Quashed or Quickened

Good morning children of the Most High!

We just watched a sister in Christ re-dedicate her life to Christ in water baptism. Jessie wanted you to be a part of this today, not for her, but for the glory of God. The timing with today's message is not lost to me. We each decide, moment by moment if we are going to follow Christ. We each decide moment by moment to quash Holy Spirit or to receive His quickening. To quash means:

Quash - To suppress or forcefully stop something that you do not want to happen.

I do not know about you, but I have quashed Holy Spirit on more than one occasion in my life. The Holy Spirit of God will not make you do anything. If you choose to be the master of your life, He wont stop you. We need to understand something though: If we suppress the work of the Spirit within us and through us, we do not get to honestly claim that we are fully walking with the LORD. It is impossible to live out an overcoming and victorious Christian life without the help of Holy Spirit. He will convict us in order to build us up in imago Christi, the image of Christ.

Now, I asked Jessie, point-blank, “Why do you want to be baptized?” She said to me “I was not living my life the way God would want me to live.” “I was searching for love and someone who would not abandon me in anyone besides the Lord.” “I have truly learned that he has always loved me and has never abandoned me.” “I boldly proclaim that I will no longer live my life out through my fleshly desires, but my God driven purpose and what He calls me to do!”

I think we can all relate. We grow weary and tired of feeling beat up by others, by this world, and by our own hands at times. It can become such a normal way of life, that you can become blinded to His glory all around you, and His glory living in you.

One of the ways the glory of God is revealed is through His people. We see His glory revealed in one another all the time. I have seen His glory revealed through so many of you here today. We are talking about nothing less than the quickening of the Spirit of God. What does it mean to be quickened by the Spirit? I am glad you asked!

Quicken - To make alive or bring to life, often used in the Bible to describe the work of the Holy Spirit in revitalizing a person’s spirit or bringing about spiritual awakening.

It is the work of Holy Spirit that brings life to the believers heart and mind. If you are feeling dead inside, if you are feeling lost or hopeless, ask Holy Spirit to fill you, to overflow you, and to guide you in all Truth and Wisdom, to quicken you. Give Him control!

If you are trying to do life in your strength, in your intellect, and in your ability, surrender to God. There is an amazing truth about God that we all need to know:

GOD IS NOT LOOKING FOR YOUR ABILITY.

GOD IS LOOKING FOR YOUR SURRENDER.

Look at what Jesus Christ says in the great Gospel of John.

John 6:63 NIV

63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

This verse is part of the teaching Jesus gave when a bunch of disciples stopped following him. Not the twelve, but many of His larger group of disciples leave after he said this. Why? Because His words cut through flesh to the marrow, to our inner most being. A lot of people can not handle if “it is not about them.” If it is not about what they have done, if it is not about their achievements.

We see the same thing in today’s church. Share the undiluted Word of God, the Truth, and some people become so offended, prideful, or convicted, that they leave His flock. Their hearts become hardened against the Word and the Spirit.

I remember telling a brother in Christ once that I did not feel like going to church. You know what he said to me? He said “It is not about you, it is about God, but you are making it about you.” Ouch! That was a truth I needed to hear.

When Jesus says “the flesh counts for nothing,” it offends the worldly person. Jesus just said “there is zero value in the flesh.” The carnal person loves this world and the flesh, and is continually chasing after all the physical and material pleasures they can. Yet those things offer zero value, they profit nothing eternally. People chase after: ego, pride, human recognition, self-centered praise, earthly wealth, and sinful pleasures. None of these fleshly desires are found in the Kingdom of God.

When we surrender to God, Holy Spirit begins to or continues to work in us. Now, the reason I say “continues to work in us” is because when we quash the Spirit, God does not abandon us, we are choosing to ignore Him. When we make Him the Master, the Spirit of God quickens us and makes us alive in Him. We experience His power from glory to glory. The Apostle Paul said something to the church at Corinth that every believer needs to be reminded of today.

2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT

18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Now, I need to clarify something here. The Apostle Paul says “the Lord, who is the Spirit.” This does not mean that the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the same Person. They are two different Persons, but they are one in their Godhead and Deity. Jesus Christ is One with the Spirit in the same way He is one with God the Father: one in mind, spirit, being, nature, and essence. They are one in will, purpose, and work (three in one).

This is a powerful verse. Ask yourself. “Has the veil been removed from my heart and mind this morning?” Paul is comparing Moses with today’s believer. In Exodus 34, Moses wore a veil in front of the people of Israel. The veil symbolized the blindness of Israel, and of this world, to the Word, Truth, and Spirit of God.

How many people are blind to the Truth and Spirit of God? There are still occasions in my life when I want to hide from God and ignore His perfect Word. We refuse at times to recognize the true power and glory of God in Christ Jesus. We will at times discount the life giving power of the Spirit of God. Jesus removes the veil, but we will pull the veil back over our hearts and minds to hide from His Truth and His ways.

If you read through Exodus, you will find that there were only two circumstances in which Moses would remove the veil.

