Visitation of the Holy Spirit

Visitation of the Holy Spirit

by

Dennis Burke

HARRISON HOUSE

Tulsa Oklahoma

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are

taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

2nd Printing

Visitation of the Holy Spirit

ISBN 0-89274-468-5

Copyright © 1987 by Dennis Burke

P. O. Box 793

Arlington, Texas 76010

Published by Harrison House, Inc.

P. O. Box 35035

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153

Printed in the United States of America.

All rights reserved under International Copyright

Laws. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced

in whole or in part in any form without the express

written consent of the Publisher.

Contents

1 Visitation of the Holy Spirit

7

2 Restoration: The Work of the Holy Spirit

21

3 Giving Place to the Spirit

35

4 Facets of His Anointing

47

5 Yielding to the Holy Spirit

59

References

73

1

Visitation of the Holy Spirit

1

During the ministry of Jesus, the city of

Jerusalem was experiencing a struggle. There

was a spiritual battle going on between the

religious ideas the people had become

comfortable with and the demands of God's

powerful presence.

The words of Jesus penetrated the people

with clear principles of God's Kingdom.

Preaching frequently in the city and the temple,

He presented the power of God to heal and

deliver; and the multitudes hearing Him were

set free. Yet those who should have been most

eager to hear the Gospel refused to accept God

in their midst.

Coming down the Mount of Olives on a

colt, Jesus approached the city that God called

"the City of Peace," Jerusalem. The people

began to rejoice and shout praises to God for

the mighty works they had seen. In an

overwhelming demonstration of adulation,

they laid their garments and palm branches in

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

the pathway before Him. He received their

praise as King, Possessor of heaven and earth,

which He deserved. It was time to recognize

that heaven's royalty had come.

Amid this tremendous display, it became

clear that Jerusalem as a whole had divided

loyalties. They had learned to live religiously

content without God. Their comfort and

complacency blinded their eyes to what

belonged to them.

Jesus looked upon the city of God's people

and began to weep because they had missed the

season of God's visitation in the flesh. Jesus was

God's mercy, peace, and power made available

to them.

And when he was come near, he

beheld the city, and wept over it,

Saying, If thou hadst known, even

thou, at least in this thy day, the things

which belong unto thy peace! but now they

are hid from thine eyes.

For the days shall come upon thee, that

thine enemies shall cast a trench about

thee, and compass thee round, and keep

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

thee in on every side.

And shall lay thee even with the

ground, and thy children within thee; and

they shall not leave in thee one stone upon

another; because thou knewest not the

time of thy visitation.

Luke 19:41-44

The very ones who should have known the

Messiah could not recognize God standing in

their midst. They missed the coming of the

Holy Spirit and the birthing of the Church.

Instead of embracing the Messiah, they rejected

Him.

By rejecting God's visitation, the Israelites

set into motion their own destruction. Jesus

declared prophetically what the result of their

calloused hearts would be. (vv. 43, 44.) He

foretold with pinpoint accuracy the events that

would befall them.

In less than forty years the Romans

besieged the city cast a trench about it, and kept

its inhabitants in on every side. Titus built a

wall surrounding the city and cut off all hope of

escape. He commanded his soldiers to "dig up

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

the city," so the entire city was leveled. It would

be nearly 1900 years before the people would

again pray at the Wailing Wall where Jesus had

stood.

What was true of God's city in those days

can be true of His people today. There is a fresh

breath of the Holy Spirit being breathed into

the Body of Christ. As the Holy Spirit reaches

out, welcome Him and embrace His ways with

a willing heart. Sense His promptings and be

quick to respond. Hear His voice and do not

hesitate to obey.

In the beginning when that breath of God

began pulsating through Adam's cold, lifeless

body, he was made alive. A vibrant relationship

developed, and Adam walked in unbroken

fellowship with God.

As God breathes on His people today, He

pulls us into a deeper relationship—a

dimension in Him that is untouched by human

efforts or ambitions. Only those who yield in

willing obedience can experience this updraft of

the Holy Spirit.

Today is a time of visitation! The Holy Spirit is

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

moving in the Church to restore His power.

This restoration is the Holy Spirit in a manifest

and resident manner.

We dare not take lightly this sense of God's

presence reaching out to lift us, or we will be

left behind as He moves forward with His plan.

Like Jerusalem then, many in His nation (the

Church) today have pulled back from the

moving of the Spirit.

If you miss the time of the Holy Spirit's

visitation, you will set into motion your own

ruin. If you do not reach up to Him to walk in

those things which belong to you, and in those

things He will reveal to you, your spiritual

sight will grow dim.

Satan will dig a trench around you until it

looks like there is no way out. He will keep you

in on every side and lay you even with the

ground. What you set your hand to do will not

be blessed by God. You will have to rely on

manipulation rather than the manifestation of

the Holy Spirit.

Sadly, for many believers, God is no more

real than He is to the unbeliever. God hasn't left

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

them; but if they do not walk toward the light,

they will be drawing back from Him.

Change can seem so difficult. The light of

the Holy Spirit continually points you to new

territory, at least new to you. The unknown can

seem uncomfortable. You may not feel as

secure in new surroundings. Even new spiritual

revelation can be unsettling to your mind.

If you draw back from His dealings or

direction, you pull away from His light. Soon

the dimming light gives way to darkness. The

dimension He was drawing you into is hidden

from your eyes in the darkness of disobedience.

You can almost hear the sound of trenches

being dug around you. Though you cry out for

victory, there is none in disobedience. Victory

exists only when you obey.

Job cried out to God in his time of distress.

Let's read it:

My soul is weary of my life; I will

leave my complaint upon myself; I will

speak in the bitterness of my soul.

I will say unto God, Do not condemn

me; shew me wherefore thou contendest

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

with me.

Job 10:1, 2

Job, feeling as if he were at the end, said to

God, “Show me where I have left the path You

want me on."

If you come to God in total openness and

honesty, He will not condemn you. Instead He

will breathe afresh in your spirit and ignite you

with His power. Later Job said, Thou hast

granted me life and favour, and thy visitation

hath preserved my spirit (v. 12).

A fresh, personal visitation of the Holy

Spirit is the only way to remain in the stream of

God's vision. In every fresh move of the Holy

Spirit there are those God uses in great ways to

ignite people. They are motivated by the vision

of His sweeping power.

In Acts, chapter 10, we find one of the most

significant events of the early Church. It opened

an entirely new dimension of God's

redemption.

There was a certain man in Caesarea

called Cornelius, a centurion of the band

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

called the Italian band,

A devout man, and one that feared God

with all his house, which gave much alms

to the people, and prayed to God alway.

