You should allow The Holy Spirit to lead and teach you day by day
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)
“But the counselor, The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”(John 14 :26)
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
“When you receive Christ as your Saviour, The Holy Spirit actually enters your life and indwells your body. Your body becomes the temple of God’s Spirit, and He becomes deeply involved in your life day by day.” (1 Corinthians 6: 19)
HOW DO YOU OPEN UP TO THE HOLY SPIRIT?
How can we open up to the Holy Spirit and receive Him in fullness, and through Him receive all the blessings promised of God? We will take a look at a number of scriptures which state the conditions we need to satisfy in order to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
REPENT AND BE BAPTISED
Acts 2: 37-38 is the end of Peter’s talk on the day of Pentecost and it gives the response of the people to his message:
“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”Acts 2:37-38
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
There is a promise, we have, that we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Two Foundational Requirements: Repent and be Baptised:
• Repentance means to turn sincerely from all sinfulness and rebellion and submit ourselves without reservation to God and His requirements.
• To be baptised is to personally and visibly identify with Jesus Christ His death, burial, and resurrection. So, there are two basic requirements for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit: we must repent, and we must be baptised.
ASK GOD FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT
“So, I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13)
This is a very simple condition but a very important one. Jesus says the Father will give the Holy Spirit to His children if they ask for Him the Holy Spirit.
Some people say they do not have to:
ASK GOD FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT
That is not scriptural. Jesus was speaking to His disciples and He said “The Father will give you the Holy Spirit if you “ASK” for it.
Another condition is to:
ASK AND BE THIRSTY
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.” (John 7:37-39)
Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
The author of the gospel makes it clear that in this passage Jesus was talking about believers receiving the Holy Spirit. With that in mind, let us look at what Jesus said. “If a man is thirsty, let Him come to me and drink. “
THESE ARE SIMPLE BUT PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS:
COME TO JESUS
“If you are thirsty,” He, “said come to Me.”
Jesus is the Baptiser in the Holy Spirit. If you want baptism, you must come to the ONE who baptises in the Holy Spirit. No human being baptises in the Holy Spirit, only Jesus.
DRINK
Then you must drink. This is so simple some people leave it out. But drinking is receiving something within you by a decision of your will and physical response.
Drinking is actively receiving within you.
YIELD
We want to consider two more relevant facts concerning our physical bodies which we touched on earlier in the other sections. First our bodies are destined by God to be the temples of the Holy Spirit.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God.” (1 Corinthians 6 :19)
“We are required to offer or yield to God the parts of our bodies as instruments for His Service. This is our responsibility.” (Romans 6:13)
“Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” (Romans 6:13)
GODS REQUIREMENTS:
1. Repent
2. Be baptised
3. Ask God
4. Be thirsty
5. Come to Jesus: He is the Baptiser
6. Drink – Receive within yourself.
7. Your heart must be clean of all evil.
8. Present your body as a temple for the Holy Spirit and your body’s members as instruments of righteousness.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus I am thirsty for the fullness of your Holy Spirit. I present my body to you as a temple of God and a vessel for your righteousness Hear me, I pray, and let your Holy Spirit flow through my lips in the rivers of praise and worship.
