The Person of the Holy Spirit

Text: John 14:16
More lessons: Acts 19:1-7
Bible Reading in one Year: Psalms 52-54

So much is said, debated and argued out about the Holy Spirit in discussion blogs, articles, religious seminars, local assemblies and Christian inter-denominational meetings today. It is a rather sad thing to note that throughout church history, the major doctrinal divide that pulled the body of Christ apart stemmed from arguments about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, His gifts, its manifestations and function in the church. We can talk all we want but until we experience the Holy Spirit for ourselves, we can only discuss our opinions, we will never be able to capture the truth about Him. 

It is not opinions, but only the truth that can make us free. I believe that the first real discovery which will set us in motion on our way to the truth about this precious Spirit of God is the realization that beyond the gentle fresh wind blowing on goose bumps, more than the bright and cloven tongues of fire, transcending the white little dove; the Holy Spirit is a person. He has a face. He is real! He is tangible: He can be felt. He can speak. He can hear. He can smile. He can be grieved. He can laugh. 

The Holy Spirit has a great sense of humour. Those who have personal experiences with Him know that He is the best friend anybody can have. Even when you are alone, with Holy Spirit you are never lonely. Many people find it easier to reckon with God the Father and God the Son as persons but when it comes to God the Holy Spirit, they just think He is merely a force or current of wind, a fume of white smoke rising to the clouds, or another explanation for mysterious things. 

This is the reason why many never get it right and end up in vain arguments or apostasy; they want to know about 'it' instead of looking to know Him. Jesus reveals Him as a person in our text ...that He may abide with you forever. He wants to be your consuming passion. He wants to invigorate you with power to walk in your destiny fulfilment. He is the Spirit of Jesus sent to enable us do greater works than Jesus did. No one born of a woman can love like God except by Him the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5. One with the Holy Ghost, is majority. Say YES to the Holy Ghost and never walk alone.

Prayer/Action
*Thank God for the gift of a Comforter, who abides with us forever.
*Ask for grace to personally discover/experience the person of the Holy Spirit.
*Pray that you will not repel the workings of the Holy Spirit in your life.

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Glory Time

Text: John 5:1-10
MORE LESSONS: Jn 1:14 
Bible Reading in one Year: Psalms 49-51

Jesus Christ ministered on earth under the Old Covenant because the New Covenant was not yet enforced when Jesus was on earth. A covenant cannot be ordained until the death of the testator. Therefore until Jesus died on the Cross and rose again, the New Covenant was not enforced. That was why, when He healed people, He would tell them to go tell people and do what Moses commanded them to do because the Old Covenant was still in force. It was an Old Covenant arrangement, and if you look at the first scripture, it says whatsoever disease one had--cancer, HIV/AIDS, leukemia, migraine, fibroid--one should step into the water and one was healed. That was in the Old Testament. If the ministry of death is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of life; if that which passed away was that glorious, what about Jesus? 

The man by the pool had been there for 38 years, and every year, it was hope dashed as he looked forward to the angel staring the water, desired to step into the water and somebody stepped in before he could. So the man went in a circle of hope and depression for 38 years until one day his story changed. Today is your own day. 
Just one day and the glory appeared, glory on two feet, glory personified came and asked him, ...Wilt thou be made whole? And the cripple began to tell stories,...I have no man.... He had been on the same spot for 38 years, no job, no money, no loved ones. It’s success that has relatives, even if he was married, the wife would have gone. 

Jesus answered him, Look at me, I put those arrangements there for your convenience, I don't need an angel or water or man. I don't even need your effort; will you be made whole? I don't need to follow the procedure, I don't need your faith, or your stepping in, I am God, Glory has come. Stop focusing completely on your faith, that could be why the issue lingers. I don't want you to focus on the money or tithe that you give. Don't focus on the help that men have given you but focus on the glory, focus on the King of glory Himself. I don't want you to focus on the challenges of the past 38 years either, how men forsook you, how you have been on one spot, how money has not been there, because right from this moment, the glory is changing your story.

Prayer/Action
* Declare prophetically-Today I shall enter into my season of glory, in Jesus’ name.
* Command your buried glory to manifest by the Word of the Lord.
* As I move out today let me encounter the God of glory in my... (Name it) 
* I shall ride on the wings of glory to overcome every challenge of my life, in Jesus’ name.

