we should ever live ignoring the presence of God’s Spirit in

our lives. May the reality of this wonderful truth cause us to renounce

human strength and wisdom and cling to the greater strength and wisdom

that is provided through the personal ministry of God’s Spirit in our lives.

For Prayer:

Father, Paul speaks of the wonderful truth about our bodies being the

temple of the Holy Spirit. It is a mystery to me that the Spirit of God would

choose to take up residence in my life. I am unworthy of this but I am

eternally grateful for this priceless treasure. Thank You that you have given

to me, in the person of the Holy Spirit, all the wisdom and strength I need to

live for You. Teach me to surrender to the Lordship of the Holy Spirit in my

life. Forgive me, Holy Spirit, for the times I have sought to take control and

make You a servant by demanding my way. Teach me always to bow to

Your will and purpose and not my own. Tune my ears to hear You so that I

can know the wise counsel You want to give. Teach me to depend less on

me and more on Your strength in ministry. Forgive me, Spirit of God, for

seeing You only as a doctrine to be believed and not as a real person living

in me to empower and guide. Forgive the hypocrisy of saying I believe in

You while living in my own wisdom and strength. I stand before You today,

committing myself afresh to know You and walk with You in greater

obedience. May I truly come to a point in my life where I can say with the

apostle Paul that it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me

(Galatians 2:20).

5 - SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

(John 10)

n the last chapter, we saw how, our bodies are the temple of the Holy

Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to live in each believer so they can be

empowered to live the life God requires of them. Let’s take a moment

to develop this point further here in this chapter by examining what Jesus

tells us in John 10:27.

Jesus makes a very important statement in John 10:27. He reminds us that

His sheep hear His voice. To understand this verse, we need to see it in its

cultural context. Jesus speaks about the practice of the shepherds to bring

their sheep to a central fold where they would hire a man to watch them for

the night while they rested. In that central fold were sheep from many

different shepherds. In the morning, the shepherd would come to the fold to

gather his sheep. He would stand at the gate and call out. The sheep would

hear his voice and come to him. The sheep of other folds did not respond to

the voice of another shepherd. They had learned to distinguish the voice of

their own shepherd from the voice of other shepherds. The result was that

when the shepherd called them, they would wind their way through the fold

moving past other sheep in the direction of the voice of their shepherd. The

shepherd did not have to separate his sheep from his neighbour's sheep. He

simply had to call, and his sheep would hear and come to him. Jesus is

telling us that we are like these sheep. As His sheep, we can hear and

recognize His voice from all other voices.

What does the voice of the Lord sound like? How are we able to distinguish

the voice of the Spirit from the voice of our own reason? How can we know

the direction and leading of God in our lives? These are important questions

that we need to examine in this context.

The first thing we need to understand is that the voice of God can be found

in His written Word. The Bible is the Word of God. It was inspired by God

through the prophets and given to us for direction and guidance. This is the

teaching of the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3 when he says:

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,

for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that

the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2

Timothy 3)

It is clear from what Paul says here that the Scriptures have been handed

down to us for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

It is by these Scriptures that we are completely equipped for every work the

Father gives us to do.

Notice the words Paul uses here. He tells us that we can be complete and

equipped for every good work. In other words, these Scriptures will give

you all the training you need to do "all" that God has called you to do. The

focus of my writing ministry is to open the Scriptures. This is my focus

because these Scriptures contain all that we need to know for life and

godliness. There is nothing more that needs to be added to enable us to live

the life God requires. The Scripture is a complete textbook on the Christian

life. All you need to know to live for Christ is found in its pages.

If we want to hear God, we need to listen to the Word He has given us as

found in the pages of Scripture. We need to master the content of those

Scriptures. We need to spend time seeking His direction and leading

through the pages of this inspired Word.

Having said this, we need to ask ourselves an important question. If God

speaks to us through Scripture, why has He put His Holy Spirit in us? Why

do we need the Holy Spirit if we have the Word of God? The answer to this

is quite simple. The truth by itself is of no use to us if we cannot apply it to

our lives.

Throughout the Old Testament, the people of God were constantly taught

the truth of Scripture. They knew what God was calling them to do but for

some reason they seemed to be powerless to apply that truth to their lives.

They continued to fall into sin. The pull of the flesh was so overwhelming

that they could not walk in the truth as God required. The same is true for

us. It is one thing to know the truth and another to walk in that truth. If we

are to walk in the truth God has given us, we need a power that is greater

than our flesh. We need the very person of God’s Spirit working in us to

enable us to live out what God requires. More than this, however, we need

the same power to convict us of the truth of this Word.

Maybe you have seen this in your own life. You heard the message of the

Gospel for years and it did nothing for you. Maybe you have non-Christian

friends who can repeat the Gospel to you but have never been changed by

that Gospel. They know the truth but the truth has never changed them. Paul

reminds us that when he preached he not only preached the truth but he did

so under the power and anointing of the Spirit of God.

3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4

and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of

wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that

your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of

God. (1 Corinthians 2)

The apostle understood that the truth would never change a sinful heart.

Only the Holy Spirit could change that heart. It is for this reason that we

need the Spirit of God. It is He who takes the truth of the Word of God and

uses it to convict the sinner and the saint of their sinful ways. The Spirit and

the truth must walk hand in hand.

This principle is true also in our quiet times with the Lord. When you read

your Bible, you need the Spirit of God to be your guide. It is one thing to

take the truth of the Scriptures and understand it in the flesh. It is another

matter for us to allow the Spirit of God to teach us and use those Scriptures

to convict us of sin and empower us to change what needs to be changed.

Do we realize that we have within us a personal tutor? The Holy Spirit

comes to lead us into the truth of the Word of God. If you will let Him, He

will open our eyes and our minds like no other teacher can, to the truth that

has been inspired from the days of the prophets. He will personalize those

Scriptures and apply them specifically to your life. He will use them to

guide and direct you in every step you take.

Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be our teacher.

26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my

name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance

all that I have said to you. (John 14)

This is one of the roles of the Holy Spirit in our lives. How often, however,

do we come to the Word of God with our own understanding and reasoning.

We understand the truth and doctrine of the Scripture but it is not alive to us

because we are not letting the Spirit of God breathe life into it and apply it

personally to our hearts.

We also need to understand something else here in this context. A quick

look at the Scriptures will show us that God not only directed His people

through the Word but He also specifically led them through His promptings

and inner guidance.

There are many examples of this. Take for example how God led the apostle

Paul in Troas. As he and his companions travelled, Acts 16:6 tells us that

they were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

Understanding this, they moved forward and tried to go to Bithynia but

again we read in Acts 16:7 that "the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them" to

go there either. Finally, Paul and his companions arrived in Troas uncertain

of what God was asking them to do. Here in the town of Troas the direction

they needed came.

8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision

appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing

there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help

us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought

to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to

preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16)

The direction the apostle needed came in the form of a vision. God had a

purpose for Paul and his missionary team. Communication of that purpose

did not come from the Word of God but by means of the leading of the Holy

Spirit. The Holy Spirit hindered them from going to Asia and Bithynia and

then showed them in a vision what it was that He had for them to do.

In Acts 13, we read how the Holy Spirit directed the church in Antioch

while they were praying:

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit

said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I

have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their

hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13)

Again, the guidance of the Holy Spirit was given in a very specific way. We

are not told how they heard from the Holy Spirit that day, but when they

rose from their knees in prayer, they knew very clearly that the Lord was

asking them to do. They were to set apart Paul and Barnabas for a special

work. They did not read this in the pages of Scripture, but it was

nonetheless a very clear word from the Lord.

The rest of Scripture bears out this teaching as well. Philip, while

ministering in the region of Samaria, was told to go to the desert where he

met an Ethiopian eunuch traveling from Jerusalem. He heard the Holy

Spirit tell him to go up to the chariot of this man and, when he obeyed, the

Lord wonderfully opened a door to witness and win this official to Christ

(see Acts 8:26-40).

Peter was told to go to the home of Cornelius even though this would have

been contrary to his Jewish traditions (see Acts 10:9-33). Abraham was

called to leave his home and go to the land the Lord had prepared for him

(see Genesis 12:1). He was also told to take his son and offer him on an

altar as a sacrifice (see Genesis 22:1-8). Before facing their enemies, the

kings of the Old Testament would seek the will of the Lord as to whether

they were to go into battle against them or not (see 2 Samuel 2:1; 2 Samuel

5:19; 2 Chronicles 14:10). The Holy Spirit revealed to Peter that Ananias

was lying to the Holy Spirit when he brought his gift to the church (see Acts

5:1-6). These men did not read these directions in the Scriptures –God led

them directly.

In my life, I have experienced this direction of the Spirit many times. My

call to missions was very clearly a word from the Spirit of God. While He

did use Scripture to show me His missionary purpose for my life, what I

heard was clearly from Him. He led me through circumstances, prepared

my heart and opened my mind. When I was ready, He spoke directly to my

heart and convinced me of God’s purpose. When he had finished speaking,

I knew what I was to do and felt a deep conviction to walk in that path, no

matter the cost. I trust that every pastor, missionary, or Christian worker

ministers because they have such a calling on their life.

Some time ago I received a letter from South Africa requesting books. The

number of books they requested was significant and required a large

investment. I wrestled with this for some time in prayer. I asked the Lord

what I should do. I remember sitting in a coffee shop praying about this

when the Lord spoke clearly to my heart these words: "Of all that I give you

lose none." With those words came a very deep peace and assurance that I

was to trust Him not only to provide for this specific project but for all

contacts and projects He would give me in the future. The result of this is

that tens of thousands of books have now been distributed around the world

for the glory of God.

What I am trying to say is this. God has not left us in this world to figure it

all out by ourselves. There are many people who live their lives as though

God created the world, wrote the Bible as the instruction manual and said:

"Here guys, figure it out yourselves." We need the Spirit of God to guide us

into truth and His purpose. The fact of the matter is that there are times

when we need clear and specific direction. Where do I minister? What do I

say to this person? Do I move ahead with such and such a plan or not? For

these questions, I need the specific guidance of God’s Spirit as He show us

how to apply the truth of God’s word in our lives.

Some people don't worry about these matters. They believe that if we obey

the Scriptures we can do whatever we want. This however, runs contrary to

everything we have seen so far. This is not how the apostles ministered.

They were led by the Spirit of God who not only showed them where He

wanted them to minister but also the words he wanted them to speak. If we

want to follow their example, we need to make a conscious decision not to

trust in our own understanding and learn instead to listen to the voice of our

Counsellor.

Having said these things, I understand that there are those who have gone to

the extreme. While they claim to hear an inner prompting of the Spirit, the

evidence seems to be that they are still listening to the flesh. It is important

that we learn to distinguish the voice of flesh from the Spirit. This is what

the Lord Jesus was speaking about when He said, “My sheep hear my

voice.” They have been given the ability to distinguish His voice from all

other voices that seek their attention. Let me close with a few guidelines in

this regard.

