“And do not get drunk with wine for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”

Ephesians 5:18

“If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.”

John 14:15

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him, because He abides with you and will be in you.”

John 14:16-17

The decade of the 1960s were years of rebellion!  There was a rebellion against the Vietnam war, the military draft, the sexual standards of the day, and the religious hypocrisy of the previous generation.  Large numbers of young people entered “A search for the Truth,” experimenting with eastern religions and hallucinatory drugs.  Some of these young people came full circle and found salvation through faith in Jesus Christ!  Oftentimes when these new converts tried to return to mainline traditional churches, they were not welcome with their long hair, crumpled clothing and lack of socially acceptable hygiene.  Consequently, false teaching spread, especially about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit!  Sadly, too many preachers spent more time condemning the false teachers than teaching the Bible Truth about the Holy Spirit.  Unfortunately, we see similar things happening today.  Thus, for several sessions we will be examining the Scripture’s answer to the question, “Why does a Christian need to be filled with the Holy Spirit?”

 First and foremost, the Believer needs to be filled with the Spirit, because the Bible commands it!  Ephesians 5:18 is NOT a recommendation, but a requirement!  In the original language it is an imperative!  In John 14:21 Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me!”  In addition to that in the last hours of His earthly life, Jesus withdrew from the crowds to whom He had ministered and spent precious personal time with His disciples.  This ongoing conversation is recorded in John, chapters 14, 15 and 16.  In it Jesus points out three additional reasons why every Believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit, and what that means.

 In John 14:16 Jesus tells his disciples that the Holy Spirit will indwell Believers.  The “Helper” here is also translated “Comforter”, “Advocate” or “Intercessor” in other places in the Bible, but note that He is “another” Helper!  The Greek word translated another means “another like Me!”  The best description of the Holy Spirit is He is another like Jesus Christ!  He goes on to say that He will be with us forever!  How crucial it is to be reminded when we are lonely, that the Spirit is always with us.  In verse 17 we are told He will not only be with us, but He is in us as well.  This is reassuring when we are weak, and how often we rediscover our weaknesses in attempting to obey our Lord, both in worship and service!  Thus, the Holy Spirit is our Divine Helper who makes the impossible possible! 

Stay in touch for Part Two!

Jon Moore

“Elijah took his mantle and folded it together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two of them (Elijah and Elisha) crossed over on dry ground.”

2^nd Kings 2:8

In Part One (Scroll down to April 1, 2021) I wrote to you concerning how New Testament Truths are often illustrated in the times, the people, the places and the events of the Old Testament, and such is the case with the subject of serving in resurrection power in the ministry of the prophet Elisha!  In our earlier writing we pointed out the preconditions for thus serving were present in Elisha’s ministry when Elijah threw his mantle on Elisha (1^st Kings 19:19). 

Today we want to see how Elisha was then further prepared to serve.  Remember, the mantle still belonged to Elijah.  Elisha had to be prepared for it to be his.  This was accomplished by two ways, testing and trials.  The same will be true for us if we are to serve the Lord in His resurrection power!  Elijah was then successively called by the Lord to go from Gilgal to Bethel, from Bethel to Jericho, and from Jericho to the Jordan River (2^nd Kings 2:2,4,6).  Each time the Lord tested Elisha’s faithfulness by using Elijah to give Elisha an excuse for not going with him.  In each instance Elisha passed the tests by insisting that he as servant accompany Elijah!  Then Elisha was also prepared by trials!  Upon arriving at Bethel, the sons of the prophets asked Elisha if he knew Elijah would be taken from him that day.  The same also happened at Jericho.  In each instance Elisha replied by saying, ‘Yes, I know’ Be still!’  It is not an easy thing for one that means much in the growth of a servant of the Lord to pass, but it is imperative to see the Lord will never forsake you!  

Finally, it is important to see Elisha’s introduction to serving in resurrection power (v6b-8).  See 2nd Kings 2:8 above.  Rivers are often symbolic in the Bible, particularly in the old testament.  They often speak of times of transition, or even death.  If any of us are to serve in the resurrection power of Christ, we must transition from our ways to His way, from dependence on self to reliance on Christ in us!  When Jesus said, “If anyone serve Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there my servant will be also.” (John 12:26).  Before He made that statement, He taught the parable of the grain of wheat, that the outer husk must die to bring forth more grains of wheat!  But notice the newness of life and ministry afterward!  A new prayer (v 9-10)=Vision fulfilled; A new power (v 11-13)=The mantle is now Elisha’s; A new person (v 14,15)=Resurrection power is obvious to others! 