He saw in a vision evidently about the

ninth hour of the day an angel of God

coming in to him, and saying unto him,

Cornelius.

And when he looked on him, he was

afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he

said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms

are come up for a memorial before God.

Acts 10:1-4

Cornelius was a Gentile—a man without a

covenant—who had a deep hunger for God.

This hunger was expressed two ways in his life:

he gave alms and he prayed.

There is a deep spiritual connection

between giving, praying, and a fresh moving of

the Holy Spirit. God looks for those who pray

and give. The significance of these two areas is

that one reaches into the spiritual realm and the

other into the material realm.

Through prayer, the channels of the Spirit

can open to release God's anointing. Through

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

giving, our willingness to obey links spiritual

power with the material need of our lives. God

honors our giving. Our acts of faith to pray and

give serve as a constant reminder, or memorial,

that we are pressing in to activate the riches of

God.

Cornelius had built something before God.

His prayers and giving became the vehicle God

used to open His redemption to the Gentile

world. Until that time the Gospel had not been

spread to the Gentile population. The apostles

had accepted God's redemption as being only

for His chosen people, Israel.

Through his giving and praying, Cornelius

paved the way for the Apostle Peter to come

into a deeper revelation of God's redemption.

As a result of this memorial Cornelius built,

God gave Peter a vision. He revealed to Peter

that He was no longer to be isolated from the

Gentiles. He instructed Peter to take the

message of salvation to them. Peter acted on the

direction of the Holy Spirit, journeyed to

Caesarea, and found Cornelius. For the first

time the power of the Holy Spirit fell on a

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

Gentile household.

Notice that this memorial Cornelius built

not only brought salvation to the Gentiles, it

brought the revelation to Peter that God was no

respecter of nationality. The message of

redemption was for all mankind.

If you will not grow cold and discouraged,

but remain a person who gives to God and

prays, God will bring you into new personal

dimensions in Him. If necessary, He will even

speak to another person to bring it to you.

God was looking for someone to move

through. Cornelius had certain qualities that

separated him from others. He was devoted to

God in his giving and praying. If you will give

God your money and the effort and discipline

to be a person of prayer, He will pass over all

the hardhearted, self-serving people to move in

your life.

Second Chronicles 16:9 says, For the eyes of

the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole

earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of

them whose heart is perfect toward him. God

looks for a heart that is perfect or devoted to

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

Him. Moffatt's translation says it this way: ".. he

exerts his power on behalf of those who are

devoted to him."

God will move for you if you will, with an

honest and devoted heart, reach out to Him

through your prayers and giving. Begin to

build your own memorial to God as you

respond from your heart. The hunger for Him

that stirs in your heart will do for you what it

did for Cornelius: set in motion a visitation of

the Holy Spirit that you will not miss. It is not

merely your intention to give and pray that brings

God's move into your life. The devoted person will

follow through with his intentions.

Today, as the Holy Spirit works through

His people, He is infusing a renewed inner

strength, a fresh vision for His plan, and an

enhanced revelation of His Word. He is

speaking to the spirit of people, and they must

hear and adhere to what He imparts.

The prophet Habakkuk said, I will stand

upon my watch, and set me upon the tower,

and will watch to see what he will say unto

me, and what I shall answer when I am

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

reproved (Hab. 2:1). Notice he was watching

and listening for the word of the Lord.

And the answered me, and said, Write

the vision, and make it plain upon tables,

that he may run that readeth it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed

time, but at the end it shall speak, and not

lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it

will surely come, it will not tarry

vv. 2, 3

The Spirit said, "Write the vision." To write

is to describe clearly. You must describe clearly

the vision or revelation you have from God.

Seek Him to understand what you must do to

walk in what He is revealing to you.

Now notice verse 3 again from Moffatt's.

"The vision has its own appointed hour, it

ripens, it will flower; if it be long, then wait,

for it is sure, and it will not be late."

In the time of personal visitation, the Holy

Spirit speaks and breathes into you fresh vision

and revelation. Those divine impartations will

come to pass if you will cling to them and not

cave in.

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

He said, ... though it tarry (or delay), wait

for it. To wait means "to adhere to."

Stick to what you know He has said. He

goes on to say,. . because it will surely come, it

will not tarry. The word tarry is used twice,

though not translated from the same word. The

second time it means "to be late." The message

is this: What He speaks to you may seem to be

delayed, but continue to adhere and walk in it,

because it will come and not be late.

It is so important to be specific within

yourself concerning the things in which the

Holy Spirit is directing you. Cornelius

described to Peter exactly what God had

revealed to him. It brought Peter into a deep

revelation that God is no respecter of persons.

Peter later described to the other apostles what

both he and Cornelius had seen. The revelation

went on to speak to many, and they understood

a far deeper aspect of God's redemption than

ever before.

The Holy Spirit wants to strengthen your

position in Him—strengthening your grip on

the things you have known and drawing you

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

into things you have not yet understood. Paul

prayed for the Ephesian church, "That you may

have the power and be strong to apprehend

and grasp...." (Eph. 3:18 AMP). It requires

strength and power to grasp the things He is

leading you in now!

Paul goes on in verse 19 to pray that you "...

may have the richest measure of the divine

Presence, and become a body wholly filled

and flooded with God Himself!"

God is lifting His Body into a visitation of

His presence. As you yield to that presence, you

become an incarnation of His power. Let Him

flood you with Himself.

20

2

Restoration: The Work of

2

the Holy Spirit

The work of the Holy Spirit is to take the

treasures of His wealth and bring them to the

surface in your life. From the moment of the

new birth, God is working within you to restore

the areas of your life that have suffered from

the impact of sin.

There is a beautiful illustration of the work

of the Spirit in the Book of Nehemiah. This

man, Nehemiah, was a vessel used of God to

bring forth an important strength in God's

people. His experience also gives us an example

of what must take place in a person who is

seeking restoration, stability, and spiritual

strength. The Apostle Paul called these Old

Testament experiences examples. (I Cor. 10:6.)

In the opening lines of the Book of

Nehemiah, the stage is set for a powerful

revelation.

The words of Nehemiah the son of

Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

month of Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as

I was in Shushan the palace,

That Hanani, one of my brethren,

came, he and certain men of Judah; and I

asked them concerning the Jews that had

escaped, which were left of the captivity,

and concerning Jerusalem.

And they said unto me, The remnant

that are left of the captivity there in the

province are in great affliction and

reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is

broken down, and the gates thereof are

burned with fire.

Nehemiah 1:1-3

The city of Jerusalem was at a crucial time

in its history. The temple had been rebuilt and

worship had been restored, yet the walls of the

city still lay in ruin.

