Do you find it tough to keep God's commandments or God's laws? Don't feel all alone. It is totally impossible to succeed by yourself, and God doesn't expect you to. You need help! But to whom should you turn to ? God the Father is in heaven and so is God the Son. You need a friend here and now, and the person of the Trinity that is dwelling on earth is the Holy Spirit. He is the one you desperately need to know.
If you are to take a survey and as Christians what they wanted most from God, the answer would likely be: "I want God to be happy with me." And that is what the Lord promised the prophet Ezekiel. God said: "I will not hide My face anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel" (Ezek. 39:29, NKJV).
When the Holy Spirit becomes a part of your life
The moment the Holy Spirit becomes a part of your life, God will begin to look in your direction. His face will begin to shine on you. The Father's great desire is that you receive Him, be filled with Him, and have fellowship with Him. It makes Him happy.
Just begin to read the Book of Acts, and you'll sense what God had planned. The apostles had a tremendous relatioship with the Holy Spirit and the evidence is recorded in every page. But perhaps more inspiring is the fact the "acts" continue to happen - even today.
What transpired in the Upper Room should have been no surprise. Before He ascended to heaven, Jesus Himself told His followers not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the gifts His Father promised: "... for John truely baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5).
Christ even described what it would be like and how it would change their lives: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit had come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
The coming of the Holy Spirit
Just as real as the coming of Jesus to earth, so was the coming of the Holy Spirit. Just as the prophets predicted the Messiah, so did they foretell the coming of the Holy Spirit. Hundreds of years before Christ, God told Joel: "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see vision, and also on My menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days" (Joel 2:28, 29).
The Holy Spirit came with a mighty entrance! The sound of a thunderous wind, tongues of fire and a demonstration of God's power. His arrival on earth was nothing short of spectacular!
Luke recorded: "When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven, a sound of rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:1 - 4).
It was exactly as Isaiah had foretold: "For with stmmering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, ..." (Isaiah 28:11).
Now when Jesus was born, the moment was marked by peace and quietness. It was a beautiful night in Bethehem, so clear that the shepherds followed the star to the manger. What a contrast to the powerful noise that accompanied the arrival of the Holy Spirit. I created such a clamor in Jerusalem that "... when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, ..." (Acts 2:6).
The pandemonium of what happened literally was heard all over town because "there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5)
The Word says that when they heard this sound they rushed to the scene in bewilderment "because everyone heard them speak in his own language" (Acts 2:6).
Utterly amazed, they asked: "... are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born" (Acts 2:7, 8)? And when they heard them declare the wonders of God in their own tongues, they asked each other: "What could this mean" (Acts 2:12)?
The beginning of the age of the Holy Spirit
The Spirit's thunderous coming was not scheduled for a temple made of stone. Instead, He came upon one hundred and twenty believers who became the new temple of God.
When Solomon finished his temple he had "one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets" (2 Chron. 5:12). The Scripture records that "The house of the Lord, was filled with cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God" (2 Chron. 5:13, 14).
It happened again in the Upper Room. One hundred and twenty came together and the Spirit of God filled the temple. Why 120? I believe it is the number of the closing of the age of the flesh and the opening of the age of the Holy Spirit. In Genesis, where for 120 years, Noah was building the Ark, the age of the flesh ended. God said: "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years" (Gen. 6:3).
It is precisely for this purpose that the Lord gathered 120 at Pentecost - so that God the Holy Spirit could be released among the nations. It marked the beginning of the age of Spirit.
Observers could not understand what was happening! Some made fun of them and said: "They are full of new wine" (Acts 2:13). But Peter "standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, 'Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel'" (Acts 2:14 - 16).
The 12o were so filled with the Holy Spirit that they could not stand under their own power. The Holy Spirit was so mighty that He took control over the actions of the believers. He was at work changing their speech, their emotions, and their behavior. What Jerusalem witnessed was not drunkenness, but the incredible joy tha comes when the Holy Spirit takes control.
Transformation of Peter
What a transfomation in timid Peter! It brought out the "preacher" in him as he "raised his voice" (Acts 2:14) and spoke with boldness to the growing crowd. But who do you think gave him the words? The captivating message was that of the Holy Spirit - "For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit ..." (1 Thess. 1:5). Yes, the gospel is preached by the Holy Spirit. Remember, the Word says, the Spirit "working with them." He is the one who does the work.
Now watch what begins to happen suddenly in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit gives tremendous authority to those who have received Him. It was three o'clock in the afternoon as Peter and John were going up to temple, and "A certain man lame from his mather's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple" (Acts 3:2).
