Bible lessons pertaining to the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.
Gifts of the Spirit are mentioned in in 1Cor. 12:8-10. Here Paul gives the church a list of nine extraordinary Holy Spirit manifestations. Many questions have arisen about what these manifestations are. One of the most misunderstood manifestations is the gift of prophecy. What is it exactly and how we can tap into it in our everyday life? What is the secret to unlocking our understanding of this gift? Let’s take a look.
Have you ever heard any one say, when in the throes of having to make a major decision, “You know I have peace about it?” Is there anything to that? Thank God, there is. You can learn to follow the peace of God and learn to flow perfectly in His will. In learning this essential skill, there are three areas in scripture you should take note of, three sets of words for the Spirit led life. Take note of the words, peace, conscience, and the inward witness.
Every born again believer on planet earth has the ‘Spirit of God within’, there are no exceptions, there are no special circumstances. Every single solitary believer has the Spirit within. It is part of the born again phenomenon. If you are born again, you have the Spirit of the living God living in your spirit. Why do you have Him in you and why was it such an important thing to God the Father to accomplish this in the history of man? Let’s take a look.
History of the Azusa Revival
The revival started with a gentleman named Rev. Charles Parham who had Bible school in Topeka Kansas. He encouraged his students to study the Word of God on the subject of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. In a watch night service, Dec. 31, 1900 the students waited on the Lord in prayer. Understand that up until this time the vast majority of all believers since the church fathers died off were not filled with the Holy Ghost. A little past midnight, 1901, Agnes Ozman was the first to be baptized in the Spirit and speak with other tongues. Soon, all of the students were speaking with tongues. In the mean time, Rev. Charles Parham moved his Bible School to Houston Texas and meets William J. Seymour, a very spiritual African American man who accepted what Parham taught but did not receive the experience. In the meantime, Seymour is invited to preach at a holiness church in Los Angeles. He doesn’t have the Baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues but he preaches on it anyway. When he did, the pastor of the church shut down the meeting and padlocked the door. The tiny congregation, despite the pastor, accepts the message of the Baptism of the Spirit. They begin to hold prayer meetings. Some nights later on April 6, 1906, Brother Seymour and 7 others, were seated in a living room at 216 Bonnie Brae Street. The group was engaged in a spirit of prayer and a time of waiting on the Lord when, all of a sudden, the power of God hit and knocked them all out of their chairs. The group hit the floor speaking with tongues. From there, the revival spread like wild fire. The glory of the move of God was so strong until services were held for 3 years in a row. They met everyday, a service everyday, and sometimes they had as many as 9 services in a single day. This revival went all over the world because when people from other countries would land in LA they would hear about the revival and go to the meetings, the power of the Holy Ghost would fall on them and they would take it back to their own countries. Every Spirit filled believer of the modern era can trace their roots back to Azusa. I said all of that to get this point across to you, this powerful revival all started with a Bible study in Topeka Kansas! How important it is to maintain an active ongoing study of the Bible.
Here’s a link to a wikiapedia documentary on the Azusa Street revival published by Mariusz Jurga.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqROdLQQvz8
Experiencing Gods presence on earth is training for our days as glorified sons of God. The glory of God is a tangible reality. We should soak in it, know it and understand all we can about it. In the Old Covenant, the Israelites saw it. In the New Covenant, we carry that same glory, that same presence of the Lord, in ‘our earthen vessel’ (2Cor. 4:7). The glory of God can be studied in scripture as a thread that runs through both Testaments. You will find out if you do so, that believers in Jesus are supposed to be demonstrators of His glory and we are to do so until all the earth is full of His Presence.
I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half of the things you do you might as well turn them over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. I am easily managed – you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do them automatically. I am a servant of all great men; and alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a man. You may run me for profit or run me for ruin – it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am a habit! Today, we are going to talk about the habit of decisiveness.
The Bible is saturated with miracles. It doesn’t matter where you look, in the New Testament or the Old, the Bible is brimming with them. It is a common thought in this day in this age that miracles no longer occur, that they was just for Bible times, but I can assure you that there are miracles, displays of healing and Holy Spirit manifestations happening in countries across the globe today. For instance in China, half of the salvations that occur are direct results of a healing miracle. The gifts of the Spirit are manifesting, and learning how He moves will help you to flow with Him in these last days.
“The issue of God speaking was a major concern for me when I first came to know Jesus as my Savior. Countless times I heard people say these words “God spoke to me.” I wanted to hear God too. After month’s of wrestling with it, the first words God said in my spirit were, ‘You have not learned how to listen’. Learning how to listen is a journey. Learning to know His voice is a process. It is not a fast-food put it in the microwave for 60 seconds kind of thing. There are Bible truths that will help make the journey easier.”
Being led by the Spirit of God is both and blessing from the Lord (Rom. 8:14) and a vital part of the Christian walk Romans 8:14. In learning to be led in our everyday life, there are three areas in scripture we should take note of. Three individual words mentioned in the scriptures that allude to and give us insight into the Spirit Led Life. These words are ‘peace’, ‘conscience’ and the ‘inward witness ‘.
Hearing What the Spirit is Saying unto the Church! In 1Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul lays out for the church an explanation of Spiritual Gifts. If you read the list, you will see that three of the gifts are vocal. Prophecy is words inspired by the Spirit in a known language. Tongues are words inspired by the Spirit in an unknown tongue. Interpretation of tongues is a Spirit given rendering of an unknown tongue. Below is an example of the gift of prophecy.
The following excerpt is taken from a prophecy that was given by Kenneth E. Hagin on September 22, 1996.
Hearing What the Spirit is Saying unto the Church! In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul lays out for the church an explanation of Spiritual Gifts. If you read the list, you will see that three of the gifts are vocal. Prophecy is words inspired by the Spirit in a known language. Tongues are words inspired by the Spirit in an unknown tongue. Interpretation of tongues is a Spirit-given rendering of an unknown tongue. Below is an example of the gift of prophecy.
The following excerpt is taken from a prophecy that was given by Rodney-Howard Brown in 2003.
Hearing What the Spirit is Saying unto the Church! In 1Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul lays out for the church an explanation of Spiritual Gifts. If you read the list, you will see that three of the gifts are vocal. Prophecy is words inspired by the Spirit in a known language. Tongues are words inspired by the Spirit in an unknown tongue. Interpretation of tongues is a Spirit given rendering of an unknown tongue. Below is an example of the gift of prophecy.
The following excerpt is taken from a prophecy that was given by Kenneth E. Hagin on July 8, 1989