In those days the walls of a city served

several purposes. By surrounding the city, they

helped to protect it from invasion. The high

towers built upon these walls provided a place

for watchmen to view the countryside. This

vantage point gave them time to prepare the

city to battle as an enemy approached. They

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Restoration: The Work of the Holy Spirit

could not be surprised.

The report came to Nehemiah many miles

away in the palace of the Persian king that the

people of Jerusalem were greatly afflicted and

reproached because there were no walls around

their city.

Nehemiah's heart sank as he heard the grim

words of his kinsman. He wept and mourned

for days. God's city was in desperate need, and

Nehemiah was moved by God into action. He

prayed that God would use him to change the

condition of Jerusalem. Something had to be

done. The ruined walls would have to be

cleared away and new walls built. Jerusalem

must again be a city that glorified Jehovah God!

Nehemiah stood before the king daily in the

palace as cupbearer to Artaxerxes. This put him

in a place of counsel to the king. He was so

saddened by what he heard that he could not

hide it from the king. He boldly requested time

to go to Jerusalem with letters of authority and

the supplies needed to rebuild the walls of his

city. The king gave him all he asked for, as well

as captains of the army to accompany him.

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

The report that came to Nehemiah

described a city that was vulnerable to its

enemies and embarrassed by its weak position.

It was the cherished temple where the

Possessor of heaven and earth dwelt, yet there

were no walls to guard it. Though worship had

been restored, Jerusalem remained vulnerable

to attack from the enemy.

We are beginning to see a clear parallel

developing. The conditions of Jerusalem in

Nehemiah's day seem to be the conditions of

countless Christians today. Because they have

been born of the Spirit, God has moved into

their lives and made them His dwelling place.

They have entered a position of acceptance

with God. They are free to worship and enjoy

His presence, yet they find themselves

incapable of coping with the challenges that rise

up against them. They cannot seem to bridge

the gap to bring this restored relationship with

God over into dealing with real-life problems.

There is little control in their lives. Though they

have become a temple and dwelling place of

the Most High God, the walls of their soul

remain in disarray.

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Restoration: The Work of the Holy Spirit

The soul is truly the command center of

your life. It is vital that you receive the work of

the Holy Spirit to rebuild the crushed and

ruined areas of your soul. As the walls of your

soul are strengthened, you become less and less

vulnerable to the attacks of your enemy, Satan.

He will no longer plague you with the

embarrassment of being beaten over and over

again by the same weakness. You are being

built into a mighty city and fortress to bring

glory to your King!

Nehemiah came to Jerusalem as the Holy

Spirit comes to you—to build and strengthen

your life. The picture which Nehemiah gives us

of the Holy Spirit's work is so beautiful. Even

his name brings this parallel. Nehemiah means

"Jehovah comforts." Jesus told us, And I will

pray the Father, and he shall give you another

Comforter, that he may abide with you for

ever (John 14:16). Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit,

our Comforter, whose ministry is to transform

us into the very image of our Heavenly Father.

Notice 2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with

open face beholding as in a glass the glory of

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

the Lord, are changed into the same image

from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of

the Lord. The Comforter has come to develop

your life and transform you into His image of

strength and stability. He has come to free you

from your enemy and make you a beautiful city

that is secure. Security means to be free from

cares, free from the fear of disaster, free from

disease, and free from financial ruin.

The Spirit of God has come into your life

with all of the tools necessary to create a life

that is not vulnerable to every attack of your

enemy. What makes you vulnerable? You, as a

believer, are vulnerable when past sin keeps

you weak. As a new creation, you are free from

sin's dominion spiritually; however, your soul

is in the process of being renewed. You have

complete access to the presence of God.

Satan launches an attack against your soul

using the areas that have defeated you before:

• He comes against your intellect with

doubts, confusion, imaginations, and

reasoning.

• He attacks your emotions with fear, lust,

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Restoration: The Work of the Holy Spirit

temper, anger, bitterness, and

unforgiveness.

• He challenges your will with accusations

of past failures or lack of resistance to

compromise.

• He cripples your confidence in your

ability to make a quality decision.

These past failures and compromises are the

ruined walls of life which allow an entrance to

Satan's strategies against you. Your defenses

become weak. Your enemy's attack seems to

rush upon you out of nowhere.

The Holy Spirit has come to lead you into

all truth. He does not come to point His finger

at your imperfections, but rather to point you to

Jesus, to show you the beauty of God's

kingdom and the power He has given you. He

has come to restore control to your life.

Proverbs 25:28 says. He that hath no rule

over his own spirit is like a city that is

broken down, and without walls. The Spirit

of God comes to stand with you against the

weakness you have known. He desires to bring

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

you to a place of confidence in moving with

Him.

In Romans 8:26 Paul said it this way:

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our

infirmities. The word helpeth comes from a

Greek word that literally means "to take hold

together with you against." The Spirit of God

takes hold together with you against your

weaknesses. He comes to strengthen you and

stand with you as you allow God to build new

strongholds in your life.

When Nehemiah first came to Jerusalem,

he viewed its condition before anyone knew

the purpose of his visit. Then he stood before

the people of the city and said, Ye see the

distress that we are in... come, and let us

build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be

no more a reproach (Neh. 2:17). Notice he did

not say, "Look at the mess you are in." He called

it the distress we are in. He took upon himself the

situation of the city, making it a personal

problem.

The Holy Spirit also looks at what you face,

not as an outsider, but from a standpoint of

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Restoration: The Work of the Holy Spirit

personal interest and involvement. But it is of

extreme importance to note that the Holy Spirit

does not build your life for you!

The people of Jerusalem responded to

Nehemiah this way: Let us rise up and build

(v. 18). Likewise, you must respond to the call

of the Spirit of God and say, "Let us rise up

together and build the walls of my life." As the

Master Builder, He can make your life into a

powerful fortress of strength!

The building of Jerusalem's wall was not

without opposition. Sanballat was governor of

Samaria, the neighboring nation. His

accusations began with these words: What is

this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the

king? (Neh. 2:19). He was challenging their

actions as well as their motive. He was twisting

their intentions by projecting his own wicked

thoughts into them. He did not want Jerusalem

strengthened. Sanballat offers a crystal clear

portrayal of the tactics used by Satan against

God's people.

Satan will make your steps toward God

look ugly and self-serving. He might say, "Who

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

do you think you are? You just want to do your

own thing!" Or, "What right do you have to

expect God to do that?" The undermining of

your confidence begins with such abusive

thoughts contaminating your mind.

