My friends, I am here today to tell you that the HOLY SPIRIT IS ALIVE and very REAL. He is not a ghost or a figment of imagination. In fact The Spirit or Spirit of God is mentioned 523 times and the Holy Ghost is mentioned 563 times in Scripture. He is REAL. He’s as real as the air you breath.
I was a young adult when I had my first encounter with the Holy Spirit. In fact, to be truthful I was afraid of it at first. I didn’t know it or understand it. We are often afraid of things we don’t understand.
A friend had taken me to a non-denominational Church nearby and there, for the first time, I was introduced to people who spoke in tongues, (The Holy Spirit) and I was afraid of it… and them. I was afraid of what they might do. It was different from the church I was used to.
Though I had never seen it happen before, I had heard when I was a young girl, that some people fell on the floor when the Holy Spirit came into them. Being brought up in the staunch Catholic Church, I had been taught to stay away from “PENTICOSTALS” who were supposedly “filled with the Holy Spirit”. They were the ones that supposedly “fell out.” (I was young and believed everything I was told.)
In fact I remember at one point, literally telling God that He didn’t need to give me that gift of “THE HOLY SPIRIT”. I was just fine praying the way I had always prayed. Little did I know what I was saying or what would happen next? In fact what I was asking was against what scripture says. Ehesians 6:18 says we are to pray in the SPIRIT on all occasions.
I had always had an amazing relationship with Jesus even as a toddler, which I will share at another time. I hadn’t heard much about The Holy Spirit growing up, but after weeks of attending this new church with these ‘Spirit Filled’ people, and after reading scripture and becoming even closer to Our Lord, it happened.
Like a whisper, almost matter of fact, He came, It came, the Holy Spirit came as if coming home to rest inside me, filling me with assurance, confidence and an awkward sense that there was a new, magnificent gift of power dwelling inside me.
Not power having anything to do with myself, but a power to ‘go around’ the devil when I prayed. Sounds crazy, I know, but it was like a hotline to God that the devil, the day, my own thoughts about groceries, and such couldn’t interfere with.
Have you ever tried to pray and then the “to do” list for the day creeps in? Have you ever been right in the midst of a really good prayer, when your mind wonders to putting cereal and dog food on your grocery list and then visions of the four stacks of laundry and possible traffic you’re going to face when you pick up the kids lands somewhere between Dear God and Amen? Me too!
Speaking to God through the Holy Spirit is like taking the easy road, or the off ramp around all of that “stuff”. The Devil has no idea what you are saying and can’t interfere. Besides, he’s afraid of it. The utterance or the words spoken in the Spirit are filled with power because the SPIRIT is POWER and commands attention when directed at the Devil.
Praying in the SPIRIT for someone sick, in trouble or in a crisis commands the Devil with great authority to leave…which he will do out of fear.
Do you remember the story of when Jesus came in contact with an evil spirit in someone and the spirit coward before Christ?
LUKE 8:27-33 When Jesus stepped ashore; he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
As you can see, the Devil is AFRAID of JESUS. He is afraid of His Holy Spirit and if you pray in the SPIRIT using the NAME OF JESUS the devil will cower. There is Power in the Name of Jesus.
My friends, God is not dead. Jesus is not dead. He is risen. God sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples after Jesus ascended to heaven because He knew they needed help after Jesus was gone. God had dwelt WITH His people before Christ’s resurrection but God dwells WITHIN His people now through the HOLY SPIRIT.
JOHN 14:16-20…”And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you”.
As I said in the beginning, The Holy Spirit is real and is ALIVE.
ACTS 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 2:37-39 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
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. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Matthew 18:19-20 – “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven”.
And so, having received this gift, I ask you to stop where you are and pray with me now, with all the power and strength of the HOLY SPIRIT and in the most POWERFUL and MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS…
We stand together, in Christ, united with one voice… commanding Satan to leave this land, this election, this people and may the Holy Spirit come and rest upon us all. May He fill us with His Peace and Discernment. We bind Satan from any interference and cast him aside and bind him from all of God’s people and may God’s WILL be done in all things.
COME HOLY SPIRIT, COME and dwell within us and among us. Fill my brothers and sisters around the world with your precious fruits, fill every corner of this world with your Love and be our guide in all that we say and do… in Jesus Name we boldly pray. Amen
Blessings and Peace, VICTORIA
Believing Outside the Box 