New book coming in September
Dreams, Visions, Angels, and The Holy Spirit
Joan Boney
Ephesians 1:12-14 That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.
*****
It is the Holy Spirit of God that speaks the word of truth to each of us.
Five-thousand people could be listening to a preacher. To one person in that 5000, the Holy Spirit might rise up and say, "This pertains to you." Or the Holy Spirit just sets that person on fire by the Word being spoken by the preacher. The other 4999 people sitting there with him might just sit there, doing nothing. (In such cases, The Holy Spirit is not speaking to the masses but only to that one person.) But that one person is electrified by the Holy Spirit of God. And by that work of the Holy Spirit speaking to us individually, we are saved, born again, changed forever.
After writing this, I told God I didn't know if there was an example of this concept in Bible, and immediately Holy Spirit reminded me of Paul. (Acts 9 & Acts 26)
After writing this, I told God I didn't know if there was an example of this concept in Bible, and immediately Holy Spirit reminded me of Paul. (Acts 9 & Acts 26)
On the road to Damascus, God spoke to Saul (Paul). Notice there were other people there at that time. This was a message to Paul, not to the others. Jesus was putting Paul into the ministry according to following:
Ephesians 4, after Jesus arose ... 8 When HE (Jesus) ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men ...
11 And HE gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Paul explains to king Agrippa:
Ephesians 4, after Jesus arose ... 8 When HE (Jesus) ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men ...
11 And HE gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
(Jesus
appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus and set him into the ministry
after Jesus arose, after the crucifixion and resurrection. Though the
others traveling with Paul heard a voice, they didn't see Jesus as
Paul did, for Jesus was calling Paul (not the others who were with
Paul). Acts 9:7)
Paul explains to king Agrippa:
Acts 26:9-17 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And I said, Who art thou, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in ME.
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And I said, Who art thou, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in ME.
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
*****
I love The Holy Spirit.
I have so much experience with The Holy Spirit, thanks to God in
teaching me about the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Thus, I call this chapter, "The Holy Spirit and I".
*****
I was born again in 1975.
I had been staying at the home of my best friend and her husband, while I recovered from an operation.
They had several books in their library, religious books, one of which had to do with the subject of sin. As I was reading that book the Holy Spirit spoke to me in a very gentle voice and said, "Joan, you know those mistakes you've been making all these years? Those weren't mistakes. Those were sins."
I was very shocked!
I knew I was making mistakes along the line, but I had no idea they were sins until the Holy Spirit spoke this to me.
This was "the word of truth" spoken to me that night by the Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Truth ... and it was the word which I believed and thereby was the word of my salvation, and with that word I was born again and sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, WHO would then live in me and teach me and guide me that I would be able to know the way to go on the present earth.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
***
There are many words of truth in the Bible and from the Holy Spirit of God, and we have our salvation in specific words given by God which HE delivers to us by HIS Holy Spirit.
We are born again by that word of truth spoken by the Holy Spirit when we agree with that word.
Then we are sealed by God with the Holy Spirit who then lives in us.
And for the remainder of our lives the Holy Spirit speaks the word of truth to us by bringing us
thoughts which contain the words of truth so we will know the way of God as we deal with problems throughout this life.
Without the word of truth given by the Holy Spirit we would flounder as the people of the world, making many godless decisions and dwelling in many godless concepts.
It is important for us to recognize those thoughts given by The Holy Spirit for that is God speaking to us to show us what to do.
I have seen a situation where a woman in our little church group rejected the ideas brought by the Holy Spirit and went her own ways over and over until finally the Holy Spirit was removed from her and she was left with a reprobate mind, a mind without God's judgment.
Then she could no longer see her own sin for the Holy Spirit was not there to convince her of sin when she committed sin.
When I would confront this woman, she would often say to me, "I thought of that." But she didn't choose to go that way. Thus she sat aside the way spoken by the Holy Spirit and went another way. She did this many times. Finally she couldn't see she had done wrong. This showed me a woman who once had the Holy Spirit who no longer had the Holy Spirit but had been turned over to a reprobate mind, a mind without the Spirit of God, thus a mind void of God's judgments, no longer to see certain sins she was committing. After 40 years of being with us, she was no longer with us.
But I still have hope for this woman for she once did me a big favor and I feel the following scripture pertains to her.
Mark 9:41 Jesus said: For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in MY name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
***
Paul speaks of being turned over by God to a reprobate mind in the following scripture.
Romans 1:28-32 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
(God spoke to them but they preferred to go another way, much as Balaam preferred to go another way for the reward a human could give him. Numbers 22)
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Paul says ...