The Word and Spirit Always Agree

The specific direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit will never be

contrary to the clear teaching of the Scriptures. All specific guidance is

subject to the authority of the Scriptures. If you want to know if the

prompting you are feeling in your heart is from the Lord and not the flesh

then the first thing you need to do is to place it under the microscope of the

Scriptures. If you find that this prompting is to do something that is clearly

contrary to the teaching of the Scriptures than you must question its

legitimacy.

When I speak about this specific guidance being contrary to the teaching of

the Scripture I am not speaking only of theology and doctrine. I am also

speaking about the principles it teaches about relationships between

believers as well. Is what I am sensing in tune with the teaching of the

Scripture to honour and respect those in authority? Does it fall in line with

my responsibilities as a father or as a husband or as a spiritual leader? We

must take what we hear and subject it thoroughly to the inspection of the

Word of God.

The Aroma of the Spirit

The Lord showed me some time ago that we can also recognize the voice of

God by the aroma of the Spirit that accompanies it. There is a coffee shop

not far from where I live that used to allow people to smoke inside the

building. On occasion, I would go to that shop to write. When I came home,

the smell of cigarettes lingered on my clothes. In the world of the Spirit

there is also an aroma. I have been in situations where I very clearly sensed

a real spirit of evil and confusion in what someone was saying. You can

sense jealousy, anger and bitterness. This is the aroma of the flesh and the

enemy. When you smell that aroma beware.

You can also sense the fruit of the Spirit. What aroma accompanies the

inner prompting you are feeling? Does that voice move you to confidence

and peace in your heart or does it bring confusion and disbelief? Does that

voice lead you to deeper love and obedience or does it cause you to

question the Lord and His purpose? Do you sense the fruit of love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-

control in what you are hearing (Ephesians 5:22-23)? It should not be

difficult for us to discern the aroma that comes with the voice and the

prompting. We can discern the leading of the Spirit because we know the

character of God and can discern His character in what we are feeling in our

heart.

In Tune with God’s Greater Work

If you want to understand if the voice you are hearing is from God, you also

need to understand that it will also be in tune with the greater work God is

doing. The enemy will often seek to bring confusion and chaos. He will

seek to bring disharmony and interrupt what God is trying to do. The Lord

Jesus tells us that "if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be

able to stand" (Mark 3:25). God will not fight against His own purpose. His

will is to build up the body. Maybe you have seen individuals who stepped

out in what they perceived to be the leading and prompting of the Lord but

what they did seemed only to disrupt and destroy the unity of the body and

the further advancing of the kingdom. We need to beware of any voice that

will disrupt the purpose of God and what He is doing in our midst.

The Confirmation of Other Sincere Believers

Just one final word on this matter. If you want to know if the voice you are

hearing is from the Lord, you should be ready to put it to the test. Paul

makes this clear when he gave guidelines for prophets in 1 Corinthians 14:

31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and

all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to

prophets. 33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. (1

Corinthians 14)

Paul reminded those who heard from the Lord that they needed to be

submissive to the rest of the body. If a prophet heard from God, he or she

was to submit what they heard to the other prophets in the body. If you

believe the Lord is speaking to you about a matter don't hesitate to bring

that to other godly believers and share it with them. Let them confirm that

voice to you. Some time ago I was seeking the Lord about His direction for

a conference I was thinking of attending. There were two conferences going

on at the same time. I prayed about it and felt that I was to go to one of

these conferences and not the other. When I mentioned this to my wife she

told me that she too had that same sense. This confirmed to me that this was

the will of God. I could go with a greater confidence that what God seemed

to be saying to me He was also saying to my wife as well.

What we need to understand is that as sheep we need to discern the voice of

our shepherd not only in His written Word but also in His specific

prompting in our lives as well. What a wonderful thing it is to know that

God does direct and lead us into His purpose. It was that voice Philip heard

when he went to the desert to minister to the Ethiopian. It was that voice

Moses heard when he returned to Egypt to lead His people out of bondage.

The question we need to ask ourselves is this: “Do we hear His voice? Do

we recognize that still small voice? Will we respond to it and walk in

obedience?

For Prayer:

Father, I thank You that you are a God who communicates personally with

Your people. You have written down Your purpose for us in the pages of the

Scriptures. You have protected that Word from corruption and distortion

down through the ages so that we have an accurate representation of Your

purpose for our life and faith. Help me to appreciate what You have given to

me in the pages of the Holy Scriptures –may I study and live in the truth

you present in them. Thank You also that You have not left me to figure out

the truth of these Scriptures on my own. Thank You for the person of the

Holy Spirit who lives in me to guide me into the understanding and

application of the truth of Scripture.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you also lead me into the specific application

of the will of God for my life. Teach me to recognize your leading and

prompting and be quick to obey. Teach me to wait for Your direction and

trust Your enabling. Teach me what Jesus meant when He said: “My sheep

hear my voice.” Thank you for the incredible privilege it is to know this

voice of God in my life. Thank you that You have a purpose for my life.

Thank you that you are so willing to communicate that purpose to me in

Your inspired Word and by Your Holy Spirit who lives in me. Teach me to

walk in obedience.

6 - AS YOU RECEIVED

CHRIST

2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the

Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3

Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you

now trying to finish by means of the flesh? (Galatians 3)

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live

your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the

faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

(Colossians 2)

ne key distinctive that separates a child of God from an

unbeliever is the presence of the Holy Spirit in his or her life.

This is very clear from what Paul told the Romans:

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm

of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone

does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

(Romans 8)

It is the Spirit of God who brings the life of Christ to us. He seals the

relationship between God and His children and is the guarantee of our

inheritance as children of God.

21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.

He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit

in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2

Corinthians 1)

Writing to the Galatians, in the passage quoted above, the apostle Paul

asked the question: "Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by

believing what you heard?” The context of this question came from the fact

that there were teachers who had come into the region teaching that, to

become a child of God, a person needed to be circumcised and observe the

law of Moses. Paul reacted very strongly against this teaching. He

challenged this teaching by asking the believers how they had received the

Spirit.

The question Paul asks here is very important. We have already seen that

for Paul, if a person did not have the Holy Spirit they were not a child of

God. Paul is asking the question: How did you come to know Christ? For

Paul, just as there could be no salvation apart from Christ so there could be

no salvation apart from the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of God who gives

us spiritual life through the forgiveness of Christ. The question of Paul here

is very simple: How did you come to experience the new life of the Spirit in

Christ?

Paul went on to question the Galatians: Did you receive the Holy Spirit

because you were faithful in observing the law of Moses. Does salvation

only come to those who measure up to the law? Does God only save those

who prove their worth by obedience?

It is very clear in the Scriptures that the Lord does not save us because of

our good deeds. In fact, no amount of good deeds can save us. The Bible

teaches that we are sinners and that nothing we can do or say will ever get

us to heaven. You can attend church every day and still not go to heaven.

You can help you neighbour and live a good life but never enter heaven’s

gate. Salvation has nothing to do with how good we are. None of us

measure up to God requirements. We all fall short of His standard. The

prophet Jeremiah puts it this way:

23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin

or a leopard its spots?

Neither can you do good

who are accustomed to doing evil. (Jeremiah 13)

We owe our salvation entirely to the Lord Jesus and His work alone. We

were saved because Jesus died and rose again. We received the Holy Spirit

as a gift and guarantee of our adoption into the family of God. All we had to

do was accept what was already done on our behalf.

From this background, Paul went on in Galatians 3 to show the believers

the implication of what the Lord Jesus had done for them by asking them

another question:

3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you

now trying to finish by means of the flesh? (Galatians 3)

The apostle reminded the Galatians that they began their life in Christ by

faith. The Holy Spirit come as a gift from the Father. Their forgiveness was

a gift from God even when they did not deserve it. Their salvation had

nothing to do with their human efforts to please God. In fact, they were all

on a path of rebellion against God when the Spirit of God changed their

lives.

Paul went on to ask the Galatians why, if they began the Christian life by

faith in what Christ had done, were they now trying to live that life in their

own effort and wisdom? Surely if the Christian life began as a work of God,

it must continue by faith in what God will continue to do. We need the Holy

Spirit as much to live the Christian life as we did to enter that life. This is

why the Lord Jesus placed His Holy Spirit in us. He did so because He

knew it was impossible to live the Christian life apart from the work of that

Spirit in us.

One of the greatest reasons for our defeat in the Christian life is that we do

not understand this principle. We understand that we must trust the Lord for

our salvation but we fail to understand that we also need to trust Him to live

the Christian life. Somehow, like the Galatians, we believe that we need the

Spirit of God to get us started on this Christian life but we feel that we can

take it from there. Paul tells us that this is pure foolishness. Writing to the

Colossians he said:

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live

your lives in him (Colossians 2)

We received Christ by faith. We must walk in the same way. We received

Christ as those who were unworthy and totally incapable of saving

ourselves. We must learn to walk as those who depend on Christ because

we are totally incapable of living the Christian life without Him. If we want

to know how to live the Christian life, we need to go back to when we

started and live in that way.

When we received the Lord Jesus we did so as those who could not

possibly save ourselves. No one can come to the Lord Jesus unless he or she

recognizes this fact. Some of the hardest people to reach are very religious.

They believe they can merit a place in heaven by their religious activities.

The Pharisees of the New Testament were clear examples of this. They

trusted their efforts and did not see that they needed the Lord. For us to be

saved from our sins, we need to understand our need of that salvation.

The same is true in our Christian walk. If we believe we can live the

Christian life in our own strength, we will always fall short. We will never

walk in victory if we believe we can do so in our own strength. Even as an

unbeliever needs to be absolutely convinced that he is a sinner, totally

incapable of saving himself, so we too need to be convinced that we cannot

live the life God requires in our own effort. If we want to live the life that

God requires of us, we must first be absolutely convinced of our own

inability. We must come to the end of ourselves. God must break every

ounce of confidence in ourselves and place our full weight on Christ and

His Spirit.

The second detail we need to understand is that when we came to the Lord

we received the Lord Jesus by faith. We couldn't explain how it all

happened. We heard the voice of the Spirit speaking to our hearts and we

responded by faith to that voice. Our salvation was not an intellectual

choice. It was a step of faith. We cannot explain how we were changed.

What happened that day was spiritual in nature. The apostle Paul reminds

us that as believers we are to learn to live in the same way when he said:

“We walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

What does it mean to walk by faith? When we walk by faith, we step out as

God leads. When I accepted the Lord by faith I took what He said and

stepped out in confidence in it. The opposite of living by faith is living by

sight. To live by sight is to live by human reason and planning. It is to allow

our own understanding and experience to determine how we live and

minister or how we spend the day. This is not how the apostles lived. This is

not how Jesus lived.

To live by faith is to live with the understanding that the way we see things

as human beings is not necessarily the way things truly are. It is to see

things from God's perspective. It is to listen to Him rather than our own

reason. When I live by faith I chose to live in communion with God. I get

up in the morning and seek His direction and guidance. I move as He

directs. I understand that my own efforts and wisdom are insufficient for the

task. Without His direction and leading I will surely fail. I step out trusting

that as He leads, He will also strengthen and equip. I receive from Him the

wisdom and enabling I need.

