Tag Archives: holy spirit

Restoring the House

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harmony in the body

In last week’s article, we examined the importance of embracing all the truth that YHVH has revealed. Our failure to receive the truth and employ the gifts Elohim provides has caused division and dissension within the Body of Messiah. Our assignment from YHVH is to build up His Body (Matt. 28:16-20) and prepare ourselves to live in His kingdom (Eph 4:13-15). It is time that we re-consider the gifts and tools that are missing in our lives.

For example, some followers of Yeshua say that speaking in tongues is from the devil. Are they saying that YHVH used a sign from the devil to demonstrate that His Holy Spirit had fallen on the followers of Yeshua? (Acts 2:4, 1 Cor 14:2) Speaking in tongues serves as evidence that we have received the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-47, 1 Cor 14:22). Actually, praying in tongues is a very powerful tool to strengthen the user (Jude 20). We can pray in tongues when we aren’t sure how to pray in our native language (Rom 8:26). We can us tongues to intercede powerfully on behalf of our brothers and sisters (Eph 6:18).

From the very beginning, there has been misunderstanding and misuse of the gift of speaking in tongues. Hasatan wasted no time in working through people’s pride and immaturity to discredit this gift. When we refuse the gift of speaking in tongues or abandon its use, we lose many opportunities to strengthen ourselves and to assist our brothers and sisters in Yeshua.

Healing the sick is suspect among many believers in Yeshua. Yeshua clearly stated that His followers would lay hands on people and they would get well (Luke 10:9). Sometimes we pray for the sick and they don’t recover, so we give up. Does that mean that healing is not for today? Consider Yeshua’s followers who were unable to expel a demon. Yeshua rebuked them for their lack of faith and then proceeded to expel the demon Himself (Matt 17:14-20). The laying on of hands for healing others is part of our commission from Yeshua (Luke 10:9).

The gift of prophecy is also misunderstood by many. Some people believe that because the Bible is now complete and nothing new is being added, that prophecy has ceased. However, the prophets spoke their messages to the intended audience. At some point, they also recorded the message in writing, but first it was spoken and sometimes demonstrated to enhance understanding (Jer 1:17, 2:2; Hos 1:2) Fortunetelling is hasatan’s counterfeit for prophecy. Prophecy is relaying a message from YHVH at His command to individuals or groups of people, sometimes to a whole nation.  We are expected to prophecy as the Holy Spirit leads (1 Cor 14:39).

For everything that comes from YHVH, hasatan has created a counterfeit to try to discredit YHVH and to cause confusion among humans. We must be discerning at all times and we cannot do this without direct assistance from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we need infilling or baptism of the Holy Spirit and we need to be open to His direction at all times. Whatever we truly hear from the Holy Spirit will always line up directly with Scripture. YHVH does not contradict Himself.

Perhaps the most misunderstood and least used gift is deliverance. Hasatan has done an excellent job at persuading us to avoid deliverance because it has such a negative impact on his work. Thus, many people in our culture do not even acknowledge that there are demons. Others believe that demons can only affect non-believers. In addition, there has been and still is unnecessary drama in deliverance sessions. If we ask the Holy Spirit to take charge and follow His guidance, deliverance can be accomplished in a calm and orderly manner.

Most people react with outrage when confronted with the possibility that they may be in bondage to demons, saying something like “I’m a nice person.” That is probably true, but can you picture demons reporting back to their leader with the excuse that “we just couldn’t do it because he is such a nice person? In the physical realm, we can be assaulted or kidnapped by others despite the nature of our character.

Hasatan is well aware of his final outcome since it has already been recorded by YHVH in Scripture (John 12:31, Rev 12:9). The best he can hope for is to take down as many humans as he can while he has the opportunity (2 Cor 4:4).   He is delighted when humans, who were created in YHVH’s image, do anything to mar that image. Hasatan has no pity or compassion, but is the father of lies (John 8:44) who seeks to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). So you are a nice person? Fine, hasatan will take care of that. In fact, he has been seeking opportunities to snag you from the time you arrive on earth.

Can believers be in bondage to demons? Yes! Right after YHVH revealed the Messiah to Peter, hasatan worked through Peter to try to dissuade Yeshua from His mission (Matt 16). Even though Peter spoke the words, Yeshua confronted hasatan.  Consider also the Corinthians, who were born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, yet were still heavily influenced by demons and subject to sin (1 Cor 3, 5). Over the centuries, many denominations and congregations have suffered from the scandalous behavior of their members, sometimes even their leaders.

Lack of trust in YHVH is our biggest barrier to accepting the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Lack of trust stems from our two worst enemies: fear and doubt. Trust is built as we get to know YHVH personally and interact with Him. As we learn to trust Him in small things, we can move on to bigger things.

