WHY THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Why did the Apostle Paul write to the Ephesians, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times IN THE SPIRIT..."?
Or, when he penned his letter to the Romans, why did he emphasize in chapter 8: "...who walk...according TO THE SPIRIT"?
Why did Paul put so much stress on the Holy Spirit and His working?
As much as Old Testament saints tried to walk and live pleasing to God, they did not have the advantage of having the indwelling Holy Spirit to make that walk possible. They looked ahead to the day when He would come, but they lived according to the ceremonial Law and tried to live up to the moral Law of the Ten Commandments...and they failed in most instances.
Before Jesus died, He met with His disciples over the Passover meal we call the Last Supper. It was then that He revealed in detail the coming and ministry of the Holy Spirit to them and to those of us who have succeeded them. If only Peter would have had the advantage of the Holy Spirit's indwelling him before the crucifixion! He would have avoided horrible, carnal failure.
Recall that at the close of the meal it was Peter who was involved in a discussion among his fellows about which of them was greatest. How the competitive spirit of fallen human nature raises its ugly head at inopportune moments! Jesus, the Lamb of God and servant of all humanity, was about to shed His holy blood on a cross, but His men were arguing about their own personal inflation. Spirit and flesh just do not mix!
The apostles had walked and lived with Jesus for three years! They heard Him teach. They saw Him heal bodies and deliver souls tormented by demonic spirits. They cooked and ate together. They spent lonely nights without Jesus, as He went apart from them to commune with His Heavenly Father...they knew His practice of prayer and worship, but it did not 'rub' off on them.
In fact, their discussion of who was greatest was the opportune moment Jesus used to teach them the truths of the Kingdom: whoever is greatest must become the servant of all. How that fact grates against the wall of human pride fortressed in the soul!
Just as satan had insisted that he be allowed to test Job's loyalty to God, even now Jesus revealed to Peter that the same devilish proposition was made about him: "Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail..." Man without the controlling and cleansing power of the Holy Spirit sets himself up for embarrassing defeat. Peter was caught in that predicament, but didn't realize it. We may learn from his example, true to life as it is.
So it was that following the Passover meal, they made their way with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus often went to pray. On the way, Jesus revealed to Peter that he would deny His Lord three times before the rooster crowed. What a shock that must have been to the one who had bragged he would follow Jesus even to death if need be! He was sure of himself, and when they came to a place where two swords were available and remarked about them, Jesus replied that they were enough...is this when Peter grabbed one that he used to cut off a slave's ear a few minutes later?
Once they arrived at the Mount of Olives, Jesus admonished the men to pray so they wouldn't fall into temptation. Instead, they fell asleep while He agonized alone with His Father. Missing was the glue of the powerful Holy Spirit. Without Him, the apostles were natural men being asked to participate in a supernatural drama that unfolded before their eyes. They were insensitive to it! No wonder that Paul would list in the warfare gear of a real believer the sword of the Spirit and the qualities of righteousness and salvation imparted to the believer by the indwelling OF the Holy Spirit that happened after Pentecost.
Without the baptism, the apostles were mere men. Jesus had to bear His suffering alone. Yet, it was His death, resurrection and ascension to His Father's right hand that made possible the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on His followers, so then they were equipped to "Stand, and having done all to STAND." That means to stand FOR God and WITH God against demonic forces. There in the Garden, they had no power to stand for Jesus at all. Instead, they slept.
Without the Spirit of prayer, frail men fall victim to unnatural but overwhelming sleepiness. Is that not what has happened in large part to the Church of today? She has denied the power of the Holy Spirit to be her energy and strength. Paul wrote to Timothy that that very ignoring of the Holy Spirit is a sign of our being in the Last Days. Only the Church can know the voice and power of the Gift from the Father. If she relinquishes her birthright, who else is eligible to take up the cause of Christ or will? No one is.
Slumber of the soul is not physical. It is an insensitivity to the moving of the Holy Spirit in today's world, church, families and individuals that ought to startle and alert the Bride of Christ. It is an insensitivity to the Holy Spirit and His Lordship.
Many in today's tumultuous society have difficulty falling asleep and use various methods to induce sleep. Some drink hot milk just before retiring for the night. Others use natural substances like melatonin or chamomile tea. Many more resort to using sleeping pills of one sort or other.
Cleverly, the devil uses different methods to induce spiritual slumber in a professing believer. If he can prevent our being alert to the working of the Holy Spirit and standing against him, the evil one is free to work against God's purposes without restraint. He uses three different types of sleep inducers singly or together to lull Christians to sleep and keep them that way.