II Corinthians 13:5-6 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
***
There are many words of truth in the Bible and from the Holy Spirit of God, and we have our salvation in specific words given by God which HE delivers to us by HIS Holy Spirit.
We are born again by that word of truth spoken by the Holy Spirit when we agree with that word.
Then we are sealed by God with the Holy Spirit who then lives in us.
And for the remainder of our lives the Holy Spirit speaks the word of truth to us by bringing us
thoughts which contain the words of truth so we will know the way of God as we deal with problems throughout this life.
Without the word of truth given by the Holy Spirit we would flounder as the people of the world, making many godless decisions and dwelling in many godless concepts.
It is important for us to recognize those thoughts given by The Holy Spirit for that is God speaking to us to show us what to do.
I have seen a situation where a woman in our little church group rejected the ideas brought by the Holy Spirit and went her own ways over and over until finally the Holy Spirit was removed from her and she was left with a reprobate mind, a mind without God's judgment.
Then she could no longer see her own sin for the Holy Spirit was not there to convince her of sin when she committed sin.
When I would confront this woman, she would often say to me, "I thought of that." But she didn't choose to go that way. Thus she sat aside the way spoken by the Holy Spirit and went another way. She did this many times. Finally she couldn't see she had done wrong. This showed me a woman who once had the Holy Spirit who no longer had the Holy Spirit but had been turned over to a reprobate mind, a mind without the Spirit of God, thus a mind void of God's judgments, no longer to see certain sins she was committing. After 40 years of being with us, she was no longer with us.
But I still have hope for this woman for she once did me a big favor and I feel the following scripture pertains to her.
Mark 9:41 Jesus said: For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in MY name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
***
Paul speaks of being turned over by God to a reprobate mind in the following scripture.
Romans 1:28-32 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
(God spoke to them but they preferred to go another way, much as Balaam preferred to go another way for the reward a human could give him. Numbers 22)
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Paul says ...
II Corinthians 13:5-6 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sins.
Without the Holy Spirit, we are not convicted. We have no idea we have sinned, although we may know something is wrong.
This is one of the works of the Holy Spirit, to convince us of our sins.
After I heard from God that my mistakes were actually sins, August 5, 1975, I was changed immediately, born again by God's Spirit.
II Corinthians 5:17 if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
I left my best friend's house that morning, and as I walked past her I said, "Oh by the way Donna, I don't think I was a Christian before now." And I just kept walking on toward my car.
Donna excitedly shouted out to me, "Joanie ... wait, come back. What did you just say?"
I said, "Well ... I don't think I've been a Christian until now."
Donna, who was raised as a Baptist, knew that something was wrong with me, though I thought I was a Christian before this had happened. I had gone forward at a church. I had been baptized, immersed in water. I had done the things they told me to do at church.
But the Holy Spirit was not there to convict me of my sins until this incident approximately 20 years later at Donna's house.
After that, I thought because I was reading that book I was saved. So I went to the book store and bought copies of that book for everyone I knew and sent that book to them. I did not realize that I was saved by God by His Spirit. I thought the book saved me.
I have heard so many people say that they were saved at the meeting of an evangelist. And they in turn have tried to get everyone to go hear that evangelist thinking he saved them. (And sometimes I think the evangelist thinks he saved them!)
I made exactly the same mistake, thinking I was saved by that book.
God chose to reveal sin to me at the exact moment I had been reading that book. But it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me to convict me of my sin, and not the book.
So know that it is God saving us by His Spirit by HIS will.
Romans 9:10-16 when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of HIM that calleth;)
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Without the Holy Spirit, we are not convicted. We have no idea we have sinned, although we may know something is wrong.
This is one of the works of the Holy Spirit, to convince us of our sins.
*****
After I heard from God that my mistakes were actually sins, August 5, 1975, I was changed immediately, born again by God's Spirit.
II Corinthians 5:17 if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
I left my best friend's house that morning, and as I walked past her I said, "Oh by the way Donna, I don't think I was a Christian before now." And I just kept walking on toward my car.
Donna excitedly shouted out to me, "Joanie ... wait, come back. What did you just say?"
I said, "Well ... I don't think I've been a Christian until now."
Donna, who was raised as a Baptist, knew that something was wrong with me, though I thought I was a Christian before this had happened. I had gone forward at a church. I had been baptized, immersed in water. I had done the things they told me to do at church.
But the Holy Spirit was not there to convict me of my sins until this incident approximately 20 years later at Donna's house.
