By now we know that God is Spirit and wants us to serve Him in Spirit. We know that we are His temple and He wants to rule and reign in His temple as King and God. This was clearly pictured in the garden of Eden which was the man Adam’s soul. In Adam’s soul, God planted the Tree of Life, which is the Spirit of God named the Word, or as we know Him today “Jesus” or as the angel called Him “Emmanuel” God with us. The other tree in the midst was the flesh tree and we were not to partake of it at all. Or in today’s point of view we are not to be fleshly but spiritual. This is how Jesus (The Word) said it
John 6
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
So just like Adam we are to partake of the Spirit of God and that gives life. If we partake of the flesh we will die.
Romans 8
6 For to be fleshly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the fleshly mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
This is the one big truth that God wants us to love and that is that He is Spirit and wants us to serve Him in Spirit, not in flesh with religion. So to serve God in Spirit we need to know how to do that. And to know how to do that we need to know the Spirit of God so that we can ensure that we are partaking of the right spirit. You see many are partaking of spirit but it is false spirit and not of God. How then can we be sure? How are we to know that we are being led by our Father and called sons of God? You see even the most religious people on earth, the Pharisees, thought that they were following their Father God but Jesus said they were in fact following their father the devil.
John 8
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do…
The only way to make sure is to seek the Father and His will.
Romans 12
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
2 Timothy 2
15 Be diligent(study) to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We seek the Father in the bible, we diligently study it and do it to transform. That is how we discern the will of the Father. I am afraid going to church on Sunday and reading a paragraph from your daily verse book is just not going to cut it. No you have to study the bible. Also memorizing some verses will not mean a lot if you do not understand them in context. This study that we are talking about here is the kind where you study until it hurts. It takes up most of your time and there is certainly no time for television or golf or rugby. It is spending the hour’s day’s weeks months and years in His bible, looking at it from every possible way and making sure you are in His will! It takes commitment and sacrifice and God deserves nothing less! You are not your own, you have been bought at a great price. How is it that we all live on in our silly lives wasting time on frivolous activities as if God did not purchase our very lives with the blood of His precious Son?
Now that that’s out of the way perhaps you will join me in a study on the Spirit of God and how we are to partake of it. If it is indeed God’s desire that we serve Him in Spirit and truth, we better make sure we know how to. So many people out there, and by people, I mean believers profess to be spiritual but have no idea of what that even means. I believe after this study you should have a pretty good understanding of the Spirit of God and how we are to partake of Him. So let’s get started.
God has seven Spirits. Now there are many theories concerning this and many people trying to explain this away for various reasons. Some people say it is merely the character of God. Whatever their reason most people try and ignore the fact that God has seven Spirits because they get stuck with the whole trinity thing. Actually if you remember God is Spirit so if then God has seven Spirits does that mean we have seven Gods? No because God is one.
Deut 6
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
James 2
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble!
There is one God and that God lived within the man Jesus.
1 Timothy 2
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
When the angel appeared to Mary and Joseph he said that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 1
20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Luke 1
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
This Spirit of God that conceived the boy Jesus was “the Word”. The Spirit of the Lord God indwelled the boy Jesus and led Him. Jesus followed the Spirit completely and never sinned. For thirty years Jesus followed the Spirit. Another way to look at it is from the perspective of the garden. The man Jesus had within Him the Tree of Life which other men did not have because they were expelled from it. So Jesus just like Adam walked with God in Spirit and partook of the Tree of Life and not the tree of flesh. Even though He was fully flesh He never partook of it. In fact the bible calls Jesus the last Adam.
1 Corinthians 15
45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
But how do we know that it was “the Word” that indwelled Jesus for the first 30 years of His life?
John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
There is also another way to confirm this. When we look at the seven Spirits of God we will see that Six of them are for works and power.
Isaiah 11
1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
Here in Isaiah, we read that the Spirit of the Lord (Word) will be upon Jesus whom we know to be the rod of Jesse and the Branch. Then we also hear of the other Six Spirits of God. Those are given in three pairs of two. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might and knowledge and fear of the Lord. So the Spirit of the Lord and three pairs of two makes the Seven Spirits of God. It is very interesting that it is mentioned like this, why not simply name all seven in a row? You see there is a specific order to the Spirit of God and if we study this we will clearly see how the Spirit of the Lord works. Please keep in mind whenever I speak of the Spirit of God or the Seven Spirits of God I am talking about God. God, Himself is the Spirit because God is Spirit.
