Oral Roberts - The Holy Spirit in the Now I

The Holy Spirit In The Now 1

By Oral Roberts

Copyright 1974 By Oral Roberts University Tulsa, Oklahoma All Rights Reserved Revised 1981

My Personal Word To You

Friend, I believe you are in for a spiritual learning experience that will enhance your relationship with Christ in a way you have never dreamed possible. This study on the Holy Spirit In The Now comes out of my personal experience and over 34 years of prayer and study of the Word. Before you begin to read these lessons, I would like for you to go get your Bible. I believe that you can more successfully study this series of lessons with your Bible at your side.

And as you study, keep in mind that these lessons are the very first of a series I taught to a class of approximately 1,500. These lessons are steno-graphically reported and only slightly edited in some instances to make a thought clearer, or to put it in more logical sequence for the person who was not there to hear it but will be reading it. This is volume one of a three-volume series.

I would like to tell you about the miracle that brought this class about because it is now a part of the established curricula at Oral Roberts University.

It was through the generosity of my good friend, the late J. Arthur Rank, outstanding British businessman, member of the Parliament, and Methodist layman, that the Oral Roberts Universitys first endowed academic chair on the Holy Spirit was established in the fall of 1972.

I first met Lord Rank in 1967 while speaking at a luncheon of leading Christian laymen and businessmen in London. At the end of the session, as I was shaking hands with various individuals, I was introduced to him. Although I had heard his name many times and knew of his Christian witness, this was my first time to see him in person. At that time Lord Rank was in his late seventies but he stood tall and straight with a clean look in his eye, and strength and character stamped upon him. I knew I was in the presence of a man of God. I took his hand and said, "Lord Rank, Im honored to meet you. Then a curious impulse came upon me and I added ... "I pray that God will fill you with the Holy Spirit.

Two years passed before I saw Lord Rank again, at which time I learned he had received the Holy Spirit. He then shared with me how this had transformed his Christian life and how Jesus Christ had become so real to him through the Holy Spirit. He said, "I feel as though Jesus were walking by my side.

Because of his great interest in the Holy Spirit, Lord Rank determined to establish this chair at ORU. However, on the day he was to sign the papers, he passed away. The trustees of his estate honored his desire and set aside a generous sum for the next five years for this purpose. I am honored to be the first professor of this course on the Holy Spirit.

As you study these lessons, I pray that God, through the Holy Spirit, will reveal Jesus to you in a way more real than you have ever experienced before.

Chapter 1, How God Can Touch Your Life Through The Holy Spirit

Suggested Scripture reading for this lesson: 1 Corinthians 12

The Holy Spirit in the now is beginning a new march across the earth. Millions are being touched by His magnificent power. People are feeling a touch of the Spirit. Its crossing all denominational lines, all social barriers, all levels of education. Its great and Im thrilled about it.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit has something unusual for YOU...

God Is Going To Touch Your Life

You are going to feel something from God. I cannot tell you exactly what it will be, but the Spirit himself will make it known in your inner being in a way so real that you cannot doubt it.

Now lets talk about the charismatic move of the Spirit in the now. I want you to think about a funnel. The opening at the bottom of the funnel is very small but it is large at the top. The top part of the funnel represents the teaching on the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible. Then it narrows down (small end of funnel) in time directly to the individual. It comes down to you and to me in the now. What happens to you as an individual has to be the most important thing in the world. Because unless it happens to you, how can you really know it, and how can you share it with anyone else?

Im very interested in your understanding the teachings of the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible until the baptism in the Holy Spirit explodes in your being. I want you not only to have the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in your life but also to have an understanding of it to have a workable knowledge of it. I want you to know better how to apply the power of the Holy Spirit to practical problems that you face in your daily existence.

What Does Charismatic Mean?

It seems everyone is paying a lot of attention today to the word charismatic or charisma. But when we use the word charisma we do not use it in the same way that the secular world does. For example, they will see a man or a woman with great personal magnetism and say, "My, he has charisma. Or if its an individual of outstanding talent and gifts, they will say, "He is charismatic, or "Hes highly gifted.

This is not the biblical meaning of the word. It is just a derivation of the Greek word charisma.

As you may know, our New Testament was written in the Greek language. When St. Paul speaks of a "gift of the Spirit, the Greek word for that is charisma. It means "gift from God, or "a favor from God. It does not refer to the intellect of the individual or to his unusual endowments of personal magnetism. It may be given to a person with such natural human endowments, and again he may not have any unusual personal endowments or magnetism at all.

The word charisma as used in reference to the Holy Spirit is simply GOD LOVING A HUMAN BEING. It is God believing in that human being and imparting to him a gift of the Holy Spirit a gift which he has not earned ... a gift which he cannot buy... a gift which is not given because of his individual merit.

It is a gift given by the grace of God unmerited favor. GOD HAS SMILED UPON THAT INDIVIDUAL SO THAT HE, IN TURN, CAN SMILE UPON THE WORLD. The gift works through him but he can never take personal credit for it.

Samson Had Charisma

Do you remember the story in the Old Testament about a man by the name of Samson? He was a judge of Israel and he was gifted charismatically by the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of God came upon him, he had strength far beyond that of a normal man. He could do tremendous physical exploits, even to the defeating of an entire army of the Philistines.

But when Samson turned away from God he broke his connection with the Spirit of God in his life and lost that charisma. The gift that gave him this tremendous strength was no longer there. You may remember how he yielded to the seduction of a beautiful woman and how she lured him into revealing the secret of his tremendous strength. Then when he was sleeping she cut his hair and his enemies came in, gouged out his eyes, and "he did grind in the prison house of Gaza, year after year, until he repented and returned to God.

Upon his return to God the Spirit brought back the charisma and Samsons last achievement on earth was done through the charismatic power of the Spirit of God. He pulled down the temple in which there were more than three thousand lords and ladies of the Philistines. Samson slew more of the enemy at his death than he had in his life. And he did this through the gift of God that had returned to him. Maybe youd like to read this in the Bible its found in Judges 16:1-31.

When We Speak of Charisma In This Day, We Are speaking Of a Gift of God.