After that, I thought because I was reading that book I was saved. So I went to the book store and bought copies of that book for everyone I knew and sent that book to them. I did not realize that I was saved by God by His Spirit. I thought the book saved me.
I have heard so many people say that they were saved at the meeting of an evangelist. And they in turn have tried to get everyone to go hear that evangelist thinking he saved them. (And sometimes I think the evangelist thinks he saved them!)
I made exactly the same mistake, thinking I was saved by that book.
God chose to reveal sin to me at the exact moment I had been reading that book. But it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me to convict me of my sin, and not the book.
So know that it is God saving us by His Spirit by HIS will.
Romans 9:10-16 when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of HIM that calleth;)
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
God reveals HIMSELF to us by The Holy Spirit as HE wills.
***
And God brings truth, by HIS Spirit to us, not just that one time when we were first born again, but we are led through out the remainder of our time on this earth through His Spirit, and truth is brought to our minds as we deal with issues of this life so we can know the will of God and the way to go in the matter at hand.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
The Holy Spirit is one of the greatest gifts of all things given to the church today.
Witnessing of God is sharing that which God has said or has done ... and it is shared when the Holy Spirit brings it to our mind while we are with another person. It is not planned ahead by our own fleshly thinking.
To share this way requires both understanding and discipline. For God does not make us share anything. We learn to yield to the Holy Spirit.
Other spirits might try to force us to share but we know when we are being led as opposed to being driven and forced.
***
More concerning the working of the Holy Spirit:
I Corinthians 2:9-13 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
And God brings truth, by HIS Spirit to us, not just that one time when we were first born again, but we are led through out the remainder of our time on this earth through His Spirit, and truth is brought to our minds as we deal with issues of this life so we can know the will of God and the way to go in the matter at hand.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
The Holy Spirit is one of the greatest gifts of all things given to the church today.
*****
The Holy Spirit never takes
over our bodies. The Holy Spirit never causes us to roll around on the
floor or to jump up and run around the room shouting "Praise God" or any such thing as that.
I Corinthians 14:32-33 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
So we see the Holy Spirit is there to give information that the prophet, in this case, can speak but the Holy Spirit does not make the prophet speak.
Neither does the Holy Spirit make anyone speak. The Holy Spirit brings the truth from God to the mind of the individual and that person can chose to speak what the Spirit has said to him or he can chose not to speak the word.
Through the years, I have disciplined myself to speak as the Spirit gives utterance, to yield myself to God, but HE never forces me to speak.
***
I Corinthians 14:32-33 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
So we see the Holy Spirit is there to give information that the prophet, in this case, can speak but the Holy Spirit does not make the prophet speak.
Neither does the Holy Spirit make anyone speak. The Holy Spirit brings the truth from God to the mind of the individual and that person can chose to speak what the Spirit has said to him or he can chose not to speak the word.
Through the years, I have disciplined myself to speak as the Spirit gives utterance, to yield myself to God, but HE never forces me to speak.
***
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.
The Holy Spirit carries truth from God to the believer, so that we know the will of God in all things pertaining to God. Thereby, we are able to go in this life in the direction God would have us go, serving God and not our own flesh. And we are able to share God's truth after we have heard the word from the Spirit of God.
Acts 1:8 Jesus said to His disciples: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
When God illuminates something to us by HIS Spirit, we then have the power to speak that which God has shown us and then we are witnesses to HIM by sharing that which the Holy Spirit brought to mind.
Shortly after I was born again, in 1975, I was at a copy store. A little old man came up to me and said, "Little lady. You didn't happen to park behind that green and gold car did you?"
I replied, "No sir."
He then asked, "You don't happen to be a Christian do you?"
I excitedly replied, "Well YES ... I Am!"
He then said, "OH, Heck ... I have just joined the witnessing class at First Baptist Church and you are the first person I have chosen to witness to."
He and his witnessing class were trying to do works they thought to be godly by their own fleshly thinking.
***
Another example of fleshly witnessing ...
There was a woman at the bridge center who frequently told new players that she attended Church of Christ. (I'm sure this woman felt she was "witnessing" as she told this.) But this is not witnessing to God and that which HE did, it is just telling where she went to church, what "she" did, not what God did.
Actually by doing this she divided the body of Christ and showed herself to be carnal.
Paul explains.
I Corinthians 3:1-4 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
The Holy Spirit carries truth from God to the believer, so that we know the will of God in all things pertaining to God. Thereby, we are able to go in this life in the direction God would have us go, serving God and not our own flesh. And we are able to share God's truth after we have heard the word from the Spirit of God.