Back to Jesus. Jesus was conceived by the “Word” and walked with that Word all His life. When He was thirty years of age He went to a river and was baptized by John and a strange thing happens. The Holy Spirit comes upon Him like a dove. So if the Spirit conceived Him and indwelled Him why was it necessary for the Spirit to come upon Him? See that was when Jesus received the other six Spirits of God for power and workings. In all His thirty years before His baptism He never performed any miracles. Only after the Spirit came on Him like a dove He started with the works the Father wanted Him to do. Often we hear Jesus saying that it is the Father in Him that does the works and not Him. He says He only says and does as the Father instructs Him to do.
What happened that day at the Jordan was that Jesus received God in His fullness. God in His fullness indwelled Jesus from that day on. For thirty years it was just the Spirit of the Lord or the Word.
Colossians 2
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
Many times when Jesus preached people were very surprised by His knowledge of the word as He was never schooled. But what they did not know is that He was the Word and the author and the finisher of the faith.
Matthew 13
54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?”
There is yet another way to look at it. Remember the strange way of describing the Seven Spirits of God with the Word(Spirit of the Lord) and then the three pairs of two in Isaiah? In the book of Zechariah we can get a better understanding of it.
Zechariah 4
2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps.
3 Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.”
4 So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”
5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”
6 So he answered and said to me: ” This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘ Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
So what’s happening here is the angel is showing the prophet a picture of the Menorah. The Menorah was the lamp that stood in the temple. The angel makes clear to the prophet that the Menorah symbolizes the Seven Spirits of God. Remember it had a main shaft with a lamp on top of it. Then there were three other pipes that intersected it and went parallel upwards and had six lamps on it. Do you see the pattern? The Spirit of the Lord is the main lamp with the other three pairs of two intersecting it and forming the other six lamps or Spirits. Three on either side. So it is clear that God has Seven Spirits and that is symbolized by the menorah. Now that we know this we can look at another reference of the Seven Spirits of God.
Revelation 3
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Revelation 5
6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
There can be absolutely no doubt that Jesus has the Seven Spirits of God. Jesus the Lamb that was slain has seven horns and seven eyes that symbolize the Seven Spirits of God. He says it but there is something else that seems important to me.
Revelation 1
13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.
I believe what this verse is saying is that Jesus Himself is the middle stick of the menorah. Jesus is the Spirit of the Lord named the Word. That middle stick is nothing else than the tree of life that was in Adam’s garden. In the garden that tree of life sucked up water out of the earth and put it in the fruit of the tree. When Adam ate of it He partook of the other Six Spirits of God. The Tree of Life was the Word and the water in the ground was the other Six Spirits of God. When we believe in Jesus, He(the Word) comes and indwells us. When we then partake of that Spirit called the Word we get portions of the other Six Spirits of God.
In Genesis we read that God blew of His Spirit into the nostrils of Adam and Adam became a living soul. That Spirit was the Word or tree of Life that He blew in Adam. For it is the Spirit that gives life and Adam became a living Soul. When Adam ate of it he received power. The same thing happened after Jesus was crucified. Ten of the disciples were in the upper room after the crucifixion. Judas was dead because he hung himself and Thomas was out at that time. Jesus appears to them and He does something peculiar. He breathes on them.
John 20
19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Wow isn’t that interesting? Just like God did with Adam Jesus breathes on the disciples and says to them receive the Holy Spirit. What is important to remember here is that this was not at Pentecost. No this was before that. See Jesus was imparting to them something no man had since Adam’s garden. Jesus was blowing the Tree of Life in them. He gave them the Spirit called the Word. That is the indwelling Spirit, the main branch of the Menorah. In fact, He orders them elsewhere to stay in the city until they receive power, or of the other six of the Spirit of God at Pentecost.
Luke 24
49 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.”
Here we need to see the difference between the Word that indwells us and the other six Spirits of God that come upon us for power. This becomes clear in the Greek language but in English it does not show at all. Let’s have a look at it.
