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The Holy Spirit Can Return (If We Want It To) - itgwfdisciple - 30-06-2016
Preparing your life
In one of my earlier articles entitled "Will the Real Holy Spirit Step Forward Please?" I mentioned an experience that I was having, relating to a feeling of fear, when I was discussing the word of God with some people. There was then a long gap where the feeling hadn't returned and I thought that might be the end of that, but it decided to return during a particularly intense discussion and I was still a bit puzzled by what was going on. The day finally came when enlightenment was given and I have to admit that I was a bit shocked at the final conclusion, but it was good to finally have a clue about what was going on. I will go into the details of what happened later, but I first of all want to talk about what conditions are needed in a persons life in order that the Holy Spirit can have some sort of effect.
In the article that I mentioned previously you will read that I had given up on some things of the world, well I have gone a bit further since then and I have to admit that God seemed as if He wanted to respond before I had finished the massacre so that I could not say "Look God I have gotten rid of almost everything and still nothing has happened". The massacre started when I realised that things still seemed to be harder than they should be, business wise, and I had this feeling that God was still waiting for some more potential distractions to be removed. I had gotten tired of watching the programs that I was downloading from the BBC so decided to give up on them and switch over to just downloading videos from youtube relating to God's word and I actually found this material a lot more interesting than anything that was on TV. My TV is an old analogue one so it has been blank since April 2012 when they cut off the signal, I remember at the time that I had to go over to my Dad's place to re-tune his TV because he was missing being able to watch it, but I could care less about my black screen. Things still had not improved so I looked around my room and saw the old classic consoles and games that I had, I sold most of them and packed them off to their new owners, but still nothing much was happening. I remembered that I used to like listening to the bass in music and I still had my amp and speakers so they had to join the massacre as well and it looked like this was the point at which God decided that He had better jump in before I had sold everything and could then make the statement that I had mentioned above. In the same week I received messages from three new clients and, for some mysterious reason, they seemed to think I was the best choice for them. I went to see them and I felt a bit like Joseph from Genesis because I knew that they would be fine with me and would give me the work, but it seemed that God hadn't finished yet because some of my normally quiet clients decided to have some problems in the same month as well. The sudden rush of work forced me to put the selling on hold for a bit, but I realise that this is another test because I know I will pay if I do not eventually finish off the selling process.
Follow God or your possessions?
Things seemed to be continuing on the up because a normally quiet business partner decided to have a lot of jobs for the last two months of 2012 and this even caused me to lose one of the recently gained customers because I could not get to one of their jobs. To rub things in some more I then received some enlightenment related to solving a big problem on the internet and the research I am doing on this is even getting in the way of another big idea that I was about to do some research on. The main thing that the happenings so far has told me is that there is true power in the words that were spoken by Jesus. My main inspiration for what I have tried so far comes from two passages in the Bible, the first one is Matthew 19:16-22 which says "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." and you would have to think that this person was crazy for thinking that his possessions were worth more than gaining eternal life. The second one is I John 2:15-17 where it says "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." and we see here that if we have such a love for any possession in this world, that we do not want to part with it, then this love is not from God and we might end up following that possession when the world passes away.
The word of God is not boring
From what I have said so far you might think that the only gains that I have made are material ones, but thankfully there were some spiritual gains as well. I have already mentioned one of them at the beginning, but there are some more that are worth a quick mention. I had an interesting experience when I was watching a narration of the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, there were only still pictures being shown but this did not seem to be a hindrance to what happened. When the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the sacrifice I suddenly found that I was crying, I had no idea that this was going to happen and I was surprised to find that the crying was of the uncontrollable type so I was forced to make the crying sounds in order for the feeling to progress. I had been thinking about that event since it happened and I thought that I had a reasonable idea why it had happened, but it turned out that I still had a lot learn. At first I thought that it only happened if I was listening to someone else reading, but it turns out that this is not the case, the next time that it happened I was reading Judges 7:19-22 which says "So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath." and the crying started exactly at the point where it says "and all the host ran, and cried, and fled" and this seems to indicate that it is something to do with the point at which God causes the victory for His servant. I obviously do not know the reason for why this happens but it would be good if some other people could try what I have done to see if they can replicate the experience. I have also been thinking about what the source of the crying is and the one thing I realise is that it did not directly come from me. When the crying came over me the first time I had no idea it as going to happen and any attempts to stop it were futile. I found that I had to let it carry on and if I did not make the appropriate crying noises it seemed as if the crying feeling would not go away, so I made the noises that the feeling seemed to insist on and it eventually faded away. At that point I thought that I had worked out how it had happened and also how to avoid it. The second time that it happened I realised what was going on just as it started, but I still could not stop it from continuing. The crying did not last as long as before because I seemed to have blocked a part of it, but it still managed to push out a few tears and a sob or two. The reason I am going into so much detail to describe what happened is because I do not normally cry uncontrollably at all and these two times were my first experience of the feeling and it seems to me as if there is something else inside me that is doing the crying. There are also some verses in the Bible that seem to relate to my experience in Romans 8:23-26 where it says "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." and we see that having the firstfruits of the Spirit can cause a groaning inside us and I wonder if this is the source of the crying?