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Zealous for the Lord

Text: Num 25:1-13
MORE LESSONS: Exo. 32:22-29
Bible Reading in One Year: Psalms 46-48

Israel had transgressed the law of God by committing sin with the Moabite women. While Moses the servant of God stood on the altar and was rebuking them for the evil they had done, one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman. He probably put his hand round her neck and leaned on her as they walked like they were not concerned with what the man of God was saying, determined to go into the camp to commit sin. Phinehas went after them with a javelin and stabbed them to death. Thereafter, Jehovah turned His anger away from the house of Israel because Phinehas was zealous to avenge unrighteousness on behalf of God. God also made a covenant of a lasting priesthood with him. The zeal and enthusiasm with which you serve God can determine what you get from Him. 

The reason many people are serving God and are not getting a return for their services and giving is because they are not doing such acts zealously. Anything you do for God reluctantly is a waste of time and energy and you will not get a reward. Worse still, you can even incur God's anger and punishment. Be zealous to do right and to serve God.

But it is not just enough to be zealous to do right; you must also be zealous to do something about the wrong that is happening around you. Phinehas took a spear and avenged iniquity. Many of us need to learn a lesson from this. Sometimes while doing things right you see a colleague doing wrong but you don't bother to correct him and thereby you have aided the wrong act. Phinehas was living right; if he was not, he wouldn't be able to correct someone else. But he also didn't stop at just living right, he went ahead to confront wrong. If you see a brother doing wrong and you turn your face the other way or encourage him, you have partaken of the sin. Instead of being tolerated, the sinning person needs to be confronted and corrected. God's blessing to Phinehas was that he and his descendants shall be priests for all times. 

By this one zealous act, Phinehas rescued the nation, distinguished himself and got his unborn children blessed. Some of the blessings we are enjoying today are the products of the zeal of our parents. This is where parents have to pay due attention to their lives. If as parents, being in church three times a week is already a problem, what will the children inherit? This man left an unforgettable heritage for his children; this should be our zealous pursuit in this generation.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that you will serve God in an extraordinary way all your life.
* Pray that the spirit of immorality will not prevail over you.
* Ask God to help you live a consecrated life.
* Pray that you will never be a partaker of sin.

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Signs of Spiritual Exile II

Text: Psa. 137:1-7
MORE LESSONS: Gen 4:16
Bible Reading in one Year: Psalms 43-45

Every time you go into spiritual exile you lose being edified by God’s Word. Therefore you can no longer hear the Word of God and be excited; the joy of being blessed by the Word disappears and the Word no longer impacts on your spirit because there’ s no connection. When others are saying that was a powerful message in a service, do you see the dimension the pastor intends? Are you indifferent? In fact, when a message ends in church, to pray will be difficult because nothing is deposited in you, you feel bored inside church, you are more concerned about the time, asking when the preacher will finish so you can go home. All this shows you are in a spiritual exile, it’s not normal. 

When you are in a meeting where others are busy taking notes and you are sleeping, there is a problem and it may be spiritual. You are in a meeting and you see people responding to the message and to you it doesn't look like anything is happening. In fact, you understand better in your classroom when you sit down to do academic things but in church, you just look around and when at the end, others are praying fervently you yawn and wonder what’ s happening to them; something definitely has gone wrong with you. 

Moreover, an obvious loss of edification and direction attracts confusion, mental and spiritual. How do you know this? You lose the grace to easily know the will of God in a situation and taking decisions becomes difficult. When an unbeliever walked up to you before and said he liked you and would like to go out with you, you let him know that you are a child of God. As soon as he started to speak to you, your spirit connected that he was an unbeliever and you had no business with him. But now, you say okay, I will think about it because you no longer have a check in your spirit when you do the wrong things; you just feel normal in sin. Surely things have gone wrong, but the devil is a liar. 

The powers that have taken you captive are hereby broken. The powers that have carried you away in to exile are broken and revival fire has come your way today, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to examine you and expose to you wherever you went wrong.
* Ask God to give you back any spiritual connection that could be missing in your life, known or unknown to you.
* Pray that you will live a revived Christian life.
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