Acts 2
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
When the bible talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit it does not seem to make a distinction between the indwelling Spirit (the Word) and the other six Spirits of God for power and works. Well that’s true of English but I believe it does make a distinction in the original Greek. There are two words used to describe being filled by the Holy Spirit. The one is –pleroo- and the other –pletho. I believe the word –pleroo- is used to describe the filling of the Spirit called the “Word” as the indwelling Spirit of God. Let’s call it a filling from the inside to understand it better. Pletho- I believe is the filling of the six Spirits of God for power from the outside, or the Spirit comes upon us. As an example we can use the above passage where it says that the rushing wind filled the whole house. That word for filled is –pleroo- or filled from inside. When it says that they were filled with the Holy Spirit it uses –pletho- or filled from outside.
It is interesting that the word –pleroo- is used only twice in connection with the Holy Spirit and both times it concerns disciples who believed.
Acts 13
48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
52 And the disciples (gentiles) were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
This filled is pleroo because they started to believe and the Word(Jesus)(Holy Spirit) came and indwelled them. The “Word” pleroo them.
Ephesians 5
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
In this passage the word for filled is also pleroo. That is because it concerns the indwelling Spirit called the “Word”. How do we know? Because it speaks of the fruit of the Spirit and those fruit are the fruit of the indwelling Spirit that leads us to transform and to righteousness goodness and truth.
Every other instance of being filled with the Holy Spirit the bible –pletho- is used. And if you examine every instance you will find that all of them speak of a filling with Spirit for power or works. So every time it was being filled on the outside with a portion of the six other Spirits of God for power. We will look at a few examples but we cannot quote all of them in this study. But I will encourage you to go check for yourself and investigate every instance that the Spirit is mentioned.
Luke 1
15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
This passage speaks of John the Baptist being filled from the outside because at the time of John there was no outpouring of the indwelling Spirit the “Word” yet. Jesus was not yet crucified and did not yet ascend into the heavens so that His Spirit could come indwell John. This then proves the fact that –pletho- means being filled from the outside for power and not the indwelling filling.
Luke 1
41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
At the time that Elizabeth was filled –pletho- with the Holy Spirit Jesus was not even born yet.
Acts 4
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
This was the third time Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. The first time happened in John 20, just a few days after the death of Jesus, when Jesus appeared in the upper room and breathed on him. That day he received the indwelling Spirit called the Word and was filled –pleroo-. Nothing happened that day and there were no works. They received the soft voice inside which is to lead us to transform. The second time was in Acts 2 at Pentecost when he received power and there were powerful things and works happening. There were winds and tongues of fire and languages. That day he was filled –pletho-. The third –pletho- was the verse above.
Acts 4
31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Shortly after Peter was filled –pletho- with the Spirit the third time he was filled again a fourth time. I am sure by now you can see the truth of the matter. When we believe we receive the Word that indwells us. That is the Spirit of God that indwelled Jesus and indwelled Adam. When we believe God breathes into us the Tree of Life. When we then start to partake of this Tree and transform we partake of the other Spirits of God as well. As and when God sees fit to endow us with power or anointing. That was not a new thing as God did from time to time grant of His Spirit for power to men. Men like Samson and Solomon and the prophets. The thing that was new was the indwelling of the Word. Jesus called that indwelling the new birth. It was such a new thing that not even one of the top teachers of the Pharisees, Nicodemus, could understand such a thing. He just simply could not fathom it.
Another instance that points out the difference between the indwelling Spirit the Word, and the other six Spirits for power is:
Acts 19
1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples
2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
Here Paul meets a group of disciples who already believed in the Christ and they have already received the indwelling Spirit because it is confirmed that John taught them to believe. They as yet did not receive of the Spirit for power and they were not even aware that there is such a thing. They then received of that Spirit and immediately power happened and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Men at different times in the new and Old Testament alike were anointed with the Spirit of God for power and they worked powerful miracles and raised people from the dead healed the sick and worked many powerful works. But it says that Jesus has the fullness of the Godhead in Him and He has the Seven Spirit of God. Can you imagine the awesome power and authority He has? No wonder His name is the name above all names and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.
Now that we can with absolute surety say that God has Seven Spirits, of which the main one is the “Word” or the Spirit of the Lord as Isaiah says, we can move on and determine how we are to follow Him. The one thing that jumps out at you in what we have covered so far is that no matter which of the Spirit of God we talk about nothing happens unless there is faith. We first must believe then we receive.