No one serves in resurrection power on the wrong side of the river! 

Jon Moore

“So he (Elijah) departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth.  And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him.”  1^st Kings 19:19

 It was a significant day when I came to see that the New Testament is enfolded in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament is unfolded in the New Testament!  As the Lord has progressively revealed His Truth with the passage of time, it becomes apparent that the doctrines of Truth clearly revealed in the New Testament are illustrated in the times, the people, the places and the events of the Old Testament.  Such is the case with resurrection power!  Easter Sunday is one of the most important dates on the calendar of a Christian.  On that day we celebrate the raising of Jesus Christ from the dead.  We say to one another, “He is risen!”  The response is, “He is risen indeed!”  Most sermons are focused on Christ’s victory over death, hell and the grave in our behalf (what He has done for us), but there is a deeper truth that is sometimes missed.  That truth is what the Lord wants to do in and through us!  Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5).  Paul wrote, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and do of His good pleasure.”  (Philippians 2:13).  The Life of Christ working in and through us in resurrection power is clearly stated in the New Testament and illustrated in numerous people in the Old Testament.  One example is the prophet Elisha.

 Perhaps the most amazing example was after Elisha’s death, when he was in his grave.  “And Elisha died, and they buried him.  Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year.  And as they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha.  And when the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood up on his feet.” (2^nd Kings 13:20-21).  Now, I would say that is resurrection power!  If nothing else, that is worth looking at the call of Elisha to powerful service.  The casting of a prophet’s mantle (upper body shawl) on a man in the Old Testament was the sign of calling to ministry (v 19).  Three things should be noted about the preconditions for serving the Lord in resurrection power.  1) Elisha was already a member of the Lord’s Old Testament people.  In New Testament terms Elisha was “saved”.  2) Not only was Elisha saved, but he had a servant’s spirit.  He had been farming his parent’s land (v 19).  3)  Finally, Elisha was already living a separated life!  Many of Elisha’s contemporaries had rejected the faith of their elders and had adopted a lifestyle of idolatry.  Yet, Elisha was true to God with all his heart (vv 20-21).

 A recently widowed woman could not get gas from the pump into her car.  She had the nozzle in the tank pulling the trigger, but did not have the pump “On”.  The motor was not engaged to pull the gas from the underground tank through the hose into the car’s gas tank!  Likewise, to serve the Lord powerfully, fruitfully one must serve in resurrection power, the power of the new Life in Christ, not the old life of self!

 Jon Moore

1. S. Part Two will be coming soon…

“Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence—As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!  When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.  For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.”  Isaiah 64:1-4 (NASB)

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, is quoted as saying, “Prayer is the engine that drives revival, and testimony is its fuel!”  If that is true, “How should we pray today for revival?”  That begs another question, “What is revival?”  To deal with that question we need to sit at the feet of the prophet, Isaiah and learn what Biblical revival is, and how we should pray today.

First and foremost, we need to see clearly that Biblical revival comes only from the hand of Almighty God, and He is supernatural!  Listen to Isaiah and the terms he uses.  “Rend (tear open) the heavens and come down.”  Make the mountains quake (tremble) and the waters (oceans, rivers, lakes) boil at Your presence!  Listen also to these testimonies.  George Whitfield, reputed to be one of the greatest preachers who ever lived and was so greatly used in the revivals that swept both England and America in the early 1800s recorded this in his diary about one of the evangelistic services he preached, “Suddenly, God the Lord came down upon us!”  Those caught up in the great prayer-revival of the late 1850s spoke of “Holy Zones” where people were suddenly and unexpectedly confronted with the Holy and Mighty presence of God, confessed their sins and lost condition, calling on Christ for forgiveness and salvation and were gloriously saved!  Evan Roberts, the preacher God used so powerfully to shake the country of Wales in the early 1900s, and J. Edwin Orr, the historian who later wrote so eloquently of that revival used such terms as, “indisputable” and “inescapable” to speak of the awareness of the presence of God.  Mary Peckham, the young woman saved in the great revival that swept the Hebrides Islands in the late 1940s and 50s testified, “The islands were alive with God’s presence!” 

