OPENING UP TO THE HOLY SPIRIT 

By Rodney W. Francis

But the fact of the matter is that it is best for you that I go away, for if I don’t, the Comforter won’t come. If I do, He will – for I will send Him to you . . . Oh, there is much more I want to tell you, but you can’t understand it now. When the Holy Spirit, Who is truth, comes, He shall guide you into all truth, for He will not be presenting His own ideas, but will be passing on to you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He shall praise Me and bring Me great honour by showing you My glory. All the Father’s glory is Mine; this is what I mean when I say that He will show you My glory” (John 16:7 & 12, TLB).
 
THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT is very important in the earth today. It is so important that Jesus found it necessary to return to the Father in Heaven when He did, so He (the Holy Spirit) could be sent to us.
Jesus sent Him - and He came!

• He came powerfully on the day of Pentecost as “a mighty rushing wind” (Acts2:1-4).

• He came to continue the ministry of Jesus through every life He could inhabit and influence!

• He is the Beautiful Spirit of Truth Who only tells the truth and reveals the truth.

The Truth is JESUS CHRIST!

The Holy Spirit’s ministry within the Christian believer is to guide us into all truth, to pass on to us what He has heard from Jesus. The Holy Spirit is not only involved in preparing us for the future, He reveals and forewarns us about the future. But we must open up to Him!
 
The truly Holy Spirit-filled Christians are the only ones who know and understand what is really ahead. The world has no idea of what it is plunging headlong into. It does not understand the things that belong to the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-16). The Holy Spirit within us has been sent to show us the glory of Jesus Christ: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

WHAT DOES THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO US MEAN?

• It means that Jesus has invested Himself, and His interests, in you and me!

• It means He has chosen to reveal Himself through you and me!

• It means He has trusted you and me to carry His heartbeat and message to our generation.

• It means He has commissioned the Holy Spirit to reveal to – and to manifest Himself through – our lives the reality and power of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ!It means Jesus has delegated His power and authority to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to fulfil His commandments.

• It means in reality that NOW our bodies are the dwelling place of the Almighty Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

THE TEST OF LOVE IS OBEDIENCE!
 
Look at what John 14:15-17 says:
“If you love Me, obey Me; and I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter, and He will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit Who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive Him, for it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you do, for He lives with you now and some day shall be in you” (TLB).
 
The Holy Spirit never leaves us! 

That “some day shall be in you” was the day of Pentecost for those followers of Jesus. Since that time, the Holy Spirit has come to live inside all those who believe and receive Him. The question is: 

“Where is the Holy Spirit right now?”

The answer is: “Inside of every Holy Spirit-filled believer!”

Let’s read on (Jesus speaking):

“When I come back to life again, you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. The one who obeys Me is the one who loves Me; and because he loves Me, My Father will love him; and I will too, and I will reveal Myself to him.” Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but His other disciple with that name) said to Him, “Sir, why are You going to reveal Yourself only to us disciples and not to the world at large?”
Jesus replied, “Because I will only reveal Myself to those who love Me and obey Me. The Father will love them too, and We will come to them and live with them . . . But when the Father sends the Comforter instead of Me – and by the Comforter I mean the Holy Spirit – He will teach you much, as well as remind you of everything I Myself have told you” (John 14:20-23, TLB). 

Very clearly these verses reveal that the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) have taken up residency within us – right inside of every Holy Spirit-filled Christian believer. They are there – the Three in One - right NOW! In you! In me! The challenge to us is that we discover how to co-operate and work with the Godhead within us, in such a way that we demonstrate His purposes in the earth today!

If there is one thing 'the world, the flesh and the devil' are united in, it is their strategy to stop the Christian believer from discovering who they really are as born-again, blood-washed, totally-forgiven, Holy Spirit-filled temples of God! When the Christian knows who he is, Who he contains and what he can do with all that, he will impact the nations of the earth supernaturally! The Holy Spirit has been sent to reveal this to us. Our responsibility is to open up to the Holy Spirit, allow Him to be Who He really is inside of us, and then release Him out to a desperately needy world. The Christians hold, and carry, all the keys, all the answers, to our generation’s needs. 

• But do we know that?

• If we do, what are we doing about it?

• What can we do about it?

The answer is for us to know the Holy Spirit Who lives inside of us. Know Who He is! Know what He can do! Then discover how He wants to do it through us. He doesn’t “just do it.” He has to have loving, obedient, willing and available people (like you and me!), who will decide to do what He wants done.
 
We Christians have to realize that the world’s problems are not solved by preachers preaching “more sermons.” The problems are not solved by “more meetings,” or “another programme.” “Entertaining the saints” is a poor substitute for straight out obedience to God. Often those things work directly against what the Holy Spirit wants. Religion and religiosity kills obedience! 

