Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ! Welcome to „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”! We are still talking about the fact that God has called us to manifest Him in our flesh. Today I would like us to see the role of the Holy Spirit in this process. Without the Holy Spirit we are not able to manifest God in our lives. Let’s look at what the bible says in the Book of Acts.
«The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, „which,” He said, „you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, „Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, „It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, „Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey » (Acts, 1:1-12).
This passage talks about the last encounters of Jesus with His disciples before His ascension to heaven and I will like us to see some important principles from this passage. 1) Jesus gave some commandments to the Apostles BY THE HOLY SPIRIT (verse 2). Jesus Himself relied on the Holy Spirit in everything He did during His days in flesh. When He took on flesh, He was limited by it and He needed the Holy Spirit. As people we live in flesh and we also are limited by it. The only way for us to overcome these limitations is to rely on the Holy Spirit. We must be aware of the necessity and our dependency on the Holy Spirit. We must seek Him daily. Jesus was totally dependant on the Holy Spirit; we must learn to rely on Him fully and totally. Until we realize this, we won’t be anywhere close to being able to manifest God in our lives. If you start and spend your days without praying and fellowshipping with God, you are saying in essence that you can manage this life without God in your own strength: «Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed» (Mark, 1:35).
Jesus Who was God in flesh began His day by acknowledging His dependence on the Father God and the Holy Spirit. Now that is why He began His day with prayer. In the days of His flesh Jesus was tempted by the devil, but He overcame the temptations in the power of the Holy Spirit because of His continuous fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Do have time to be alone with God on a daily basis? We are not only talking about the moments when you need healing, additional finances; at those moments we usually pray. But do you set apart some time to fellowship with God because you love Him? If you do not, then you are not fully aware of your dependence on the Holy Spirit and you live by flesh. If Jesus relied on the Holy Spirit in order to manifest the Father, then we need that even more. May God abundantly bless every one of you on this wonderful day that God has made! Till tomorrow! Pastor Rufus Ajiboye
