11. The agenda of The Spirit

THE AGENDA OF THE SPIRIT
By: Samuel Rodriguez

We live in a world where people are bound—bound by sin, pornography, sexual immorality, addiction, alcoholism, depression, loneliness, dismay, anxiety, fear, confusion, the past, failure, and defeat. Do you know why so much bondage exists?

Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke?
Isaiah 58:6 MEV


The enemy understands that the most dangerous human on the planet is not the one with riches, guns, armies, or fame. The most powerful human on the planet is a person set free by the blood of the Lamb. Why?

If it is displeasing to you to serve the Lord , then choose today whom you will serve, if it should be the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites’ land where you are now living. Yet as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord .”
Joshua 24:15 MEV

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have reviled.
1 Samuel 17:45 MEV

Because it was a free man who approached Pharaoh in Egypt and said, “Let my people go.” It was a free man who stepped into the Promised Land and declared “As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.” It was a free man who stared down a giant called Goliath and said, “You come against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I come against you in the Name of the Lord God Almighty.”

It was free young people who refused to bow and subsequently exhibited freedom even in the midst of a fiery furnace. It was a free man who prayed down fire from heaven and then shouted “Get ready, here comes the rain!”

Although they had been held behind the prison bars of human laws, spiritually free disciples replied to their captors, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19–20).

The Spirit of Pentecost not only looses the chains of injustice and sets the oppressed free; He breaks the yokes of anxiety, fear, and defeat, empowering God’s people to proclaim the message of freedom to others.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to me?

ACTIVATION

Pray for God’s people to cry out to the Holy Spirit in the midst of their bondage. Pray for eyes to be opened and hearts to be healed as believers learn how to walk in freedom

Appropriate freedom for yourself in any areas you are struggling. Declare your freedom by the blood of the Lamb and the power of the Holy Spirit.

10 🍇🍎Fruitful living🍎🍇🍎🍇

FRUITFUL CHRISTIAN LIVING
By: George O. Wood

When I was a little boy living in northwest China, we didn’t get fresh fruit and vegetables. I loved oranges, though. Somehow, we had gotten an orange and I saved the seeds to plant an orange tree so I could have oranges on a regular basis. I put some dirt in a little clay pot, put the seeds in it, and then put it by the stove. It was bitterly cold, and I knew I had to keep it warm. I really expected that within a few months, I’d have a tree growing out of my potted plant with oranges falling off of it. I’d watch it every day and nothing would happen. I watered it faithfully, but nothing ever grew.

gal 5:22
gal 6:9
I think as Pentecostals we often want things to happen instantly, but the fruit of the Spirit tends to be more developmental. The development of fruit in all of the disciples was a growth process. It did not happen immediately. Peter did not become the rock overnight; it happened over time.

I see the fruit of the Spirit as sequential in development, much like the locks on a canal. A canal operates to move ships into a closed space called a lock. One body of water is lower than the next body of water they’re moving to. Gradually, by the ship going uphill or downhill, it moves through a sequence of locks. Each of the locks the ship moves through fills up with water and floats the ship higher. Slowly, it moves into the next lock and goes on. I think developing the fruit of the Spirit is like that.

Beginning with love, we progress until we’ve moved all the way through and come at last to that hardest of all to develop—the fruit of self-control.

But as it is written, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9 MEV

The fruit of the Spirit tells us God is far more concerned with who we are than what we’re doing. If you’re looking for God’s will for your life, don’t look first of all at where God wants you to go, or even what God wants you to do. Look first of all at what God wants you to be. Probably ninety-nine percent of knowing the will of God is being the person God wants you to be. Because if you are that person, you can go anywhere and do anything and you’ll be guided by God and in His will.

But refuse profane and foolish myths. Instead, exercise in the ways of godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable in all things, holding promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
1 Timothy 4:7‭-‬8 MEV

What is the Holy Spirit saying to me?

ACTIVATION

Pray for the fruit of the Spirit to grow in you. Feed your soul with God’s Word and let the Holy Spirit bring His rain to the good soil of your heart.

Think about the fruit that is easily seen in you; think about the fruit that is not yet visible in your life.

Ask God to cause every fruit of the Spirit to grow out of your spiritual walk with Him.

09 Empowered for witness

EMPOWERED FOR WITNESS, WORKS, AND WONDERS
By: Billy Wilson

In April 1906, as a physical earthquake was occurring in San Francisco, a spiritual earthquake was happening in Los Angeles. The ensuing Azusa revival launched the Pentecostal/Charismatic renewal around the world.

What began as a handful of people now encompasses more than 600 million Spirit-filled believers around the world. What caused this wind of the Spirit to spread so rapidly? Is it possible to personally experience that same supernatural empowerment to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, demonstrate the works of God, and experience signs and wonders?

The Holy Spirit is the effectual person of the Trinity—He executes the desire and plan of the Godhead. He is a doer, and we know Him mostly by what He does. The activity of the Spirit was present in the Genesis creation account. As the Word was spoken by the Father, the wind of the Spirit was breathing, or hovering, over the earth. Thousands of years later, Jesus’ departing words to His disciples promised transformational power for witness when the Holy Spirit came upon them.
acts 2:32
After the once-fearful Peter powerfully witnessed of the life-giving Messiah, Jesus Christ, thousands were converted to The Way. Immediately, the newly formed church began to exhibit the wonderful works of God. By the end of Acts chapter 2, the church was supplying the needs of the poor, caring for widows, adopting slaves, reaching out to the young, lifting up the oppressed, and responding to natural crises. In addition, people brought their sick and those tormented by evil spirits and all of them were healed (Acts 5:12, 15–16).
1 cor.12:8
Embracing the gift of the Holy Spirit will not only give you dynamic words for witness, but will release within you the creative, life-giving agent of empowerment for service. Your life as usual will be radically transformed as God begins to open doors for the performance of signs and wonders through you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to me?

ACTIVATION

Reflect for a few moments on the awesome, creative power of God through the Holy Spirit and thank Him that this same power can operate in your life.

Witnessing is simply sharing what you have experienced in your life. When was the last time you witnessed to someone about the transforming power of the Holy Spirit you have received?

Make a personal commitment to Christ to share the Good News with one individual this week.