Sanballat again hurled his accusations:

What do these feeble Jews? will they

fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will

they make an end in a day? will they

revive the stones out of the heaps of the

rubbish which are burned?

Neh. 4:2

Satan mocks you as you allow the Holy

Spirit to build your life. He reminds you of

your human weakness. He magnifies your

problem. He tries to convince you of the

hopeless act of reclaiming the broken stones of

the wall.

If you yield to the accusations and

distortions of your enemy, the work of the Holy

Spirit will cease. Answer your enemy as

Nehemiah did Sanballat:

I am doing a great work, so that I

cannot come down: why should the work

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Restoration: The Work of the Holy Spirit

cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to

you?

Neh. 6:3

The work of the Spirit went on as the people

continued to work. Jerusalem was strengthened

and her walls rebuilt. Strong and impenetrable,

she would no longer be vulnerable to her

enemies or embarrassed by her weakness.

The first words Nehemiah declared to

Sanballat set the stage for what was to come.

His words were prophetic:

The God of heaven, he will prosper us;

therefore we his servants will arise and

build: but ye have no portion, nor right,

nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

Neh. 2:20

When these words came to pass, all would see

that God was alive and ruler over His city.

These should also be your words to your

enemy, Satan:

God is prospering me. I will rise up in the Holy

Spirit and build! Satan, you have no portion of me.

You have no right to me. There will be no memorial

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

left of your work in my life!

The Holy Spirit will then take those areas of

instability and build His words into your mind,

will, and emotions. Those words become the

substance that resist the attempts of your

enemy to keep you weak and ineffective.

He has no portion, no legal share or

allotment, to you. He is portionless.

He has no right—no legal right—to your

mind, thoughts, or emotions. You belong to

God.

There are no memorials built within you to

preserve the memory of his ability to destroy

and dominate. God gets pleasure from taking

what was once rubbish and broken-down areas

of life and creating a life strong in the Spirit

unto His glory.

Ecclesiastes 3:3 says there is a time to break

down and a time to build up. The time to break

down and remove the memories of failure and

compromises of the past is now! The Spirit of

God is at work in you. He has come to

empower you and enable you to recover,

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Restoration: The Work of the Holy Spirit

restore, and reclaim every dimension of life that

was stolen from you.

It is a time to build, so rise up and build!

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Giving Place to the Spirit

3

We have been destined by God to live in the

Spirit, so we hunger for the supernatural. If we

will move with Him, He will move in us.

After the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus,

He exhibited a tremendous change. The Spirit

of Heaven came to rest upon Him to reveal to

all people the potential of how they could live

in the power of the Holy Spirit. He began to

teach the principles of the Kingdom of God and

openly demonstrate its power.

The Spirit of God's grace was manifested in

the likeness of a dove—gentle and beautiful,

quiet and elegant. He moves with the

tenderness of the sea breeze, yet He can

manifest a strength like the force of the

mightiest wind.

He has come to indwell you and to create a

life of consistency. He comes to empower you

and unite you with His supply of strength and

supernatural ability.

In the Old Testament there are many

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

exciting examples of the Holy Spirit's power

moving. In 1 Samuel 10:6, 7, 9 the prophet

Samuel told Saul what to expect as the Spirit

moved upon him.

And the Spirit of the Lord will come

upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with

them, and shalt be turned into another

man.

And let it be, when these signs are

come unto thee, that thou do as occasion

serve thee; for God is with thee.

And it was so, that when he had turned

his back to go from Samuel, God gave him

another heart: and all those signs came to

pass that day.

Something dramatic happened that day:

Saul became another man just as Samuel had

prophesied. As he moved with the Holy Spirit,

his heart was changed! Through the new birth

we have entered a much deeper place in the

Spirit than those under the Old Covenant,

although we still need Him to move in us and

change us.

Notice another example in Judges 12:24, 25.

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Giving Place to the Spirit

And the woman bare a son, and called

his name Samson: and the child grew, and

the Lord blessed him.

And the Spirit of the Lord began to

move him at times.

Notice, the Spirit moved him at times. If the

Holy Spirit could move Samson, He can move

you! As this man of God grew, he learned to be

used by the Spirit. In Judges 14:5, 6 it says:

Then went Samson down, and his

father and his mother, to Timnath, and

came to the vineyards of Timnath: and,

behold, a young lion roared against him.

And the Spirit of the Lord came

mightily upon him, and he rent him as he

would have rent a kid, and he had nothing

in his hand.

Physically, Samson was no different than

any other man in Israel. But he had entered a

place in the Holy Spirit of breaking through

natural limitations. When he was in a position

of needing the power of God in his life, the

Spirit came upon him in great strength. He had

an ample supply from God that would make

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

him more than equal to any demand.

When the lions of life roar against you, the

Holy Spirit will respond in the same way if you

are yielded to Him. His anointing will come

upon you with the power, wisdom, and

direction you need.

Breaking through some of the limitations in

your life can come progressively. In many areas

of life, change is not instant, but gradual. When

you understand this to be a normal process,

you will be free from the frustration of growing

up in the Spirit.

First Corinthians 2:10 in The Living Bible

says, "... his Spirit searches out and shows us

all of God's deepest secrets." Those deep

secrets are hidden for—not from—those who

will seek Him. It is the Holy Spirit Who will

bring insight to your spirit. He will begin to

develop a thought, an idea, or an impression.

The secret of success in the Kingdom of God

becomes clearer and clearer when you realize

that God's promises are truly yours.

Abram's experience helps us see how the

Holy Spirit will bring deep change in us. God

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Giving Place to the Spirit

first spoke to Abram and revealed to him that

he would be the father of many nations. (See

Gen. 12:1-3. ) Abram believed what God said

about him, even though at that time he had

fathered no one.

Romans 4:20, 21 adds more depth to this

event. It states:

He staggered not at the promise of God

through unbelief; but was strong in faith,

giving glory to God;

And being fully persuaded that, what

he had promised, he was able also to

perform.

Abram was "fully persuaded." He allowed

the revelation to enter his imagination. Once

the promise was revealed to him, he put it on

like a coat and wore it at all times. Yes, he made

mistakes, so there is still hope for you and me.

But even in his mistakes he did not leave

behind what God had revealed to him.

God declared Abram to be the father of

many nations; and in Abram's thoughts and

imaginations, he was becoming all that was

spoken of him. That is the next part of this

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

progression in spiritual development. First, you

must allow the promises of God's Word to

influence your imagination. Then you must

give liberty to the impressions of the Holy

Spirit in your imaginations. Jesus said, "The

lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is

unclouded, your whole body will be lighted

up" (Matt. 6:22, Twentieth Century).

