The Holy Spirit 8

October 28th

Part 8

This will be the last teaching on the Holy Spirit. I mentioned some of the functions last time. This time I will mention some of the symbols.

THE SYMBOLS:

A. WATER and B. RAIN. We sometimes talk about living water. Look up Zechariah 10:1. It says that we should ask for rain in the time of the latter rain. In Lev.26:4 God says that He would give rain in its season. I have often been singing: “Send me rain!” What we really mean is that the Holy Spirit should come and open the door-gates to heaven. Water is not stationary, nor is the Holy Spirit. We get fresh water from Heaven. If you have been in the mountains and gotten thirsty, you know that no water tastes as good as the water coming down from the mountain. The secret is in the word thirsty. We have to be thirsty for the Holy Spirit. If you do not want Him to come with rain, He does not force Himself on you. He allows you to be in the desert, but He is really longing to fill the deserts with fountains of water, just as the prophet Isaiah writes about. Jesus Himself said that He had water to drink that came from a source that would never run empty. We as Christians have this source inside of us. Do we draw from the fountain of Living Water?

C. THE WIND. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:8 “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In Ecclesiastes 11 we read both about water, rain and wind. In verse 5 we read that we cannot understand the ways of the wind. It says that the wind is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Maybe this is the same that Paul was thinking about when he said that we cannot interpret the Spirit with our mind.

D. OIL. I start with Is. 61 where it is written: ” The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me………” In verse 3 you can see that we should receive the oil of joy for mourning. We can go back to Lev.8.:10 and read that Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it and consecrated them. He took some of the oil and poured over the head of Aaron, anointed him so that he was consecrated. Aaron was set aside to be priest. Also the kings were anointed with oil in the Old Covenant. Elisha the prophet, sent one of His disciples and asked him to anoint Jehu. He poured oil over his head and said: ” Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.” (2.King. 9:6)

In Mark 14 we read about a woman who anointed Jesus with very costly oil of spikenard. Since the oil was extremely expensive, some people got very upset. Jesus said that this woman had anointed His body for the burial.

Oil and cream made of it, cleanses, reduces pain, heals wounds and protects. The oil lubricates the machinery. If we have difficulties in opening a door, we put oil in the key-opening. We use the expression that “The anointing brakes the yoke.” The Holy Spirit brakes the yoke. (Is.10:27) In James 5:14 it says that if anyone is sick, he should call for the elders of the church, and pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. I have myself anointed people with oil in different countries. When I was in India, I saw many children who carried their oil-bottles to the meeting. The bottles were prayed for and they carried them home and anointed their sick relatives and many of them got well.

E. FIRE. When I pray for people, I often pray that the Holy Spirit shall come and burn away what is dry and fruitless or something that the person does not want to keep in her or his life. The fire burns. On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came as tongues of fire and descended on those 120 there. Fire can also mean passion. Are we on fire for God? Fire also causes sanctification.

F. A DOVE. When Jesus was baptized by John, the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. A dove is not very violent, but very graceful.

The Holy Spirit can come in many different ways. We cannot put Him in a box. He can come as a storm, but also as a quite dove. In order to know if it is the Holy Spirit, we have to know the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not any of the symbols, but a Person. Benny Hinn has written a book about the Holy Spirit, called: “Good Morning Holy Spirit.” We can talk with the Holy Spirit. I recently heard a preacher say that he thought a spiritual person was one who knew a lot about the Bible. He changed his mind and thinks to-day that a spiritual person is one who is totally dependant on the Holy Spirit and lives in a close relationship with Him.

We have the expression “poor in the spirit”. I think that means that we are thirsting for more of the Holy Spirit and see our own shortcomings.

Before Jesus left this earth, He said that it was better for His disciples that He left them so that the Holy Spirit could come. Jesus could only be at one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit can be everywhere We can call on Him in India, Norway or Africa. It does’nt make any difference. He is coming when we invite Him to come.

We must never forget that He is in us. That is the difference from the Old Covenant. Then the Holy Spirit came over the kings, priests and the prophets. When a person receives Jesus as His Savior, the Holy Spirit moves into you. You receive a divine nature and become a new creation. When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, you receive power and the gifts can be released. It is God who distributes the gifts. We can not give them to others. When we prophesy, the Holy Spirit gives us the words. When we lay hands on the sick, the Holy Spirit comes with healing. I cannot even heal a fly. When we receive a word of knowledge, we receive it from the Holy Spirit. We cannot take the honor for something that the Holy Spirit has done.

Sometimes we become lazy and Paul said to Timothy in 2.Tim.1:6+7 “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on my hands. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

A gift should not be hidden away in a closet. When we use it, the giver will become very happy. We do not need the gift of discernment in order to understand that it is the devil working when we are depressed and low. The Bible calls it another spirit. Other spirits can be cast out in the name of Jesus.

I have in no way covered everything there is to say about the Holy Spirit, but hope that you have become hungry and desire to get better acquainted with the Person.

LIVE WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT EVERY DAY. TALK TO HIM AND ASK HIM TO HELP YOU TO BECOME MORE LIKE JESUS. USE THE GIFTS HE HAS GIVEN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mother Else