Even as I write this book I have been experiencing what I am speaking

about here. I was working on another study when the Lord seemed to speak

to me about putting that study aside and work on this one instead. I wrestled

with this for some time. I like to carry things through to the end. I do not

like to leave something incomplete. Yet this is what the Lord seemed to be

calling me to do. Though I tried to continue with the other study, I did not

have peace in my heart about it. By faith, therefore, I put it aside and began

this book. To live by faith is to live under the direction and leading of the

Holy Spirit.

We are challenged by Scripture to live in the same way we received the

Lord Jesus. We are to do so with our eyes focused on Him alone for

everything. We are to do so in obedience to His prompting and the teaching

of His Word. We cannot save ourselves, nor can we live the Christian life

ourselves. We need the Spirit of God as much for living the Christian life as

we do for entering that life. Now that we have come to faith in Christ do we

dare trust ourselves and our own efforts. The reason God placed His Holy

Spirit in us is because we need Him to live the life He requires. We believe

in salvation by faith; we must also believe in living the Christian life by

faith. We believe in the inability of the sinner to save himself or herself. We

must also believe in the inability of the believer to life the Christian life by

himself or herself. As we have received the Lord so we need to continue in

Him. If we are to understand what it means to walk in the Spirit, we must

come to see our need of God’s Spirit both to enter the Christian live and to

live it out every day.

For Prayer:

Lord God, I recognize that when I was a sinner living in rebellion against

You, You reached out to me and forgave my sin. You changed my life and

made me Your child. I thank You that You placed Your Holy Spirit in me

not only as a guarantee of my relationship with You but also to be my guide

and wisdom for the life You have called me to live. Forgive me for ignoring

You Holy Spirt. Forgive me for believing that somehow, I can live the life

God requires without Your wisdom and enabling. Forgive me for trusting

my human wisdom and strength more than You. Teach me to understand my

need of Your guidance. Teach me to walk in submission to You and your

leading. Teach me the truth of the Word and how to apply this to my life.

Teach me the purpose of the Father. Teach me to know You and Your

leading so that I can live the life God requires.

7 - WAITING ON THE LORD

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40)

hose who seek the Lord and His purpose understand that His

timing is not the same as ours. There are times when the Lord is

silent. In those times, we have no sense of direction. We don’t

know where to turn. We are like a person lost in the wilderness without a

compass, uncertain of where to go.

In the Old Testament, Job was a man who experienced these periods of

silence. As he sat on an ash heap with his physical and emotional strength

fading away, he longed to hear the Lord speak and make sense of his

situation. He did not understand why he was facing the difficulties and pain

he was experiencing. He asked the Lord but the Lord remained silent. These

times of silence are very difficult. Personally, I have gone through many

such times. Job didn't understand why the blessing of the Lord seemed to be

withdrawn. He was left confused and bewildered by the silence of God in

his pain.

The Psalmist also experienced such times. In Psalm 22 he writes:

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

and by night, but I find no rest. (Psalm 22)

You can sense the agony in the voice of the Psalmist as he cried out to the

Lord day and night. There is nothing worse for the believer than that silence

of God. I can face terrible difficulty and trials if I know the presence of

God. Many people have gladly laid down their lives as they heard from

God. In the book of Acts, we read of how when Stephen was being stoned

to death the Lord was speaking to him in a vision. He saw the Lord in

heaven calling him to His side. The agony and pain of the stones seemed to

fade as he heard the Lord. Those who saw him described how his face

glowed like that of an angel (see Acts 6:15). There was delight and joy in

his heart. He was hearing from God.

We do not always hear from God when we want to hear from Him. There

are times when He simply doesn't seem to speak. What do we do in those

times of silence? While it is important that we seek the Lord about any

possible barrier to hearing from Him, it is also important to remember that

silence is not necessarily an indication of sin in our lives. Job was described

as a "perfect man" and yet he went through a very difficult period of

silence.

When we face these periods of silence there are several things we need to

keep in mind. When God seems to be silent the first thing we need to do is

wait. I am reminded of the story of Saul in 1 Samuel 13:7-13. In this story,

Saul faced a powerful Philistine army. The Philistines put fear in the hearts

and minds of Saul's soldiers. Many deserted their posts and abandoned the

fight. Saul was waiting for the prophet Samuel to offer a sacrifice before

they went into battle. Samuel did not arrive in the time Saul expected and so

he asked his men to bring the sacrifice to him. Though he was not a priest,

Saul offered that sacrifice to the Lord. He did so because he saw how his

men were abandoning the battle. He dared not go into battle without the

blessing of the Lord so he took matters into his own hands.

What is important for us to note here is what happens in the silence. For

many, silence is a terrible enemy. The silence that came from the absence of

Samuel, caused the brave men in Saul's army to fear and abandon their

posts. As for Saul, it caused him to take matters into his own hands. He

decided to ignored the law of God and offer the sacrifice himself. In these

periods of silence the hardest thing for us to do is wait. We feel like we

must do something. Sometimes it doesn't matter what we do, so long as we

no longer remain in the silence. We need to be aware that silence can

sometimes lead us to sin by abandoning God and His purpose like Saul and

his army.

There are many promises given to those who wait for the Lord, His

direction and intervention. Isaiah the prophet tells us that these blessings are

beyond imagination:

4 From of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

no eye has seen a God besides

who acts for those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64)

Renewed strength and vitality is promised for those who wait on the Lord:

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40)

Notice that the promise is for those who wait. If you take matters in your

own hands like Saul, you are not waiting on God.

In Acts 1:4 the Lord Jesus told His disciples to remain in Jerusalem until

the promised Holy Spirit came to them. They were not to venture out until

they knew the presence and leading of the Spirit He had promised them.

We are told that during the world war the enemy would sometimes deploy

smoke screens to confuse the enemy and cause them to change their course.

This would often lead them into trouble. It was discovered that the only

way to avoid getting into trouble was either to remain where they were or

continue on the same course until the smoke cleared. There is a spiritual

truth for us in this. Very often in times of silence, the enemy will try to

confuse us. His attempt is to get us to change our course. If he can get us to

change or reverse direction, he can cause us to fall into his trap. We need to

be careful in times of silence and confusion. We need to remain on the

course the Lord has set for us until He redirects us onto another course.

The prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 26:

8 In the path of your judgments,

O Lord, we wait for you;

your name and remembrance

are the desire of our soul. (Isaiah 26)

Notice here that Isaiah tells us that as we wait for the Lord we are to

continue to walk in the path of His judgments. In times of silence we need

to cling to the Word of God. This was the downfall of Saul. In his waiting,

he did not obey the law of God. He chose to take matters into his own

hands. As we wait, the enemy can very easily cause us to turn our backs on

the Word of God and His purpose for our lives. In these times of silence our

faith is often tested. Do we trust what God says or do we let our unbelief

lead us to do things on our own?

As deadlines approach and the pressure continues to mount, the promises of

God are often put to the test. It is in these moments that we begin to if God

will do as He says. Isaiah challenges us in these times to make it our

priority and commitment to walk in the path of the Lord’s judgement,

refusing to be distracted.

The Psalmist tells us that in times of silence, he put his hope and confidence

in the Word of the Lord:

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope; (Psalm 130)

The enemy will use silence to cause us to doubt what God is saying. Isn't

this what he did to Eve in the garden when he asked her if God really told

them that they were not to eat of the tree? Sometimes all we have is the

Word of God. It is the only compass and guide we have that will take us

through the silence. In the silence, we need to look to the Word and put our

confidence in it. Circumstances will change. We will not be able to see

ahead of us at times. The smoke and clouds will hide the next step as we

wait for the Lord’s leading but God's Word will always be a faithful guide.

When you don't know where to turn and the specific guidance of the Lord

has not yet been revealed, we must make it our priority to cling to the truth

of His Word. Find your comfort, hope and direction in its pages. Trust its

words and let it direct and guide you through the silence.

There is one final principle I want to share here. When God is silent we

need to take heed to what the prophet tells us in Isaiah 8:

17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house

of Jacob, and I will hope in him. (Isaiah 8)

Isaiah challenges us here to put our trust in God when He hides His face

from us. Micah the prophet puts it this way:

5 Put no trust in a neighbor;

have no confidence in a friend;

guard the doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your arms;

6 for the son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord;

I will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me. (Micah 7)

Micah, made it his commitment not to trust anyone but the Lord. This is not

to say that he would not listen to their advice, but everything they said

would be filtered through the truth of God’s Word and the direction of His

Spirit. He would wait on the Lord for salvation. He would wait on the Lord

for direction.

Micah understood that God would not remain silent. In time, He would hear

his cry and come to his aid. As he waited, he would do so with trust in the

Lord. He would not trust in other people of even his own understanding.

God’s timing was not the same as his. His ways were different from the

ideas of those around him. Micah determined that until God showed him the

path he was to tread, he would continue to wait on Him.

The silence of the Lord is confusing for us. It is confusing because we don't

know what the Lord is doing. We can't see what is ahead. None of us likes

to be in this state. In these times, our faith is tested. Can we trust God when

we can't see the next step? Can we believe when everything seems to cave

in around us and we aren't hearing from Him?

If we knew why God was doing what He was doing, things would be easier.

God does not always tell us why He does what He does. In these times, we

can only trust and wait for the revelation of His purpose.

As we seek to live under the direction and guidance of the Lord, there will

be times of silence. In those times of silence, we are to learn how to wait

with confidence in the Lord. We will not always understand what God is

doing. We may find ourselves confused by His ways. In all this, however,

the believer is to learn to wait on the Lord and trust Him.

When we were serving on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, the

Lord drove this point home to me in a fresh way. We were preparing to

move to the island of Mauritius to a ministry that the Lord had waiting for

us but certain details needed to be worked out before we could make that

move.

I did not have a ministry on Reunion and as I waited, I often felt that my

time could have been best used in serving in some capacity. God did not

open any ministry, however. I began to feel guilty about being on the

mission field and not doing anything. I thought about the supporters who

were standing behind us and sacrificially giving so I could be there. I

remember going to the Lord in frustration and saying: "Lord I will do

anything you ask me to do, just don't ask me to do nothing."

The Lord convicted me of this and told me that if I was not willing to do

"nothing" when He called me to do nothing than I really wasn't willing to

do "anything." He also told me at that time that He hadn't called me to the

mission field to be busy, He had called me to be obedient. Those words

have remained with me to this day. You may be busy as a believer but are

you obedient. You can fill your schedule but are you doing what God is

asking you to do? The lesson God was teaching me on the island of

Reunion was a very important lesson. If I was to become all He wanted me

to be I needed to learn how to make obedience more than busyness my

greatest priority.

To wait, for those of us who like to work and serve, is a very difficult thing.

Sometimes we fear silence and waiting more than anything else in ministry.

