“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17.
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
I gave the world My Son that all who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jesus is My gift to the world, but the Holy Spirit is My gift to those who have been born again, the Church, the Body of My Son on earth. The Holy Spirit is My gift to My children. For as many as receive Jesus, to them He gave the authority to become My children, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of Me. John 1:12-13. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” Acts 5:30-32. He witnesses with My children and as many as are led by My Spirit are My sons, that is, My mature children who are becoming more and more like Jesus, as with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18.
My Son gave you a promise to give you My promise, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17. The world cannot receive Him because they do not see Him or know Him. Unless you are born again you cannot see My Kingdom. John 3:3. And My Kingdom is not a matter of manmade traditions, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is for those who love Me and keep My commandments. “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” 1 John 3:23-24. Do you see? You abide in Me by keeping My commandments and I abide in you by the Holy Spirit. And the more you respond to the promptings and witness of the Holy Spirit in you, the greater the measure of the Spirit Jesus can pour into you from My throne of grace.
Do you not know that you who believe in My Son are My temple and that My Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16. And it is so important that you are aware of this that I ask you a second time, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:6-11. Do you see? Those whose mind is set on the flesh, that is, on just what they see, hear, and feel physically—those who limit themselves to this world only in the depth of their response—are actually hostile to Me for they are not walking by faith and cannot therefore have the veil lifted to see the spiritual world. The flesh is set on death but the spirit is set on life and peace. But I have rescued you out of darkness and translated you to the Kingdom of My beloved Son, in whom you have redemption by His blood into the freedom in which you now stand. If you do not have My Spirit dwelling in you, you do not belong to Me. You have a different spirit, the “god” of this world, and he blinds the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is My image, in seeing Him you see Me. 2 Corinthians 4:4. But when you are born again, the veil is removed. Just as when Jesus died on the Cross, the veil screening off My presence in the Holy of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom, signifying that in Jesus I have opened a new and living way for all to come to Me with confidence for now you are a kingdom of priests in Jesus.
But those who have rejected Jesus do not understand these things, for they cannot as they must be spiritually discerned. “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.’ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-16. Until you are born again, you cannot understand or accept spiritual things, for they will seem foolish to you, but once you are born again you receive My Spirit so that you may know what I have freely given you in Christ.
I am for you (so who can be against you? I am the Most High, the Almighty) and I am with you, but more than that, I am in you. And I have poured My love into your heart through the Holy Spirit whom I have given to you who believe. And I am love. You have not received the spirit of the world, but My Spirit. By My Spirit I dwell in you and by one in the same Spirit so does Jesus. Do you see now why I tell you to fear nothing, that you are an overcomer, for “greater is the One who is in you than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
And the more you obey and are sensitive to My Word as you renew your mind, the more you will be aware of the indwelling Spirit abiding with you. “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.’” John 14:23. Again you see, My Spirit is for those who obey My Word. Why? They are the ones who will listen and be led to be fruitful in good works for the profit of all. Kingdom builders even now. “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!’ Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.” Zechariah 4:6-9.
And here you see the prophet Zechariah operating in another facet of the manifold grace I give you in the Holy Spirit. The Word of Wisdom and the Word of Knowledge. The Holy Spirit is My gift that Jesus came to give you, and once you are indwelt by My Spirit, He comes upon you for ministry and He gives a variety of gifts that He bestows upon each one of the members of the Body of Christ for the benefit of all. My Gift gives you gifts. Jesus is My gift, and He gave you My promise as a gift, and My gift gives you gifts, and through those gifts you bless and benefit all. I bless you to be a blessing. “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:37-39. Here again you see that the gift of the Holy Spirit is for those who believe in Him and once you have received it, and you see it is by drinking from the rock of Christ that you become so full within that it pours out to bless a thirsty world.
Now, there are three things in the New Covenant that I tell you I do not want you to be unaware of, that is, in ignorance of. First, that you are indwelt by My Spirit in your own body, you are a temple of the Holy Spirit in the innermost part of your being, that is, in your born again spirit you access Me by My Holy Spirit within you at all times. Second, of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit and their operation in your life, I even tell you to earnestly desire them. And third, that you not be unaware of the tactics and schemes of the devil. And that has to do with the gifts of the Spirit in the discerning of spirits and seeing into the spiritual realities all around you. So all three things that I counsel you to know and not be unaware of have to do with being aware of and utilizing the Holy Spirit that I have given you in your life twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. In fact, Jesus promises you that “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.” The gift of My Holy Spirit is forever. This gift unites you as one with Me. Like Me. “The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” 1 Corinthians 6:17.
And if you read in the Book of Acts, which is all about the Holy Spirit’s activity in and upon the first believers, starting with Pentecost upon the 120 and then on to 3,000 new believers that day and moving out to more and more believers, who would believe, be saved, and receive the awesome gift of the Holy Spirit. And the disciples were continually filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:52. And you will find in the Book of Acts that the Holy Spirit is quoted as speaking directly to believers. As He still does but He sounds just like Me, as does Jesus. We are One. And so are you in us. And as you get to know My Spirit better, your words and ways will sound and look like us too. Powerful. Remember? “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.” Acts 4:13-14.
And tomorrow we will begin Life Lessons on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The nine gifts for ministry. “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware.” 1 Corinthians 12:1.
I love you so much that I give you My Spirit to be in you and with you forever. Be aware of Him in you and on you. Promise Me that when you have a problem, a question, a project to do, a paper to write, a decision to make, or just want to know the best action to take or the best words to say to someone needing advice, that you would remember that My Spirit, the wonderful counselor, is within you and ask Me for the answer, the advice, the best way to take, the right words to say, and I will answer, and usually with a Scripture that is right on point. And My Spirit enlightens the passage to you so you understand how it applies to your situation. Be mindful of Me in all your ways and I will direct your paths. “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” Psalm 143:10.
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.” Ezekiel 36:25-30.