Igniting The Spirit Of God
7-3-2011
1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit.
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Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
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The Spirit of God desires to do a work in us! The Spirit of God has words of life and hope to share with us. We have been commanded from the Word of God not to quench the Spirit. We want to ignite the Spirit and flirt, if you will, with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God can be grieved and quenched and the purpose of God can be missed. It is time for the church to come into intimacy with the Spirit of God.
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John 16:7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 "of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 "of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 "of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
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The Holy Spirit has been sent into the world with specific purpose, it is a tri-fold purpose! He has come to convict sinners of their sin. He has come to convict believers of righteousness. Finally, He has come to convict the world that Satan has been judged. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and He completely fulfilled His calling. Now the Helper (the Holy Spirit) comes to convict and convince.
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The Holy Spirit is gentle. He will not come where He is not welcomed and He will withdraw when He is grieved. We have been commanded to grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. We ask God to come in His strength and power and yet there are actions we can do that make us repel God’s Spirit; there are also things we can do to become that sweet smelling savor and aroma God loves.
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As I was praying I felt compelled to warn against a spirit of complaint. A spirit of complaint can grieve and quench the Spirit of God!
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Philippians 2:14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
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Disputing and complaining can disrupt the moving of God quickly. It grieves and quenches the Spirit of God. If the enemy of your soul can keep you complaining about the circumstance he can hold you in defeat. A complaining spirit robs saints of a thankful heart. Murmuring and complaining stops the Spirit of God in His tracks. Ask God to let you begin to see circumstances and people around in the way that He sees them.
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If your actions are continually ordered by the complaint of your heart you will walk in misery and despair. Doing all thing without murmuring or complaining is not just a holy suggestion. If the purpose of God is going to be fulfilled we must learn to live a life of thankfulness and praise to God.
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2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
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Our actions need to be compelled by the love of Christ. It will makes us consider one another differently. It is time for the body of Christ to see one another after the Godly point of view instead of according to the flesh.
As I was praying I felt the Spirit of God encourage to warn against speaking evil of His leadership. Our words of judgment for the men and women of God have come so easily; and yet complaining against God’s leadership can grieve and quench the Spirit of God.
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Acts 23:2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?" 4 And those who stood by said, "Do you revile God's high priest?" 5 Then Paul said, "I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'"
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Paul was cognitive of the truth to not speaking evil against God’s leadership. The leadership in this case was doing wrong. The high priest Ananias command Paul to be struck against the command of the law. Even in this case when Paul realized he was the high priest Paul corrected his own words against the priest. The words of our mouth can certainly bring us life or death. Speaking against God’s ordained authority is a way to grieve the Holy Spirit and quench His moving among us and through us.
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When Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses it grieved God. God required Aaron and Miriam to repent. The Song of Solomon brings us the wisdom that the small foxes can spoil the vine. If we desire to God to move and have His way in us, we need to pay attention to the damage the small fox can do to make the vine fruitless and barren.
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God had anointed David as king yet David refused to do harm to the appointed King Saul. David waited on the timing of God and respected the backslidden king Saul. If you will humble yourself God will exalt you.
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Our hearts must be open to the voice of God and we must be careful to walk in all He shows us. The Spirit of God can be grieved and quench; however the Spirit of God can be flirted with or if you prefer ignited in our lives.
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Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
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Here in Acts 4, they were having a prayer meeting; Praising and worshipping God brought a mighty move of the Spirit. Where they assembled was shaken. Not just one or two of them but they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
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Acts 16:23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." 29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.
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If you are grieving and quenching the Spirit of God you will not be able to see the hand of God at work in the most unpleasant circumstance. What a testimony in Acts 16. Paul and Silas were beaten with many stripes. What would have happened if they were walking in the spirit of complaint? "Oh God how can you do this to us your servants?" "God I feel so bad, here I am doing what you asked me to do and now all I have to show for it is these stripes on my back and these chains holding me shackled". "God how come?" "Why God why?" "If you were truly God you would not have left me here in the prison!" The complaints did not happen! Instead they began to pray and sing hymns to God. Oh that we would subscribe to praising and worshipping God on our bad days. So many of us call and tell all our friends what a terrible days we had. Oh the missed opportunities. Here Paul and Silas were chained and in the deepest part of the prison. Their praise and prayer affected every prisoner that night. Their praise and prayer affected the warden and his whole house was saved. Oh that our hearts would become careful not to grieve or quench the Spirit of God. We miss our victory moments because we respond to bad circumstances with our spirit of complaint and murmuring.
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1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us; eternal life.
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The anointing we have received from God keeps us abiding in Christ. A spirit of complaint can easily lead us into depression and a giving into our own lust and desires.
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2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
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Saint of God, His divine power has given us everything we need for the issues of life! We can praise and we can worship at all times because of the divine influence God has given to us. The power of God to live in godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue is the gift. What He has bestowed upon us qualifies us to become partakers of the divine nature. Do you dare believe you can be a partaker of the divine nature? If you want to fan into flame the Spirit of God working in your life, believe what Jesus did at the cross makes you a partaker of His divine nature. Denying this truth is grieving the Holy Spirit. God’s divine power has allowed us to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust! It is time for the church to arise and see itself as free from sin. He who the Son sets free is free indeed! It only comes by trusting in the finished work of the cross! Through Jesus Christ obedience many are made righteous. You can add to the virtues God has put in you by nurturing the truth of the work He has done. Those who will not nurture all that God has put in them has forgotten they were cleansed from sins. If any man be in Christ he is a new creation. Old things passed away and behold all things have become new. You don’t have to go get it; you were created in true righteousness and holiness. Now add by nurturing those things God has put in you. Make the Spirit of God joyous by delighting in His mighty working.
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