Galatians 3
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Ephesians 1
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Israel in the flesh is our example in the spirit and the Old Testament is the New Testament hidden and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. It is in the Old Testament that we first learn about the Seven Spirits of God. But it is more than that, God actually gave us examples of how to serve Him in spirit and how to follow His Spirit. When Israel was in bondage in Egypt it symbolized our own bondage to flesh as Egypt symbolizes the flesh. But God called them out of bondage and made them pass through the sea as a symbol of the baptism. After that He let them wander in the wilderness under His protection so that the old fleshly people would die and only the newborn or new generation could enter the Promised Land. That land was a land of faith and spirit. The only way for them to enter and obtain and maintain that land was through faith in obedience to the Spirit of God.
Deut 11
10 For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden;
11 but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven,
12 a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.
13 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,
14 then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.
15 And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’
You see this new Promised Land was a land of faith and spirit. In Egypt or the flesh we can do things for ourselves. We can water the garden with our own works and walk. But in the Promised Land we cant. The only way there is to trust and believe and with that obedience. It is the same with us and just like with Jesus God also calls us out of Egypt or flesh. God wants us to poses the Promise Land. God wants us to be spiritual and not fleshly. You see to be fleshly is easy and there is little to no faith required. All you have to do is be religious, maybe go to church on Sundays and read a bit here and there and maybe a prayer or two. But religion does not mean you are spiritual!
Hosea 11
1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.
Matthew 2
15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren and if the Lord called Him out of Egypt or flesh the He will also call us.
Romans 8
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
We read in the above passage that God predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. That means a change needs to happen, a transformation. Transformation takes time and if you think about it transformation is nothing else than dying to self and becoming like Jesus. Just like Israel did in the wilderness, they died and the new generation was transformed. They were obedient to the Spirit of God and they were full of faith. So that when God said: “now take the Promised Land” they did with no hesitation at all. Nothing changed in Canaan, all those giants were still there. In fact I would even say that they were stronger by then because they were aware of the danger in the wilderness and most certainly made provision for that.
What is interesting is that God send them His angel in who is His Name to lead them through the wilderness.
Exodus 23
20 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.
22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.
We know that name, that name is the “Word” and just like the Word leads us today to transform so He led them in the wilderness. He never forced them to die, no He was gentle and fed them and covered them with a cloud by day and a ball of fire by night. Until Israel was transformed enough to take the Promised Land. At certain times when they tested Him He punished them and many thousands died. It is the same for us, sometimes we test God or allow certain things in our lives that will eventually cause great pain and then a big part of us dies. But that is all part of the process of transformation. That was the time for transformation or dying to self. Just like there was a time to leave Egypt and a time to pass through the sea. Everything has a time and in order. The Israelites could most certainly not poses the Land while they were still in Egypt. They could not even take it after seeing all the miracles of God because they did not have faith. No they had to progress through each stage or time and then move to the next.
Now why am I showing you the example of the Promised Land and the order or times in which it had to happen? I believe it to be utterly critical to know these times and the order of things. Because without the knowledge of times we can and will be led astray! Let’s continue with the Promised Land and then tie it all together.
Deut 7
1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
2 and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
How interesting that there are seven nations there that Israel needs to conquer. Remember the Promised Land is a land of faith and spirit. Those seven nations represent seven spirits that we have to battle and conquer. Those seven spirits are the anti-spirit to the Seven Spirits of God. Keep in mind that anti does not necessarily mean the opposite but could also rather be a replacement spirit. Now let us just understand something before we continue. I am not saying that those very nations are the anti-spirits but it is a picture or example of them. Just like Egypt represents flesh so do these seven nations represent the seven anti-spirits. And to understand that more clearly we are going to examine every one of them. Once we do that the picture will become clearer and you would be able to see the correlation between those spirits and the Seven Spirits of God.
The first thing to realize with these seven nations is that whenever the bible mentions them they are always in a different order. There is no pattern that is followed. That in itself is a massive difference to the Spirit of God where there is always a specific order. Remember the shape and form of the menorah. The main branch or the “Word” and then the three pairs of two that intersect it to form the seven lamps. All in a straight line. Now imagine a lampstand with the seven nations in Canaan. There is no form no pairs and no order. It would be an absolutely abstract and unbalanced lamp of which Picasso would be proud. Nevertheless with some thinking and investigation and study we can surmise the purpose and plan of these anti-spirits. For that we have to look at the meaning of the names of these nations. I will start with the Girgashites as I believe it to be a replacement for the Spirit of the Lord or an opposite to the main branch of the Menorah.
Girgashite.