If we are busy we are happy. God often calls His servants to wait. Moses

waited for forty years in the desert before God broke the silence and spoke

to Him in the burning bush. Jesus waited thirty years before beginning His

ministry. Paul spent a period of years in silence before he was invited by

Barnabas to help in the work in Antioch.

As believers, we live with the understanding that there are times when the

Lord will ask us to wait for Him. If we want to learn how to walk in the

Spirit, we will need to learn to wait and trust God in the times of silence.

For Prayer:

Father God, I recognize that You are a sovereign God who is in control of

all things. I confess that I have not always lived in this reality. I accept that

there are times when you are silent. I ask that you help me in those

moments of silence to trust You when I cannot hear you or see my way.

Help me not to be distracted or wander in those times when You seem

distant. Keep me focused on Your Word as found in the Scriptures. May I

continue to walk faithfully in that truth when I cannot feel Your presence. I

am confident that You will not abandon me in these periods of silence. I

know that some of the best lessons are learned in these wilderness

moments. I ask that you open my mind and spirit to learn these lessons.

Thank you for the wonderful promises of Your Word that reassure me that

as I wait on You, I will know Your direction and renewal in my life.

8 - THE VINE AND THE

BRANCHES

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I

in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do

nothing. (John 15)

ohn 15 is probably one of the most powerful passages on the

Christian life yet one of the most ignored. It is not that we don’t

preach on the passage but rather that we have failed all too often to

apply its truth to our daily life and ministry.

In this parable, Jesus speaks of Himself as a vine. He compares believers to

the branches on that vine. The key to understanding what Jesus is saying

here, is the relationship between the vine and the branch. There are several

details we need to understand in this parable.

There is an Intimate Connection Between the Vine and

the Branches.

First, it is important that we see that there is an intimate connection between

the vine and the branches. There is a constant exchange between the two.

Let me focus on this for a moment.

Many of us have been living our lives without a clear understanding of this

connection between Jesus as the vine and us as the branches. This is what

this book is all about. We wonder why we are not experiencing victory and

the fruit of God's Spirit in our lives. Could it be that we have not understood

the reality of this intimacy between God and His children?

For a good part of my life, I lived with the understanding that God was

distant. I was a sinner who deserved to be separated eternally from Him but

He forgave my sin and saved me from an eternal separation from His

presence. Though I was saved from my sin, I did not understand the level of

intimacy God wanted with me as His child. I felt unworthy of His attention.

I could not approach Him boldly with my requests because I wondered why

He would be interested in answering my prayers anyway. I understood in

my mind the theology that Jesus loved me. I often sung about it but I could

not accept it as a reality.

This parable is very powerful. Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are

the branches. In saying this, He is telling us the type of relationship He

wants with His children. He could have used another illustration. He could

have said I am the boss and you are the employees. He could have said I am

the king and you are my subjects. While these illustrations are also true, this

is not what the Lord chose to use in this case. He chose to use the

illustration of the vine and the branch. There is a very powerful and

intimate connection between these two objects. This is what Jesus wants to

emphasize.

The Lord Jesus wants to show us that this is the type of relationship He

wants with us. He is not interested in a distant association. He wants a

relationship of absolute dependence and closeness. There are many

believers who do not live their lives in this way. For them, the Lord God

gives us His Word and leaves us to live our lives the best we can. When we

get in trouble, He shows up to bail us out. For the branch to survive

however, it needs much more than to be bailed out of trouble from time to

time. It needs to be in constant communion with the vine. From this

parable, we see that it is the desire of the Lord Jesus that we be in this kind

of relationship with Him.

The Vine Gives Life to the Branches

Having seen the desire of the Lord Jesus for us in this parable, we need to

look more deeply at the implication of this truth. We need to see here that

the branch is totally dependent on the vine for life. If there is not a constant

supply of life-giving sap from the vine, the branch will wither and die. It is

important that we note here that there are two levels of connection to the

vine.

The first level of connection is the level of life and breath. We are all

dependent on the Lord for life and breath. Where would we be without the

Lord? On a very basic level we depend on God to survive. We depend on

God for every beat of our heart and every breath we breathe. We are

connected to Him for life and breath. If He were to turn His back on us even

for an instant, we would cease to exist. All we do in life is because of the

strength He provides. We owe all we have ever accomplished to Him.

What we need to understand here is that even the unbeliever is dependent

on the Lord in this way. You may not be in a saving relationship with the

Lord God but you are still dependent on Him for life and breath. When

Jesus uses the illustration of the vine and the branches to speak about our

relationship with Him as believers, He is not speaking about this basic level

of life and breath. He is speaking here about a connection that is much

deeper.

The second level of connection is at the level of communion. This is what

Jesus speaks about in this parable. This connection of communion is

something that only the believer can experience because he or she has been

given new life. The barrier of sin has been broken and the believer is now

able to commune with God in a very special way. When we speak here

about a connection of communion we are speaking about much more than

life and breath. We are speaking about God sharing His heart with us. We

are speaking about God's power for service flowing through us. We are

speaking about the fruit and the gifts of God’s Spirit being demonstrated in

us. This is what I was having a hard time accepting in my personal life. I

found it hard to imagine that God would not only want to give me life but

that he would also want to connect with me at this level of communion. It

was hard to understand how God would want to share His heart and mind

with me. It was hard to imagine the God wanted to flow through me and

pour His power and love into me. This however, is what Jesus is speaking

about in this passage. There is a world of difference between being

connected at the level of life and breath and being connected at the level of

communion. You can know how dependent you are on God for life and

breath and still never experience forgiveness of sin and intimate

communion with Him.

When we speak of the vine giving life to the branch we are not so much

speaking about physical life but rather about spiritual life and intimate

communion. If we want grow in our walk with the Lord Jesus, we need to

get connected at this deeper level. We need to open our hearts and minds to

the Lord so that He can communicate with us. We need to accept that He

wants to speak to our hearts. We need to understand that He wants to use us

as instruments of His power in this world. We are vessels through which the

Holy Spirit wants to flow. He wants His life to be in us. Not just physical

life but spiritual life.

The Branch Needs to Receive from the Vine

If the branch is to benefit from the life of the vine it must receive that life

from the vine. We have all seen branches connected to a vine or tree that are

dead and fruitless. In this parable, the Lord tells us that the branches that are

dead and do not produce fruit are cut off and thrown away. In other words,

it is possible to be connected to the vine and yet not receive the life of the

vine. There are many Christians like this. They have not come to realize

that the Lord Jesus wants His life to flow through them. They have been

living their Christian life in their own strength and wisdom. They have not

come to understand the life God wants to give them. They have not opened

their heart to the ministry of God's Holy Spirit in their lives. They are

connected to the vine but they are lifeless. They do not demonstrate the fruit

of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Their lives are indistinguishable from that

of the unbeliever. They respond to trouble just like the unbeliever. They

worry and fret like the unbeliever about the problems they have in life.

They have no more joy or peace in their heart than the unbeliever. They

wrestle with the same temptations and do not seem to have victory. Their

ministries are barren and spiritually lifeless. If we are to live a victorious

Christian life, it will not be in our own strength. It will only be through the

power and life of God’s Spirit in us.

The Branch Produces Fruit as it Remains in the Vine

Notice that Jesus tells us that the branch that remains or abides on the vine

will produce fruit. The natural result of being a branch on a vine is that you

produce fruit. The branch does not have to do anything but remain on the

vine and open to the work of the vine pumping life-giving energy through it

and it will produce fruit. The vine does the work. The branch simply bears

the fruit. The life does not come from the branch but from the vine. This is

evident when you remove the branch from the vine. A branch that is

removed from the vine will die, for it has no life in itself.

How often have we wearied ourselves with effort? How often have we

disciplined ourselves trying to produce fruit but nothing happens? The

whole point of the parable is to show us that it is not about us doing more

and disciplining ourselves more but about us remaining on the vine and

letting the life of the vine do its work in us. The Spirit of God will produce

fruit in you if you are willing and open to Him and His work. If you will be

the branch, He will produce the fruit in you. It is up to us to "remain." If we

"remain" He will produce the fruit. What an awesome thing it is to know

that the power of the vine can flow through us if we simply open our hearts

and lives to Him today. This is why the apostle Paul tells us:

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians

Paul understood that with the power of God flowing through him, like the

sap of the vine in the branch, there was nothing He could not do. Notice

however that he knows the source of his power is not himself but Christ

who strengthened him.

The ministry the Lord has given me is one that it beyond my ability. This is

something that has become evident more and more as it grows. As I look

back at what has happened through this ministry, I realize that it was not me

but Him. He has provided the resources and gifts necessary. I do not

naturally have in me what is required to do what He has called me to do. He

has gone before me. He has given me strength and ability that I do not have

naturally. Do not be afraid that the Lord throws you into a ministry that it

beyond you. It is not beyond Him. He can do more than we could ever ask

or think (Ephesians 3:20). Just remain faithful to Him and let Him do what

He wants to do through you.

It is important, as we conclude, to take a moment to consider what it means

to "remain" or "abide." The Greek word has a variety of meanings. One

such meaning is found in the English word "dwell." When we talk about

remaining we are talking about "dwelling." One thing you can be sure of is

that the enemy will try to get you to move away from the Lord and

'dwelling" in Him. Those of us who are Christians know what it is like to

"dwell" in the peace and security of the Lord. There in that dwelling place

we are strong. It seems that whatever the enemy throws at us we can

overcome. The only way the enemy can get at us is to take us away from

that secure dwelling place. He attempts to do so through many different

means. First, he will attack us at the level of our minds. He will attempt to

take our focus off the Lord and onto our circumstances. How often has he

succeeded in my life? I have found myself lured by the enemy from the

security and comfort of the promises of God, to worry and fret about what

was going to happen to me. I leave that place and step out for a moment.

The moment I step away from the security of God's promises I am a target

of the enemy. I am overwhelmed by worry and concern. I no longer

experience the peace and confidence I had in the Lord. I block the peace of

God by my anxiety and worry. To remain is to dwell in the protection of

God's promises.

The word used here for remain can also have the sense of "wait." We have

seen the danger of not waiting in another chapter. How often have we been

lured away from that place of intimacy with the Lord? Like Saul, we can't

wait and so we take matters into our own hands and step out on our own.

We let our impatience lure us out of our dwelling place. Again, the moment

we step out we are the target of the enemy.

There are countless ways in which the enemy can lure us outside of our

dwelling place on the vine. Some have been lured by temptations. Some

have been lured by a desire to be recognized. Some have been lured by

human reason. What the Lord is telling us here is that we are not to let

ourselves be lured by the enemy or by our own flesh to step outside of that

place of communion with the Lord. We are protected and kept as we remain

on that vine. Anything that will take us from that place must be avoided. To

remain is to resist the temptations of the enemy to distract us and move us

from our centre. We must never leave that place. Instead we must open

ourselves more and more to the vine. We must learn to hear God more. We

must learn to depend on His enabling and wisdom. We must deal with sin

and any attitude that keeps us from that place of communion and intimacy.