Make no mistake about it, the Bible speaks of God as being always present (Omnipresent).  At the same time, the Bible also speaks of exceptional times where He chooses to make His presence unusually known!  This is confirmed by countless testimonies of men and women of faith across the years recounting times where God chose to “come down,” sometimes unexpectedly, and sometimes after intense pleadings by the people of God! 

Are we not at a place where the world and the Church are in desperate need for the Lord to come down upon us?  “Lord, do it again!  Rain down on us in all Your glory with Your holy Judgment in one hand, and Your amazing Grace in the other!”

Jon Moore

“How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear?  I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ Yet You do not save.  Why have you made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them?  The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, drag them up with their net, and gather them together in their fishing net.  They offer a sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their fishing net.  Will they therefore empty their net and continually slay nations without sparing?  Habakkuk 1:2,14-17 

We certainly live in unusual times!  It almost seems that the world has been turned on its head, and things that have been tried and tested by time have been cast aside.  Worst of all, if we were to listen to the lies of our age-old enemy, it would seem to some that the Lord has forgotten His people, or He is no longer paying attention to present-day happenings.  It apparently seemed that way to the prophet as he stated his complaint to the Lord.  He asks, ‘Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?’ (v1:13) 

Imagine his initial shock when the Lord tells Habakkuk that He is going to use the Chaldeans to discipline His people (1:5-11).  He specifically says, ‘it will certainly come, it will not delay.’ (2:2,3)  Then the Lord reminds the prophet that Babylon will eventually be punished as well (2:5-11; 15-20). 

That bring us to one of the most mis-quoted, mis-interpreted verses in the Old Testament.  ‘O Lord revive Your work in the midst of the years.  In the midst of the years make it known.” (3:2b)  In processing what the Lord had just said to him concerning both the nation of  Judah and the nation of Babylon, Habukkuk cries, Your way is best, ‘In wrath remember mercy!’ (3:2c).  Then, coming to grips with the Truth he has just heard, the prophet utters one of the most eloquent prayers of faith recorded in Scripture.  ‘I heard, and my inward parts trembled.  At the sound my lips quivered.  Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble.  Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress; For the people to arise who will invade us.  Though the fig tree  should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines; Though the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food; Though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls; Yet, I will exult in the Lord.  I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.’ (3:16-18) 

My prayer for myself and for you is that we be found so full of faith that we would respond in such a profound and powerful way! 

Jon Moore

“Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord.  Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, they shall be like wool.  If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land, but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.  Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  Isaiah 1:18-20

 Is this it?  Are we living in the generation that sees the end of this world as we have known it?  Some say so, but is it true?  When the disciples asked Jesus when the end of the age would be, He told them, “No one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone!”  The question today (and every day) should be, “What is the Lord saying to me today?”  One worthy consideration is to examine how the Lord spoke to people in the days of the Old Testament.

 The prophet Isaiah was sent by the Lord to say to the Lord’s people, “Sons I have reared and brought up, but they have revolted against Me.”  (Ch. 1:2).  “Sons who act corruptly!  They have abandoned the Lord.” (Ch. 1:4).  “Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.”  (Ch. 1:7).  The people sought to placate God with their religious activities.  “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts.  They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.”  (Ch. 1:14).  “Cease to do evil, learn to do good.”  (Ch. 1:16,17).  Then the Lord explains how to go about doing these things.

 He first gives a chance to His family, “Come now!”  (Ch. 18).  If we do come to the Lord, it will be at His timing, not ours!  “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow.”  We can be forgiven!  As of today, the Day of Judgment has not arrived.  Thank God it is still the Day of His Grace!  Not only that, but we can be fulfilled.  “If you will consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land.”  The time to deal with the Lord is when He is dealing with us, and He is obviously dealing with us today!

 Our gracious God not only provides His family a chance for renewal, but He also announces a choice for the foolish.  “If you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”  (Ch. 1:20).  Jesus dealt with the issue of the reliability of the Father’s Word with His disciples in Matthew 7:24ff by using the analogy of the foundation for a house.  If one builds his house on a rock, even if floods come and winds blow, the house will stand.  But if  one builds his house on sand, when the winds blow and floods come, the house will fall, and great will be the fall of it!  Each must ask himself, “On what am I building my life?”

