av4Jesus

The Spirit shows Himself in the sword of the Spirit, a weapon that is double-edged and used to penetrate the soul and spirit. It is used to convict people of their sins and help them see the truth. Spirit-directed prayer is so important for the believer because the Spirit can help us with out weaknesses. He can tell us what and who to pray for. Being continuously in the Spirit means constant communication with Him and He can guide us in every aspect of our lives.

Paul said to not lift up spirits by drinking water, but rather by filling ourselves with the Spirit. And by worshiping God, we are being changed spiritually and God begins working in our lives. Singing worship is linked to joy because our spirits get lifted when we praise God. In heaven, there is continuous worship as well as joy everlasting.

Character change directly related to time deliberately spent in God’s presence because the more time you spend with Him, the more you are transformed to be like Him. In the beginning, man was created in God's image but due to Adam's sin, he died spiritually. So when we become born again, our spirit comes alive and then when we spend time with God, we're changed into his likeness. Yes, I have noticed a change because I am learning more when I read the word.

We need to abide in Jesus because we cannot bear fruit by ourselves. In John 15, He said, "(verse 1) I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman (gardener). (verse 4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (verse 5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." So when we abide in Jesus, we bring forth more fruit, as without Him we can do nothing. The nature of the fruit is the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and self-control. No it is not accurate to define fruit as "souls saved."

Samuel's servant attitude is important because he showed humility when he was so willing to hear from God and obey whatever He had in store for him. This willingness to obey must be present no matter what it is we have to do. We can't question God but rather trust in Him and do whatever He tells us to. Surrendering to Jesus is surrendering ourselves to God's control and allowing Him to take over our lives. Since God can see what we cannot see and He knows what He has in store for us, it is an important part of discipleship that we let God work through us.

The difference between the Spirit's voice and the Spirit nudging you is that He can talk directly to you with words, such as when you're reading the Word and you get a revelation or when you actually hear His voice. The Spirit nudges you by pushing you in the direction He wants you to walk in. We can sensitize ourselves to the Spirit's voice and promptings by building a closer relationship with Him and expecting to hear from Him.

The Holy Spirit connects us to the mind of Christ. I don't have a regular Quiet Time. I can spend more time on the Word and meditate on it to make it more meaningful.

Jesus always makes sure He sets aside time to spend time with God the Father and pray to Him. He spends Quiet Time with the Father so that the Father can rely to Him the work for the day and Jesus can carry it out. This prepares Him for ministry because He is in constant communication with the Father and the Father and work through Him. Since Jesus came to Earth as a man, He needs to minister through the power of the Spirit.

People that promote themselves instead of God are not interested in giving God all the glory, but rather want the glory for themselves. It shows that they have not furthered in spiritual development and they are very proud and not humble people. God has given me the gift of tongues and encouragement and I use it in areas of my life.

We learn that every believer is given a gift. God gives us gifts according to what He thinks is best for us. We can't choose our own gifts because God divides it to us equally. The role of the Holy Spirit is to determine which gift we get and empowers and distributes the gifts.

There are many instances where Jesus preached and healed the sick. In Paul's ministry (Acts 14:6-18), Paul heals a lame man while preaching. In Peter's ministry (Acts 5:15), "... people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by." In Philip's ministry (Acts 8:5-8), Philip preached and cast out demons at the same time.

Yes it is legitimate to use Jesus as our example in the use of spiritual gifts because both fully God and fully man so we can pattern our ministry after Him since all the miracles He did on Earth were done through God the Father. We can see the gift of knowledge in the Old Testament when Elisha told Namaan to wash himself in the Jordan seven times and he was miraculously healed. We can see the gift of knowledge in the New Testament when the Sadducees came to Jesus with the question about the seven brothers and the wife and Jesus answered them with a question. Jesus also knew what was in the hearts of people when Mary washed his feet.

It is not the church that gives people gifts but rather God who does and God does not specifically give gifts to only leaders ordained in a church. It can be given to any person. The church can pray for God to give him the gift or pray for other leaders that have the gift to rise up and for the pastor to identify those leaders. The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts.

(1 Thessalonians 5:19-22)"Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil." The gift of the prophecy is a gift that strengthens and upholds the church. It is the ability to hear messages directly from God and pass it forward as an instruction or warning. The instructions God would have given might have been contradictory to what the church teaches and therefore the church feels intimidated and begins to despise prophecy. (1 Corinthians 14:1) “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” Paul says we need to earnestly seek after spiritual gifts and continuously love everyone.

Yes there are modern day apostles who are sent to preach the gospel to all who would listen. There are non-profit organizations that specialize in sending out people to bring others to God. God Himself also sends out His chosen people to preach the Word.

