To Confirm and Verify

"But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." (Matthew 12:24)

The Holy Spirit is also among us to confirm to the consciences of men the works of Jesus.

There was no denying that in His earthly ministry, Jesus was a mighty worker of miracles. He did raise the dead. He did cleanse the leper. He did turn the water into wine. He did feed the multitude with a few pieces of bread.

The Pharisees did not try to deny the miracles He wrought. They could not deny them - for the man who was blind only moments before was now walking among them, with full vision. You cannot deny a fat that stands and stares you in the face - a fact that you can touch and feel and push around and investigate! The Pharisees simply said: "He does his work in the power of the devil."

The Holy Spirit came that He might confirm and verify the divine quality of those mighty works of Jesus and prove Him indeed to be the very God who had made the world and who could make it do what He pleased for it to do.

Lord, don't let me deny the work of Your hand by attributing it to coincidence or any other cause. Keep me sensitive to your Holy Spirit as He confirm Your work to me today. Amen

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He Wants to Fill us

"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18)

It is plain in the Scriptures that the gentle and good Holy Spirit wants to fill us and possess us if we are Christians. This Spirit is like Jesus. Do you want to be possessed by a Spirit that is like Jesus? - a Spirit that is pure, gentle, sane, wise and loving? This is exactly what He is like.

The Holy Spirit is pure, for He is the Holy Spirit. He is wise, for He is the Spirit of wisdom. He is true, for He is the Spirit of truth. He is like Jesus, for He is the Spirit of Christ. He is like the Father, for He is the Spirit of the Father. He wants to be Lord of your life, and He wants to possess you so that you are no longer in command of the little vessel in which you sail. You may be a passenger on board, or one of the crew, but you definitely are not in charge. Someone else is in command of the vessel.

Now, the reason we object to its being that way is because we were born of Adam's corrupted flesh. We want to boss our own lives. That is why I ask: Are you sure that you want to be possessed by the blessed Spirit of the Father and of the Son? Are you ready and willing for your personality to be taken over by someone who is like this?

Lord, why should I be afraid of turning my life over to the Holy Spirit? Yet how strong is the flesh! Remove my fear and take control of my life today, I pray. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~