Because God is Love and His character is Love, he loves us unconditionally. A problem occurs when I take His blessings and gifts as an indication that my life is in order. God meets me where I am in His love, but where I am is not necessarily where He wants me to stay. For we are in the process of being changed from ‘glory’ to ‘glory’. In nature we all resist change. We all want progress, but nobody wants change! In the realm of the Spirit our reluctance to change is indicated by a stubborn unyielding. We should be living in change and the man who’s walking in the Spirit is easily entreated, focused, spontaneous and yet dependable. ‘A double minded man is unstable in all his ways’. Jam. I v 8.
The Pentecostal – Charismatic movement undoubtedly brought much light and revelation about the gifts and functions of the Holy Spirit, but like all moves of God, partial truth, which the move ushers in, if, rigidly adhered to becomes an obstacle to the believer who is pursuing the goal of all truth. This short pilgrimage of life is a process whereby we should be changing from ‘Glory’ to ‘Glory’. Have we turned the Charismatic movement into a denomination? Gal. 5 v 16 tells us to ‘walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh’. Gal. 5 v 25 tells us ‘If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit. The Charismatic movement enlightened us to a life in the Spirit, but to walk in the Spirit is movement.
Col. 2 v 6 ‘As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus so walk ye in Him’, obviously walking is movement, but am I moving round and round in a wilderness journey as the children of Israel did, without making progress towards the goal? I cannot make the goal without the Guide and Rom. 8 v 14 tells us that ‘as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God’.
What am I missing in my spiritual development? And what’s stopping me from functioning correctly? Jesus was the full expression of truth. Do I want to stay in a stunted position without growth? The old mechanisms do not work with the emphasis being on ME –
My gifts, My ministry. God does not give his Spirit by measure. John I v 16 encourages us ‘And of His fullness have all we received’. The Lord Jesus who is our pattern man was not given the Spirit by measure – John 3 v 34. John the Baptist said ‘He must increase but I must decrease’ and Paul mentions “that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God”. Eph. 3 v 19. The fullness of the spirit will only be manifest in our lives when Jesus is exalted to being All in All. A many membered body, being controlled by the Head, is a full revelation of the unity of the Spirit – Eph. I v 23.
The stunted growth is a result of my believing which is focused on ME!! The Holy Spirit is given to empty me of self and uplift and glorify JESUS.
The unity of the Body of Christ is a factual fulfillment of the work of Calvary – It is finished!
But the unity of the Spirit is a neglected part of our walk with God. We need to make more of the person of the Holy Spirit whose function is the Executor of God’s Will for this church age! A complete dependency on the Person of the Holy Spirit in every area of life is the function of a healthy Body, and the expression of the unity of the Spirit – Eph. 4 v 3.
Let us therefore prayerfully cry ‘Holy Spirit you are welcome in my heart!’ And, yield to His correction and direction.