Your viewpoint begins to change as you

receive revelation from the Spirit. If your

spiritual sight remains focused properly, your

imaginations "light up" with the thoughts of the

Holy Spirit.

The transformation began in Abram as he

consistently trusted in God's Word. Isaac was

born—the child of promise; the child of

revelation, imagination, and action. The

principles are clear. God is teaching us:

1. to regain what was lost to man at

Adam's fall,

2. to cause His will to be done in the earth,

and

3. to be transformed into His likeness and

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Giving Place to the Spirit

follow the headship of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Peter was dramatically

changed as the revelation came to him that

Jesus was the Christ. Jesus said to him:

Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for

flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto

thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art

Peter....

Matt. 16:17

Peter's name had been Simon which comes

from the Hebrew name meaning "obedient

hearer." But because he heard, Jesus called him

Peter which means "a large piece of rock." What

Peter heard was revelation, and he was being

transformed by that revelation into a rock.

When Jesus stood on the Mount of

Transfiguration, there appeared with Him

Moses and Elijah. Moses represented the Law;

Elijah represented the prophets. But the Father

spoke from the cloud and announced: This is

my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;

hear ye him (Matt. 17:5).

Jesus gives us a bold entrance into the

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

presence of the Holy Spirit. No longer are we to

live by the rules and regulations of the Law.

The Holy Spirit has become our regulator. Jesus

came with the words of forgiveness,

acceptance, and righteousness. We are no

longer connected to God through the Law and

the prophets. Jesus was the fulfillment of all

that Moses and Elijah represented. Now our

link is with God Himself! If you will trust Him,

you can be led by Him. You can hear from Him,

and you can be changed to be more like Him.

He opened wide the door into the place of a

higher level of participation with the Holy

Spirit. He is now transforming us into people

who will not hinder Him from moving, but will

enhance His work.

In 2 Corinthians 3:18, there is a powerful

statement about this transformation. The

Amplified Bible reads:

And all of us, as with unveiled face,

[because we] continue to behold [in the

Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of

the Lord, are constantly being transfigured

into His very own image in ever increasing

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Giving Place to the Spirit

splendor and from one degree of glory to

another; [for this comes] from the Lord

[Who is] the Spirit.

God has deposited the potential of His

divine nature within you. Through your desire

for God's Word, the Holy Spirit begins to move

you from this potential into experience. He will

move you from victory to victory as this

deposit emerges and comes to the forefront of

your life, transforming you into His image, His

splendor, and His glory. You may feel as

though your progress has been limited and you

have not experienced the strength of the Holy

Spirit, but God's Word says, Let the weak say, I

am strong (Joel 3:10).

God has seen your weaknesses and frailties.

But His strength within you is greater than

your weakness. Stir up an awareness of His

presence. He can accomplish great things in

and through you as you yield to Him. Give

place to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to

cultivate these specific qualities as you move

into new levels of involvement with Him.

1. Grow beyond potential into

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

productiveness. Do not allow the desire

to accomplish something in the

Kingdom of God to be substituted by a

mere fantasy about what you could do.

Faith and fantasy are not even remotely

related. Faith springs up from the spirit;

fantasy issues merely from the soul.

Make a strong commitment to pray, to

tithe, and to grow in God's Word. Only

then can deep progress really come.

2. Put away un-Christian attitudes. You

must develop a new attitude which

says, "Others may—I may not." It is too

easy to justify wrong attitudes.

Sometimes we see others who are older

in the Lord leaving areas unchecked and

"seemingly" experiencing success, but

we cannot join in.

Don't criticize or condemn others

because you see a wrong attitude.

Simply seek a better way. The Holy

Spirit recently spoke this to me: "Others

are not responsible to give Me the kind

of service I ask of you. Keep your eyes

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Giving Place to the Spirit

on Me. Don't look for the company of

many others. Much of the way you shall

go will be alone, except for My

presence."

3. Focus your attention and heart on

things above. Colossians 3:1,2 in the

Phillips translation says: "... reach out

for the highest gifts of Heaven, where

Christ reigns in power. Be concerned

with the heavenly things, not to the

passing things of earth." The sharper

our focus, the clearer our vision.

4. Open yourself to the Holy Spirit. Stir

up the anointing within. Cultivate a

sensitivity to the promptings of the

Spirit.

5. Be strict on yourself and easy on

others. The demand God makes on you

must be taken seriously You must seek

to develop an intolerance in yourself for

the things He hates. But you are not to

make His demands for you the

measuring stick for those around you.

You can influence people, but you

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

cannot control them. You are never

supposed to.

God will lead you into a new dimension of

walking and living in the Spirit. You will not

need to struggle to enter in, only follow. Your

steps will become clear before you and your

path brightly illuminated as you give place to

Him!

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4

Facets of His Anointing

4

Jesus, the Branch through which divine life

and power from heaven would flow, did not

live in the limitations of natural men. He did

not make His decisions only by information

given to Him, nor did He size up people based

solely upon their appearance or actions. He had

access to another dimension: the dimension of

the Spirit.

The prophet Isaiah looked ahead in time

and saw the anointing of the Holy Spirit resting

upon the Messiah of God. He spoke clearly of

the facets of that anointing that would flow

through Him.

And there shall come forth a rod out of

the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow

out of his roots:

And the spirit of the Lord shall rest

upon him, the spirit of wisdom and

understanding, the spirit of counsel and

might, the spirit of knowledge and of the

fear of the Lord;

And shall make him of quick

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

understanding in the fear of the Lord: and

he shall not judge after the sight of his

eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of

his ears.

Isaiah 11:1-3

The Spirit of God would rest upon Jesus

and move Him according to the wisdom,

counsel, and knowledge of God. He would not

react by what He saw or heard. It was this

dimension of the anointing which Jesus came to

demonstrate.

Mankind was meant to have God's counsel

and might. Jesus came to make the desire for

deep involvement with God a reality. His life

was not limited to natural impulses or fears. He

lived with no limitations, and He has paved the

way to remove the limitations for all mankind.

The Apostle Paul said this of Christ: In

whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and

knowledge (Col. 2:3). He is in you! When He

came to live within you, all His treasures came,

too. The hidden treasures are deposited within

you.

Just as God's power and might can be

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Facets of His Anointing

stirred within you, so can His counsel. You can

receive divine counsel. The Spirit of Counsel

has come. His counsel is yours today!

The miracle of counsel is as supernatural as

any physical miracle. Not all miracles are

confined to what we can see outwardly. There

are many supernatural things God will do that

are not outwardly spectacular. He can move

through an entire auditorium of people with a

wave of the Spirit of Counsel that will bring

answers and direction to individual needs. That

is supernatural!

