Manifestation of the Holy Spirit - From the Editor's Desk

When we walk into a church we should be able to experience an intensity of the presence of the Holy Spirit where believers begin to experience spiritual manifestation in laughter, falling over, trembling, prophesying or even received a healing.

The most common in Churches is the manifestation of weeping when the Holy Spirit comes as the Lamb of God to reveal sin with grace and mercy. However, the Holy Spirit could also visit as the Lion of Judah, the warrior with the fire of the Holy Spirit to remove inner hurts, performing physical healing, emotional healing, deliverance or causing a deeper desire and longing to be more intimate with our Lord or even burn away the dross of our lives and the parts of the body that resists God and we become more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Read the testimony of a Church Elder to understand his own experience with manifestation through the link below:-

http://pastorpaulang.blogspot.com/2008/11/part-2-all-yor-work-will-praise-you.html

These manifestations happen because there is transference of power. In many occasions power will go out from someone to empower, release, heal or stir up spiritual gifts in others. This is similar to Jesus’ experience when He said “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” (Luke 8:48) The God that we worship is a supernatural God. So it is not surprising that whatever He touches our natural world, there is a supernatural reaction. As a church, it is our responsibility to observe, test, discern and verify whether or not these reactions or manifestations are truly from God. Certainly the acid tests are the Scripture, verifiable universal experiences and the fruit finally.

Manifestation of the Spirit is the result of the presence of the Lord. Where miracle, sign & wonder is absence, so is the presence of God. Each miracle destroys the work of the devil and we perform miracles in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ where He is truly glorified.

In Mark 9:38-40 John told Jesus that they saw a man driving out demons in His name and they told him to stop, because he was not one of us. “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in MY Name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.”

No one could certainly conclude that the Holy Spirit manifest only in the ways known to us, but we should engage an openness to the works of the Holy Spirit and the practice of spiritual gifts. Although we have seen some common manifestations around the world we must come to believe that God had more in store as we are living in end times. God is pouring out His Spirit in great measure to His people. In many occasions, the phenomena such as shaking, falling, laughing, crying, jerking, prophesying, ecstatic utterance as well as many other strange and often misunderstood manifestations is against our will. This strange but wonderful manifestation of the Holy Spirit begins to mold godly Christian lives as a result. It will surely bear fruits when the person surrenders himself totally to the Holy Spirit. When a person encounters a genuine visitation of the Holy Spirit, when measured through time we will see it fulfilled and enjoy the fruit.

Through history, the move of the Holy Spirit has been described as being so dramatic where believers could not handle or understand it. Their main concerns are: “Why all the manifestations and shaking? What is their purpose? Are they biblical? How do you know it’s not from the devil? Many struggle to accept the phenomenal working of the Holy Spirit. Many pastors, elders and believers felt it was not right. When the Holy Spirit fell on the gentiles, the early church also had to wrestle through these types of issues. (Acts 10:44-46)

Peter did not even finish his message when the Holy Spirit fell upon the gentiles with signs and wonders. Peter was greatly criticized for what had happened. We realize not every manifestation has a particular or exact meaning. It is the desire of every church to pray for the Holy Spirit to fill them with more of the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 5:18). Today multitudes of Christians are questioning the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. We pray for a great visitation but we must cordially accept the great Visitor when He comes! If any clarification is required, they should ask God directly in the form of inquiring prayers rather than accusing Christians who surrender themselves to the Holy Spirit and work with Him. Others believe that manifestations have to be biblical. John Wimber says “God is bigger than His book,” while Jesus said, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39-40). It is possible to be so focused on the meaning of the Word that we limit who God is and what he can do.

Dee Hoetmer quoted these, “I find that the lost and dying receive the mighty presence of the Lord easier than Christians! Many Christians don't ask Lord is this of you, but put up walls if an anointing doesn't fit into their teachings. THEY DO NOT DISCERN BY THE SPIRIT, but are stuck in their learnedness and in their accepted forms and functioning of their previous religious teaching and experience. The Messiah did not come in the form they expected Him to and it was an affront to them. They persecuted Him despite the mighty signs and wonders, despite the truth He spoke, despite the anointing in His life, and so they missed their hour of visitation. In these last days if we do not discern by the Spirit for even our intellect will lead us astray; being influenced by our deceitful wicked hearts and incorrect religious teachings over many years. We need to become again as little children trusting our Father to lead us into all truth and that He is a giver of good gifts. .

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