Getting To Know The Holy Spirit

This is not about spirits or getting involved in the spirit world and dealing with secret societies or whatever; this is about Christians who are told in Galatians 5:13 and onwards to 'walk in the Spirit'. The full scripture says; 'Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law'. 

We hear so much about manifestations (speaking in tongues, prophesying etc.), the power of the Holy Spirit but some of us don't talk about WALKING in the Spirit or the guidance of the Spirit of God. How He has come to take FULL control of what we DO or SAY and how we ACT. Just because YOU speak in tongues, or have GIFTS of the Spirit doesn't mean you WALK in the Spirit of God. Jesus sent the Spirit to take HIS place. He fellowshiped with His disciples but left the Spirit of God, His MIND, the ESSENCE of God. How amazing is that? We have been made in God's image, we have His Spirit and we can choose to just let go and walk according to His will. 

Works of the Flesh
'Now, the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness and the like of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

This itself TELLS you what it is NOT to be in the Spirit of God. If you commit ADULTERY (voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse), you are living according to your OWN desires. I know it's become such a norm now...I mean, look at Kim Kardashian (I don't mean to bash her but she's the one I can think of now), she was still married to Kris Humphries at the time she got in a relationship with Kanye West and was even impregnated by him. This alone shows that adultery was committed. In the olden days, this used to be a sin punishable by STONING because of the act itself. In family law, I learnt that consummation is the act that actually solidifies the marriage. So, the wedding does not necessarily make you married, but having sex with your husband MAKES THAT BOND. When you go out of that bond, that's adultery. 

Another one is FORNICATION - these are sexual relations committed by an UNMARRIED person. Pornography, masturbation, sexual immorality...all things done by somebody who is not married...that is fornication.

UNCLEANNESS - This covers a wide range of all sorts. Uncleanness, in my opinion, is a spiritual uncleanness. So, all filthy talk must be GONE - 2 Timothy 2:16 tells us to 'avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.'
For me, godless chatter includes those who share what they do with their boyfriends. I don't want to know the details of what you've been doing. That's for your privacy. First of all, I don't want to imagine that and second of all, whenever I look at that boyfriend of yours, I probably won't see him in the same way because of what you have told me. 1 Corinthians 15:33 tells us that 'bad character corrupts good manners...' So, imagine if you are such a good girl but because your friends are all filled with filthy speech, you are obviously going to take that ON and may change. (Not always the case, but it happens.)
Proverbs 18:21 is something I also try to live by; 'the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruits'. So...be careful what you say!

Be clean...what does being clean involve? This means stop listening to the voices in your LIFE and learn the voice of God and be OBEDIENT to that voice. His Words (the Bible) will build your faith and  that faith comes by HEARING His Words. In order to hear His voice and His Words, you must be in a position to hear them. So, if you are living by the flesh, then you will only hear the voice of your flesh. If you listen to music that is obviously...explicit, watch movies full of sex, violence and nudity, then that's what you will hear. Remember, you sow what you reap. 

LEWDNESS/LASCIVIOUSNESS- Well, to be honest, I didn't know what this word meant until I look up it's meaning. So, apparently it means to be ignorant, wicked, unlearned. Basically, it means lacking moral values. This is for those people who gather in God's house to worship, hear His word, enjoy fellowship yet those who appear to be holy lead a lust-filled life. They fornicate, carry on affairs, feed their own addictions to pornography. Jude 4 tells us that 'for there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.' Jude is telling us that there are people out there...possibly those on pulpits, who are up there, preaching but living a life full of lust, full of filth.

IDOLATRY - This is easy because idolatry is everywhere and has been since biblical times. In those days, they had Babylon - which (I actually went as far as watching The Truth Behind Hip Hop 7, just to find this out), historically, had gods made by hands, so people clearly had no faith, priests were worshipped by people (Dagon was a priest - Dagon is just another name for Nimrod who was came from Canaan and Cush - all this through the bloodline of Noah). Other things they did at Babylonian times was have people enslaved, homosexuality was common in place, bisexuality was worshipped with the sun and moon gods, newborns were scarified to idols, paedophilia was seen as 'reincarnation', marriage was not sacred. 

What is idolatry nowadays? Well, pretty much the same thing. We hold celebrities (hence they name, they are celebrated) up to a high level. We see them as gods, we want to know what they are wearing, what they are doing so we follow them on social media, we email them, we go to their concerts, follow them worldwide (that's for those die hard fans). We do SO much for people who do not even acknowledge YOU. Do you know they have a Church of BEYONCE now? The religion is called Beyzus. They call it the Church of Beyzus. How crazy is that?

Paul tells us in Romans 1:21-25 that 'for although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts became darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles...they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen.'

I'll post a video down below so you can see the effect of idolatry - especially with celebrities.