Jesus, the Branch, has brought the life and

anointing to you in the form of the Holy Spirit.

The facets of His anointing upon you can flow

through you to make supernatural insight and

power available.

In the Book of Exodus there is a powerful

example of God opening Israel's eyes to His

availability. Just after the Israelites had been

delivered from Pharaoh's army, they went into

the desert where they had no water. God led

them to the waters of Marah. Let's read Exodus

15:23-25.

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

And when they came to Marah, they

could not drink of the waters of Marah, for

they were bitter: therefore the name of it

was called Marah.

And the people murmured against

Moses, saying, what shall we drink?

And he cried unto the Lord; and the

Lord shewed him a tree, which when he

had cast into the waters, the waters were

made sweet.

God led them to waters which could not be

consumed. He did not lead them there to drink

bitter water, but to change the water from bitter

to sweet.

I once heard a ridiculous interpretation of

this scripture. Supposedly, God led the

Israelites to the bitter water, expecting them to

drink it. When they drank the water, its high

mineral content (which made it bitter) would

cause their bodies to be cleansed of all the

impurities and toxins they had received during

their oppression in Egypt. Can you imagine

several million people and all their livestock

being cleaned out at the same time? The truth is

they never touched the bitter water to their lips.

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Facets of His Anointing

They drank sweet water!

You may be faced with "bitter waters" many

times in your life. Situations, problems, or

tragedies will arise to challenge your walk with

God. The Holy Spirit has come to provide the

wisdom, counsel, or might needed to turn those

waters of life from bitter to sweet!

God told Moses to take the tree and put it

into the water. Moses' obedience brought a

miracle, and the miracle brought a revelation:

GOD DID NOT WANT THEM TO DRINK

BITTER WATERS. He is a good God; and Israel

needed to know that, if they would simply obey

Him, He would care for them. Yet even after

the great miracles God gave them, Israel would

not continue to walk with God. They refused to

listen to His instructions.

Psalm 81:11-16 is a window into God's heart

as He was reaching out to His nation.

But my people would not hearken to

my voice; and Israel would none of me.

So I gave them up unto their own

hearts' lust: and they walked in their own

counsels.

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

vv. 11, 12

Israel would not heed the counsel of God.

No wonder they wandered in the wilderness.

Counsel came to them as it does to you. You

can heed His counsel. Listen to the results Israel

could have received as the Psalm continues:

Oh that my people had hearkened unto

me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

I should soon have subdued their

enemies, and turned my hand against their

adversaries.

The haters of the Lord should have

submitted themselves unto him: but their

time should have endured for ever.

He should have fed them also with the

finest of the wheat: and with honey out of

the rock should I have satisfied thee.

vv. 13-16

The Moffatt translation ends verse 16 like

this: "... with honey from the rock to their

hearts' content." Their experience could have

been much different. If they had learned the

lesson from the bitter waters of Marah, they

would have seen how to reach out for counsel

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Facets of His Anointing

and wisdom from Jehovah God.

The tree at Marah represents the Branch in

your life: Jesus Christ. The anointing He has

given you can be dipped into the waters of life

to turn the bitter waters sweet. Bitter rejection

and disappointment is turned sweet by the

Spirit of understanding flooding you. The

bitterness of confusion, depression, or

stagnation is sweetened as His counsel washes

through you. The bitter effect of weakness,

sickness, or emotional weariness is changed

into strongholds of God's victory when His

Spirit of might empowers you. He is as sweet as

He has ever been. It's you who are being

changed and sweetened. You get sweeter as the

days go by.

If you continue to drink the bitter waters of

life, you will eventually find yourself bitter. But

as you drink the sweet waters of His counsel,

wisdom, and understanding, you will see

victory over the works of the devil and find

yourself being sweetened.

In John 15:5 Jesus made this startling

statement: I am the vine, ye are the branches.

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

These words paint a most beautiful picture of

our relationship with Him. Through simple

faith, we allow the life of God to flow through

us and bring forth fruit.

It is significant that Jesus was teaching His

disciples about the vine in the final moments

before His arrest. The band of officers, priests,

and Pharisees were joining Judas at that very

moment. Jesus' ministry was coming into a vital

change. He was the Branch that the prophets

had spoken about. Soon He was to become the

Vine to which many branches would cling.

Instead of a single branch, there would be

many. These branches would also become the

vessels of God's anointing as He had been.

The same Spirit which was upon the Branch

is now on the branches. Jesus said, I am the

vine, ye are branches: He that abideth in me,

and I in him, the same bringeth forth much

fruit: for without me ye can do nothing (John

15:5). You are in Him, abiding in Him. You can

bring forth the fruit of His anointing. To abide

means "to wait expectantly, watching for and

standing ready for something; to remain stable

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Facets of His Anointing

or constant in a relationship."

To vacillate constantly—on, then off; up,

then down—is not abiding. When you abide,

you continue to seek God whether times are

difficult or easy.

In John 15:6 comes Jesus' warning to those

who will not abide in Him. If a man abide not

in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is

withered; and men gather them, and cast

them into the fire, and they are burned.

When you cease to remain in a constant

relationship with Him, you begin to wither.

You actually cast yourself away from His flow

of life. When situations or weaknesses influence

you more than God, you will be "burned."

People can burn you. Circumstances can burn

you. Life can burn you.

Many people in the Kingdom of God have

been burned because they would not give

attention to the areas where they were not

abiding. The flow of God's life was cut off from

them. Their point of view was changed. They

were burned by what they saw or heard. They

became fruitless and useless.

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

A simple but profound key to stability is:

keep your eyes focused on Jesus, not on others.

Then in John 15:7, 8 comes Jesus'

tremendous promise and pathway of

discipleship. The Wuest translation is so

descriptive. It reads:

If you maintain a living communion

with me and my words are at home in you,

I command you to ask, at once, something

for yourself, whatever your heart desires,

and it will become yours. In this my Father

is glorified, namely, that you are bearing

much fruit. So shall you become my

disciples.

Fruitfulness in life is possible only by a

continued living relationship in the Holy Spirit.

Deep communion comes out of your union

with Him. The strength of redemption is

released through this deep relationship.

You can begin to stir up the various facets

of God's anointing and know the direction He

is leading you. His desires will become clearer

in you. They will become your desires as a

result of your closeness with Him. They are not

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Facets of His Anointing

desires of your flesh or mind. They spring up

from within your heart. You can know what

God is speaking to you by giving attention to

the desires of your heart.