The one solid conclusion I can get from these experiences is that God is willing to show us that His Spirit is near to us and that there are physical manifestations that can affect us, but it seems as if they have been limited to just personal experiences. There are some people who would be disappointed because they are expecting signs, wonders or other special effects but it seems to me as if God has switched over to mostly giving personal experiences to the people that He wants to work with. This is good though because it means that we do not have to worry about someone like Simon the sourcerer tagging along (you can read about him in Acts 8).
Spiritual discernment?
Now we have arrived at the main experience and I have to admit that this one is still a bit of a mystery to me and it would be good if someone else has had a similar experience. At first I thought that the feeling of fear was related to the Spirit activating in me when I was challenged in relation to the word of God, but I noticed subsequently that it was not happening every time that I was challenged. I could remember each of the occasions when I had the feeling, but there seemed to be something stopping me from realising the link between the occasions from just after I was baptised until I received enlightenment.
The main event happened during a normal lunch session at the back of the church building and I decided to challenge one of the church brothers in relation to the incessant singing that seems to have taken over modern church services. While I was speaking to him I did not feel anything unusual happening and all seemed normal, but we were interrupted by someone else who had a point to make and I found that the feeling had returned. I was bit surprised at this, because it normally seemed to happen at the beginning of the discussion, so I decided to concentrate on speaking to the original church brother and found that the feeling would subside. When the other person interrupted again I noticed that the feeling intensified again and this was the point at wwhich I realised that the feeling was person specific and that it only happened when they speak to me in a certain way. I hear some people say that they can feel something when they enter a room and they will then describe a generic feeling that anyone could have, but this feeling, that I have experienced, will only happen if specific people speak to me and it only seems to happen when I challenge these people about something relating to God's word. I have also had it happen with a Muslim woman so it does not seem limited to only happening with Christians. So it seems as if this particular gift is related to something that is inside certain people and it only seems to be activated when these people are challenged. I am not sure how this gift can be used to God's advantage but I am documenting it here in case someone else receives some enlightenment relating to it.
Quenching the Spirit
After writing all of this I have to admit that I am still not exactly sure what to do, I could stay in the church that I am in at the moment but I can see that the people here are content and they do not seem to have a need for any help from the Holy Spirit. Things have gotten so bad that we had a lesson that was talking about the gifts of the Spirit and when I looked at the gifts that were mentioned I was surprised to find that the list had been expanded. Here are the extra gifts that were mentioned, teaching, exhorting, helps, administration, service, giving and mercy; when I look at this list I realise that these ones were added so that the church can pretend that the gifts of the Spirit are still active in the modern church, but it is obvious that they are replacements for the real gifts that need the power of God in order for them to manifested. The things mentioned above are abilities that any normal person should have and I would expect people to have them before they are baptised and receive the real gifts. It seems to me that the Holy Spirit will only manifest His gifts in people who have a need for them, so there does not seem to be any chance of anything happening in the church that I am in at the moment because of how relaxed the people are and they seem to be mostly happy with the blessings they are getting (even though I feel that they should check to see who has given them their blessings).
In the end the only thing I can do at the moment is to try to find some like minded people, who are also bored with what they are being fed by the world and the church, and are willing to give up their leisure time in order to bring God's word out to the people on the streets, to help the people that God has asked us to help and finally to behave the way that God wants us to behave i.e. no more dancing, shouting and screaming in church and then spreading lies by saying it is the Holy Spirit that is causing these things to happen.