The meaning of the word translates to something like a “clay dweller”. I believe this to be an anti-spirit for the Spirit of the Lord as it is a spirit of flesh. We are made of clay. The Lord says in Genesis 6 that His Spirit would not strive with man(clay) forever for he is flesh indeed. Remember God calls us out of the flesh or Egypt. That means the fleshly lifestyle but unfortunately we can’t leave our bodies behind, they come with us so we will battle the Girgashite or clay(flesh) spirit until we are not in this body anymore.
2 Cor 5
1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
It is also then interesting that God says He will not drive away all the spirits straight away but over time and little by little.
Deut 7
So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
20 Moreover the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed.
21 You shall not be terrified of them; for the LORD your God, the great and awesome God, is among you.
22 And the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
23 But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed.
24 And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under heaven; no one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.
Exodus 23
27 “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.
29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.
The Israelites took more than a generation to drive out these tribes. We also will not defeat them all in one go. Remember there is a time and an order for things to happen. Little by little. As we study each of these anti-spirits you will become aware of their workings in your own life and areas where you have not yet conquered them. You know so many times I see people proclaiming victory over certain things and claiming to set people free but then the very next day the person just goes straight back to it. He was never set free from that or he never conquered that spirit. The problem with this is because of ignorance and lack of knowledge these so-called sessions of liberation actually do more damage than good and just serves as an instrument for breaking down faith.
Hittites
The name means terror. Fear is not of faith. Fear is a fruit of not trusting God. In fact the bible says that the fearful will not inherit the Kingdom.
Matthew 8
26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Revelation 21
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
The Hittite spirit knows that as long as you fear you have little faith and as long as you have little faith you cannot partake of the Spirit of God and defeat him. He will prey on your fears always until you conquer him. Fear comes in many forms shapes and attacks. Like finances health family and loved one’s safety. But mostly fear of using one’s faith. If you are fearful of exercising your faith your faith will never grow.
Romans 8
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
What is your fear? Have you conquered your fears and partook of the Spirit of the Lord as the verse above states? Or are you still cowering under the Hittite spirit?
Amorites
The meaning is mountain people or high or renowned. This is a very dangerous spirit. It is a spirit that lifts you high and exalts your own soul instead of the Spirit of God. It is all to do with feeling good and prideful and boastful. Having success and high ambition for yourself, and even for your faith or church. Sometimes even under the excuse of “building the Kingdom”.
Isaiah 66
2 For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,” Says the LORD. ” But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.
Psalm 51
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart — These, O God, You will not despise.
This spirit knows very well that pride comes before the fall. All it has to do is lift you up and give you feelings of prominence and importance. The Amorite spirit also knows that where there is pride, God will not be and then he has victory. We can only get victory with the Spirit of God in us. So then when we are humble and of a contrite or broken heart and spirit God will be with us. Moses serves as a powerful example of this. He was the most humble person on earth and God used him and anointed him above everybody else.
Numbers 12
3 Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.
How sad then that today we find teachers and pastors and prophets who are nothing but prideful. Boldly proclaiming that they are the head and not the tail. And proudly announcing that they are sons of God. Well I sincerely doubt that they even hear the voice of God much less be led by Him to be children of God. They elevate themselves as kings and have the lifestyles to prove it. The Amorite spirit is indeed powerful and many are in its grip and just cannot break free. But mostly people are just totally unaware that they are prideful and have exalted themselves because they are being taught to be like that by the churches. May God show them truth!
James 4
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ” God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Jebusite
The meaning is trodden down or to be trodden underfoot. These Jebusite spirits specialize in treading on people. They make you as low as can be. With depression heartache and everything to keep you low. Addictions low self-esteem and whatever it can do to keep you away from your true identity in God. This spirit is then the total opposite of the previous one that lifts you up and makes you prideful. This one will constantly lie to you about your worth and abilities. Just like fear this spirit breaks down faith. Where this spirit is there is not a lot of faith. You see we have to have faith in the promises of God to us as His children that are led by His Spirit. This anti-spirit will always tread you down as low as you can go. But take heart and listen to God’s promises concerning this.
Isaiah 51
22 Thus says your Lord, The LORD and your God, Who pleads the cause of His people: ” See, I have taken out of your hand The cup of trembling, The dregs of the cup of My fury; You shall no longer drink it.
23 But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, Who have said to you, ‘ Lie down, that we may walk over you.’ And you have laid your body like the ground, And as the street, for those who walk over.”
Psalm 91
11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.