Acts 1:8 Jesus said to His disciples: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
When God illuminates something to us by HIS Spirit, we then have the power to speak that which God has shown us and then we are witnesses to HIM by sharing that which the Holy Spirit brought to mind.
Shortly after I was born again, in 1975, I was at a copy store. A little old man came up to me and said, "Little lady. You didn't happen to park behind that green and gold car did you?"
I replied, "No sir."
He then asked, "You don't happen to be a Christian do you?"
I excitedly replied, "Well YES ... I Am!"
He then said, "OH, Heck ... I have just joined the witnessing class at First Baptist Church and you are the first person I have chosen to witness to."
He and his witnessing class were trying to do works they thought to be godly by their own fleshly thinking.
***
Another example of fleshly witnessing ...
There was a woman at the bridge center who frequently told new players that she attended Church of Christ. (I'm sure this woman felt she was "witnessing" as she told this.) But this is not witnessing to God and that which HE did, it is just telling where she went to church, what "she" did, not what God did.
Actually by doing this she divided the body of Christ and showed herself to be carnal.
Paul explains.
I Corinthians 3:1-4 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
One says, "I am a Baptist." another says, "I am Catholic." Division occurs immediately, depending on those who hear this.
But in truth ... There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism ... and it has nothing to do with all these divisions of church groups.
Godly witnessing is as follows:
God speaks a word to us by HIS Spirit bringing that word to our mind, or God does something with us by HIS Spirit.
Later
we are with another person and we are reminded of that word given us by
God or that thing done to us by God, and we share that with another
person.
This is witnessing by the Spirit of God and not by our own thinking.
Here is an example:
I was visiting with my aunt, a Church of Christ goer..
As we spoke, I heard from the Holy Spirit, "Tell her about being taken into heaven."
I really didn't want to do that!
My experience with Church of Christ is they don't usually take well to supernatural experiences.
But
because I believed the Holy Spirit told me to tell of that experience, I
yielded myself and began to speak, sharing what had happened to me.
I said:
One night as I was sleeping I was transported into heaven. I was with
God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. (I didn't see any figures, it was in
the spirit.) At that time, I was merged into the body of Jesus, made one with the word of God, God and the Holy Spirit witnessing.
A few nights later, the exact same thing happened to me a second time.
As I was speaking this to my aunt, I noticed a dreamy look coming on her face... after I finished speaking she said, "Something like that happened to me once and it was all golden."
Witnessing of God is sharing that which God has said or has done ... and it is shared when the Holy Spirit brings it to our mind while we are with another person. It is not planned ahead by our own fleshly thinking.
To share this way requires both understanding and discipline. For God does not make us share anything. We learn to yield to the Holy Spirit.
Other spirits might try to force us to share but we know when we are being led as opposed to being driven and forced.
***
More concerning the working of the Holy Spirit:
I Corinthians 2:9-13 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
This is all done by The Holy Spirit who lives in us, the believer.
***
In the New Covenant, God chose to work through HIS Spirit with HIS children.
It was not this way in the period of the Old Covenant.
Only a select few, the prophets, in the Old Covenant times, were given the Holy Spirit. The people then went to the prophet in the Old Covenant to see what God had to say about the issue.
But in the New Covenant God gave HIS Spirit to all HIS children so they could hear directly from God, God still used prophets in the NT church as we see in Acts 11:27-30, when God sent Agabus to the church with a message.
Acts 11:27-30 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea: which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
***
But all today, who are of God, are given the Spirit of God in the NT church.
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom HE hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also HE made the worlds;
The Holy Spirit who lives in the believer and guides the believer is the Spirit of Jesus.
Ephesians 1:12-14 That we should be to the praise of HIS glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of HIS glory.
***
In the New Covenant, God chose to work through HIS Spirit with HIS children.
It was not this way in the period of the Old Covenant.
Only a select few, the prophets, in the Old Covenant times, were given the Holy Spirit. The people then went to the prophet in the Old Covenant to see what God had to say about the issue.
But in the New Covenant God gave HIS Spirit to all HIS children so they could hear directly from God, God still used prophets in the NT church as we see in Acts 11:27-30, when God sent Agabus to the church with a message.
Acts 11:27-30 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea: which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
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But all today, who are of God, are given the Spirit of God in the NT church.
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom HE hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also HE made the worlds;
The Holy Spirit who lives in the believer and guides the believer is the Spirit of Jesus.
Ephesians 1:12-14 That we should be to the praise of HIS glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of HIS glory.
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