God speaks in many ways. He speaks

through visions and dreams, through His

prophets and ministers, through His written

Word, even audibly at times. He speaks Spirit

to spirit, and He speaks through desires.

He places a desire within your heart, then

He inspires you to ask for it. In that way, He

can give you whatever your heart desires. He

has initiated it. A disciple who brings glory to

the Father God is one who is following the

leading of the Holy Spirit. He seeks to do those

things which please God. He listens for the

counsel and knowledge of the Spirit that he

may express the anointing.

The Holy Spirit is pulling and lifting you

into an active involvement with Him. His

wisdom, His counsel, and His might will wash

through you so you can flow with Him and

bear much fruit.

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5

Yielding to the Holy Spirit

5

We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit.

At the end of His ministry, Jesus said He would

send the Holy Spirit to lead us into the truth

that He came to reveal.

In John 7:38 Jesus was speaking of the Holy

Spirit when He said, He that believeth on me,

as the scripture hath said, out of his belly

shall flow rivers of living water.

The Holy Spirit has come and is releasing

life-giving waters that lie deep within the one

who will yield to Him. The Holy Spirit opens

your eyes to see life from His perspective. The

one who is yielded to the Holy Spirit will find

himself taking on new interests and priorities in

life.

Fruitfulness in life comes as a result of

yielding to the Spirit. To yield means "to give up

or to give yourself over." It is also "to open

yourself with an open hand to receive from

another."

Yielding to the Holy Spirit means that you

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

give up your own ideas and efforts, and put

yourself in His hand. You approach Him with

an empty hand that is open and ready to

receive from Him. It is impossible to grasp one

thing when your hand is holding onto

something else.

There are different levels of relationship

with the Holy Spirit which are important to

understand. The first relationship we will

discuss is the Spirit with us. The fact that He is

in the earth today gives every person the

potential of a personal relationship with Him.

There is no one He cannot reach and no one

who cannot reach Him. He is available to all,

but His availability does not mean there is

automatically a relationship with Him.

In John 14:16, 17 Jesus said:

And I will pray the Father, and he shall

give you another Comforter, that he may

abide with you for ever;

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the

world cannot receive, because it seeth him

not, neither knoweth him: but ye know

him: for he dwelleth with you, and shall be

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Yielding to the Holy Spirit

in you.

The disciples witnessed the influence of the

Holy Spirit among them. However, they had

not yet moved from an outer experience of His

presence to His indwelling. They knew Him

outwardly, but soon He would come to dwell

within them.

This brings us to the second type of

relationship we can experience with the Holy

Spirit: His indwelling. The prophet Ezekiel

spoke of this relationship.

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon

you, and ye shall be clean: from all your

filthiness, and from all your idols, will I

cleanse you.

A new heart also will I give you, and a

new spirit will I put within you: and I will

take away the stony heart out of your flesh,

and I will give you an heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you,

and cause you to walk in my statutes, and

ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Ezekiel 36:25-27

The desire of the Holy Spirit as described in

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

Ezekiel was to make man His dwelling place.

He would remove the stony heart and replace it

with a heart that is tender and sensitive toward

Himself. This tenderhearted man would be

alive to the Spirit, able to commune with God

and enjoy His presence.

The third level of our relationship with the

Holy Spirit is found in the book of Acts. "But

you shall receive power—ability, efficiency

and might—when the Holy Spirit has come

upon you" (Acts 1:8 AMP).

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come upon

you. As you yield to Him, His power increases

as it moves through you. His ability, His

efficiency, and His might all become yours. You

are yielding and surrendering to Him.

The Holy Spirit begins to reveal His

presence to you. He develops the fruit of the

Spirit within you, making you fruitful. He

creates a sensitivity to His impulses, and as a

result you rise to new dimensions of His power.

The life you lived before you received

Christ was governed by the appetites and

impulses of the carnal nature. If your flesh

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Yielding to the Holy Spirit

wanted it, it got it! Life was nearly consumed

with catering to anything your flesh desired.

Christians who continue to pamper their flesh

will never become strong. They will never be

satisfied within because they cannot please

God. Deep within them is the desire to please

Him, but unchanged they remain of little use or

effectiveness to the work of the Holy Spirit.

There are those, however, who are

unsatisfied with carnal life so they reach out for

something more. They want to be sensitive and

useful to the Holy Spirit. They want to be "a

vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the

Master, prepared for every good work" (2 Tim.

2:21 NAS).

Let's read what the Apostle Paul wrote in

Romans 8:5, 9 from The Amplified Bible:

But those who are according to the

Spirit and [controlled by the desires] of the

Spirit, set their minds on and seek those

things which gratify the (Holy) Spirit.

But you are not living the life of the

flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if

the (Holy) Spirit of God [really] dwells

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

within you—directs and controls you.

Paul addressed the Ephesians this way:

And be renewed in the spirit of your

mind;

And that ye put on the new man,

which after God is created in righteousness

and true holiness.

Ephesians 4:23, 24

To more fully cooperate with the Holy

Spirit, you must refuse to yield to the

distractions that Satan uses to draw you back.

Yielding to the Spirit means to give your

thoughts and imaginations over to Him. You

must think the thoughts of the Spirit. Instead of

thinking destructive ideas that are negative—

full of defeat and despair—yield to the ideas of

the Holy Spirit. Let Him bring power into your

life through the Word of God.

Proverbs 16:3 AMP says,

Roll your works upon the Lord—

commit and trust them wholly to Him; [He

will cause your thoughts to become

agreeable to His will, and] so shall your

plans be established and succeed.

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Yielding to the Holy Spirit

As you roll your works upon the Lord, the

Holy Spirit causes your thoughts to become an

expression of His will. By yielding to God's

will, you are being molded by His influence

into the likeness of Jesus. He truly begins to

take control. Some people are controlled by

their flesh, others are under the influence of

demon spirits. You are being controlled and

influenced by the Holy Spirit. You have become

more sensitive to His sweet presence. He begins

to send impulses to your heart, and you

respond to His quiet leading. You find that

your steps are being directed by the hand of the

Spirit of God.

You are a vessel containing His presence, a

vehicle transporting His power.

Not long ago you might have collapsed in

the face of the challenges before you. Instead,

you have silenced the promptings of carnal

thinking. You are no longer moved by outer

pressure. You look to the Holy Spirit as He

brings the Word of God to life. You stand

strong in His strength.

I have strength for all things in Christ

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

Who empowers me—I am ready for

anything and equal to anything through

Him Who infuses inner strength into me,

[that is, I am self-sufficient in Christ's

sufficiency].

