HOLINESS PART THREE

 The true manifestation of the Holy Spirit will be earmarked by:

A. A Christ-like spirit of love, patience, and faith in God

B. Soberness and keenness of Spirit vision 

C. Deep humility of heart and meekness of spirit, with a lion-like courage against sin, sickness, poverty, disease, discouragement, failure, and every other thing that could cause defeat in the Christian life.

D. Absolute clearness of the mental facilities in intelligent action to carry out Bible instructions concerning known duty and personal life as a Christian.

E. Freedom from all fault-finding, surmising, whispering or slander to anyone, and freedom from all works of the flesh that are listed in Rom. 1:29-32; I Corinth. 6:9-11; Gal. 5:19-21; Mark 7:19-21

F. The lack of any condemning and judging spirit, or seeking to hurt anyone by thought, word, or deed. All divine readings will be for the edification and betterment of all concerned and will be in accord with the golden rule. Matt. 7:12

G. Freedom from any ignorance concerning the divine will at the moment. Where one is moved upon to add quickly and urgently without knowing whether the act will glorify God or not, it will be best to wait and pray until it is clear beyond all doubt that God wants such action.

If it is God moving one to something, it will not insult him to try the Spirit and intelligently judge whether the proposed act is Biblical or not, for God commands this kind of judgment on our part called fleeces. He must judge all fleeces by the Word of God and wait until he knows it is God seeking him to do something. All acts of God will be primarily for the liberation of a man from sin, for the deliverance of the body from pain, sickness, and want, or for some other good things that someone needs to have done for him.

All work of the devil tends to be blind, causing, discouragement, lack of faith, and failure in life. Just as the devil requires lies in the minds of men to hold them in bondage so God requires truth in the mind for the true working of the Holy Spirit. Demons will cause one to be hindered in every conceivable way from getting truth that will set one free from their hold on the life.

With these things in mind, saints must beware of neglecting those things that will cause enlightenment in spiritual warfare; of falling in easy prey to criticism of others; of pressing cares of life which will keep them occupied from taking time to wage a successful spiritual warfare; of forgetting easily these things that will give victory over sin and Satan; of neglecting prayer and reading the Bible to be spiritually prayed up and alert against the foe; of being discouraged where the conflict for the moment seems to be going against them; of failing to use the authority of Christ through His precious blood, His name in the Holy Spirit against evil powers; a failure to call upon God and resist the devil in special conflicts; and of failure to do the whole will of God intelligently as it becomes known as they walk in the light of the word of God. I John 1:7

 

Man is deceived when he thinks that sin will not have any affect upon him; that he will inherit the kingdom of God regardless of sin (I Corinth. 6:9-11; Gal. 5:9-21) that he will not reap what he sows (Gal. 6:7-8); that it is not necessary to obey the Bible (Jas. 1:22, 2:10); and that he cannot be deceived (I Corinth. 10:12-13; I Corinth. 11:3-15, I Tim. 4:1-9; Eph. 6:10-18

Deception alone or a possibility thereof should keep everyone on guard and open to test everything by the Bible.

Thank you for reading. Like! Comment! Share and follow! God bless you.

Dr. James P. Norman Jr.