| A Study in Recognizing/Understanding The Dealings of The Holy Spirit in The Human Heart |
A
Study in Recognizing/Understanding The Dealings of The Holy Spirit in The Human
Heart
1. God
is a Spirit:
John
4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship
him must worship in spirit and truth.”
2 Cor 3:17 "Now
the Lord is the Spirit”
2. Man’s
essence is a spirit enveloped in a soul and a body:
1
Thes 5: 23 “ Now may the God of peace Himself
sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be
preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
3. The
spiritual life occurs primarily in the spirit/heart/inner man
of the person, and it expresses itself through the emotions and mind. It is the
spirit/heart /inner man of the person that the Holy Spirit touches, and we
perceive that through our emotions and our thoughts: (for eg. hand in glove)
Romans 1: 9 “For
God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son.”
4. All Spiritual knowledge
and understanding of the Scriptures occurs by “revelation”, which is interaction/illumination of
our spirit/heart/inner man by the Holy Spirit, and then it expresses itself in
our emotions and thoughts: Spiritual knowledge is not intellectual information
or intellectual knowledge though we perceive it in our emotions and thoughts of
our soul.
A. This “revelation” or “illumination”comes
from the Holy Spirit and is totally outside our own ability. It is an
experience similar to the blind man who could not do anything to see but Jesus
opened his eyes:
John
9:25 “He answered and
said, “.. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
Acts
16:14 “Now a certain
woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of
Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the
things spoken by Paul.”
Luke 24: 45 “
And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the
Scriptures.”
B.This
“revelation” comes from the Holy Spirit in response to our hunger for things of
God:
Matthew 7:7 “Ask,
and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 5:6 “Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be
filled”
C. Bible
verses about “revelation” and its relationship to “knowledge”:
Matthew 16:17 “ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,
for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in
heaven.”
Ephesians 1:16,17”
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit
of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having
the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope
to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in
the saints”
Ephesians 3:16 “..that
He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened
with might through His Spirit in the inner man”
John
10:27 “Mysheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
1 Cor 2:10-15 “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in
him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is
from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us
by God.”
Romans
8:16 “The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are children of God”
John 15:26 “But when the
Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who
proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me
1John 5:10 “He
who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself”
1John
3: 24 : “ … And by this we know that he
abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”
1John 2:27 “But
the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not
need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you
concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it
has taught you, you will[e]
abide in Him”
John 16:13-14 “However,
when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;
for He will not speak on His own authority,
but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14
He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you”
5. Biblical
examples of interaction between the Holy Spirit and the human
spirit/heart/inner man, and how we perceive/feel it:
Genesis 6:3 “Then the LORD said, “My
Spirit shall not strive in[a]
man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120
years.”
James 4:5 “Or do you think that
the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?”
1John 3:19-21“And
by this we know[d]
that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20
For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows
all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we
have confidence toward God”
Exodus
35:21“Then
everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was
willing, and they brought
the LORD’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its
service, and for the holy garments”
1Ezra
1:1 “Now in the first year
of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah
might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of
Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying”
Haggai
1:14“So the LORD stirred up the
spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the
spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit
of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of
the LORD of hosts, their God”
6.We need time in prayer and
studying the Scriptures, as well as practice to grow in discernment:
Hebrews 5: 13 “For
everyone who partakes only of
milk is unskilled in the word
of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to
those who are of full age, that is,
those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil.”
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