Turning to the disheveled beggar, "fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, 'Look at us'" (Acts 3:4). It is a marvelous thing to see a man completely given over to the Holy Spirit. Peter was filled with a boldness and power he had never known as he looked deep into the soul of this poor man - right through his eyes.
The beggar knew Peter and John were not playing games. A holy boldness had been vested in the apostles. When Peter said, "Look at us," the man immediately "gave them his attention, expecting to received something from them" (Acts 3:5).
Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, ut what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk" Acts 3:6). He took him by the right hand, helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became stron. "So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them - walking, leaping, and praising God" (Acts 3:7, 8).
Can you imagine the consternation in the temple? The beggar made a mighty entrance of his own! They recognized him immediately and "were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him" (Acts 3:10).
An ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit
The power and authority the apostles received began to touch lives at every turn. Their ministry was followed by "many signs and wonders ... among the people (Acts 5:12). And the result was - "Believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women" (Acts 3:14). The signs that followed the coming of the Holy Spirit led people directly to Christ.
What happened in the Upper Room was not a onetime experience; nor a footnote of history. The Spirit filled believers established an ongoing relation with the Holy Spirit. They continued to be filled. When Peter was called before the Sanhedrin over the healing of the beggar, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?" Peter was "filled with the Holy Spirit" when he spoke (Acts 4:7, 8). Not past ense, but present tense. The word "filled" describes the apostle at that very moment.
New filling with the Holy Spirit
Over and over in Scripture, when followers of Christ are portrayed as "filled with the Spirit," the reference is to a new filling, not to something that happened yesterday or last month.
Peter was so full of the Spirit in the temple that he had authority over his critics. Undaunted, he said: "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to the helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole" (Acts 4:8 - 10).
The power of the Holy Spirit can so infill you that you fear absolutely no one. It is possble to establish such a communion with Him that even addression the leader of a nation would cause no apprehension. The Spirit will lift your head, square your shoulders, and instill in you an unexpected confidence.
An example - Peter the meek became Peter the mighty
Peter was facing more than the priests of the temple. He was actually up against the government of Israel. In fact the night before he was permitted to address the priests, he and John were thrown in jail. But when he spoke, the words were hard-hitting. He told them that the Lord was the "stone which was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone" (Acts 4:11). It was a direct quotation of Psalm 118:22.
Was this the same Peter who, a few weeks before, in the same place, before the same people, had beed cowed by the sneer of a girl and had denied his Master? Now here he was, filled with the Spirit, in utter fearlessness, defying the murderers of Jesus.
It was no longer Peter the meek. It was Peter the mighty. What a change the Spirit made!
So great was his fellowhip with the Holy Spirit that Peter directly challenged Ananias. He said: "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit" (Acts 5:3)? Peter's words and God's actions were so forceful that "great fear came upon all those who heard these things" (Acts 5:5).
Consequences of the closeness and anointing of the Holy Spirit
In the case of Peter
Peter was so close to the Holy Spirit he told his accusers: We are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32).
In the case of Stephen
The Holy Spirit so possed Stephen that when he was brought before the priests: "All who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel" (Acts 7:55).
He is so full of the Holy Spirit that we read this, "But he being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55).
I am convinced there is a point in your relationship with the Holy Spirit when the anointing becomes so heavy on you - His presence so close to you - that you can look up and see a vision of God. That is how real He can become.
In the case of Saul (Paul)
Sau, during his dramatic conversion, had a firsthand experience with the awesome power of the Holy Spirit. As he was on his way to Damascus, breathing out murderous threats against the fellowers of Christ, "suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him: 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me'?"(Acts 9:3, 4)
The Holy Spirit never stops working
From the moment of Pentecost the Holy Spirit began His work on earth, and it has never stooped. The Holy Spirit is an active person. He will even send an angel to you if that is what you have need of. What happens on earth is the Spirit's doing. He is the representative of the Father and the Son.
The Holy Spirit is concerned about your life - even your future. He wants to guide you, protect you, even warn you of what lies ahead.
The Holy Spirit can make all decisions to you. What makes sense to you should also make sense to the Holy Spirit. The Church council at Jerusalem wrote: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us ..." (Acts 15:28). When it is right it will be confirmed by the Holy Spirit, and you will know the direction to take.
The Holy Spirit longs for a daily, ongoing personal relationship with you. He wants to make an entrance - a mighty entrance - into your life.