Phil. 4:13 AMP

You are walking in and with the Holy

Spirit. It is a continuous attitude of the heart to

reach out for the things of the Spirit—step by

step, actively yielding to His influence. You

take on the appearance of one who knows

where he is going and what he is doing. You

are self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency.

Many voices may come to advise you on

what steps to take, but you simply filter them

out. You know the voice of the Master. When

you know Him, you can pick His voice out of

the crowd. You can sense His leading and

direction. Peace comes over you as you follow

His course of action. If you begin to stray off

course, an uneasiness seems to shout, STOP! as

though it were a flashing red light.

God's Word has become a living lamp to

your feet. Your walk with Him becomes more

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Yielding to the Holy Spirit

intimate. Your path becomes narrow, your

steps more sure.

This yielded walk is emphasized many

places in the Epistles. In Galatians, Paul says,

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye

shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).

Again in the same book, he says, If we live in

the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Gal.

5:25). The word walk gives us this idea: "Be

constantly conducting yourself in the Spirit."

In Ephesians, he says, I therefore, the

prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye

walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye

are called (Eph. 4:1). Later he says, Walk not

as other Gentiles walk... walk in love... walk

as children of light... walk circumspectly

(Eph. 4:17; 5:2, 8, 15).

In Colossians, he says, As ye have

therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so

walk ye in him (Col. 2:6).

In Thessalonians, he says, ... as ye have

received of us how ye ought to walk and to

please God, so ye would abound more and

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

more (1 Thess. 4:1).

Then in 1 John, we are told clearly by the

Spirit to walk even as He walks for as He is, so

are we in this world. (1 John 2:6; 4:17).

These statements would overwhelm anyone

unless they could see just how Jesus walked.

Notice in Luke 4:1, 14 from The Amplified Bible:

Then Jesus, full of and controlled by

the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan,

and was led in (by) the (Holy) Spirit...

Then Jesus went back full of and under the

power of the (Holy) Spirit into Galilee, and

the fame of Him spread through the whole

region round about.

He was full of and controlled by the Holy

Spirit! That will be said of you when you walk

in the Spirit. Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit,

free from the dominion of sin. Through simple

faith in Jesus' sacrifice, you have been born of

the same Spirit and made free from the

dominion of sin. In the same manner that Jesus

was under the direction of the Holy Spirit, you

also are under His influence. As you yield to

Him, He will direct your steps.

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Yielding to the Holy Spirit

Jesus spoke with boldness as He announced

God's willingness to deliver and heal people.

When the religious people in the synagogue

first heard Him speak, they were enraged by

His familiarity with Jehovah God because He

revealed their hardness of heart. They were so

angry that they rose up to silence Him. They

took Him to the edge of a cliff to cast Him to

His death, but Jesus would not be pushed! He

passed through the mob, and they were

powerless to stop Him.

Why was He in control? Why were those

demon-inspired people unable to destroy Him?

Because He was full of and controlled by the

Holy Spirit. Your enemy cannot control you

and push you over a cliff. You may feel on the

edge of losing control completely, but God is

ready to refresh you and restore your control.

Reach out to Him now.

When Israel was wandering through the

wilderness, they were given a cloud by day and

a pillar of fire by night. When the cloud began

to move, there could be no argument: they had

to pack their belongings and move with it.

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Visitation of the Holy Spirit

The Spirit leads. He never follows! If you

begin to lead, you walk alone. If you fight the

moving of the Holy Spirit in your life, you may

discover yourself out from under the cloud and

alone in the scorching heat of the desert.

One very real hindrance in yielding to the

influence of the Holy Spirit is one of Satan's

most effective weapons: false condemnation.

He reminds you of your past pride,

worldliness, or fruitlessness. Than he fills you

with a fear of future failures. Despair and

depression may draw you into a tailspin as you

let your thoughts run rampant.

Satan will say to you, "Look at yourself. You

call yourself a Christian! Do you think you

could really be led by the Holy Spirit? With all

of the problems and defeats you have had, you

would be a fool to think your future can be any

different."

The difference between Satan's

condemnation and the Holy Spirit's conviction

is that Satan points to the past or the future. But

the Spirit of God points you to the image of

Christ and deals specifically with the present.

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Yielding to the Holy Spirit

God sees your past through the eyes of

forgiveness and your future through the eves of

hope. He sees you in Christ. He does not want

you to focus your sight on past weakness, but

upon your present ability in the power of the

Holy Spirit.

He is now doing what Jesus promised He

would do: bringing to light the ability of the

Father and the Son, and building it into your

life. He is opening the Word and making it

alive.

The Spirit of Heaven is the Spirit of

Creation, the Spirit of the Resurrection, and the

Spirit Life. He has come to guide, direct,

empower, and energize you. Yield to Him!

In conclusion, be strong in the Lord—

be empowered through your union with

Him; draw your strength from Him—that

strength which His [boundless] might

provides.

Eph. 6:10 AMP

71

References

New American Standard Bible (nas). Copyright ©

The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963,

1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, La Habra,

California.

The Amplified Bible, New Testament (amp).

Copyright © 1954, 1958 by The Lockman

Foundation, La Habra, California.

The Amplified Bible, Old Testament (amp).

Copyright © 1962, 1964 by Zondervan

Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Bible: A New Translation (Mof). Copyright ©

1950, 1952, 1953, 1954 by James A. R.

Moffatt. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.,

New York, New York.

The Living Bible (tlb). Copyright © 1971 by

Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton,

Illinois.

The New Testament: An Expanded Translation

(Wuest) by Kenneth S. Wuest. Copyright ©

1961 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company Grand Rapids, Michigan.

73

Visitation of the Holy Spirit

The New Testament in Modern English (Phillips).

Rev. Ed. copyright © 1958, 1959, 1960, 1972

by J. B. Phillips. Published by Macmillan

Publishing Co., Inc., New York, New York.

The Twentieth Century New Testament (Twentieth

Century). Copyright © 1981 by Spirit to

Spirit Publications, Tulsa Christian Center,

Tulsa, Oklahoma.

74

NOTES

NOTES

NOTES

NOTES

Document Outline

- Visitation of the Holy Spirit

- Contents

- 1 Visitation of the Holy Spirit

- 2 Restoration: The Work of the Holy Spirit

- 3 Giving Place to the Spirit

- 4 Facets of His Anointing

- 5 Yielding to the Holy Spirit

- References

Table of Contents

1 Visitation of the Holy Spirit

2 Restoration: The Work of the Holy Spirit

3 Giving Place to the Spirit

4 Facets of His Anointing

5 Yielding to the Holy Spirit

References

Visitation of the Holy Spirit

Contents