Gloria Copeland - Gods will is the Holy Spirit

God's Will Is the Holy Spirit

You have been involved with the Holy Spirit since you first heard the good news that Jesus took your place and bore the penalty for your sins. It was the Holy Spirit, through the Word, Who made the truth that Jesus was raised from the dead a reality in your heart.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9). First Corinthians 12:3 states that no man says Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Ghost.

Jesus came to make it possible for man to receive the nature of Godeternal life (John 10:10). Jesus could not get a man born again while He was on the earth. He had the power to forgive sins, but there could be no new creatures until Jesus paid the sin price at Calvary and became the firstborn from the dead.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you (John 16:7 ,12 -15).

Jesus told the men who walked by His side for three years that it was more profitable for them if He went away and sent them the Holy Spirit.

It was the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit that made you a new creature. When you made Jesus Lord over your life, the Holy Spirit came upon you and overshadowed you, just as He did Mary when there was conceived in her a "holy thing."

Spiritual death was eradicated from your spirit. You were born again in a new life, a new spirit. You were literally born of God. "Beloved, NOW are we the sons of God" (1 John 3:2). "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). God became your Father by spiritual birth.

The miracle of the new birth should never become commonplace to you. This new birth is not a theological idea, but an actual fact. The Holy Spirit personally carries out this miracle when you make Jesus Christ your Lord. He takes a sin-ridden, selfish man and recreates his spirit in God's image. This change in a man's nature is a great, miraculous and supernatural event in the realm of the spirit. That is why all of heaven rejoices (Luke 15:7, 10).

The Spirit Within

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is not only to impart the nature of God to the spirit of man, but also to live in the new creature and to reveal to him the exact knowledge of God. The Spirit within enables the new creature to walk in newness of life. One writer said, "The Spirit that gives us life must also sustain that life."

Ezekiel says, "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 36:26-27).

After you make Jesus Lord, the Holy Spirit comes to live in you. Jesus told the disciples: "If you love me, keep my commandments. 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 in you" (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit had been working with the disciples. They had been preaching, healing the sick and casting out devils. He had been with them and working with them, but Jesus said when the Holy Spirit came to abide forever, He would live on the inside of them.

"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John 20:21-22).

After Jesus had been raised from the dead, He appeared to them and they were born again as Jesus breathed the life of God into them, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit." (Compare with Genesis 2:7.) Eternal life came into them. They could not have been born again until after Jesus paid the price for sin. As they received the life of God, the Spirit Who gave that life began to dwell in them.

The Spirit Upon

From that moment they were changed. They were no longer troubled, afraid or sad. Luke's account lets us know of the change: "And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen" (Luke 24:5153).

Where there had been sadness, now there was great joya fruit of the Spirit. Where there was fear and confusion, now there was continual praise and blessing of God. And they were obedient. They went to Jerusalem and waited for the enduement of power from on high expecting to receive the promise of the Father.

There was yet another wonderful event to come. Just before Jesus blessed the disciples and was carried into heaven He gave these instructions:

"And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). Acts' account of this says:

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence....Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part

He said they were to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and receive power! They had already received the Holy Spirit within. Now Jesus was instructing them what to do to receive the power of God upon them. Acts 10:38 says Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost and power! The disciples were to receive that same power of the Holy Spirit.

He said in our everyday talk, "Don't leave town without it!" This enduement of power was necessary in order to carry out the work Jesus set before them. (See Mark 16:15-20; Matthew 28:1820.) Nothing has changed. The Body of Christ today is still under the same mandate.

Jesus taught them about these works in John 14. He talked to them about the Holy Spirit and said, " Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father"

They were to continue to do the same works that Jesus Himself had been doing and it would take the same power and anointing of the Holy Spirit that was upon Jesus Himself. (See Acts 10:38; Matthew 3:16-17; John 14:10; Luke 4:1821; Acts 5:12-16.)

The same power that was upon Jesus came upon the Church on the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is still assigned to the Church to help us fulfill our commission. Didn't Jesus say He would abide with us forever!

Jesus stated that it was not He but the Father in Him Who did these works. When He said, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you..." (Acts 1:8), they knew what He meant!

The Greek word dunamis , translated power, means ability and might. When you receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, you receive the ability of God to do His work in the earth. The Spirit within is for fruit bearingfor your own personal life (Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus talked about this in John 4:14. He called it: "...a well of water springing up into everlasting life." But the Spirit upon is for service. Jesus talked about this in John 7:38-39. He described it as rivers of living water. The well is for your own life and the rivers flowing out of you are for others.