Our life depends entirely on the vine. We dare not let anything separate us

from Him and his power. For only in Him can we experience the life and

ministry He has for us.

For Prayer:

Father, the lesson of Jesus in the parable of the vine and the branches is a

powerful one but one that I confess, I have not completely mastered. I thank

You for the desire of Christ, as seen in this passage, to be close to us and to

pour His life through us. Forgive me for not receiving all that He wants to

give. Forgive me for believing that I can live the Christian life on my own.

Teach me what it means to know Your power and wisdom. Teach me to

depend on You more. Open my heart to receive from You all that life,

strength and wisdom You want to give, for apart from what You give, I

cannot live the life You require. I ask that You remove all false notions of

my own ability. Remove any distraction or sin that would keep me from

experiencing the fullness of life You want to give. I recognize and confess

right now that it is only as I receive from You that I can live as You require.

9 - APART FROM ME

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by

itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide

in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me

and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you

can do nothing. (John 15)

want to continue our examination of the parable of the vine and the

branches as found in John 15. There is a phrase in this parable that has

always troubled me. Here Jesus tells us that apart from Him we can do

nothing.

This statement is in the context of remaining on the vine and bearing fruit.

Jesus tells us in John 15:4 that if we do not abide in Him we cannot bear

fruit. We understand this in the physical world. Some time ago I was

walking through a field and noticed a branch laying on the ground by itself.

As I looked at this branch I realized that that branch was very quickly going

to die. There was no connection between the branch and the tree from

which it had been taken. There was no chance of that branch ever producing

leaves or fruit of any kind. Its life was over. I thought about what Jesus tells

us here in this parable—apart from Him, we are like that branch.

In the last chapter, we saw that there are two levels of connection to the

vine. The first level of connection is the level of life and breath. All of us

need to be connected to God for life and breath. Not one of us can boast of

ever accomplishing anything apart from the life and breath God gives. It is

true that we can develop our minds and skills by discipline and practice but

even the ability to do this comes from our Heavenly Father –whether we

accept Him or not.

Throughout the history of this world, human beings have taken the good

things God has given them and used them for various purposes. We have

taken the ability God has given us to reason and used it to devise all manner

of inventions and technology. We have taken the physical abilities God has

given us and used them to accomplish great athletic achievements. We have

also seen those who have these great skills and abilities perish. Disease and

death strip us of all our achievements. We are not in control. We are

completely dependent on Him.

When Jesus tells us that apart from Him we can do nothing, we need to see

it firstly in the sense that all life and breath comes from Him and without

His breath we could not exist or do anything at all. We are dependent on

Him at this very basic level of existence.

We need to move beyond this understanding however, to the second level of

connection with the Heavenly Vine. It is possible for a branch to be

connected to the vine and yet not produce fruit. The branch may be alive

but it is not productive. We mentioned in the last chapter that the second

level of connection is the level of communion. At this level, our connection

with the vine is not just at a life and breath level. It is at this level that we

are understanding and walking in the purpose of God. Here the Lord

communicates to our spirit His will and heart for our lives.

There are many people who understand that every breath they receive is

from God. These individuals then proceed to use the strength God provides

to do whatever their heart desires. They do not particularly care about God’s

purpose. They do what they feel is best in their own minds with no regard

for hearing God and walking in His way. In fact, because some of them do

not belong to God, they do not have the ears to hear Him. They are not

being led by the Spirit of God but by their own human wisdom and reason.

Many things have been accomplished in human strength. Successful

businesses have been built that make great economic profit. Great nations

have been formed and governed in human wisdom. Even large churches

have been established in human wisdom. These churches even appear to be

successful. We need to consider these efforts, however, in light of Jesus’

teaching in Matthew 7:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the

kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who

is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did

we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name,

and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I

declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of

lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7)

Notice what Jesus is saying here. He speaks to those who have prophesied

and cast out demons in His name and tells them that He never knew them.

He also tells them that they were workers of lawlessness. These are

powerful insights we cannot ignore. In the eyes of God, these individuals

were not connected to Him and what they did apart from communion with

Him was lawless. The result was that they were to leave His presence. In

the language of John 15, they were to be cut off from the vine as

unproductive branches.

Yes, it is possible to use wisdom and strength that comes from God in a way

that is contrary to the purpose of God. What does this accomplish in the

end? If we are using what God has given us for anything outside of His

purpose, we are guilty of sin. It may be that we are making these efforts for

God but they are still not in God’s plan for our lives and the use of our gifts.

We stand before him, as unfaithful servants, not because we did not achieve

great things in the eyes of the world but because we have not been obedient

to His purpose.

I think of King Saul as he battled the Philistines in 1 Samuel 13. His men

were greatly outnumbered and began to fear. Before leaving for battle, it

was customary for the king to ask the blessing of God on the battle. An

offering would be made by a priest as the soldiers readied themselves

spiritually to face the enemy.

Saul waited for Samuel to arrive to make this sacrifice. When Samuel

delayed in coming, Saul decided to make the sacrifice himself. Because he

was not a priest, he had no right to offer this sacrifice. The result was an

immediate condemnation of God and a rebuke from the prophet/priest

Samuel when he arrived:

11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I

saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not

come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had

mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come

down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favour of the

Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And

Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the

command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For

then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel

forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has

sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded

him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what

the Lord commanded you.” (1 Samuel 13)

Saul sought the favour of God by offering a sacrifice. He did so, however,

in his own wisdom and not in the purpose of God. It was not the desire of

God that Saul offer this sacrifice –these sacrifices were only to made by the

priest. Because he disobeyed, Saul would lose his position as king.

What I am trying to say here is that only when we are connected to the vine

at this level of communion can we understand and walk in the purpose of

God. Saul’s sacrifice to God was sinful because it was not done in God’s

way. You can be serving God and not be in His purpose for your life.

What a difference it makes, however, when we are so connected to God and

His purpose that we are instruments of His power in the world. With His

life flowing in us we become productive branches on the vine, producing

the fruit He intended for us to produce. If you want to produce the fruit God

intends, you need to be connected to the vine at this deeper level. You need

to be not only connected in such a way that you know His strength but also

in such a way that you know His purpose and leading. This requires

communion with God.

We need to understand that there is spiritual fruit and there is also fruit of

the flesh. It is quite possible for us to take the strength and abilities the Lord

has given and use it for evil. It is also quite possible to take the abilities God

has given us and use them for good that is not in the purpose of God for you

personally.

As a Christian worker, I understand that it is quite possible to build a church

in human wisdom and understanding. Courses in church leadership and

administration are very common. While many of these principles can be

helpful, we need to understand that there are times when these techniques

have replaced the Spirit of God in our churches. We don't see the need of

this moment by moment communion with God, because we feel we have

the skills and wisdom to handle matter in our own reason and experience. It

is quite possible to do God's work in the flesh. When we take the abilities

God gives us and produce fruit according to our own ideas and design that

fruit is not spiritual fruit but fleshly fruit.

Spiritual fruit is fruit that is in tune with God's character and specific

purpose. It is the result of communion with God and His leading. Spiritual

fruit is fruit that is empowered by the Spirit and is the direct result of the

life-giving sap of the vine flowing through us. Fleshly fruit is the produce

of human effort and wisdom. Those who produce spiritual fruit take their

directions from the Spirit. This filter makes all the difference.

The apostle Paul speaks of this when he gives the Corinthians an illustration

of a building that is constructed on a solid foundation.

11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid,

which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation

with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s

work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it

will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each

one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation

survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up,

he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as

through fire. (1 Corinthians 3)

Here Paul tells us that we are to build on the foundation of Christ and His

work. Notice, however, that there are those who build with wood, hay and

stubble. Their work is burned up on the fire of God’s judgement and they

stand naked before God in the day of His wrath. It is not that these

individuals did nothing with their lives. They did build on the foundation.

They did not build, however, with precious stones, gold and silver.

We sometimes have the idea that the reference to wood, hay and stubble

refers to unimportant or weak efforts. This is not the case. There are many

who put great effort into building with wood, hay and stubble. Some of

these structures of wood, hay and stubble are very impressive in the eyes of

the world. There are large churches build of wood, hay and stubble. There

are many impressive ministries of stubble in this world. These ministries

are very appealing to the human eye but God looks beyond what we see.

These ministries were not the result of His leading and empowering. They

were the result of human effort and a monument to human ability.

The ministries of gold, silver and precious stone are sometimes overlooked

because what God considers to be precious is not always considered thus by

human eyes. The precious Lord Jesus came in the form of a baby to a poor

family in Israel. He was rejected by the people of his day yet we read in 1

Peter 4:

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight

of God chosen and precious … (1 Peter 4)

The Lord Jesus was a precious stone that we failed to see as precious. In

fact, we rejected Him.

The call of God on our lives is be so connected to the vine, that we are

walking in communion with God. As we minister, we seek His direction

and leading. We walk in His purpose and build with the precious material

He has given. We resist human wisdom in favour of the leading and

direction of God’s Spirit in our lives.

Jesus tells us that, if we want to produce spiritual fruit that will last, we

need to be connected to the vine. Apart from Him and His leading our

efforts are futile. If we are not in communion with Him we cannot produce

the fruit He desires to produce in us.

Jesus warns us about those who come to us as wolves in sheep’s clothing.

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing

but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by

their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from

thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased

tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can

a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear

good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will

recognize them by their fruits. (Matthew 7)

These false prophets come in the name of Jesus but they are not connected

to Him at this level of communion. The Spirit of God is not their guide.

They are led by human motivation and desires. They may have many

followers but their ministries do not spring from deep communion with

God. They build not with precious stones but with wood, hay and straw.

If you are connected to a thornbush you will produce the fruit of that bush.

If you are connected to a fig tree you will produce the fruit of the fig tree. If

you draw from the flesh, then the fruit you produce will be of the same

nature as the flesh. Only as you draw from the Spirit of God can you

produce fruit that is spiritual in nature and pleasing to God. All other efforts

are unacceptable and unworthy of the name of our God. Are you producing

spiritual fruit that is the result of a deep communion and intimate

connection to the vine? You can only produce the fruit that will last by

means of this intimate connection with him. Apart from Him you cannot

produce spiritual fruit that pleases Him.

For Prayer:

Father, thank You for the wisdom and strength You have given us. Forgive

me, however, for making that wisdom and strength my god. Help me to

realize that I can be busy in service but not serving You. I can be building

my ministry outside of Your purpose. Teach me not only to draw my

strength and wisdom from You but also to commune with You so that I

know Your heart for the use of this wisdom and strength. Teach me to walk

in obedience and not in human wisdom alone. Forgive me for being

deceived by the glorious structures of wood, hay and straw while failing to

see the hidden beauty of the precious stones in my midst. Help me to realize

that Your ways are not the same as mine. Teach me to walk in deeper

communion with You so that the fruit I produce in my life in not the fruit of

human imagination and achievement but the fruit of Your Spirit who lives

in me.