1 Peter 2
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Friend if you are fighting a battle with identity or low self-esteem or depression you have not yet conquered the Jebusite spirit. You need to stand up in faith and trust in the Lord’s promises. More than that you have to examine how you think. Most of us believe we think our own thoughts but we don’t! These spirits come and put an idea or lie in our head and then we entertain that thought. Then sooner rather than later we take that lie or thought for truth. We need to realize that we cannot just let our thoughts run wild. We need to control our thoughts and take them captive to the obedience of Christ.
2 Corinthians 10
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Secondly we need to know the promises of God so that when these spirits try to lie to us we can immediately strike back with truth and the verse or promise of the Lord. But how will you ever fight them if you don’t know the word and promises? Study to show yourself approved!
Hivites
The meaning of Hivite is tent village or villagers. This is a very interesting spirit and is so familiar that it seems perfectly normal and even seems right. This is a religious spirit and loves to get people together in groups and churches to practice religion. The name implies a fenced place so this spirit fills people with a system of living. Rules and regulations and a specific code to live by. People tend to come together to practice these rules or religion and seem to find peace by doing so. Mostly these spirits also fill people with a system of self-righteousness because they follow the rules. Let’s be clear God does not want religion but relationship. God is Spirit and wants us to serve Him in spirit and truth, not religion.
This is also a very difficult spirit to discern because it does all this religion in the name of God. The Jews were full of this spirit with their religious practices. They were rebuked by Jesus and Paul.
Colossians 2
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations —
21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”
22 which all concern things which perish with the using — according to the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Friend the Lord has called us out of the flesh and religion. Even if that religion is done in His name. Religion is a fleshly practice and the flesh cannot please God. God is Spirit and wants us to serve Him in Spirit and truth. Do not let the Hivite religious spirit deceive you to fall into some sort of religious practice.
Galatians 5
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
It is a sad fact but largely true that most modern-day churches are stuck in religion again just as the Jews were. Test yourself and your church if it is about following the Spirit of the Lord or just merely religion!! The Lord came to break down the wall or the religious system we erected around our village or city. This is how it is said in the prophet and this is how it works when we walk according to the Spirit and not religion.
Zechariah 2:4,5
‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,’ says the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’
You see if we walk according to the Spirit of God then God will be our wall and not some religious system of do’s and don’ts.
Perizzites
The name means to dwell in open country or a rural person. It can also mean a breach. So in contrast to the Hivite spirit that is walled with religion the Perizzites have no wall. This spirit has no system of religion or values or anything. This is an anything-goes spirit that will convince you that everything is ok and you can live as you want and do what you want when you want. This spirit will lead you to Spongebob your whole life and to be totally content and not convicted of sin in the slightest.
The Perizzite spirit is very active amongst proponents of universalism that say all people are saved and not only believers. This spirit is also very active among believers of the “once saved always saved” doctrine. It makes people lazy spiritually and it prevents repenting because the people don’t feel a need to repent seeing that anything goes. Sadly many churches today are in the clutches of this spirit. Churches with gay pastors and condoning same-sex marriages and a whole mess of new age happy go lucky doctrines.
Here are the facts, we are not our own anymore. We belong to God and we cannot live just the way we want to. Paul said that we as Christian believers are to be pitied above all people because our lives are lived on the basis of sacrifice and duty and living for God and others.
1 Cor 15
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
You see when we believe we are joined with Jesus and we become one with Him. How then can we now live with an attitude of anything goes?
1 Cor 6
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!
16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”
17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Friend, we are living under grace but sin is still sin. And God hates sin and will not leave it unpunished!
1 Cor 6
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Anything does not go and the wages of sin is death. Don’t be fooled! The Perizzite spirit will lie to you and convince you that your soul belongs to you and can do whatever it likes. It will convince you of hyper-grace and that no matter what you do your daddy in the sky won’t mind. Well this is what Jesus said concerning your soul (will, character, and intellect)
Matthew 16
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 For whoever desires to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for My sake will find it.
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Luke 17
33 Whoever seeks to save his soul will lose it, and whoever loses his soul will preserve it.
Once we believe in Jesus we become born again in spirit and a new life. A life of transformation to become just like Jesus in the soul. When we believe we commit and we cannot now look back and continue with our own life and anything goes mind-set.
