THEN JESUS FULL OF AND CONTROLLED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT RETURNED FROM
THE JORDAN AND WAS LED IN [BY] THE [HOLY] SPIRIT. (Luke 4:1 Amp)
Jesus went on to pay that
supreme sacrifice so that we, also, could progressively become ‘full of and
controlled by the Holy Spirit’. (That is, to be perfectly loving, holy,
sanctified, fully restored to God’s ‘image and likeness’, the Bride without
‘spot or wrinkle’). Synonymously, this describes one who is fully endowed with
the ‘fruit’ of the Holy Spirit and is completely available to Him as a conduit
for the operation of His ‘gifts’. – Jesus perfectly demonstrated these things
when He left the wilderness, didn’t He!
Somewhere along the way, we have ‘lost the plot’!
- Instead of baptiso (full
immersion) in the Holy Spirit, we have mostly settled for bapto (partial
immersion) in the Holy Spirit.
In other words, we no sooner
place Jesus on the throne of our lives, than our ‘flesh’ takes over again!
“It happens so regularly that
it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I
truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me
joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect
it, they take charge. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end
of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real
question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to
set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with
all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something
totally different.(Romans 7:21-25 MSG)
Question: Why do we do this?
Answer: Undetected
sins registered in the sub-conscious mind of our soul. – Will always direct us
to control by our self-centred ‘flesh’ rather than to the direction and control
by Holy Spirit residing in our redeemed spirit.
The problem is that most
Christians don’t accept that they could have undetected sins lurking within them,
because Jesus ‘became sin’ on that cross, so all their sins are dealt with! (Paul
obviously didn’t think this way, did he!)
- Such deception allows demonic ‘landing pads’ in most of us!
Paul, in Philippians,gave the
solution to the problem when he said that although he wasn’t yet perfect,
(perfectly restored to God’s ‘image and likeness of agape love), he
nevertheless ‘pressed on’ towards this goal.
In other words he ‘pressed in’ to the Holy Spirit to reveal what needed
to be dealt with at the appropriate time. (King David also learnt this didn’t
he. – “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties; And
see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm
139:23-24 NKJB)
THE CONDITION AND THE PROMISE
We like to claim the promises
of God spread throughout the Old and New Testaments, but we seem to be less
amenable to accepting the condition that applies. That is ‘baptiso’ in the Holy
Spirit!
For example, Proverbs 3:5-8
(Amp): The promise: v6 “… He will
direct and make straight and plain your paths.” v8 “It shall be health to your
nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your bones.”
The condition:
v5-6 “Lean on, trust in, and be
confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own
insight or understanding. In all your ways, know, recognize and acknowledge
Him, … .”
Matthew 6: The promise: No need to be anxious or
worried about anything.The condition: 6:33
“But seek (aim at and strive after)
first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of being and doing
right), and then all these things taken together will be given to you besides.”
– (Is this the ‘abundant’ life that Jesus referred to in John 10:10?
As we progressively deal with
the ‘spots and wrinkles’ – the ‘lumps in the clay’ – as revealed by the Holy
Spirit within, we are meeting God’s ‘conditions’. - We move from ‘glory to
glory’, we overcome as He overcame. – We are being prepared as the Bride
(Revelation 19:7)
- “To him who overcomes I
will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My
Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to
the churches.” (Revelation 3:21,22 NKJV)
THE POST CHRISTIAN ERA
I must say that I was
shocked, (but, on reflection, not surprised), when I first heard this
expression spoken from the pulpit.
So-called Western Society, whose prosperity rose on the back of Old and
New Testament God-centred values, are now speeding down the path of moral
decline at an accelerating rate!
The Christian Church was
mandated by Jesus Christ to be the vehicle of the Holy Spirit to overcome Satan
and restore God’s creation to that which it was created to be in the first
place! But Satan obviously has the upper
hand at present, as demonstrated by the increasing legal acceptance of gay
marriage.
Self-centred hedonism is on
the increase. – Society is rushing, like those pigs, towards that cliff!
When the Christian Church
begins to take full advantage of the gospel of the New Testament, there will
develop such obvious ‘abundance’ in the lives of Christians, that others will
pursue it saying: “Tell me what you have discovered, - I want it too!” – This
is the ‘stuff’ of the ‘turn-a-round’! This is the ‘stuff’ of revival in the
‘Great Southlands of the Holy Spirit.
This is the ‘stuff’ of the ‘preparation of the Bride’ ready for the
return of the Bridegroom.
THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE FULFILMENT
OF THE PROMISE MADE TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB, THAT THROUGH THEM ALL THE
FAMILIES OF THE EARTH WOULD BE BLESSED.
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The process of dealing with the unidentified ‘spots
and wrinkles’ (‘lumps in the clay’) is often called Christian inner healing
ministry. The Holy Spirit has trained many groups throughout the world, such as
Ellel Ministries International, Elijah House and Christian Inner Healing
Retreats Australia Inc (CIHRA), to minister in churches and Christian groups.
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PO BOX 672 SPRINGWOOD NSW 2777 AUSTRALIA cihra@wix.com.auwww.cihra.org.au
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