“ The former account I
made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day
in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given
commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented
Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them
during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from
Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, which, He said, you have
heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized
with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Acts 1:1-4, Luke 24:45
The one who died, resurrected and ascended gave us a promise
that He’s coming back.
There is something greater ahead of us now, and that is His
return.
For us to prepare for Jesus return there is something we
will have to look at closely because we cannot prepare for His return in
isolation. No bride dresses herself up on her wedding day to meet the groom
because there will always be those who are present to help prepare her for the
wedding ceremony and to meet the groom. We cannot prepare for the return of
Jesus without assistance: we need assistance.
If we say we don’t need any assistance, it is either we are not ready
for the wedding or have denied ourselves of the needed assistance.
We must know that there is one who is doing everything to
make sure that the wedding does not hold. A wedding can be stopped, hindered,
postponed or cancelled. These are all possibilities in our relationship with
Christ as the bride of Christ: and no bride prepares herself to meet the groom
without assistance. For the physical wedding, there is physical assistance. In
the same way, for the spiritual wedding, we need spiritual assistance-spiritual
help. The preparation that is done toward the wedding is to remove anything
that will not make the bride presentable. In the same way also, we need such a
preparation to remove anything that will not make us prepared to meet with
Jesus.
All our need is tied inside one need, and all other promises
are also tied in the promise. We are serving Him awaiting His return.
Jesus left us with a promise. And if we will prepare, and
the days will count for us, we must look at the promise Jesus gave us. Jesus
left us with ONE assurance which is ‘THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER-"Behold, I send the Promise of My
Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with
power from on high." (Luke 24:49). If we can make that one PROMISE our
focus it will make a lot of difference. That one promise is the HOLY GHOST.
If we will be properly prepared as we wait for His return
then we must pay attention to the promise of the Father. (Luke 24:45-49).
In Acts 1:4, they were told to wait for the promise. The
process by which they received the Holy Ghost is the same process we need to
grow in Him and increase in the power of the Spirit. We will still have to
tarry which will demand time. When we don’t have time to wait in prayers, in
reading the scriptures there is no way we can get into the fullness of God’s
promise. We need to resign from religion and stop playing Church.
John 14:16-19, Galatians 3:13-14, Romans 8:11, Ephesians
1:13, 2 Corinthians 7:1.
Jesus promised us the
Helper, (the Holy Ghost) to help us until the wedding takes place. We need to
make provision for the Helper. Help may be available but if we have not made
provision for the help we cannot have access to that help. To deny this promise
is to deny ourselves of the benefits thereof. It is this promise that
distinguishes us from the saints of old. This promise is our advantaged
position.
All that we ever
desire are in the promise. Without the promise, we cannot access them. A lot of
the things happening to us and the struggles we experience is because we have "denied" the promise. It is
not true that Christians are a minority in the North. Virtually all the missions that came with the
Gospel to the North had one thing common among them. They came with a gospel
that played down on the ministry of the Holy Ghost, and any Gospel without the
Holy Ghost is a lifeless Gospel (Romans 8:11, Ephesians 1:13). They played down
on our advantaged position- the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost residing in us
is what makes real what happened on the cross.
TO IGNORE THE PROMISE IS TO IGNORE OUR ADVANTAGED POSITION
Scriptures say we are the dwelling place of God (2 Corinthians
6:16-18). Though God dwells in Heaven, He lives in us on earth by His
Spirit. Jesus had to go so that the promise of the Father can come to us. This
is where the enemy will take advantage of us. He may not make us deny Christ
but can make us live our lives in isolation of the Holy Ghost, and where the
Holy Ghost is not welcome, God is not present. God does not dwell in a physical
temple but dwells in us through the Holy Ghost. It is by the workings of the
Holy Ghost in us that the reality of the Fatherhood of God comes to us.
Acts 1:5 -8, John 14:16, John 15:4-5, Proverbs 3:5-7
Those that will be empowered by the Spirit are those who
wait. We cannot be witnesses without the empowerment of the Holy Ghost. What
you do not have, you cannot manifest. We must have received the Holy Ghost to
manifest the Spirit and it is for the profit of all.
“But the manifestation
of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all”. 1 Corinthians
12:7.
All the HELP that we will ever need, has been packaged by
God, and put in the person of the Holy Ghost. Without the Holy Ghost, we can do
nothing. We are to be witnesses of His power and glory and produce proof of
what God has wrought in Christ Jesus. It
is the Spirit that will get the work done through us. We will struggle without
the Holy Ghost. Let’s stop walking and living an independent life. Let’s start
living from the inside out. The most insulting thing we can give to someone is
to ignore the person, and the Holy Ghost is a person.
David never lost any battle because for every battle, David
sought the LORD.
The promise is to our advantage, and it is our advantaged
position. If we deny the promise, then we deny our advantaged position. The
Holy Ghost is not going to find expression unless we submit to Him.
“Abide in me and I in
you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine
neither can you unless you abide in me”. John 15:4
Abiding involves a combination of the word and the
Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we
cannot enter rest. To bear fruits, we
must abide in Him.
If we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will direct our
path. (Proverbs 3:5-7).
