Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
“SPIRIT” - PNEUma - 385x - Strong #4151
(from PNEo* 7x - Strong #4154 + 7 cognates or derivatives = 402x)
UNDERSTANDING THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM SELECTIVE REFERENCES
1. Luke 11:13 (14-26) HOLY SPIRIT: MUST BE ASKED FOR. “If you therefore, being evil, know howto give gifts to your :children, how much more shall the Father who isfrom heaven give theHoly Spiritto them that ask him?” This was a key verse that Oswald Chambers used in soul-winning. As soon as he established to the mind of the seeker that he was a sinner - not just because he had sinned - but that through Adam he had inherited a “sin nature” - thenhe led them to pray for the Holy Spirit as He is set forth in the “Peter Package” - Acts 2:38.
2. John 4:24 (1-26) HOLY SPIRIT: KEY TO TRUE WORSHIP! “:God is Spirit: and who worship him mustworship in spiritand in truth.” In the preceding immediate context, we learn that God seeks those in spiritand in truth to worship him. We cannot worship God from our human spirit, until firstwe have received the Holy Spiritof Christ. And as we go on like Rees Howells to let Him possessus, thenour worship reaches into a dimension truly pleasing to God. The Holy Spirit here is likened to an “artesian well”!
3. Acts 5:32 (17-42) HOLY SPIRIT: GIVEN ON BASIS OF OBEDIENCE. “And WE are witnesses of these :sayings; also the Holy :Spirit, whom :God has given to them that obeyhim.” This is a key to successful marriage. For those who have this as the basis of receiving the Holy Spirit, have alreadyentered into “The Marriage Covenant”, by Derek Prince. This book, along with “Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting”, I count as two of his outstanding books. My wife Marie and I married on this basis, and God has kept us for 61 years this month. Thisis the glue that holds a marriage together. Marriage is a Covenant in the sight of God, and notto be broken, apart from fornication. We have as many divorces inside the church today as the world does outside. This ought not to be so! And it is the Holy Spirit moving in The Marriage Covenant that ensures that it can change!
4. Acts 13:2 (1-3) HOLY SPIRIT: CHIEF AGENT IN MISSIONS. “And as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy :Spiritsaid, Separate me then :Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Consider the work of “The Presbytery”. Ordination through “laying on of hands and Prophecy”, as important as this function is, is but one of manyfunctions that the Holy Spirit is pleased to perform through “The Presbytery”. Commissioning missionaries and sending them forth is another.
5. Acts 15:28 (22-29) HOLY SPIRIT: JOINS WITH ELDERSHIP FOR CHURCH SOLUTIONS. “For it seemed good to the Holy :Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these :necessary things.” Thisis one of the most important functions of the Holy Spiritin linking up with the Presbytery or Eldership - to solvechurch problems. The Judaizing controversy in the early church was one of the chiefof these problems. And the Holy Spirittakes precedence over the Presbytery in solving this problem. Gentiles do nothave to become Jews and be circumcised for full salvation, but just keep the 4 conditions noted here, to have table-fellowship with Jews. What a serious problem, which still continues to this day, in spite of the Holy Spirit'sletter through Paul to the Galatians.
6. 1 Peter 1:12 (3-12) HOLY SPIRIT: CHIEF AGENT IN OT PREACHERS. “To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you, did they minister thevery thingswhich now have been announced to you through them that preached thegospel to you by theHoly Spiritsent forth from heaven; which thingsangels desire to look into.” In 1952 in Chicago I wrote my M. Div. (Master of Divinity) dissertation on this verse. I stated: “In Homiletics here at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary we are taught how to preach with notes, by outline, by manuscript, extemporaneously, but not with the Holy Spiritsent forth from heaven.” It was on this 5thpoint that I wrote my thesis, and for a while, wondered if it would be accepted so I could graduate! It was, and is in the Archive files yet at my Alma Mater. If OT prophets all preached this way, how much more need we as NT preachers - preach with the Holy Spiritsent forth from heaven!
7. 2 Peter 1:21 (12-21) HOLY SPIRIT: BEHIND ALL BIBLE PROPHECY. “For no prophecy was ever borne by man's will: but men spoke from God, being borne onby theHoly Spirit.” It is important to see that the Holy Spirit- not man - is behind all Scripture. We are aware of the 33 known Bible writers of the 66 books, but we often fail to see that shining far above all of them - is the Holy Spirit!Our Bible is notprimarily the work of man - but the Word of God! How disconcerting once this dawns on us. One prominent preacher-evangelist of yester-year - an Episcopalian - started out as a Modernist. But when he received the Holy Spiritand Jesus as Lord- the Holy Spiritchanged his entire theology, and conformed it to a Bible-based state!
8. Romans 5:5 (1-11) HOLY SPIRIT: THE ONE WHO SHEDS GOD'S LOVE IN OUR HEARTS. “And hope puts not to shame; because the love of :God has been shed abroad in our :hearts through the Holy Spirit:given us.” Each of these verses with context, has been established by Bible Numerics through the 50 years of labor of Russian Dr. Ivan Panin. He is called by one, “Russia's Gift to Christianity!” An English Plumber by the name of Smith Wigglesworth found this verse to be extremely helpful. When he found it impossible to forgive a brother unexpectedly met, he would rush down an alley, and call on God - “Quick God, give me a heavenly “love” transfusion! It worked!