WRATH - Wrath is defined as extreme anger. You can see this spirit in those who are fatherless because their father was never there during their childhood. For example, Tyler the Creator, Chris Brown - I feel for them because if you do listen to their music, some of the lyrics are just sad. For example, Tyler The Creator's song 'Bastard'. Man, I felt bad for him. 

When we hold on to unforgiveness, we only hurt ourselves. We cannot hold on to these things. What we are doing is simply changing how we think, how we act, based on what they did to us. Proverbs 27:3, 'A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.' Holding on to unforgiveness will simply weigh you down. 
Proverbs 22:10, 'Drive out the mocker and out goes strife (wrath); quarrels and insults are ended.' So, forgive those who hurt you, and anger will be gone. True forgiveness. 

SELFISH AMBITION - This is self-explanatory. This is simply YOU seeking your own ambitions. Selfishness. Pride. It's not wrong to be ambitious. In fact, I've been praying for an ambitious brother, I have an ambitious father, my grandfather was an ambitious man. BUT, having that strong desire to achieve something for YOURSELF. Colossians 3:23 - '...and whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, for the Lord, and not for men...'
Whenever we do things according to our own accord, this produces pride. We become pride and God doesn't like pride. He loves humble.

ENVY: Envy is simply jealousy. You envy those around you when nothing is going according to YOUR way. Godly contentment cannot be achieved until you get ride of all that. Surround yourself with people that will encourage God's plan in your life and not their own plan for YOUR life. People who are not happy and satisfied with their own life will try and stop your contentment. Guard your life and your children. Especially during your waiting period, you must be content. 

Anyway, I won't go through the whole sin list but you get the point - you cannot be an instrument of God's vessel if you, yourself, are unclean, if you are involved in sorcery, if you a re committing adultery continuously,envy others, you are selfish and seek to feed your OWN desires. Jesus was a servant...He came down as a KING, the father of all fathers...yet He served US. He died for us. Let's try and be that way.

BUT the good news is that we CAN live according to God's Will. The way JESUS lived on earth. By having and WALKING in the SPIRIT of GOD. When you have His SPIRIT you are a NEW CREATION. This means no more envy, no more selfishness, no more arrogance, no more filthy talk. This doesn't mean it will come just like that. It will be challenging but to HIM who is able to keep you from FALLING and present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. 


Fruits of the Spirit

LOVE - Ah, that word that seems to be thrown around like it means nothing. Well, the Bible defines it in 1 Corinthians 13 - love is patient, love is kind, love is not self-seeking, not selfish, it makes no records of wrongs but seeks to find the good in others. Now, can you say that you love that person? Oh, and to lay down your life for others...it's safe to say that the love that God gives us cannot be compared to the love we give to others. The love that God gives US is incomparable to the love of others. When we lose our way, He is always ready to embrace us. So, try and walk in love. We should realise that all humans make mistakes, try and have the heart that the Lord had. When people make mistakes, have the heart to forgive them. 

JOY - This is hard to do because when we are led by own will and way, then our joy depends on our circumstances and we struggle with depression. I think joy is very much a personal thing. We have to realise that people in the bible actually endured much more suffering that we probably ever will but they had joy in the midst of it because they knew that God was in control. This does not mean pretending to be happy just because the bible tells you to have joy. But we have to exercise this. The Lord tells us that we should consider it PURE JOY whenever we face trials and tribulations of many KINDS because we know that perseverance simply builds up our faith. (James 1:2-4) 

PEACE - This is a word used by a lot of the disciples in the bible. Peace be with you, may God grant you peace..Well, the only way to understand this is by defining maybe what the opposite of peace is...FEAR. Remember that story in Luke 8:24? Well, let me remind you...
One day, Jesus said to his disciples, 'let us go over to the other side of the lake'. So they got into the boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down the lake, so that the boat was swamped and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him saying 'Master, Master, we are going to drown!'

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided and all was calm. 
'Where is your faith?' he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, 'who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.'

What does this teach us? We all somehow that inherent fearful spirit in us. No matter how much God continues to bless us and answer our prayers, we still fear the next time we face another crises. Didn't Jesus tell them they'd get in the boat? In fact, they were with Jesus in that boat and they still had fear.

I don't know about you but sometimes I get scared too. I pray for jobs, I get through to the interviews but I still have that FEAR no matter what. It's just weird...then I tell myself, 'Chansa, God has not given you the Spirit of fear...calm down...'

So, continue living according to the Spirit of God. No matter what happens in life, ensure that you have love, you have joy, you have peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.

Paul told us that we are ALL victims of sin in some way of another. But, these are things that our FLESH were subject to and still desire. So, it is important to put away the works of the FLESH and live through the Spirit of God. Use all the Fruits of the Spirit to overcome the works of the flesh.

Psalm 119:101 - I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word...Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path, I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow Your righteous laws.

Have a good week!