Hasatan knows the power of YHVH’s weapons and tools. He knows one sure way to thwart YHVH’s plan is to persuade us to relinquish our weapons. If hasatan can convince us that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not from YHVH, but from hasatan, then we will avoid them and think we are doing a very good thing. If he can persuade us to fear or mistrust the most powerful weapons, we won’t be able to use them against him. We will not be effective in building up YHVH’s kingdom. Instead, we will be assisting hasatan in building up his kingdom.

We tend to conform to and become like the god we serve (Ps 115:8). Division, chaos, dissension, mistrust, accusations, self-righteousness are from hasatan. Unity, order, harmony, trust, acceptance and true righteousness are from YHVH. So a Body of Messiah that is riddled with division, confusion, and self-righteous accusations is serving whom? Let us serve YHVH and restore the house that YHVH built by using the gifts and tools He gave to us.

Fountains of Living Waters

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Out of their heart

“for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to fountains of living waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Rev 7:17

In last week’s blog about YHVH’s Feast of Shavuot, I talked about YHVH giving us His written Torah, and then pouring into our hearts the living Torah when He gave us His Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) at Pentecost (Shavuot). In Scripture, water sometimes represents the Holy Spirit. In several passages, YHVH uses the images of living or flowing water, or pouring out of water (see John 54:10-11;7:38, Joel 2:28, Zech 14:8, Rev 7:17). There is even a related scripture where YHVH speaks judgment over His people who have abandoned Him “…,Because they have forsaken the LORD [YHVH], the fountain of living waters.” (Jer 17:13)

Abba is saying that His Holy Spirit is not only active but constantly in motion, inspiring us and empowering us to flow in the gifts that He blesses us with. The clearest scriptural confirmation of this is in John 7:39, right after Yeshua said “If anyone thirsts, let them come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of their heart will continuously flow rivers of living water.” In verse 39, John [Yochanan] commented on Yeshua’s offer to pour out His Holy Spirit on His people when he said: “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Yeshua was not yet glorified.” This passage also reminds us of the most beautiful prophecy about the giving of the Holy Spirit in Joel 2:28: “…I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.”

Yehovah did not want us to miss His prophecies on the giving of the Holy Spirit, so He even wrote this message in the stars. If you grew up in the 60’s, you probably know the worldly (or New Age) significance of the Zodiac sign called Aquarius. Regrettably, the original meaning of this sign has been corrupted by pagan mythology and worldly Greek philosophy. From the original Hebrew name of this sign, “poured forth” or the pourer forth of water”, we can see that YHVH was telling us that He (The Pourer Forth of Water) would in the future be pouring out the Holy Spirit on his children. We now know that this is what happened at Pentecost [Shavuot], which was the fulfillment of Joel 2:28.

As we meditate on the beautiful message in Joel of the One who pours out His Spirit on all flesh, we remember to look to the One who is doing the pouring, and receive from Him what he desires to give us. But receiving this outpouring (or infilling) of Yehovah’s Ruach HaKodesh into our hearts through the baptism of the Holy Spirit is only the first step. How can we be active vessels of His Holy Spirit, allowing the Ruach to flow through us continuously like rivers of living water (John 7:38)? Jeremiah speaks about YHVH’s judgment on His people: “My people have forsaken me, the spring of living water. And they have dug wells, broken wells that can’t hold water.” (Jer 2:13)

Even though we are leaky vessels as imperfect humans, YHVH can use us in powerful ways when we are flowing in the power and gifts of His Ruach [Holy Spirit] within us. An active, functioning well is one that responds when someone primes the pump: the water flows out to those who need it. In the same way, we need to be open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and ready to pour out His living water into the lives of others. The Ruach pours wisdom, gifts, and power into us – we have opportunities every day to use His gifts and power to help and disciple others.  How will you use the living waters of the Holy Spirit to bear fruit in this needy world?

The Fragmented Bride

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Bride of MessiahIn our own spiritual journey, the Holy Spirit has led Peter and me to various congregations and ministries. Each new experience taught us something about living and functioning as members of the kingdom of YHVH. Although we fellowship with various groups and congregations, we continue our search for the one congregation where we are encouraged to put all the newly-acquired pieces together.

 A brief summary of our journey may help to paint this picture more clearly. At one congregation, we learned to love each other unconditionally. However, the Spirit moved us on to another congregation to learn our Hebrew roots so that we might gain a more accurate knowledge of the history of our faith and acquire a better lens through which to understand both Old and New Testaments. Once again the Spirit moved us on to various ministries and congregations in order to understand better how we should be functioning in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. A separate ministry supplied us with a more mature understanding of our spiritual enemies and how to be delivered from bondage to the enemy. Interaction with various other ministries confirmed the message I had received from Father that we were to call Him by His name. While we are grateful for these congregations and ministries, we wonder why each group seems to have part of the truth, but not all of the truth.  After meditating on Acts chapters 2 through 8, I began to realize just how fragmented the Bride of Messiah has become over the centuries.

