". . .The Holy Ghost does not come to entertain, to provide signs and wonders and miracles just to thrill us or make us feel good. No, every one of His workings has this divine purpose: "I'm preparing a bride."
The work, ministry and mission of the Holy Spirit is singular: It is to wean us from this world... to create a longing in us for Jesus's soon appearance... to convict us of everything that would blemish us... to turn our eyes away from everything but Jesus... to adorn us with the ornaments of a passionate desire to be with Him as His bride!
The Holy Spirit must grieve as He beholds pastors and evangelists today turning His ministry into a circus. The Spirit cannot bear the manipulations and fleshy showmanship, all done in His name! I couldn't begin to explain to you some of the recent gimmicks I've heard about that are used to try to create a sense of His presence. How grievous that must be to God's heart. And it is blasphemy against the Spirit of God!
In every healing, prophecy and manifestation of God's glory in His house, the Holy Spirit is at work, saying to us, "This is the love of your espoused - this is what He is like. Isn't He wonderful? Isn't He kind, gentle, considerate, merciful? Yet you're seeing only a glimpse of Him to whom I lead you!"
If the Holy Spirit is at work in a church, then every song, every word of praise, every note of every instrument are all given unction by the Spirit to exalt Christ. The Spirit is doing what He has been called to do - presenting us to our Bridegroom in all His glory and majesty.
Now let me show you one of the most glorious works of the Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit Has Been Sent
To Give Us a Foretaste of Christ!
A foretaste is an advance taste or realization. The Bible calls it an earnest - "the earnest of our inheritance" (Ephesians 1:14). It means to bring a taste of the whole before we have the whole. Our inheritance is Christ Himself - and the Holy Spirit brings us into His very presence as a foretaste of being received as His bride, enjoying everlasting love and communion with Him.
Paul describes a people of God who are "sealed with that holy Spirit" (Ephesians 1:13). This speaks of a people specially marked by a work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has produced in them a distinguishing mark, a glorious inner work - something supernatural that has changed them forever.
They are not ordinary believers anymore. They are no longer "of this world," since they have set their affections on things above, not on the things of this earth. They are not moved by the world's events; rather, they are unshakable. They are no longer lukewarm or halfhearted. Instead, their hearts cry out night and day, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus...."
What happened to change them? What did the Holy Spirit do in these believers? What marked and sealed them forever as the Lord's possession? Simply this: The Holy Ghost gave them a foretaste of the glory of His presence! He came to them, rolled back heaven - and they experienced a supernatural manifestation of His exceeding greatness!
This is why it is so necessary that God's house be holy - why our hearts and hands must be clean, why we can have nothing in us to hinder the Spirit's work. It is because the Spirit of God delights in pulling back the veil, to give us a foretaste of what is coming!
Right now the Holy Spirit is opening the eyes of His chosen ones - "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened" (Ephesians 1:18). The Holy Spirit comes to a church that wants Him and is praying... to shepherds who are broken before God... to believers who have no concern other than to see the body of Christ conformed to the image of heaven.
God is sealing such people right now! You can go to meetings where Jesus is so real that you taste a little bit of heaven in your soul. You come away with such a sense of eternal reality that your problems no longer bother you, the lapsing economy doesn't shake you, and you're especially not afraid of the devil. God puts a holy fire in your soul, and you say, "This is supernatural. This isn't me - this is God's Spirit working in me!"
He gives us "a little heaven" to go to heaven with - a whetting of our appetite. He opens the windows of heaven and lets us look into the glory that will be ours. We get a taste of His holiness, His peace, His rest, His love - and we are forever spoiled for this earth, because we yearn for the fullness of what we have tasted!
The Spirit's Mission Is Not Complete Until He Creates
In Us a Passionate, Ever-Increasing Yearning For Christ!
What kind of bride do you think the Spirit will present to Jesus Christ on that day of Revelation? One who is halfhearted? Whose love is lukewarm, or cold? Who is not devoted to Jesus? Who does not want intimacy with Christ?
If you truly love Jesus, He's never out of your mind. He is present in your every waking moment. Some Christians think, "That will happen after I die. When I get to heaven, everything will change. I'll become the special bride of the Lord then." No, dying doesn't sanctify anybody! The Holy Ghost is here today, He's alive and working in you - to produce in you a passionate love for Christ on this side of death!
Romans 8:26 describes one of the most powerful works of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
What is this groaning of the Holy Spirit deep inside the heart? What is this emotion that is so profound there are no words to express it?
The Hebrew word used for groaning means a yearning - a longing for more of Christ. You can yearn after Jesus so much that you sit in His presence and nothing comes out but a deep groaning - something that cannot be uttered. It says, "Jesus, You're the only happiness there is in this world. I've tasted and seen that You're good - and I want all of You."
This is the deep, inner cry of someone who hungers for holiness and is anguished over his iniquities. Yet he admits, "I don't know how to pray. I don't know what to pray for, or as I should." His heart's cry is: "Holy Spirit, come! You know the mind of God. You know how to pray according to the will of the Father. Walk with me - take control!"
This is the mark of one who is walking in the Spirit: He has an insatiable appetite for Jesus. Yet it's not just because he's sick of all the garbage he sees in the world -all the filth, crime, drugs and unemployment. No, rather, it's something very positive. Like Paul, he's just anxious to depart and be with the Lord!
This person is being moved upon by the Spirit to go after Christ with such passion and emotion that He is overwhelmed. His heart so longs for Christ, no words can express his hunger and love. It is a marvelous, powerful experience - yet it is also painful, because he cannot yet come into the fullness that awaits him!
Sadly, few today have this passionate groaning after Christ. There is no hungering or thirsting, and so little passion. Each Sunday churches are packed with Christians who never question or examine their love for Christ!
But the Holy Ghost has found His people! They're allowing the Spirit to take control. They're beginning to yield to Him - and the more they do, the more His inner groaning comes forth.
Dear saint, what has happened in your life since you got saved? Are you just going through the motions? Are you lukewarm? Are you afraid to get "on fire" for the Lord because you'll be considered a fanatic?
Ask the Holy Ghost to so reveal Christ to your heart that you'll be totally weaned from this world. That's what happened to Abraham. He said, "I'm only passing through here." He was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. He had a vision, and his eyes were opened to eternity.
Can you say right now you're ready to go be with Him, that you want Him more than your very life? You may say that often - but do you mean it when you sing, "He's more than life to me"? Are you more passionately in love with Jesus than when you first met Him?
Right now, the Holy Spirit is poking at the dying embers of your love. It is because He is desirous of setting your heart on fire. Are you allowing the Spirit of God to convict you of sin and unbelief? If so, rejoice! He wants you to be cleansed from every spot or wrinkle on that day when you meet your Bridegroom!
So yield to His leading. Let Him do His work in you completely - and you truly will know what it means to walk in the Spirit!"
-- David Wilkerson