 So what about the reliability of Scripture when it comes to the future?  Once again Isaiah speaks up.  “Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken!” (Ch. 1:20).  Untold numbers throughout history have put their trust in the truthfulness of God and His Word, and the testimony of their lives have been an encouragement to others to trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.  (Proverbs 3:5,6).  What about you?  What about me?

 Jon Moore

“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name……. turn from THEIR wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive THEIR sin and will heal THEIR land.”  2^nd Chronicles 7:13,14a, c

 There is little doubt as to the desperate need for change in America.  There does seem to be no small mount of confusion about who is to do the changing, and why!  However, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that it is specifically to His people that the Lord looks to be the prime movers of this needed change.  Long ago the Lord spoke to the young Hebrew King, Solomon and told him there are ways that God can put into motion that if His people are paying attention, these acts will serve as a call to them for a need for radical change.  In recent years the world has witnessed not only an accelerated lack of reverence (respect) for God, but an open defiance of the Lord, and the things of God!  This has been accompanied by economic catastrophe and deadly sicknesses.  It would seem to be obvious!

 The Lord laid down four conditions for returning to a right relationship and fellowship with Him.  The first condition is the Lord’s people must humble ourselves.  I dealt with this condition two months ago in the June article.  If you missed it, scroll up and read “THE FORSAKEN FACTOR IN REVIVAL!”  Today I want to deal with the fourth and final condition for revival…“If My people who are called by My name…TURN from THEIR wicked ways,…”

 Some Believers have a hard time seeing any of their ways as “wicked.”  The Hebrew word in this verse translated “wicked” literally means “deviation from the right way.”  A one degree error in an airplane’s compass, if uncorrected will result in the airplane being one mile off course for every sixty air miles travelled.  If you fly 300 miles, when you land you will miss the runway by five miles!!!  ANY WAY that deviates from the right way is a wicked way!  Do you have any idols in your life?  Keep in mind that an idol is anything or anyone that substitutes for God!  Anything or anyone in your life that ever takes priority over God and His will for your life is an idol!

 The Hebrew word translated “way” in this verse means “trodden path.”  Have you ever lived in a house on a street corner?  Did people ever take a “shortcut” across your yard?  Over and Over again?  Did it create a “trodden path” in your yard?  Do you have any “trodden paths” in your life?  Sometimes we have done things a certain way for such a long time, they become trodden paths.  If they are ways that displease the Lord, they are deviations from the right way!

A young deacon on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides Islands back in 1949 had prayed with fellow deacons for many nights for the coming of revival.  One night his praying took a turn.  He began to pray, “Are MY hands clean?  Is My heart pure?”  Then came conviction, followed by confession and cleansing, followed by more following his example.

Then came mighty revival!  Someone needs to lead the way!  It is time to turn.

Jon Moore

“However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.”

2^nd Chronicles 32:26

The Bible is full of promised blessings for those who humble themselves!  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the wise man Solomon wrote, “A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.” (Proverbs 29:23).  James reminds us, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6).  Peter writes in 1^st Peter 5:6, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”  Unfortunately, today’s society does not look on humility with the same admiration as does the Lord!  The question becomes, Why does the Lord put humility first when it comes to the conditions He requires for the coming of revival in 2^nd Chronicles 7:14?

A studied look at Scripture reveals that when there is a list of blessings, or conditions for blessings, whatever is listed first is listed first for a reason.  It is the most critical, most important.  Think about it!  Why would one pray, or seek the Lord, or turn from every way that deviates from the right way (the meaning of the word ‘wicked’ in 2^nd Chronicles 7:14) if one thinks that we can solve our own problems, or make ourselves right with God in our own way?  When we humble ourselves, the rest tends to follow, but prayer, seeking God and broken repentance are foreign to the prideful.

We need to recognize the scale of mankind’s problem.  First, pride is a perpetual problem.  “So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others…And many were bringing gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem and choice presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.”(vv 20-23).  Not only is pride perpetual, the enemy will see to it that it is also keenly personal.  After the Lord delivered Hezekiah from certain defeat and imprisonment, He was personally healed by God from a fatal disease!  “ In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to him and gave him a sign.  But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud!”  (vv24-25).

