Why Every Christian Should Receive the Holy Ghost #3

The Lord said to me,.."I will test my people with a plumbline. Amos 7:8 (TLB)

The Plumbline is a blog to encourage the Body of Christ.

Why Every Christian Should Receive the Holy Ghost #3

FIFTH: THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST IS “THE REFRESHING” SPOKEN OF IN PROPHECY:

Isaiah 28:11-12 (NKJV) 11 For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, 12 To whom He said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest," And, "This is the refreshing"; Yet they would not hear.

The Holy Ghost is not only the Comforter, but the speaking in tongues, which follows the infilling of the Holy Ghost, is the “rest” and “refreshing” for “the weary” which God has promised to the believer.

The human race in it’s wandering away from God finds itself in a state of unrest and lack of fulfillment. Their search for happiness through trying to accumulate material possessions, always ends in disappointment and disillusionment. Jesus sharply rebuked this philosophy of earthly riches. Luke 12:15 (NKJV) And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

But there is one satisfying experience that can never supply the soul. God has promised the Holy Spirit for whosoever will.  “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh”. “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” The infilling of the Spirit with speaking in the unknown tongue is as the prophecy declares, the “rest” and the “refreshing”. And to this truth millions will testify.

SIXTH: THE  HOLY SPIRIT WILL QUICKEN OUR MORTAL BODIES:

Romans 8:11 (NKJV)   But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

We know that Divine Healing is accomplished by the power of the Spirit. “The power of the Lord was present to heal.” But God’s purpose goes further than healing. It includes Divine health, as 3 John 2 declares,, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth”.

The supreme event of history was the resurrection of Christ from the dead.The great miracle was wrought by the Holy Spirit of God. That is, the lifeless body of Jesus was raised from the grave through the power of the Holy Spirit. But the Apostle adds that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead has been given to the believer to quicken his mortal body. Notice that the Apostle is not at this point talking about the future resurrection, but he is speaking of the quickening of this mortal body. As the context shows he is referring to the life that we are living NOW!.

The time of the resurrection has not yet come, but in the meantime the Spirit will quicken our physical bodies, so that we may have the strength necessary to perform the work hat God has called us to do.

Dr. A.B. Simpson, the famous preacher of a generation ago, who did much to restore Divine Healing to the Church, tells how that as a youth he was handicapped with a frail; body. After the Sunday services, it took him to the middle of the week, before he had strength enough to begin preparations for the service the follow Sunday.  Because of his sickly condition, he became an object of pity- a circumstances that brought him almost to the point of despair. However, it was while he was in that condition that God revealed Himself to him as his healer. But more than that, God showed him that He would be his health, if he would wholly  depend upon Him.  And so it wast that the Spirit of God came upon him and quickened his life to such a degree that within three years after he was healed, he preached no less than a thousand sermons.

Of course, any blessing bestowed by the Holy Spirit, must be appropriated by bold faith in the same way any other blessings are obtained. Many have experienced this quickening, and it is one more of the great benefits which is given by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, that He came to give life, and life more abundantly.