10 - THE WEAPONS OF OUR

WARFARE

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according

to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh

but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10)

s we live the life the Lord God has called us to live, we will face

the enemy head on. It will not take long for the new believer to

realize that there is indeed an enemy that seeks to keep us from

the Lord and His purposes. Scripture teaches that there are at least three

enemies we must deal with in this life as believers.

The Philosophy of this World

In Ephesians 6, the apostle Paul speaks about this dark world as an enemy

of Christ:

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the

rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this

present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly

places. (Ephesians 6)

He spoke to the believers in Romans 12 about the dangers of conforming to

the standards of this world:

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the

renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the

will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12)

In speaking about this world, the apostle spoke of the godless philosophies

of this age. The world, as we know it, does not submit to the principles of

God's Word. Its priorities are very different from the priorities of God’s

Word. Take a moment to look at what this world promotes. Examine the

priorities and philosophies of those who do not know the Lord. What does

this show us about their concept of life and its meaning?

As believers, we battle the godless philosophy of our age. Its influence is all

around us. It bombards our children at school. It fills our television screen.

It is in the conversations we hear each day at the workplace or coffee shop.

It can even impact how we do the business of the church.

The Flesh

The second enemy we must face is the flesh. When we speak of the flesh,

we speak about the appetites and desires of the sinful nature with which we

were born. The flesh is never far below the surface. We see it explode in

anger, jealousy and bitterness. We feel the pull of its lusts. Imagine for a

moment where you would be today if you allowed those evil desires of the

flesh to be released in you unhindered. The thoughts of the flesh are evil in

nature. Jeremiah, speaking of the heart of man, said this:

9 The heart is deceitful above all things

and desperately sick;

who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17)

The human heart and mind has been the source of every evil imaginable.

Wars, crimes, immorality, corruption and deceit all come out of this evil

heart. We must fight the impulses of this sinful flesh. We hear its cry daily.

While the influences of this world are outside, this enemy comes from

within. If we are going to live the life God expects us to live, we must do

battle with our own sinful nature.

The Devil

The third enemy we need to add to this list is the devil. The Bible teaches

that Satan and his angels have rallied against us as believers in the Lord

Jesus. Peter knew the reality of this enemy when he told his readers:

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls

around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him,

firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are

being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (1

Peter 5)

Peter paints a picture of Satan as a roaring lion prowling about seeking

someone to devour. We understand from the Scriptures that Satan has a

whole army of demons that serve him in his evil plans. As believers, we are

his preferred prey. With the world and the flesh as his allies many have

fallen.

The question we need to examine here is this: How can we possibly

overcome the enemies that surround us? The philosophy of this world

bombards us from the time of our birth. It surrounds us at work and in our

daily conversations. Our sinful flesh cries out from inside with its powerful

desires and passions. Our adversary the devil with his legions of evil angels

fling their arrows at us at every opportunity. We are literally surrounded by

an enemy that is more powerful than we are.

Human reason is insufficient against these enemies. God’s ways are not our

ways. What seems reasonable to us is not always the heart of God. Our

human wisdom is tainted with the flesh and we cannot trust it.

We can discipline ourselves with all our might to overcome the flesh. We

can hide ourselves from the world but will this really give us victory? I

remember hearing a message preached on Jesus' comments in the Sermon

on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5:

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.

For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your

whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes

you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose

one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

(Matthew 5)

The speaker asked his listeners how many body parts they would have to

cut off before their thoughts and attitudes were holy. The reality of the

matter is that you could gouge out your eyes, cut off your ears, sew up your

mouth, cut off your legs and arms and still be far from holy. We can cut off

our eyes and still lust. We can cut off our hands and still covet.

Do we really think that we can take on our enemies in our own wisdom and

strength? How do we deal with an enemy we cannot see? How can we

possibly deal with a force that is greater than us?

This is what the apostle Paul seeks to address in 2 Corinthians 10 when he

says:

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according

to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh

but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10)

Paul reminds us that we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons

we fight with are not the weapons of the world. No military force will ever

be able to cleanse the human heart and make it right with God. No amount

of medication can heal the soul or make a sinful person right with God. No

amount of scientific research will be able to solve the problem of the evil

heart of man. No amount of human discipline or religion will ever make us

perfect and righteous before a holy God.

Our problem is bigger than this. This is why Paul tells us that if we are

going to overcome the enemy, we will not be able to do so with worldly

weapons. To overcome the enemy, we need spiritual weapons and spiritual

armour.

We need a protection that is greater than us. The only way we can stand in

the day of temptation and evil is by putting on the armour of God. This

armour alone will protect us from the attacks of the enemy from within and

without. Without this armour, we will fall. We need the protection of God if

we are going to overcome the forces of evil around us. Only He can keep

us. We must learn to trust Him and not our own ability.

How often have we tried to overcome the enemy with worldly weapons?

Somehow, we still believe that if we could discipline ourselves just a little

more we could overcome. If we separate ourselves just a little more from

these influences, we could handle them. We battle with our lusts and desires

and through discipline we seem to control them for a time but we know

they are still raging just below the surface.

The battle is not so much about human discipline and effort as it is about a

miraculous work of God in our hearts. In Canada were I currently live, at

certain seasons of the year there is a very strong risk of forest fires. These

fires can rage completely out of control destroying hundreds of kilometres

of woodland. One of the ways of dealing with a fire that is too big to put

out, is to do a controlled burn of a section of the forest just ahead of the

raging fire so that when fire reaches that section there is nothing left for it to

burn so it goes out. This is how it is in our lives as well. If we want to

overcome the enemy, we need to burn out of us what the enemy feeds on.

For that to happen we need to let the Spirit of God change us from within.

We need to let him cut out those attitudes and sins that the world, the flesh

and the devil feed on.

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 that we have divine power to fight

the enemy. This divine power, in the person of the Holy Spirit through the

Word of God, is constantly working in our lives as we surrender to Him. He

is changing the heart of the believer. He is making us more like Christ. He

is stripping us of all the fuel the enemy feeds on so that when the enemy

comes to attack he will have no foothold in our lives.

A quick look at the armour that God calls us to wear shows us that this

armour is the armour of truth, righteousness, faith and salvation. It is these

characteristics that will give us victory over the attacks of the enemy. These

are qualities the Lord wants to build into us by His Holy Spirit daily. By His

power, He transforms us in the inner being.

To overcome the enemy, we need the mighty power of God renewing us

from within. Defeating the enemy has to do with allowing God to produce

the fruit of His Spirit within us. It is the character of Christ that the Spirit is

building in us that protects us and forms the armour we need to face the

enemy and his attacks. Our weapons are not military, medical, or technical.

They are not found in programmes, human reason, discipline or religious

activity. You can yell all you want at the devil and tell him that you have

authority over him, but you will not threaten him if the qualities of Christ's

truth, righteousness, faith and salvation are not abounding in you.

What we need to understand here is that the weapons of our warfare against

the enemy are not human or worldly weapons. You can go to church every

Sunday and still not overcome the enemy. Churches are filled with defeated

Christians. You can go to Bible School and understand all there is to know

about theology and Bible and still live a defeated Christian life. Countless

examples abound of trained pastors and Christian workers falling into sin.

You can cut off every body part and still wrestle with sin in your heart and

mind. Ultimately, winning the battle has to do with allowing the Spirit of

God to build in us the character of Jesus. Ultimately it is not so much what

we do as it is about what we let the Holy Spirit do in us.

When King Jehoshaphat became king, he immediately began a process of

reform in the nation. His desire was to restore the nation to God. This was

not without its problems. 2 Chronicles 20 tells us that he came under attack

by the Moabites and the Ammonites. Jehoshaphat was afraid because of the

number of soldiers that stood against him. He saw that the enemy was more

powerful than his army and that militarily he was no match for them. He

went to the Lord in prayer and sought His advice. The Lord answered his

prayer through a prophet by the name of Jahaziel. Listen to the words of

Jahaziel:

14 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of

Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite

of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. 15 And he said,

“Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King

Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do

not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but

God’s. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come

up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley,

east of the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this

battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the

Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and

do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord

will be with you.” (2 Chronicles 20)

Notice several details here in these important words of Jahaziel. First, the

Lord told His people that the battle was not theirs, but His (verse 15).

Second, they would not need to fight this battle (verse 17). Finally, they

were to simply hold their position and the Lord would fight for them and

give them victory (verse 17).

The truth of this passage is vital if we are going to overcome the enemy that

surrounds us today. Like Jehoshaphat, the forces against us are bigger and

stronger than us. We dare not trust in our own strength. The Lord God,

however, promises to come to our aid. He will fight this battle for us. He

alone can overcome. He calls us to stand firm and watch what He is willing

to do. He will cast down the evil thoughts and attitudes of the flesh. He will

repel the evil influences of this world. He will crush Satan under your feet

(Romans 16:20). The battle is the Lord’s. He will fight it. He will protect

you with His armour. He will fill you with His Spirit. He will give you the

victory you need. The battle before us cannot be won with human weapons

and skill. It must be fought in the strength of the Lord and in the power of

His Spirit. All other efforts are bound to fail.

For Prayer:

Lord, I confess that I am surrounded by an enemy that it bigger than me.

Help me never to underestimate the nature of this great spiritual battle. I

confess that I have often overestimated my ability to resist and overcome

this enemy. I recognize that, I have been influenced by the ungodly

philosophies of my age. I confess that I battle also with my own sinful

nature. I come to You today and recognize that the enemy within and

around me is bigger than I am. I need You to fight for me.

Thank You that You want to supply me with the armour I need to resist the

enemy. Thank You, Holy Spirit, that You are producing this armour from

within as You transform my life and make me more like Christ. I surrender

to Your work in me. Forgive me for trusting my own effort to overcome.

Give me grace to look to You more and more for the victory I need. Thank

you that in You, and in You alone, I am more than an overcomer.

11 - MORE THAN

CONQUERORS

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him

who loved us. (Romans 8)

any godly individuals filled and walking in the Spirit have

suffered much for the Gospel. The apostle Paul is one such

example. He faced tremendous obstacles in life. He knew what

it was like to be stoned and rejected for preaching the truth God put on his

heart. He was beaten and left for dead. He was shipwrecked and ridiculed.

All of this happened while he was walking with God and following the

leading and prompting of the Spirit. The Lord Jesus also understood

difficulty and suffering. He too was mocked, ridiculed and eventually

crucified for our sake.

Many come to the Lord thinking that they are going to get away from

struggle and pain. They find it difficult when the reality of the Christian life

strikes them. The apostle Paul tells us that all who live a godly life will

suffer:

12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be

persecuted (2 Timothy 3)

This is a reality that not all believers are prepared for in their lives. As

believers, we are the object of the enemy's focus. Why should it surprise us

that the enemy would shoot at soldiers in the heat of battle? Imagine a

soldier going into battle thinking that things were going to be easy. As in

any battle, we need to understand that the enemy's intent is to shoot us

down and destroy us.