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." (1 Corinthians 12:7) "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;" (Ephesians 4:11) So in Corinthians, the purpose of the spiritual gifts was for the common good but in Ephesians it is given to people to equip the saints for ministry and to build up the body of Christ. When people don't employ the spiritual gifts, they are not using the gifts God has given to them so these gifts tend to get weak because and this ends up affecting the church as a whole.

He produces this fruit when we walk with Him, are being led by Him, and are conformed to Him. When we give in to the Spirit's will then transform us and allow the fruit to manifest and be fruitful in us. The theological term used to identify this process is called sanctification. A person who has been a "Christian" for years but does not display fruit is a person who has not allowed the Holy Spirit to lead their lives, but rather succumbed to worldly pleasures so that the flesh has taken over them. They are still saved but are not matured in their walk with the Lord and they will be held accountable for that if they continue in their ways. James 2:17-19 King James Version (KJV) "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." It is harsh but it is the truth. It is not good enough to just believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior but we must also team up with the Spirit and allow Him to change us so that we may be used as vessels of honor to glorify God.

If we walk in the Spirit and yield to Him, then worldly desires or fleshly things won't entice us and we won't feel the need to go after them because our eyes will be set on God. He restrains us by guiding us in the right path and leading us in the way that we should go. The Spirit tells us to serve God and love Him and we need to adhere to it. When we give in to the Spirit, the flesh loses control over us because it is overcome by the Spirit.

"Setting the mind on the things of the flesh" is to have worldly desires or to be conformed to this world. Instead we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds and "set our minds on the things of the Spirit." By having a relationship with the Spirit and yielding unto Him, He will help us to not think carnally. To have your mind "stayed" on Jesus means to focus on Him and Him alone. First we have to make the decision have Him be the center of our attention and all other things will fall into place. It requires a lot of will-power. However, since we are mere humans we have the tendency to succumb to the flesh so we need to ask God for the strength, to give us that willpower. The Spirit assists us in every walk of life and helps us in everything. This can be a habit but it also should be our way of life.

Paul says that the "sinful nature" or "the flesh" is of Satan and is a human's tendency to sin. Satan tries to control us by tempting us and taking over bodily desires. But Jesus died for us so that we would be delivered from it. While living on the earth, it is not completely eradicated but rather "God replaces the old "operating system" (the sinful nature, the flesh), with a new "operating system," the Holy Spirit." By yielding to the Holy Spirit, we can be victorious over sin.

He may not always come like that, but He often does. When a believer accepts Christ, God pours out His Holy Spirit on them and fills them. When the time is right or God wants to work through the believer, the Holy Spirit comes upon them and they start to prophesy. The people saved in the New Testament are also filled with the Holy Spirit. When a new believer accepts Jesus and then receives the Holy Spirit into their lives, then the Holy Spirit starts working through them.

At the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon 120 apostles and filled them and they started speaking in tongues. "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them." (Acts 2:3) The word analogies used to describe this phenomenon are: 1. Baptize (Acts 1:5) 2. Come upon (Acts 1:8) 3. Filled (Acts 2:4) 4. Pour out (Acts 2:17-18, 33) 5. Receive a gift (Acts 2:38) 6. Promise (Acts 2:39, cf. 2:33) Yes the word analogies are used synonymously with others in Acts 2. Jews from foreign lands heard the Gospel being preached in their own language and some were amazed but some mocked them. "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy." (Acts 2:17-18, quoting Joel 2:28-29) Peter understands that this is God pouring His Spirit on the apostles.

Peter and the believers are "filled with the Holy Spirit" in that they are empowered by the Spirit to testify and serve God. They are "re-filled" but not in the way one fills an empty glass but rather in the way that they get fresh "fillings" from the Spirit. Yes a believer can have many "fillings" because living in a corrupted world can turn one's heart away from God and continuous fillings form the Holy Spirit will enable a believer to stay strong in the Lord.

John needs to remind us that we have "overcome" the world because sometimes we are not aware of the Spirit living in us and we succumb to the world. So John reminds us and tells us that "greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world." Which means through Christ we can overcome Satan. No, it is not. The power of the Holy Spirit is the same, but the Apostle Paul exercised his spiritual gifts. There are many factors such as jealously, unbelief, fear, etc.

The Holy Spirit as a "seal of ownership" proclaims to the world that we are marked by God and that we are children of God. This seal enables us to know that we belong to God and no one can take us away from Him. The Spirit as a "down payment" teaches us that as we continue in our spiritual walk, He will continue the work He has started in us. The full payment is made on the day Jesus comes to take us to heaven, or on the day of the Rapture. The Spirit as an "anointing" teaches us that God has set us apart for His service, for us to be a witness for Him.