Some years ago, a preacher friend of mine sent me a book of which he had been the general editor.  It is a collection of sayings by people who are noteworthy for their faithfulness and fruitfulness in ministry.  One such is the author and theologian J. C. Ryle who is credited with saying, “We have been too often content with zeal for orthodoxy and have neglected the sober realities of daily practical godliness!  There has been of late years a lower standard of personal holiness among believers than there used to be in the day of our forefathers.  The whole result is THE SPIRIT IS GRIEVED!  And the matter calls for much humiliation and searching of hearts!”

My prayer for myself and each of you who name the Name of Jesus as Lord and Savior is that each of us would begin to humble ourselves before Him!

Jon Moore

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit…”

Ephesians 5:18

Back in January I said I would attempt to address four basic questions about the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  The first question was, “Why should every Believer be filled with the Holy Spirit?”  I dealt with this by examining the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th chapters of the Gospel of John, because they contain an ongoing discussion by the Lord with His disciples about His soon-coming departure, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the role the Spirit would fill in the life and ministries of His followers.  If you have not already done so, I recommend you scroll down and read the last three month’s devotionals.

 This month I will focus on the last three questions.  Question two is, “What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?”  The Greek word “filled” in Ephesians 5:18 means “to fill; to be filled to the full.”  It carries with it a picture of “to be fully taken up with; to be fully under the control of!”  Thus, to be filled with the Holy Spirit means not so much to have more of the Spirit, but for the Spirit to have more (all) of you!

 Question three is, “Do you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit again?”  Some argue they do not need to be filled, because they were filled with the Spirit at conversion!  Certainly, a Biblical view of salvation teaches that it includes a full surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but guess what?  You leaked!  The commandment to be filled in Ephesians 5:18 is in the present imperfect tense in the original Greek language meaning, “Be always being filled with Holy Spirit!”  Ask yourself this question, “Do I have the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23 fully operative in my life today?”  The absence of any one of this cluster of fruit indicates you need to be filled again with the Spirit.  Likewise, “Is the power of the Holy Spirit demonstrated in your daily living, preaching, teaching, witnessing.  Acts 1:8 says we receive power when the Holy Spirit fills us.  The absence of power is a reminder we need to be filled again!  Note the experiences of the disciples in the book of Acts.  See 13:52 especially.

 The fourth question is, “How is one filled with the Holy Spirit?”  Peter in Acts 2:32-33 tells us that when Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection, the Father exalted Christ to the right hand of God, the place of all authority and power.  He gave the Son the promised Holy Spirit.  Jesus then poured forth the Spirit on the disciples at Pentecost, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit!  In like manner when we as Believers genuinely surrender our life to the Lordship of Christ, crowning Him both Lord and Christ, He once again pours out the Holy Spirit into us in His fullness!

 Jon Moore

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit!”

Ephesians 5:18

Two months ago, I began to address the question, “Why does every Believer need to be filled with the Holy Spirit?”    This is the first of several questions I will seek to address in this series.  We have been examining chapters 14, 15 and 16 of the gospel of John, because they contain a discussion by the Lord with His disciples about His soon-coming departure, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the role the Spirit will fill in the life and ministries of both the disciples and those who follow them.  I recommend you scroll down and read Part One and Part Two before you read any further.

The third reason every Believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit is not only that He indwells and instructs the Believer, but that He also endows the Believer (John 16:14)!  Remember, the word “disclose” means to tell back!  The blessed Holy Spirit not only makes Christ real to the Believer, but also in the Believer, and ultimately through the Believer!  Remember also the meaning of the word “another” in John 14:16=“Another like Me!”  Jesus, the Son came to disclose (To tell back) the Father (John 16:15), “He is the radiance of the Father’s glory, and the exact representation of His nature!” (Hebrews 1:3) So, the Holy Spirit came to disclose (To tell back) the Son (John 15:26).  Only the Believer who is filled with the Holy Spirit can effectually disclose the Life of Jesus Christ! 

We have examined three reasons from Scripture why every Believer should be filled with Holy Spirit.  Because He indwells the Believer, He instructs the Believer and He endows the Believer!  Yet, there is a fourth reason.  Ephesians 5:18 is not a recommendation, it is a Biblical commandment!  In the original writing of the New Testament (Greek) there is a way sentences can be constructed so that the reader (listener) can know the statement is an imperative commandment!  Such is the case with Ephesians 5:18, it is imperative that every Believer be filled with Holy Spirit!  And how did Jesus Himself tell us we are to express our love to and for Him?  “He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me…” (John 14:21).

Jon Moore