His first tactic is to use whatever works to prevent believers from reading the Bible regularly and praying. He uses science to tell people they must have so many hours of sleep a night, so that there is not enough time in the morning or late at night for a person to read and pray. People worry so much about how many hours they sleep a night that they're unwilling to consider the benefits of waking early or going to sleep later so they can meet with Jesus and devote time to Him.
Satan also uses plain old weariness to cause well-meaning people to fall asleep while reading their Bible or praying. Their weariness may be well-earned or more often is the result of carelessness in getting to bed early enough by frittering away hours watching TV, doing hobbies or other pursuits.
Why is it so important for believers to pray and read the word regularly?
The military uses constant communication with the troops to keep them aware of what the enemy is doing and how to prepare for battle. It arms fighters with the correct equipment and resources so the coming battle is won, not lost or compromised.
God's soldiers who refuse or neglect to keep in touch with God through His word and communion in prayer have no idea how the enemy is working to take them out. They are ill-equipped to wage warfare or to stand when the going gets tough. As the old railroad saying went: "They are asleep at the switch" and fail to connect the rails for the on-coming train, leading to a train wreck. That same thing happens in Christians' lives when they are asleep to the works of the devil. They crash in failure or unbelief. That is why Paul admonished the Ephesians to pray always in the Spirit.
A second sleep inducer administered by the devil is distraction. Perhaps this is the most subtle and effective tool of all his wiles. Another term to describe it is 'busyness' or 'addiction.' By addiction is not meant drugs or alcohol, though he uses them, too, to keep souls in his clutches. Satan knows he'll not succeed in getting professed believers to drink or do drugs.
He can and does, however, wed them to their smart phones and computers. Social media has many, many devoted addicts who cannot sit through even a church service without signing on to see the latest. Included among the electronic distractions must be gaming. While women are especially drawn to social media, men love their games by the hour.
Even when they are not physically holding their devices, addicts think about them, are drawn to them and do them the last thing at night and first thing in the morning, some of the best times to pray and Bible read. For addicts, those have long gone by the wayside. When a person ignores or disobeys the warnings of the Holy Spirit to avoid cravings like social media or other seemingly harmless hobbies and pursuits, His voice is diminished and eventually blotted out by a stronghold that blinds the heart to Spirit truths. What a danger that is! Yet, that sleepiness is what grips much of today's Church.
Third, and possibly the more subtle of all, is religiousness. Religious folks watch religious movies and videos on TV, do Bible studies ABOUT the Bible and God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and prayer...but do not actually get into the Word and really pray until they hear God. They love poems about spiritual things and they enjoy good sermons on TV, but all those serve to ease their conscience and let them feel acceptable because they did something related to Christian activity.
Real, honest Spirit-led lives are disciplined.
They are strongly disciplined. Here in the West, we have creature-comforts galore and we have become soft...soft on others and soft on ourselves. Self-discipline is almost unheard of and is nearly unthinkable. But it is necessary if we are to walk in the Spirit and be led by Him.
We have to walk away from all the counterfeits and distractions dropped on our path by the devil. We have to shy away from people whose priorities are much different from the ways of God, even when they call themselves Christians. We must be intentional in regularly seeking God in prayer, not just to air our petitions, but to wait on Him so He can speak to us and give us direction---and He will and does.
We must read the Bible every day methodically, so we get the whole picture of what God is saying to us. Even when we don't understand all that we read, we must become familiar with what Jesus says and does on His written page. His Spirit will make the Word come alive to us and by it transform us (Romans 12:1-2) more to the image of Jesus day by day.
Just before He went to Calvary, Jesus told His apostles, "I am the Way..." After Calvary and His resurrection, Jesus met His men on the beach over fish and bread and further said "Follow Me." To correctly make it on the Way, we follow Jesus where He leads us. It is simple when we forsake our ways for His Way!
The way to heaven is narrow, it is rugged and it has many pitfalls along the route. Each of our paths is diffent as we journey toward Heaven. But we have the sure word from Jesus that He is the way there, and the way to avoid the dangers is to follow Him.
To follow Him is to take up our own cross and with humility obey and follow Him step after step. Our equipment is outlined for us in Ephesians 6. Jesus instructed that the Spirit is our guide, our comforter and enabler for living holy lives that are the embodiment of Jesus.
We must be led by the Spirit every moment of every day if we are to walk faithfully to heaven. Our words, our prayers, our actions must all rise from His authority and His filling in our heart. Not only must we possess Him in His baptism, but He must totally possess us!