Luke 9
“No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Canaanites
The name means merchant or something like international trade. The Canaanite spirit is a very dangerous spirit and has all to do with covetousness. This is the spirit of trade and business and money. Unfortunately greed is a powerful motivator which makes the Canaanite spirit’s job very easy. This spirit has invaded the world big time but the scariest part is that it has invaded the church too. All you have to do is turn the television on and you will find a prosperity preacher telling you to give him money. In fact nowadays it seems that most churches are proponents of this damnable doctrine of demons called the prosperity gospel. It is nothing but greed because they allow the Canaanite spirit. People go to church to learn doctrine and truth and to be edified but instead what they get is tainted food that makes them sick. The sad thing is they don’t mind because they get to be greedy and they love it. Now they have an excuse to trade and do business and chase profit above all because the pastor said it’s the will of the Father.
There is so much to be said about it but I will restrain myself or this will end up as a book. Instead we will look at some scriptures that refute the whole prosperity doctrine and greed and love of money.
Matthew 6
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (money).
Friends even if it was just these words of Jesus to go by it would be enough to refute the love of money. Jesus is explaining to us that if we love money, we cannot love God. It is as simple as that.
Matthew 19
23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
So there have been so many people trying to explain away what Jesus said here. Saying things like the eye was a hole in the wall of a city where camels used to pass through and a whole bunch of other nonsense. The fact of the matter is Jesus said it I believe it and thats it. The point is it is next to impossible for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of God. How can we know for sure? Well let’s look at what Jesus said to a rich man what he has to do to receive eternal life. This was a righteous man for he said he was doing all the commandments of God from his youth. But Jesus said he still lacks something. What was that? He was rich and he needed to give it all away. That was what was lacking with him. That is the point of the story, he was ordered to give it away and he didn’t. The Lord didn’t tell him to go give a tenth or even half. No He said go sell all you have and give it away.
Luke 12
15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’
18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ‘
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.
23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.
30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.
31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.
It is absolutely mind-blowing that anyone who reads this can still defend the prosperity gospel. What utter close-mindedness and how deep in the clutches of the Canaanite spirit they must be. It is absolutely clear we are not to lay up money. We are not to be rich or even worry about money or food or clothing. We are to seek the Kingdom first and the Lord made it perfectly clear that a rich man will not inherit the Kingdom. So then that means we have to not seek riches but Kingdom. That is the choice, riches and money or the Kingdom. The Canaanite spirit will tell you it’s ok to chase both but it’s a lie. Don’t be deceived!
That then is the seven anti-spirits. I am sure by now you have realized that these spirits are here today in our time in our lives and churches. We are still battling them even today. Some are very obvious and easy to discern even though we don’t want to admit it. But some are more difficult to discern and takes a whole lot of honesty and soul searching to even notice them. But what is the point? Why is it important to know these things and what is the practical application? Well as you might have noticed and as Jesus said we either serve God in the Spirit or we serve the enemy. All these spirits are part of the enemy’s kingdom. They are the battle that we have to fight and win. It is a spiritual battle and our weapons are not fleshly but spiritual.
When we are led by the Spirit of God we are spiritual and called the sons of God. When we are led by the anti-spirits we are fleshly and called sons of Satan or sons of perdition or sons of disobedience. That is the choice and don’t let anyone or any spirit ever lie to you and give you another choice. We either serve God or we serve Satan. It comes down to whose nature do we partake of, God or Satan. That is what the garden was all about. We were to partake of God’s nature or the tree of life which is the Spirit called the Word. There was also another tree which, if we ate of it, we would partake of Satan’s nature.
2 Peter 1
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
But what does that mean to partake of the Devine nature? Well simply this, we become just like God. More than that God manifests Himself in us and we become His dwelling place.
John 14
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
Phillip asks the Lord to show him the Father and the Lord says an amazing thing. He says the way I am is exactly how the Father is. In fact if you want to see the Father look at me because He is here in Me. Wow how amazing that God the creator of all things wants to come and live in us so that when people see us they don’t see us but Him. Hallelujah and the best part is He will tabernacle or live within us forever.