The Bible is clear. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, are available to those who LOVE AND OBEY! To those who LOVE AND OBEY JESUS! (There are plenty of Christians who are obedient to men, creeds, churches and systems, but are we obedient to Jesus through the Holy Spirit?) To LOVE AND OBEY JESUS means we’re committed to what JESUS wants! Therefore we must be keen to listen, learn, and obey. Love for JESUS is the motivation! He said, “The one who obeys Me is the one who loves Me”!

This raises a very interesting question: “How do we really know if we love Jesus?” The Bible’s answer is, “OBEYING JESUS!” Obedience brings life, joy, and answers!

HOW DO WE OBEY?

Obedience has everything to do with a willingness to listen to Jesus. If we are going to live in obedience to Him, we must listen to Him. That means our learning to recognize His voice, and the many different ways He speaks to us. That is why the baptism (infilling) of the Holy Spirit is so important for us. Jesus sent Him (to those who believe on His Word) to help us to know the voice of Jesus more clearly. The Holy Spirit speaks what He hears from Jesus, and passes it on to us. He brings the things of Jesus to our remembrance.

• Are you listening?

• Are you listening with the attitude of whatever He tells you, you are committed to obeying?

It is a sad fact that many of us Christians want to hear from Jesus, but we’re not committed to the obeying part. 

HIDING BEHIND THE BIBLE:

There have been two specific occasions in my life when the Lord has strongly convicted me of being disobedient to Him while I was actually preaching and teaching directly from His Word. He showed me I could actually “hide behind my Bible” instead of being obedient. On both occasions it had to do with sharing words of knowledge to people – words I did not want to share, because my logical mindset was telling me the person's concerned would react in a way that would not go well for me. So, rather than “take the risk,” I tried to ignore the words and carry on preaching. The Holy Spirit told me the second time to share the words. Again I ignored, and carried on preaching. Then the Holy Spirit protested to me with these words: “I asked you to deliver a message to that person, and you are refusing. Even though you are standing in the pulpit preaching from My Word, you are 'hiding behind the Bible,' and you are right now in direct disobedience to Me! . . . Now, do what I ask you!” Three times He had to speak! When I got the message about hiding behind the Bible preaching, yet at the same time being in direct disobedience to God, I quickly realized Who I was dealing with! To me the prophetic words I had to share were “crazy.” But when I obeyed, the Holy Spirit spoke through me to bring powerful and direct revelation right into the lives of those two people; revelation that was exactly right for them at that time.It pays to obey – out of a heart of LOVE!It does not pay to disobey. Disobedience is what closes the door for the Godhead within to be released out of us to impact the needs of those around us. Our disobedience is also a statement to God that we do not love Him like we should!
 
LOVE OBEYS!

Since that time, my motivation in life and ministry is, “Lord, What do You want of me? What do You want me to do?” For that to become a reality in my life:  

• I have to consciously open up to the Holy Spirit.

• I have to consciously and increasingly love my brothers and sisters in Christ.

• I must consciously desire the fruit of the Holy Spirit to develop in my life.

• I must consciously desire to exercise the Spiritual Gifts (demonstrating love to the people and a desire to build up the body of Christ).

• I must consciously decide that whatever Jesus tells me to do, I am  committed to obeying Him (John 2:5).

That is demonstrating my love to, and for, Him! If this is not happening in my life, then I must make some adjustments, until God’s purpose for me is actively being outworked. More and more I find myself involved in helping Christians to learn to recognize the voice of God, to learn how to activate the Spiritual Gifts, and to "step out" beyond where they have gone before. The results are exciting for all concerned - when we minister out of a true heart of love.

GUARD AGAINST HINDRANCES:

When we open up to the Holy Spirit with love, and a willingness to obey, we will discover there are a host of hindrances that will try and pull us back to “playing it safe.” We discover whether or not we are bound by the fear of man (or woman!), doubt, unbelief, self-consciousness, shyness, worried by what others might say or think if we do this or that, inferiority, pride, negative self-confession, etc. So many excuses will rise up to try and discourage us, to make us want to give up and not try.

 Friend, OUR LOVE FOR JESUS HAS TO BECOME GREATER AND STRONGER THAN ANY AND EVERY EXCUSE WE CAN FIND NOT TO DO WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT ASKS OF US! 

Let’s be finished with negative excuses and be more committed than ever to open up to the Holy Spirit. Let’s be committed to being available to what He wants and then be committed to doing it! You are one of His "keys" to providing the answers to this 21st century!
 
We don’t need more sermons, meetings or programmes. We need more people readily opening up to the Holy Spirit of Truth, and a commitment to doing what He says. That way we will see the needs met, the Kingdom of God growing, and the joy of obeying God breaking forth in our midst. He holds the answers to this generation’s needs. All He needs is willing and available Christians who are committed to doing what he says.
 
Open up to the Holy Spirit today!