 The first eight chapters of the Book of Acts paints a very different picture of the living functioning Bride of Messiah. Yeshua’s followers lived together in close proximity to one another sharing all their belongings. As a unit they prayed, praised and worshipped, studied, healed, preached, taught, learned, and shared all their possessions (Acts 2:42-47). Today, we and many others must search from place to place to acquire what we need to be mature contributers to Yeshua’s Bride.

 When did the fragmenting start? Right away, since the majority of Jewish leaders and many of their followers rejected Yeshua as their Messiah. Yeshua’s followers went to the Temple as YHVH commanded in the Torah, but they had to go outside the Temple parameters in order to learn about Yeshua. Although not perfect, the first generation of Yeshua’s followers provided a more complete picture of what the Bride should be. As time went on the Bride became further fragmented as the good news spread and Yeshua’s followers were scattered over several nations. Distance, persecution, poverty and other trials helped to foster misunderstanding, suspicion, and outright abuse or neglect of each other, especially dividing Jews from non-Jews. Constantine’s efforts to unite his massive empire mingled in pagan practices and beliefs, and at the same time sought to eliminate all ties to Jewish or Hebrew roots. Over time empty manmade rites and rituals increasingly replaced true relationship with YHVH.

 At this time, YHVH seems to be restoring the Bride, perfecting her in anticipation of Yeshua’s return. Several congregations that we have met with locally are seeking to restore the missing pieces in their groups. Three Messianic congregations in India have demonstrated for us the most complete example thus far of how the Bride should function. These congregations function according to their Hebrew roots, actively preach and teach the good news of the Kingdom of YHVH, operate daily in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and call the Father by name. They do so in the midst of daily trials and persecution. What about each of us? How are we participating in YHVH”s work to restore the fragmented Bride?

What Is Wrong with Church?

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Bride of Messiah

Scripture has much to say about fellowship among followers of Yeshua. Many people have construed passages such as Heb 10:24-25 and 1 Pet 2:5 to urge us to join a congregation. For centuries people have sought fellowship in church, seeking community, accountability, support and encouragement. However, currently there are multitudes of believers fleeing the established church setting. Why?

 Scripture exhorts us to meet together, to support and encourage one another, to call one another to account and to be accountable to others, to bear one another’s burdens, and so on. While it is true that we need to do these things, it is not necessarily true that a church setting is the best environment to foster such activities. In fact, traditional church practices often hinder or discourage people from following Scripture’s mandates. Here are some examples of how we can lose focus in a church setting:

 Focus shifts to a human agenda rather than the Holy Spirit’s agenda. We can get caught up in our programs and projects and lose sight of our true mission (John 3:6-8; Acts 8:39; 1 John 5:6; John 14:26). We fail to seek guidance daily from the Holy Spirit and draw away from our Father’s plan.

  • Focus centers on the needs of the church entity while neglecting individual needs. Many times people come to service week after week heavily burdened with trials or sin and leave carrying the same burdens. Even if the congregation has an established order of service, does it also provide opportunities through small groups, prayer ministers, or some other means to assist individuals? Is there effective prayer for healing? Are demons expelled? (Matthew 10:7-14)
  • Focus settles on certain truths to the exclusion of the rest of the truth. Is the emphasis on adhering to established doctrines or on learning more about YHVH and His will for us? (John 16:13)
  • Focus turns inward with little or no outreach from the congregation. Do we reach out to those around us who do not yet know the joy of salvation in Yeshua?   Do we help others in need or do we judge them? Do we have an exclusive “club” where we feel comfortable and outsiders remain outsiders? (Matt 25: 35-40; Mark 16:25; Rom. 10:14; Acts 1:8)
  • There is strong temptation to settle into a comfort zone and stagnate. Spiritual growth becomes a threat. Change becomes an unwelcome challenge. (Eph 3:17-19; 2 Pet 3:18)
  • The agenda of an established hierarchy replaces the agenda of the Holy Spirit. (Matt 15:3; Mark 7:3-9)

Recently, we have attended services where the congregations are working hard to address these shortcomings. Even within a worship service, there is room for the Holy Spirit to take over the meeting. Active outreach to the community is passionately pursued by the congregation. There are opportunities for people to seek individual prayer and support so that they do not carry burdens alone.

 We need to broaden our definition of fellowship. There are numerous opportunities to have “church” daily. Tim Mather explains in his book, Escaping Church, that any time we share the good news with another, encourage or advise or pray for another, or have discussions about our faith with others, we are “doing church.”