9. Romans 8:26-27 (26-39) HOLY SPIRIT: CHIEF AGENT IN EARTHLY INTERCESSION. “And in like manner the Spiritalso helps our :infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himselfintercedes mightilyfor uswith groanings unutterable; 27and who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because heintercedes for thesaints according to God.” This is one of the chief teaching verses of Rees Howells. He understood thoroughly the help he received this way.
10. 1 Corinthians 12:4 (4-11) HOLY SPIRIT: RESPONSIBLE FOR GIFTS OF SPIRITTHROUGH US. “Now thereare diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” The 9 gifts of the Spirit from here, and the 9-fold fruit (one fruit, 9 sections, like an orange) - I link with the 9 Sacral Vertebrae. They control our walking, Reproduction and Elimination. The Gifts of the Spirit are balanced by the Fruit of the Spirit, and in this way are aided in being for edification for other members of the body of Christ.
11. Galatians 5:22-23 (16-24) HOLY SPIRIT: AGENT OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. “But the fruit of the Spiritis love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against :such thereis no law.” See notes on the Gifts of the Spirit.
12. Ephesians 4:4-6 (1-16) HOLY SPIRIT: A KEY IN THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. “There isone body, and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your :calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who isover all, and through all, and in all.” If the 9 Sacral vertebrae are important as the Conclusive part of the container for the Spinal Cord - then the 7 Cervical Vertebrae at the top are especially important, for they connect the body with the Head, Christ! Notice the order from the bottom to the top. The 7 Unities start out with us at the bottom, and immediately the 6thvertebra is the Spirit. All our life as individuals and corporately commence with Him. Conversion itself doesn't cut the mustard. By Repentance and Faith, we are just ready to start. In Acts 2:38, the Gift - do-reA of the Holy Spirit follows Repentance and Baptism. He is an Artesian Well, evermore flowing up into eternal life.
Follow through in the book of Acts each time this sequence is mentioned, and it is impossible to miss the importanceof this. The 7 Unities mentioned here in the passage we are considering can't be underestimated in importance.
13. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 (12-24) HOLY SPIRIT: CAN BE QUENCHED. “Quench not the Spirit.” As we carefully read the biography of “Rees Howells, Intercessor” by Norman P. Grubb, we find a number of times during his lifetime when he quenched the Spirit. Disobedience is the chief culprit. Unforgiveness is another. Jesus said, “For if you forgive not men their trespasses - neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses!” The grieving takes place here. Out of the 7 requests in the Lord's Prayer for us in the Sermon on the Mount, this is the onlyone that is repeated. God knows how easily it is for us to fall short here.
14. Revelation 2:7a (1-7) HOLY SPIRIT: MUST BE LISTENED TO IN THE CHURCH. “Who has an ear, let him hearwhat the Spiritsays to the churches.” Pastor Bob Birch of Vancouver, Canada, scarcely preached a sermon, without mentioning these 7 verses in Revelation 2 and 3. He knew how important it was for each one of us to have hearingears. Meditationin prayer over the Word, helps to tune in our hearing. Obedience is of absolute importance. Jesus said, “He who hearsthese sayings of mine, and doesthem - shall be likened unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock.” One builds on the sand otherwise, and has a terrible disaster looming up ahead. And when we hearthe Spiritspeaking to the churches, then we are able to discern between soul and spirit, and choose spiritual words rather than those of the soul or flesh.
CONCLUSION: The above selection of 14, represent the 385 total, and give a window in a small way to what the complete Word Study would totally represent. Thatis the definition. Our 14 but give a window. However, I believe it is a true window into the thinking of God. You could in turn pick out your own 14 references, and they likewise would give a valid window, but would notbe the total definition. To thoroughly know God and His Word, requires a lifetime of praying over and meditating upon the Bible, and thenacting upon it. This is what God through Moses commanded Joshua to do (1:8).
May God bless us all, individually and corporately, as we seriously seek to be well-pleasing to Him, having a “personal, passionate devotion to Jesus,” and a life of fruitfullydoing His Word!
NOTE: Numbers have asked to kept up to date on the progress of the Lord's leading for our Pilot Prayer Team, leading to the fulfillment of manifesting “Spiritual Star Wars” through an “Organic Automated Laser-Telescope.”
The above Greek Word Study on “Spirit”, is a window to see what Rees Howells in a measure experienced when he submitted himself during the Welsh Revival at the turn of the last Century - to be “possessed” by the Holy Spirit. This, as reduplicated in a corporate sense in 1937, 31 years later, is a true picture of what God can do through a Team fully yielded to His Spirit.
This article for the “Word Study” section of our Website, will shortly be followed by one on the “History, Vision and Development” of this concept. We received a request from “Prayer Canada” and its founder and president to simply and clearly lay out how other Prayer Teams can have God lift them to Higher Ground - and so walk in this concept.
Our Seattle area Team went through the first 3 of the above 14 points on Saturday December 5, and then spent our time in prayer for this Canadian request, and how to write a suitable answer to their request. Later we discovered that a Prayer Team north of Minneapolis prayed that God would do something on Monday December 7th, to offset what happened on that date in 1941, “A Day of Infamy” according to our President.
Hopefully - the article given by the Lord on that day - will answer both the Canadian request, and the prayer from Minnesota. - J.A.W.
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