By My Spirit

How Long Have Failed to Give His Spirit His Proper Place in Our Lives

It is our prayer that you, together with us, are continuing to grow in the knowledge of God with Spiritual understanding.  To grow in Spiritual understanding, is the key to growing in the knowledge of God.  It is under the grace of God and the gift of saving faith that we have been born of His Spirit, and adopted into His family.  And by His Spirit that we can know Him more.  And ultimately, it is by way of His Spirit that we grow into His likeness.  

To abide in the written Word of God is vital to our growth in the knowledge of God, as well as life experiences teach us of His will and ways; yet without His Spirit's ready aid, even the inspired Word of God can be dull and without meaning, and with Him, many of our life experiences will not help us gain all that we could through them.  Absent of the Spirit's guidance, we are left without the ability to see or perceive much of what He would teach us.  "The natural mind cannot understand the things of God" (I Corinthians 2:14).  It is by the Spirit of God that we understand His written Word, and that we interpret all that He reveals through our life experiences.  From beginning to end, the written Word of God directly affirms that without His breath, we are but dust.  God's Spirit played an essential role in creation, brooding over all as He spoke the world into existence.  It was His Spirit that carried out His plan through the ages, who also gave new birth to those who believed.  All this, and much more could be said of the need to know and worship Him and "in Spirit and in truth" (Romans 8:12-14; I Corinthians 2:9-10; John 4:24).  

Throughout the Old Covenant period, God's Spirit was held in reserve, only visiting a few for the purpose of revealing God to the whole.  But under His New Covenant, His Spirit was given so generously to all those who believe that the Bible illustrates His coming as "a mighty, rushing wind,"  as One "poured out," and like "rivers of living water" (Acts 2:2; John 7:37-39; Isaiah 44:3; Joel 2:28).  This overflowing supply of God's Spirit was not for the Church of the New Testament era only, but for the entire Church Age.  God continues to give His Spirit in abundance to all who will believe and receive Him in abundance (Acts 2:38-39; Ephesians 5:18).

It is "Not by might, nor by power, but by My [His] Spirit..." that His temple on earth is built into a perfect habitation for Him to abide.

Until I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, I did not have an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus.  I knew that I knew Him, and that He had received me; but I knew it by faith, not by the depth of relationship that He would give in due time.  I could have known Him more personally from the beginning had I known Him by way of His overflowing Spirit within me; but I didn't have knowledge that such an overflow as that was even available to me.  That was ten long years after I had called upon Jesus Christ to be my Savior and Lord.  I had some knowledge of God after having read my Bible diligently, and with great desire to know Him; but I had not had the Spiritual revelation needed to really grow in faith.  My attempt at walking with God was there, but my success in finding, doing, and trusting His will were not.

Even after receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, it would be twenty more years before God would deliver me from my Wilderness unto the abundance of Living Faith that God desired for me.  I measure my life-experience with God in various seasons of our lives.  It was nearing ten years old that I believed on Jesus Christ for my Savior and Lord.  It was when nearing the end of ten more years that I believed and received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit so that I could begin to walk in His power.  It would be twenty more years before I began to walk in absolute surrender to His overarching will and calling for my life, and almost twenty more years before I found myself at a Spiritual pause - restlessly waiting for Him to use me again in a demonstrative way.

Now, several years later, I see His Spirit working in a fresh way.  I have great expectations for whatever lies ahead.  My wife, Debbie, and I, are more equipped to be of service to God now than ever before; and we are actively ministering His life to others while waiting in the wings for more.

We have known by the Spirit, and shared by the Spirit for approximately twenty years