There are other ways for congregations to restore what is missing that I will discuss in my next article. It is time to repair Messiah’s broken body. It is time for the bride to prepare herself to meet her Husband. It is time for us to have true fellowship with one another.

Hidden Strength

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I have said these things (John 16 33)

Yeshua warned that we would face persecution and tribulation because of our relationship with Him. As I ponder having to suffer or die for my faith, I feel weak and afraid. Will I be able to endure to the end?

I think about Simon Peter and his struggles (Mark 14:66-72). His love for Yeshua was genuine and strong. Yet, at his first test of loyalty, Peter succumbed to fear and denied Yeshua as strongly as he had earlier declared his willingness to die for his faith.

When all was said and done and Peter was not arrested, he agonized over his disloyalty and his weakness. Perhaps it tormented him day and night. Yet, Peter learned a valuable lesson, one that we must all learn. He could not be brave on his own.

When the resurrected Yeshua visited His apostles, how hard it must have been for Peter to face Him, to look Him in the eye. Yeshua addressed this matter with love. He did not tell Peter that his cowardly act was alright. Instead, Yeshua gave Peter an opportunity to declare his love and commitment the same number of times that he had formerly denied even knowing Yeshua.

Yeshua understands our weakness. That is why He promised to send the Holy Spirit to us (Luke 24:49). What a difference it made to Peter after the Holy Spirit came upon him at Shavuot (Pentecost). Peter was no longer cowering, but now boldly proclaimed his faith to the multitudes. It is the same for us. We must welcome any and all assistance of the Holy Spirit in order to do what is required of us.

We can be sure that when we face trials and persecution, the Holy Spirit is with us (1 Pet 4:14). The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth (John 16:12) and strengthens us (Rom. 5:3-5). All that we need to perform any task YHVH assigns to us will be supplied by the Holy Spirit.

We will never have to face persecution alone. It will not be our strength that will overcomes, just as it is not our righteousness that reconciles us to our Father. YHVH is so good that He supplies all that we need and if we just use what He offers, we have the dignity and gratification of having accomplished great things. It is much like a child who proudly performs a task while the parent gently guides the child’s little hands. If we welcome the help of the Holy Spirit, our Father will guide us even in times of trial.

Spiritual Warfare 301

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CombatDemonsAbout a month ago, I had the rare privilege of hearing a first-hand testimony describing the practical results of spiritual warfare in a public institution. The institution was a public high school, probably one of the last places a Spirit-filled believer would go to search for evidence of Holy Spirit power. I heard the school principal’s awesome testimony of the transformation of her school from the most warlike school in the county to the most peaceful. The school essentially came out of the kingdom of darkness and entered into the kingdom of light.

When this principal took over the school three years ago, the halls and grounds were characterized as places of open physical warfare, with acts of hostility, verbal abuse, and physical violence perpetrated by members of opposing gangs. A general spirit of fear prevailed on the campus, especially among the students and their parents. The very negative atmosphere within the school also manifested itself through depressed test scores and the inability to qualify students for AP (advanced placement) classes, which are prime indicators of a school’s academic success.

In each of these areas, the school has taken a 180° turn for the better over the last three years. The school is now one of the safest in the county in terms of controlling / avoiding conflict situations, and has the highest percentage of students who qualify for and enroll in AP classes. The students can now strive for academic excellence in a positive atmosphere where they and their parents can feel safe and secure.

So, how did this dramatic transformation happen? When this school’s principal first took over leadership, her first task was to claim the school (building and grounds) for God (YHVH), and to take back authority from the enemy. She and several spirit-filled volunteers walked every inch of the campus, denouncing Satan and his demons who had gained a stronghold there, claiming back the school for God (as in Matt 10:7-8).

On our tour, the principal gave us numerous examples of victory over the enemy, and how that had changed the atmosphere in the school. In one instance, someone had reported demonic graffiti on the back of the school, so she decided to make a show of force against the enemy (as in Col 2:15) by marking over it with black spray paint and then writing scripture verses next to it that showed the power of God that overcame the demons. As she was doing this she sensed someone else’s presence, so she turned around and looked into the eyes of about ten gang members standing right behind her ladder. She prayed for YHVH’s protection and the power of the Holy Spirit to speak through her words, and with the Lord’s help, she was able to diffuse a potentially dangerous confrontation.

In other situations where there were threats and explosive confrontations between students, the principal was able to get spiritually trained school counselors involved in mediation sessions to bring reconciliation between antagonistic students, even getting the local courts involved in some cases to bring peace between defiant students and people in the community.

Hearing these testimonies of reclaiming a public school for YHVH, how can we apply scriptural principles (Luke 10:19, Mark 16:17) to claim victory in our everyday lives? Knowing this truth, what can we do to take authority over the enemy in our home and workplace and claim victory in the name of Yeshua and the power of the Holy Spirit?