1. When proclaiming the Word of God.

2. When praying and seeking the face of the LORD.

When a person seeks the face of God or proclaims the Word of God, there is to be nothing—no mask, no counterfeit, no deception—between you and God. There is to be nothing, absolutely nothing, covering your face or the truth of your heart from God. We are to approach God with an open face and heart, we are to approach Him in Truth and spirit.

This is an incredible truth that the Apostle shares. Every time you go into the presence of the LORD, you receive a new radiance, a deeper radiance, like Moses did. On top of that, you receive a deeper quickening of the Spirit. We stop going backwards, we stop drifting, and we become increasingly focused on the Father. Look at what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:15

Romans 8:15 NLT

15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

This is one of those verses that kept me awake at night, I have thought about, studied, and thought about some more. We are going to break this verse down. It is important that we fully grasp who we are in Christ. What the Apostle Paul is telling us in this verse is this:

Through Christ Jesus, you are adopted by God and given the full right and honor to call Him “Abba, Father.” You are His child. He proved this by sending His son, Jesus Christ, and indwelling you with His Spirit. His Spirit does not bring fear nor condemnation. He brings life! Not defeat, but victory. Not bondage, but freedom!

Let’s put Romans 8:15 back up on the screen as we break it down.

“Abba” is Aramaic for “Daddy” or “Father.” It is an intimate word that was used only within the family and in prayer to God. Our God is not just “some god” or “a god.” Our God is the perfect Father and Daddy, the one true God. In and through Christ, Abba has given you full and unlimited access to not just the Kingdom of Glory, but an intimate relationship with Him. You are not a step-child, you are not less than, you are not forgotten. Abba fully adopted you!

To grasp what it means to be fully adopted by God, let’s look at the Biblical definition of adoption:

υἱοθεσία (huiothesia) Adoption - placed in a position and with the rights as one’s own child.

He-o-thesia. Adoption. To Abba Daddy, to God, means that you are placed in the same position with the same rights as His son. Wrap your mind around this: God loves you in the same way He loves Jesus Christ. The only distinction to be made here is that Jesus Christ is “the firstborn over all creation.” That means that Christ possesses the inheritance that we are included in, but also the leadership. We follow Him. The same Holy Spirit who dwelled in Jesus in-dwells the believer today. Christ prayed in The Spirit, moved in The Spirit, and was led by The Spirit. Continually quickened by the Spirit, as each of us should be. One of Holy Spirit’s names is The Spirit of Adoption.

Let’s put Romans 8:15 back up there again.

There is some confusion when Paul says “a spirit of fear.” He is not talking about demonic possession. The Apostle Paul is talking about human conscience, human will, and the dreaded human emotions. Those things that we battle within ourselves that make us slaves to sin and slaves to fear. Now, I wanted to know what Paul meant by “fear” here.

φόβος (phobos). Fear. Refers to the emotion elicited by a sense of alarm or danger or anticipation of a negative experience.

Can you guess where we get the term “phobias” from? What an accurate picture of so many people today. “I am just waiting for something bad to happen!” “The other shoe is going to drop anytime!” “I am afraid of what’s coming next.” There are some healthy and natural fears, but there are far more fears that do not make sense from a Biblical perspective.

Fear of: suffering, disapproval, failure, blame, rejection, not measuring up, and condemnation are just a few. Here is the crazy thing: Most Christians do not admit to having these fears because they are afraid of disapproval, rejection, not measuring up, and condemnation by other believers,! We ALL experience some sort of fear! Can we just stop pretending and admit we experience fears at times? Now, we may have our fears, but Holy Spirit breaks the chains of bondage of those fears.

No matter what you face or I face, Holy Spirit gives us access into God’s presence. We lay our fears before the Father, we cry out “Father, help me!” We know that God has helped, does help, and will help His children. But it is a choice we make with God. It is always a choice, right? Full circle here. We either decide to quash the Spirit and make ourselves master, or we make Him master and receive His ongoing quickening, his life giving power, and the very radiance of Father God within us. We accept the gift that Jesus died to give to us, a relationship with God, or we do not. Scripture tells us in Romans 8:16 that:

Romans 8:16 NIV

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Conviction is not condemnation. If Holy Spirit is convicting your heart and mind, do not ignore Him. Do not quash the Spirit. If you are not sure if it is Holy Spirit, there is a litmus test. Holy Spirit will always point you to two things: The Holy Word of God and to Jesus Christ. If what you think Holy Spirit is telling you does not line up with scripture and Jesus Christ, it is not Holy Spirit ministering to you and it is not of God.

Allow the Spirit of God to continually quicken your mind, heart, and soul. Scripture tells us that Holy Spirit is the seal, He is the guarantee that we are children of God. He bears witness that we are heirs of God.

Worship Team

Brother John said something Wednesday night. He observed that as great as it is for someone to pray over you, if you are carrying garbage, you have to leave it at the alter of God before the healing can begin. As the worship team begins to play, I am going to ask that you allow Holy Spirit to speak to your heart and mind. Ask if there are areas of your life you need to release to Him. Ask Him to show you and teach you how to make Him Master in your life. If He leads you to come to the alter, or to reach out for prayer, do not quash Him. Receive His quickening this morning. God Bless you.