THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit, God in the third person of the Holy Trinity, indwelling every believer, God in us.

At the beginning of the year, our RAVEN family entered a time of fasting and prayer. In my fast the Lord brought me to a deeper understanding of love as given to us by him in 1 Corinthians 13. As i grow in faith and knowledge of who my Saviour is and what he wants in me i am daily amazed. Love is the operational action in all our moments in this life. To be all Jesus needs us to be on this earth in this life, we need to operate in love always. This does not mean just to other believers, but to the unsaved and lost of the world as well. Love, 1 Corinthians 13, check it out and do your own study of each aspect of it. It will truly change your life.

In our women's discipleship we are studying the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the power to be all Jesus needs us to be in love. The Holy Spirit is where GOD dwells with in us. God dwells in us. In every believer at the time of salvation, God makes his home in us. Powerful.

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

i believe that God will destroy anyone that defiles the temple, even the believer himself. Our attention needs to be focused upon Him, his will, his design for our lives. Every moment we live is for Him and his glory, never our own. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing to know his desire for us. Jesus always prayed to the Father to know the Fathers will (Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Luke 6:12, Luke 9:28). By the power of the Holy Spirit, God in us, the will of the Father is done in our lives as well. Pray...pray without ceasing.

"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Once salvation comes and the Holy Spirit is in us, we can be filled with the Power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). This power comes by prayer, by asking God for it. This power enables us to Go and have ALL we need provided by God to fulfill his will in our lives. To seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10), preach the Gospel to every nation (Mark 16:15), to feed, clothe, house, quench the thirst, visit the imprisoned (Matthew 25:31-46). All these things will be done according to God's will in love. The gifts of the Holy Spirit can come upon you anytime based on the Fathers need of them to bring Glory to him and build up the body of Christ. We pray for them and God will hear.

In this writing i am speaking specifically of these gifts, Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Discerning of Spirits (Revelation gifts), Supernatural Faith, Healings, Miracles (Power gifts), Prophecy, Diverse Kinds of Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues (Inspiration gifts). Check them out..1 Corinthians 12:7-10 God has given His people nine mighty gifts of the Holy Spirit to enable them to mature spiritually, edify others, and do the work of the ministry. (Although these gifts of God are perfect, the manifestation of these gifts are sometimes not so perfect because they are manifested through an imperfect channel: men and women.)

The power of the Holy Spirit. There is so much to learn about the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts are supernatural, numerous and incredible. But the most important thing i have learned is that they CANNOT operate without LOVE. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Without love we are nothing. Love is Gods command to us and we must act on it to serve Him. John the beloved disciple loved Jesus so much that Jesus entrusted his mother to him at the cross(John 19:26-27). Jesus did not love him more than the others, but John loved Jesus more. We need to love Jesus more than enough, more than anything or anyone we ever loved.

We love Jesus by keeping His commands.

"He that hath my commands and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved by my Father, and i will love him and manifest myself to him." John 14:21

Manifest= uncover, lay bare, reveal, to make visible, clear, known, appear, open to sight...

The greatest commandment:

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:37-40

Love is an action word not an emotion....bringing the Salvation Gospel and mercy to all. Going. Love God, love our neighbor.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends , if ye do whatsoever i command you." John 15:13-14

Jesus died for us, shed his blood for us, laid down his life. We lay down our lives for Jesus when we come to accept the blood he shed on the cross for us. When salvation comes to us, daily we lay down our lives for Him and take up our cross.

Love, the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives, what a gift we do not deserve. Then we have eternal life.

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. " John 17:3

This knowing is in the operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives consequent upon the acceptance of Jesus Christ. Our prayer, our obedience to all God wills in our lives, all part of knowing him. The result of becoming less as Jesus becomes more in us. Praise God in all things, all glory and honor be to you Lord God.

Bruce

Will, Jamal and Tyrone

Please join me in prayer for Bruce, he was led to the Lord in the Iberville Projects this last trip in February. He is Darnell's brother who was saved in October 07. i pray they can uplift and encourage one another. Also for Will and his two nephews, Jamal and Tyrone. Will is taking care of them. They were on Bourbon Street and left when they were led to the Lord. Amen.