The Spirit of the Lord is upon us 2
THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON US (Part two)
The Spirit of the Lord is upon us to live a Life that makes a Difference; to walk through to victory; to take RISKS and TRUST God; to be Word People; to have wisdom and understanding; to walk the walk with consistency.
All this we can do because our Heavenly Father has sent the Holy Spirit at the request of His Son - Jesus.
John 14:16 … I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, Counsellor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby, that He may remain with you forever — AMP
BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WE HAVE THE NATURE OF JESUS
He was anointed to preach the gospel to the poor; we are anointed to preach the gospel to the poor.
He was anointed to heal the broken-hearted; we are anointed to heal the broken-hearted.
He was anointed to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; we are anointed to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.
He was anointed to set at liberty those who are oppressed; we are anointed to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO SERVE
In the Spirit, by prayer we are taken into heaven, to make our supplications before the Throne of Grace.
In the Spirit, the Word of God unfolds in a wonderful way, revealing Jesus to our understanding.
In the Spirit, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts enabling us to love others as Jesus loves the church.
In the Spirit, we can endure all things being counted worthy to share in the sufferings of Christ.
BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WE HAVE HELP
HELP to live a life of power that we could not obtain even if we had all human reasoning and all human knowledge.
HELP to have God’s thoughts instead of our thoughts; to walk in His ways instead of ours.
HELP to pray as we ought; praying light for darkness, love for hate and hope for despair.
HELP to live as Jesus lived, with evidence that we are in Christ; doing His works.
BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WE ARE FILLED WITH GOD
Filled with God and pardoned; filled with God and cleansed; filled with God and glory.
Filled with God with no room for doubting, fearing or worrying.
Filled with God and emptied of self.
Filled with God’s love which casts out all fear.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear …
If we are afraid, it is because of something in the past that haunts us or something in the present that upsets us, or something in the future that we feel threatens us, or it may be a combination of all three.
As believers we can often find ourselves standing in the light while being haunted by the ghosts of the past and looking worriedly into the shadows of tomorrow and thus we forget that we are actually standing in the light.
For God has given us a solution to fear:
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father.
We must come to the realisation that the love of God has dealt with our past, our present and our future and we are free and when fear tries to come upon us we can cry out to Abba, Father.
LOVE IS OUR IDENTITY
John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
We are to love as members of the same family, as children of the same Father, and as fellow disciples of Jesus.
Keeping and agreeing together, praying for one another, bearing with one another's burdens, forgiving one another, advising, rebuking and reprimanding each other, building up one another in faith and holiness, being there in the times of tests and trials.
Putting aside all gossip, suspicions, back biting, jalousies and selfish ambitions; always seeing others as higher than ourselves.
Love is our identity; it reveals to others who we are.
LOVE IS OUR STRENGTH FOR MINISTRY
Romans 5:5 ... the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
We have the love of God for the poor in our hearts therefore we can preach the gospel.
We have the love of God for the broken-hearted therefore we can heal them.
We have the love of God for the sick therefore we can lay our hands on them.
We have the love of God for the oppressed, the captives, the lost therefore we can reach out to them.
Ephesians 5:1 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behaviour from their parents. 2 Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. Love like that. (The Message)
We are to imitate God and God so loved us that He gave us everything.
LOVE IS A COMMAND
John 15:12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Love is not something we may feel like doing, it is a command.
Jesus knew how fickle we are so He did not give us a choice because He also knew that love was part of our advancement.
We grow in our faith by caring for and nurturing each other for we need each other.
We grow in our ministries by loving others because Jesus loves them.
We grow in ourselves by doing what Jesus commanded out of a love for Him.
1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
LOVE FULFILS ALL THE LAW
Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Paul is not speaking about monitory credit; but about our obligation to express divine love in all our relationships, this he refers to as our debt and it is a debt we cannot fully paid off, for it is always due.
Love fulfils the law for love will never do something that hurts another; love will never sow discord; love will never be underhanded; all our actions need to be fashioned by love.
NOW ABIDE FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, THESE THREE; BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13:13