Paul was very much aware that the believer would face great opposition in

this life. He speaks in Romans 8:35 about trouble, hardship, persecution,

famine, nakedness, danger and sword. Paul personally experienced the

reality of these things in his own life. He quotes a passage from Psalm

44:22:

36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Romans 8)

The Psalmist, long ago, experienced the reality of suffering. "We are being

killed all the day long," he said. This is not a very inviting reality.

It is in this context, however, that the apostle Paul spoke in verse 37 of

Roman 8. In this verse, he has some very important things to say to those of

us who have enlisted in the army of the Lord. Let’s examine them is some

detail here.

"In all these things"

Notice the phrase "in all these things." Paul has just spoken about troubles,

hardships, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword. It is in all

these things that we are conquerors. The word "in" is significant. By using

this word "in" Paul is telling us that we will go through these trials. Our

victory, however, is "in" these problems. The enemy comes rushing at us.

He overwhelms us with his arrows and spears. We face the battle head on.

The victory does not come if we run from the battle. We need to be "in" the

battle to win. We will be opposed and oppressed but we are called upon to

boldly face these obstacles. We do not need to fear the battle. God promises

that as we are "in" it we will be victorious. Sometimes we don't experience

the victory because we are not "in" the fight. You must fight to win the

battle. God calls us to step forward boldly. He calls us to take our stand and

step out in faith. If you are willing to face the battle, He can give you

victory. "In all these things," says Paul, we are more than conquerors. This

ought to challenge us to step up and take our place. There will be temporary

pain and difficulty but we are promised victory.

"More than conquerors"

Notice secondly, that Paul tells us that we are "more than conquerors." The

New American Standard Bible translates this phrase "we overwhelmingly

conquer." The enemy is indeed very powerful. We do face tremendous

obstacles and pain in the path to victory. The power of God, however, is so

much greater that we are overwhelming overcomers. Much more than

winning the battle, we humiliate our opponents. Try as they might they are

not able to inflict the damage they want. The power of God at work in and

through us is far beyond anything the enemy can endure. He cannot

possibly win the battle.

"Through Him who loved us"

We need to see something else in this verse. Notice that the victory is

through Him who loved us. This is a very significant point. If we want to

have victory it will only be "through" the Lord Jesus and His strength. You

will not have the victory in your own human wisdom and ability. If you

attempt to do battle in your own strength you will fail. If you trust in your

own wisdom you cannot possibly succeed. Your victory is "through" Christ

alone.

If our victory is "through" Christ we must trust him and rely on Him no

matter what happens. This may take us though raging waters. We will not

always understand what the Lord is doing in us and through us.

If there is one thing the enemy wants to do it is to take you away from the

place of confidence, trust and obedience. He knows that if he can take you

from that place, he will have succeeded. Job was taken through difficult

times as a servant of God. He lost his children, his wealth and the support of

his wife. He sat in an ash pile scraping the sores on his body with a piece of

pottery. Listen to what he said:

15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him; (Job 13)

Job did not know what the Lord was doing. He did not understand why God

was stripping these things from his life. He knew however, that no matter

what happened to him, he needed to trust in his Saviour. He could not leave

that place of confidence in God. Our overcoming is through Christ. It is

only as we wait on Him and trust His strength and wisdom that victory is

possible.

The surgeon needs to cut us open to heal us. Hard soil needs to be broken if

it is to be ready to produce fruit. This process of being cut open by the

surgeon's knife or being broken up by the gardener's hoe is not a pleasant

one. Many times, we run away and don't let the Lord break us. You may not

understand what the surgeon is doing but you can be sure that if you don't

trust him enough to let him cut you open, you will never experience the

healing you need. This is how it is with the Lord. Job understood what it

was like for the Lord to slay him. He sat under the Lord's knife as his family

and his possessions were cut off. While this was indeed difficult, Job

understood that his victory would only be in surrendering to that knife. He

yielded himself to God and what He was doing in his life.

The enemy will try to get us to pull away from the Lord's operating knife.

He will do his best to cause us to fear. He will place doubt and confusion in

our lives so that our confidence is shaken. As we wait and surrender to the

Lord's discipline, however, we experience the healing and victory we need.

If our victory is through the Lord, we must be careful to surrender to Him

no matter how painful the process may be. We need to place our absolute

confidence in what He is doing and what He is sending our way.

Paul goes on to tell us in this passage that despite the difficulties and trials

that will come our way, there is nothing that can separate us from the love

of God (see Romans 8:38). Satan can throw all he wishes at us but he will

never be able to separate us from the love of God. There is something we

need to understand here. When Paul speaks about the love of God, is he

speaking about the truth of this love only or is he speaking also about the

experience of that love as well? It is true that God will always love us no

matter what happens. This is a wonderful truth. What we need to

understand here, however, is that Paul is also telling us that Satan cannot

separate us from the experience of that love either. No matter how hard the

persecution is, you can not only know that God loves you but you can also

experience the reality of that love as you face your trials.

What an incredible picture is painted for us here. The enemy lashes out with

vengeance and cruelty but no matter what he does, the child of God

continues to bathe himself or herself in the reality of God's love. The

tempest rages on the outside but inside we rest in the warmth and comfort

of the love of God. His love for us is demonstrated in His peace and

assurance. It is demonstrated in His comfort and provision.

When Stephen was being stoned in the book of Acts he looked up and saw

the Lord calling him to His side. Yes, the enemy destroyed his body but

while the storm raged outside Stephen bathed in the love of God. Satan was

powerfully defeated despite the death of Stephen. The church grew as the

persecution increased. Nothing could stop what God was doing. Satan

lashed out but God continued to bathe His church in power and love.

The fact of the matter is that the enemy cannot overcome. It is true that we

will suffer much for the cause of the Gospel but victory is promised to those

who are in Christ Jesus. God will defeat Satan. As we step out into the

battle we may suffer or even lose our lives but we will not lose the fight if

we remain in him.

For Prayer:

Lord, I recognize that walking in Your Spirit does not mean a trouble-free

existence for me. In fact, walking in Your Spirit may mean greater suffering

and trouble. Help me to understand the nature of the battle before me.

Prepare me to face that battle. Thank You for Your promise that victory

comes when I am “in” the midst of the battle. Teach me to be willing to step

out into this battle trusting You for that victory.

I thank You Lord, that the victory is through You and Your work. Thank

You that the enemy cannot overcome You. I confess that I cannot be

victorious in my own strength. I ask that you teach me to look to You.

Teach me to trust You more. Teach me to surrender more to the Surgeon’s

knife, knowing that all You do is for my good. Give me humility to allow

You to work in me and on my behalf. Teach me to obey no matter the

consequences, knowing that victory can only be mine in You and in

obedience to Your purpose.

12 - FILLED WITH THE HOLY

SPIRIT

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be

filled with the Spirit… (Ephesians 5)

s we conclude this study it is important that we examine

Ephesians 5:18. In this passage, the apostle Paul tells us that we

are to be filled with the Spirit. This subject has been the source of

a lot of theological debate over the years. It is not in our interest to enter

this debate. It is, however, essential that we examine this teaching of Paul

and walk in obedience. Let me examine this subject by means of a series of

questions.

What is the filling of the Spirit?

What is the filling of the Spirit? As we attempt to answer this question, I

would like to begin by considering the teaching of Paul in Romans 8:

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the

Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of

Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8)

Paul tells us here that the mark of a true Christian is the presence of the

Holy Spirit in his or her life. In other words, the spiritual life we have is the

life of the Holy Spirit in us. Without the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of

the Lord Jesus, we would be dead in our sin. It is the Holy Spirit who opens

our eyes to the reality of God and His promises. It is the Holy Spirit who

breaks down our resistance and opens our hearts to the things of God. It is

the work of the Holy Spirit in us that transforms us into the image of Christ

and empowers us in service for Him. Without Him, there would be no

salvation or spiritual life. Paul makes it clear from Romans 8 that if you

don't have the Holy Spirit, you do not belong to Christ. All who are Christ’s

have been sealed by the Holy Spirit.

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of

salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy

Spirit. (Ephesians 1)

It is possible, however, for the believer to have the Holy Spirit in his or her

life and not be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul challenges the

believers in Ephesus to be filled. The Greek word used by Paul in this verse

communicates something that is not clear in the English translation. The

idea in the Greek is that we are to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit.

In other words, every day I need to seek a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit

to face the day.

What is the difference between having the Holy Spirit in my life and being

filled with the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit lives in every believer but He

does not always have full possession of every believer. There are believers

who have not surrendered to the ministry and leading of the Holy Spirit in

their lives. There are believers living in rebellion against the prompting and

conviction of the Holy Spirit. There are believers who have not accepted the

fact that they need the Holy Spirit in their lives and ministries. Instead, they

are attempting to do the work of the Holy Spirit themselves. They are

attempting to minister in human strength and wisdom. They are seeking to

manipulate and convince people to come to Christ but they are not

depending on the Spirit to do this work through them.

Paul, speaking to the Ephesians says:

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were

sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4)

Notice here in Ephesians 4 that although these believers were sealed by the

Holy Spirit, they were also grieving him in their lives. The apostle would

also remind the Thessalonian believers:

19 Do not quench the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5)

We understand from these two verses that it is quite possible to have the

Holy Spirit in your life and grieve Him or quench His fire. We quench this

fire by our sin and rebellion. We quench this fire by our disobedience to His

leading. By our pride, will push the Holy Spirit aside.

The fact of the matter is that the Spirit of God wants to lead and direct us.

He wants to direct us into all truth. He will not always force Himself on us.

If you open yourself to Him and His leading, however, He will fill your

thoughts. He will take up residence in your attitudes. He will move into

your speech and season it with the character of Christ. He will fill up the

emptiness and the loneliness you feel. He will come and spread His holy

balm over the hurts you have felt. He will break down the hardness in your

heart and bring His grace and compassion. You can have the Holy Spirit in

your life and restrain Him to the cellar or you can invite him into every

corner and closet.

Can I lose this infilling?

When we speak about losing our infilling, we are not speaking about the

Holy Spirit leaving us. That is a completely different question. When we

see the warnings of Scripture not to grieve the Holy Spirit or to put out His

fire, however, we must admit that it is indeed possible to resist elements of

the work of God’s Spirit and push Him aside in our lives. There are many

believers who are not walking as close to the Lord as they once did. Being

filled with the Holy Spirit is something we need to constantly seek in our

lives. That is why the apostle Paul tells us to keep on being filled.

Imagine a marriage where the husband and wife did not take the time to

communicate. Imagine that they each have enclosed themselves in their

own little worlds. He goes one way and she goes the other. They hardly see

each other and when they do they rarely speak about anything other than

surface matters. What will happen to that marriage? If this couple does not

work on their marriage it will soon fall into disrepair. A garden that is not

tended will quickly grow weeds. Those weeds will choke the good plants

and soon there will be no garden left.

