Zechariah 4:6, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”
The Holy Ghost is one who takes what we have done in private and turns it into something that shakes a city.
Every revival in the Bible is a Holy Ghost revival.
The Spirit of God moved on the waters at creation (Genesis 1:2).
The Spirit of God came on the prophets to deliver his word (2 Peter 1:21).
The Spirit of God filled the disciples at Pentecost.
The Spirit of God filled Peter to preach and and Paul to plant churches.
Every move of God in human history has been a Spirit-empowered move.
And the great work of the Holy Ghost is to glorify Christ.
The Spirit Fell on a Praying Remnant
The disciples could not manufacture Pentecost. They simply obeyed Christ. He told them to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). So they went to the upper room and prayed for ten days. After they obeyed, God acted.
Acts 2:2-4, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
The same fire that fell on Carmel in Elijah’s day now fell on every head in the room.
The whole point of Pentecost is that this is a sovereign work of God. This was not a technique man can repeat on our own.
The Spirit Made Them Bold
The same disciples who had locked themselves in a room for fear of the Jews (John 20:19) walked outside on Pentecost and preached Christ to thousands. What changed? Not their personalities, or training. It was the Spirit.
Acts 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”
The fearful Peter who denied Christ became the bold Peter who told the council, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Same man, but different power source.
If your witness for Christ has been timid, the answer is not a personality change. The answer is asking God to give you power from the Spirit who already lives inside you. He is the boldness, and the power. He is the one who gives a Christian a backbone he did not naturally have.
The Spirit Indwells Every Born-Again Christian
Under the old, the Spirit came on a few men for specific tasks. Under the new, the Spirit lives inside every born-again believer.
Romans 8:9, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
1 Corinthians 6:19, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
Your body is the temple of God, not the building. If you are saved, the same Holy Ghost who fell at Pentecost lives in you right now.
We do not have to ask God to send the Spirit. He has already been sent. We have to ask God to fill what is already there. To remove the things that grieve him and quench him. To pour himself out through the vessel he is already living in.
The Spirit Is Grieved and Quenched
The Spirit is a person, not a force. And he can be grieved.
Ephesians 4:30, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
We grieve him by sin we will not deal with.
Bitterness, anger, evil speaking, corrupt communication, are all in the same chapter.
When we hold on to those things, the Spirit who lives inside us grieves, because he is holy and he lives in us and he sees what we are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Quench not the Spirit.”
The Spirit can also be quenched. You quench a fire by putting water on it or by smothering it. We quench the Spirit by ignoring his promptings, by refusing to obey when he speaks, by drowning his voice in noise and entertainment.
A person that grieves and quenches the Spirit cannot have revival no matter how much they talk about wanting one.
Be Filled With the Spirit
Ephesians 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”
This means we should keep on being filled. Like a car must be filled with gas. It is not a one-time event. It is a daily yielding. Every morning a fresh surrender, and every situation a fresh request to be controlled by him instead of by self.
Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
If you want to know whether the Spirit is filling you, look at the fruit. The fruit will tell the truth every time.
What This Means for Us
Ask him to fill you and confess the sins that grieve him. Stop quenching the promptings you have been ignoring. Pour out the bitterness, cut off the anger and forgive the person you have been holding hostage in your heart.
Then ask him to do through you what he has been sent to do.
If you are lost, the Holy Ghost is the one drawing you right now to Christ. The Lord Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44). That drawing is the Spirit working on your heart. Do not resist him.
If you are saved, stop trying to live the Christian life in your own strength. The Holy Ghost is in you. Yield to him.
Read