Do you want that? Do you want the Father to manifest in you and live there forever? I do! If your answer is yes then be led by His Spirit and obey His Spirit and He will manifest in you. Now this manifestation of God in you does not happen at once. We serve an awesomely big God my friend and we cannot handle Him at once. It takes time and work and transformation. Actually there is a whole specific order to it with very specific times that need to happen. Those times are crucial and it is crucial that they be in order. Kind of like the old adage that says “first you sit up then you crawl then you walk and then you run and maybe after that if you run fast enough you may actually even fly”
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Our example in the flesh, Israel, was called out of Egypt and God made them go on a very long tedious journey. Why? God could have just transported them there in an instant with no troubles or the Dead Sea or wilderness to afflict them. And more than that when God told them about the land of milk and honey, He never mentioned the giants that live there. He also never told them about the wars that they would have to fight there. This was all done for our example so that we can see the order of things and so that we can realize the appointed times. So if I can use an analogy. When we believe we are born again in spirit. That makes us a new-born baby. We can’t even sit up yet much less go fight a battle with a giant. No we first have to go through some different times or seasons so that we can grow and become strong. Strong enough at least to fight the battle that we need to.
Our enemy understands this very well. He was never stupid and he knows full well that when we are all grown up he will be no match for us. So what to do? He simply comes and changes the order of times that is necessary for a baby to grow into a full-grown power-wielding son of God. You see if you take a toddler and put him in a situation of battle he will fail every time. And because he fails every time his faith will never grow and thus he stays a baby. He will never mature. The second thing the enemy does is take away the other thing needed for growth, food. See just like in the flesh a spiritual baby needs food to grow. At first milk and then soft food and them solid food and then strong meat. So what happens to a baby if you ensure it stays on milk and never gets strong meat? He will simply not grow and more than that he will eventually get sick and waste away. In the book of Daniel we read about this very thing.
Daniel 7
25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.
We can see the practice of that everywhere nowadays in churches and meetings. After a alter call a person goes to the front and someone prays the sinner’s prayer with them and gives them a booklet and says something like this. You are now born again and will never lose your salvation and you now can go to war and defeat Satan and all powers and principalities. A whole new being then is born in a couple of minutes and he is thrust as a newborn baby right to the front of the battle line. There is nothing of first dying to self, going through the wilderness, surviving on manna for a time. No it’s like you get born fully armed and strong and there you go. How absolutely dangerous. And how could we as the church allow this to happen? How can we not see this? So now after we have put the baby on the frontline of the war then we keep feeding them milk. We keep teaching them the basics every week in church for fear that they might not come back if we start feeding them strong meat.
This is what Paul has to say on the matter.
Hebrews 5
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Dear friend the indwelling Spirit of God leads you through those times and seasons. You have to go through them to grow. You are not born fully grown. And when you are born in spirit you still have flesh, and a soul that is so used to walking after the flesh. That soul and flesh have to die. That is the purpose of the wilderness and affliction. You will not be able to die without affliction. Once you die then God will fill you anew with His Spirit for power. And that filling with His Spirit is the Promised Land of Faith and Spirit. God will not fill a baby with Spirit for power because it will be disastrous. Friend please recognize that there are times that you have to endure, seasons of affliction. Even if you have been a Christian believer for 50 years but never went through the times and seasons then you are still a babe.
The times and seasons are sets of circumstances rather than the passage of time. So don’t let the amount of time fool you, you have to go through those seasons of affliction. And those seasons or times of affliction will cause your death in soul. It will not be easy, it will be painful and it will kill you.
At a future time, we will do an in-depth study on the seasons and times that the enemy has changed. But for now, I want you to see first-hand the mixing up of times in the churches. That and the fact that they get only milk, and sometimes even tainted milk, have created a situation where the churches of today are largely made up of babies. And that includes the pastors. Just look and you will see. The world is falling apart and immorality is at an all-time high because we have babies trying to do the fighting.
I want to close with a parable that Jesus told.
Luke 13
6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’
8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.
9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”
Friend this fig tree symbolizes a believer, and has been a believer for some time. The only problem is its not bearing fruit and the farmer who is God wants to have it chopped down. Clearly this believer has not gone through the times and seasons required for bearing fruit. The end of not going through the times and seasons is being chopped off and thrown in the fire. Jesus who is the keeper says to God give me more time so that I can put the believer through the times and seasons of affliction. The first season is digging around it. That means everything is broken and upside down. Then after that, there is fertilizer worked into the ground which does not smell nice or taste nice. This believer is going through a lot of affliction at that time. But if the believer accepts it, works through it, and absorbs it, then something amazing happens.
New growth, new shoots, new leaves and very soon even fruit. Spiritual fruit. This parable allows us to clearly see the importance of the different times and seasons. A very wise man said this about times.
Ecclesiastes 3
1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
8 A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.
Till next time
God bless.
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