The same is true in our walk with God. If you do not cultivate your walk

with God, you will soon find that your relationship with Him is slipping. If

you are not obedient to the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, you

will soon see the result in your life. He will seem distant. You will become

powerless. You will not see the character of Christ being demonstrated in

your life. While the Holy Spirit does not leave us, we can certainly lose the

intimacy, closeness and empowering we once experienced.

Can we ever truly be filled?

This leads us to another important question. Can I ever truly be filled with

the Holy Spirit? The word "fill" can be misleading. Let me answer this by

sharing with you a picture the Lord gave me some time ago. In this picture,

I saw in a cup. I noticed that the cup was filled with coffee. As I watched, I

could see some hands coming down. These hands reached inside the cup

and stretched out the sides so that the cup became larger. I remember seeing

the level of coffee in the cup drop because the cup now had a larger

capacity. I felt a certain emptiness. As I looked at the cup the Lord

reminded me that not a drop of coffee had left the cup. It only felt empty

because the capacity of the cup had become greater. The Lord reminded me

at that time that this is how it is in the Christian life. There are times when

the Lord will stretch our capacity for Him. We feel empty because we have

come to understand that there is so much more to God than we thought

before.

Is it possible to ever truly be completely filled with the Holy Spirit? As long

as God is able to stretch our capacity for Him there will always be room for

more. You will never exhaust God's supply. You will never be able to say

the you have come to experience all there is to Him. You will never be able

to say that you are completely filled because even if you are, God will soon

stretch your capacity and you will discover that there is far more to Him

than you ever thought possible. Maybe that is the reason why we are called

upon to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. You can be filled afresh

every day for the rest of your life and only begin to tap into the power and

wisdom of God. Keep on being filled. You will never come to an end of His

supply.

Why do I need to be filled?

Why do I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit? I am assuming that we

have already answered this question in the course of this study. We need to

be filled because we cannot do the work of the kingdom without the

ministry of the Spirit of God. We need to be filled because our human

wisdom is faulty and cannot carry us through the difficulties and trials that

come our way. The kingdom of God cannot be built on human strength. The

character of Christ cannot be produced by religion and human effort. We

need the Holy Spirit to do this work.

What is the result of this filling?

What happens when the Holy Spirit fills us? The result of this filling will be

obvious. There are two things that happen when we allow the Spirit of God

to fill us and have full control of our lives.

First, we will begin to see a very clear demonstration of the fruit of the

Holy Spirit in our lives. Listen to what Paul says in Galatians 5:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such

things there is no law. (Galatians 5)

The first evidence of the filling of the Spirit will be a change in our

character. The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness and self-control will become evident in us. This is

not something natural to our flesh. It is the character of the Lord Jesus being

produced in us. When the Holy Spirit fills our thought lives, He will change

our thoughts. When He fills our moral live, He will renew it. As we

surrender to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, He comes to produce the

character of Jesus in us. Wherever He moves He leaves behind the perfume

of Christ's character. As we surrender and invite the Spirit of God to fill

every part of our lives, He produces the fruit of His character in us. The first

result of the filling of the Spirit will be seen in the change that is happening

in you and your life. The old things will begin to disappear. God will do a

new thing in your life. You will become more like Jesus.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old

has past away; behold the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5)

The second result of this filling is a growing evidence of the gifts of the

Holy Spirit in our lives. Not only does the Holy Spirit come to produce the

character of Christ in us, He also comes to empower the believer for service

in the kingdom of God. There are various passages in Scripture that speak

of the gifts the Spirit of God gives to the church. Paul speaks of these gifts,

for example, in Romans 12:

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us

use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our

serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who

exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity;

the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with

cheerfulness. (Romans 12)

The Spirit of God comes to give us the ability to serve in the expansion of

the kingdom of God in this world. As we surrender to Him and open

ourselves up to His leading and direction, He will empower us for the sake

of the kingdom. He will equip us with special gifts and calling to do the

work of ministry.

Only as we surrender to the Spirit of God and move in His empowering can

we truly overcome. As we die to our own efforts and start to depend on the

work of the Holy Spirit, we will see God working in ways we never thought

possible. Lives will be changed because the Spirit of God is using us. The

kingdom of God will be expanded because we are not trusting in fleshly

weapons to overcome.

Some time ago the Lord spoke to me very powerfully about this matter of

being filled. As I prayed, He showed me a picture of a pottery jar on top of

a cliff. The jar was on its side with the contents spilling out over the cliff,

forming a waterfall. I understood that God was calling me to be this jar.

Some months later, however, the Lord again spoke again. I saw the same

pottery jar. This time, however, instead of being on its side, the jar was

standing upright. I watched as, this time, the water in the jar overflowed and

poured down the sides of the jar and down the cliff. I felt the Lord speaking

to me and say: "Wayne, you have been giving out of emptiness. It is now

time for you to give out of fullness."

At that time in my life, I was suffering from burn-out in ministry. I had been

giving for eight years and not receiving. I was like that overturned pottery

jar on its side. As long as the jar was on its side it would not be filled. It was

time for me to be stood upright so that I could receive from God and give

out of my overflow. We need to be filled if we are going to minister. We

need to learn to give out of our overflow and not from our emptiness.

Maybe you have met the joyless Christian who continues to serve the Lord.

He gives and keeps giving but the joy is gone. Then you have met believers

who powerfully demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in their life. They radiate

the character of Christ and when they speak the power and presence of God

is evident. They are filled and give out of their overflow. This is what God

is calling us to do.

How can I be filled?

Let me conclude with some final thoughts on how we can be filled with the

Holy Spirit. First, we need to understand that it is the will and desire of the

Holy Spirit to fill us. Let me compare the Holy Spirit to a river. Sometimes

as the river flows there are obstacles in its path. Imagine a big branch

falling into that river. That branch hinders the flow of the river. The river

wants to flow but the branch blocks its path. This is how it is with the Holy

Spirit. He always wants to fill your life. Like the river, He will naturally

flow into every corner and closet of your life. You hardly need to ask Him.

All you need to do is remove the obstacles that grieve and quench His fire.

When you remove the branch in the river the river flows freely again.

If you want to know how to be filled with the Spirit, the answer is very

simple. Surrender to His work in your life. Stop resisting Him. Realize that

you need him. Recognize that He wants to fill you and let Him remove all

the obstacles that keep Him from doing so. Confess your sin of pride. Tell

Him that you have been holding on to certain areas in your life. Surrender

these areas to Him and ask Him to fill those areas of your life. Live in

obedience to the clear teaching of the Word and open your heart to His

direction and leading.

One of the biggest enemies to the filling of the Holy Spirit is the flesh. We

grieve the Spirit because we listen to and trust the flesh. We push the Holy

Spirit aside and listen to our own wisdom. By our actions, we tell Him we

don't need Him. If you want to be filled with the Spirit, you must die to the

flesh. Remove the branch of flesh from the river and the river will flow

unhindered.

Oswald J. Smith, in his book, The Enduement of Power, says the following:

I often think of the Holy Spirit as a mighty river, but a river dammed

and held back by obstacles of one kind or another. Fancy a man

standing on the dam and pleading in prayer with the river to flow

on. How absurd! “Why,” the river would answer, “that is just what I

do. Don’t waste your energy in such vain repetitions. It is my nature

to flow. I’m more anxious to flow than you are to see me flow.”

Ah, yes, that’s the secret. There’s a dam in your life, a dam of sin.

There are obstacles in the way, obstacles of unyieldedness. You deal

with sin. Do you hear me—sin! Get the bed of the river cleared and

the river will flow all right. You will not even have to ask the Holy

Spirit to fill you. In fact, you will not be able to keep Him out. He

will come and fill of His own accord. Oh, how eager He is to enter!

How anxious He is to get control! (Smith, Oswald, The Enduement

of Power: Basingstoke, UK, Marshall Morgan & Scott: 1983, pg.

43.)

If we are going to live life as God intended, we must be filled with the Holy

Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a simple matter of surrendering to

Him and His leading in our life. We need to cultivate a sense of His

presence. We need to recognize that He wants to fill us and empower us.

We need to learn to trust His leading more than our own understanding. We

need to recognize that without the presence of the Holy Spirit we cannot

possibly live and minister as God requires. He must become our life source

and strength.

Paul tells us that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is

something that needs to happen each day. You can have the Holy Spirit in

you and not be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is possible for the believer to

hinder and block this filling of the Holy Spirit in his or her life. Only as we

surrender to the Holy Spirit can we be moulded into the character of Christ.

Only as we are filled can we be empowered in service for the kingdom. If

we want to live as God intends, we need to be filled. If we want to be filled,

we need to surrender to the teaching of God’s Word and ministry of the

Holy Spirit in our lives. We must stop resisting Him and quenching His fire

in our life.

If there is one thing that this study has impressed on me, it is that my fleshly

wisdom and strength is insufficient to do what God has called me to do. I

need a wisdom and power that is bigger than me to accomplish what God

has called me to do. He has given me His Holy Spirit. I must recognize my

need of this member of the Trinity if I am going to be what God has called

me to be.

Before you close this book, take a moment to ask the Lord to reveal to you

any hindrances to a deeper filling of His Spirit today. Confess anything He

may reveal to you and invite the Spirit to fill you afresh and have control of

every part. He must be Lord of our lives.

For Prayer:

Father, thank You for placing Your Holy Spirit in me to seal my relationship

with You. Teach me to allow Your Spirit to do His work in me. Give me

discernment to recognize His presence and leading in my life. Forgive me

for the times that I have quenched His fire and resisted His leading. Thank

You, Holy Spirit for the way You have been changing me from the inside.

Thank You for the spiritual gifts you have given. Thank You that you do not

give these gifts and leave me on my own. Thank You that you promise to

lead me and empower me in the use of these gifts. Stretch my capacity to

know You and experience You. Show me any hindrances to Your work in

my life. Give me grace to remove those hindrances of sin so that You have

more of me. I thank You, Holy Spirit that you are a real person living in me.

I surrender to You and ask that You would fill every part of me. Have

control over my thought life, my attitudes and my actions. Lead me and

teach me to walk in obedience and surrender. Teach me the difference

between walking in the flesh and walking in the Spirit.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Light To My Path Book Distribution

Light To My Path Book Distribution (LTMP) is a

book writing and distribution ministry reaching

out to needy Christian workers in Asia, Latin

America, and Africa. Many Christian workers in

developing countries do not have the resources

necessary to obtain Bible training or purchase

Bible study materials for their ministries and

personal encouragement.

F. Wayne Mac Leod is a member of Action

International Ministries and has been writing

these books with a goal to distribute them freely or at cost price to needy

pastors and Christian workers around the world. These books are being

used in preaching, teaching, evangelism and encouragement of local

believers in over sixty countries. Books have now been translated into a

number of languages. The goal is to make them available to as many

believers as possible.

The ministry of LTMP is a faith based ministry and we trust the Lord for

the resources necessary to distribute the books for the encouragement and

strengthening of believers around the world. Would you pray that the Lord

would open doors for the translation and further distribution of these books?

For more information about Light To My Path Book Distribution visit our

website at www.lighttomypath.ca