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1
Working Of The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is described by Jesus as the Spirit of Truth, and The Comforter.
Jesus told His disciples what the role of the Holy Spirit would be.
Jesus said:
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. Jn. 14:26
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. Jn. 16:13
Four things the Holy Spirit does for us:
- HE will teach us all things
- HE will remind us of all Jesus has said to us
- HE will guide us into all truth
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How does the Holy Spirit do this?
Sometimes HE will bring a thought to our minds, usually a gentle thought. Sometimes it almost gets past us it is so gentle. Sometimes it does slip past us, but when that happens I find HE repeats that thought again and often that same thought will come to my mind over and over until I stop and pay attention to that thought.
Sometimes God will give us a dream showing us what to do or what not to do or what someone else is doing.
Always the Holy Spirit speaks what HE hears from the heart of God, never of HIMSELF.
Paul explains:
I Cor. 2 ... 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.
Just as the spirit inside us knows what we are really thinking, The Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God concerning us and those issues which pertain to us on this present earth. The Spirit of God often brings thoughts to us to show us the will of God for us as we deal with the problems and the decisions of this present life.
When we know the will of God as we are trying to decide what to do, we are greatly helped and comforted ... This is the role of the Holy Spirit ... To help and to comfort the believer as we live on this earth as children of God.
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After we are born again, we want to do what is right in the sight of God ... But what is right?... This is what the Holy Spirit shows us.
Examples:
I was dealing with a very hostile woman. She was angry with me and refused all apologies I offered to her. I went to her house to try to talk with her. She would not answer her door. I called her on the telephone. She answered the phone and told me she was not at all interested and hung up.
She lives across the street from me.
A few years later, I had ordered firewood and was waiting outside my garage for the delivery truck. It happened that this woman was waiting in her driveway for someone to pick her up. When the delivery man driving the truck saw her, he thought that was where he was supposed to deliver the wood so he pulled into her driveway. She was furious!
I thought about writing her a note apologizing, but before doing this I prayed, and the Holy Spirit reminded me of a scripture and by that scripture I knew exactly what God wanted me to do in this matter.
Mt. 15 ... Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
So I let her alone, doing nothing.
Years later, I was reading Romans 1 and the word "implacable" stood out to me.
Romans 1 ... And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, 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, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
When I looked this word up in dictionary to see what it meant, and read the following definition, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the irrational dealing of this neighbor.
Implacable: opposed to someone in a very angry or determined way that cannot be changed
The Holy Spirit guided me into all truth about this issue so I would understand what was happening and not be swept away of the evil in people in the end times.
This woman identifies herself as a Christian, faithfully attending a Methodist church, but she refuses all reason and continues to go in a path of destruction as she exhibits irrational hatred against another Christian.
It is incredible!
But when we hear from the Holy Spirit, as in this case, and know the truth from God's view, it is very helpful to us in causing us to endure the situation.
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In the above example, the Holy Spirit guided me into all truth, as Jesus said Holy Spirit would do. Jn. 16:13
First, Holy Spirit drew my attention to that word "implacable", in Romans 1.
Then when I looked up this word in dictionary and saw the meaning of this word, Holy Spirit reminded me of this woman and the situation, showing me all truth. Jn. 14:26
This is the way the Holy Spirit works inside the believer to help us and deliver us in difficult times.
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I was given a dream showing I needed to leave my house but I could not go out through my cousin's house.
I had been living in the city where my mother lived to take care of her.
After she died, my cousin wanted me to move to the city where she lived with husband and two adult aged sons. She said the "boys" would be such help to us.
But being warned by God and instructed by God in that dream, I moved to another town, 350-miles away from my cousin.
Her husband ended up dying. One of the sons showed himself to be very difficult. When my cousin wanted him to come change a light bulb for her, he didn't do it until she threatened to get on a ladder and do it herself. (She is partially crippled.)
God knows all truth and warns us by HIS Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
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A man in our little church group, was considering building another storage building to use to store his "stuff".
The Holy Spirit brought the following thought to his mind.
"Why don't you just get rid of the stuff?"
Wisdom from God!
This man was in early 70's and a very few years after this had a serious heart attack and was partially paralyzed. He was in no position then to deal with "stuff".
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Pam Padgett, in our church group, received a call from her niece telling her that her mother was seriously ill and in hospital.
Pam prayed, asking God: "What do YOU want me to do?"
(The flesh would immediately rush to the town in another state where her mother lives.)
After prayer, Pam heard by the Holy Spirit that her mother had all the help she needed, and for Pam to go to the place where her mother lives would be like stepping into a hill of fire ants.
Pam did not go there. The mother recovered. It turned out the mother had all the help she needed.
God spares us from many troubles our flesh would readily jump into.
Later when Pam's dad was ill, again Pam prayed and was shown not to go there.
The mother is devout Catholic.
I could see Pam being there in hospital room when a Catholic priest came in to visit her dad.
When I told Pam, she exclaimed: "I didn't think of that!"
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God by the Holy Spirit shows us many things pertaining to our life on this present earth. But the Holy Spirit does not force us to do that which HE reveals to us. It is up to us to recognize what Holy Spirit is speaking and pay attention to what HE says to us.
How do we recognize the wisdom that is from God?
God's yoke is easy. HIS burden is light. Mt. 11
The wisdom that is from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be administered, full of mercy, without deception of any kind. James 3
If we are striving with another person, we are dealing with "confusion and every evil work" so it is very difficult for us to see clearly in such moments. To do anything is likely to result in bad fruit. We must work instead to settle the matter with God and clear our heart with God. James 3
So when something is difficult to do and expensive, I know I do not have God's plan.
For example: To go all over the world and preach the gospel would be very difficult by airplane, and expensive and tiring. Instead, God sends me all over the world to exhort the people in the way of God daily through our blog and by books on Amazon. It costs nothing to do this, and I do it without leaving my home! (I am almost 80-years-old at the time I am writing this.)
God's way for us is often difficult for us to see ... until HE opens our eyes!
Then we see how different HIS way is from what we imagined.
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