Renew …The Holy Spirit In Action
The Holy Spirit is ready to take action. God has prepared for every contingency and action that is necessary for your life. When the adversary comes against you, God has promised that the Holy Spirit will come in with power and overwhelming strength to enable you to make a successful stand against the enemy. On our own, we are not sufficient for the things that come before us, so God has sent the Holy Spirit to take action in our lives.
God has not promised that He is just going to give us everything automatically. He anoints, calls, sends and inspires, but we must respond. He never promised that we would not have to fight for joy and victory through feelings of despair and fear. He did not guarantee that maintaining a positive outlook would be effortless in this challenging environment.
You will probably have to take a stand when you feel like you are nothing, can do nothing, and don’t have the right words to say. You may feel too weak, overwhelmed, and small to obey His call and prompting. You may even think that you do not have the proper resources, help or support.
God wants you to depend on Him and not on your own abilities or previous victories. That is why Jesus promised to send another Comforter to abide with you forever. The Holy Spirit will be a very present help for you in the time of trouble. God Almighty has promised that He will come to your aid when you are up against the enemy’s attack.
Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in, like a flood the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
We need to recognize and take advantage of the Holy Spirit’s action when the enemy comes in. God does not elevate His people so they can act independently of Him. He wants to constantly fill and direct you by the Holy Spirit. He will show you His sufficiency in the times of your weakness and distress.
Isaiah 30:21 NKJV Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.
Jesus made this message very clear to His disciples when He said they would need the Holy Spirit to comfort, direct, empower and help them.
The work and action of the Holy Spirit has been revealed throughout the Bible.
When the Holy Spirit comes in, He inspires, speaks, directs, empowers and helps God’s people.
After Samuel took a flask of oil and anointed Saul to be the King of Israel, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he was dramatically changed.
The action of the Holy Spirit transformed Saul from a timid and awkward man into a different man. Although he was head and shoulders above those around him, he did not think he was able to do what God called him to do. When the Spirit took action, Saul was given another heart and everything that God promised came to pass. He prophesied with the prophets and God lifted him up to become the king of Israel. At times, the Spirit of God would come upon Saul and empower him to lead God’s people into victory over their enemies.
In the second year of his reign, Saul began to think he could lead God’s people without the help of the Holy Spirit.
When Saul started doing his own thing, the Holy Spirit was taken from him. Even though he was distressed and troubled, he did not repent. He was abandoned to his troubles.
At that same time, Samuel took a horn of oil and anointed David to succeed Saul as king.
The Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward. David recognized the necessity of the Holy Spirit and God’s presence.
Psalm 51:11-12 NKJV Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
David knew that it was God who made him great. He knew he could not make it without God’s presence and the help of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is full of examples of people being helped and equipped when the Holy Spirit takes action.
The Holy Spirit came upon Othniel, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Sampson. When the Holy Spirit took action, they arose in power and went into victory.
Othniel was Caleb’s younger brother.
When Israel cried out to the Lord because of their enemies, the Spirit of the Lord took action and came upon Othniel. Under the Holy Spirit’s power and influence, he went out to war and the Lord delivered them from the King of Mesopotamia.
Deborah was a prophetess in Israel.
Judges 5 tells us it was in the days of Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad. It was at the same time that Sisera and Jabin oppressed Israel for 20 years. God spoke to Deborah to send Barak and ten thousand troops of Israel to battle against Sisera and Jabin’s army. Barak was afraid to go out against the enemy. Deborah sang, “Village life ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah arose, a mother in Israel.” When Deborah sang, “The mountains gushed before the Lord, This Sinai, before the Lord God of Israel.”
When the enemy comes in, like a flood the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
Gideon was grinding wheat in a wine press.
When the Midianites and Amalekites and people of the East encamped against Israel, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and he blew the trumpet. After he blew the trumpet, Gideon wanted to be sure that he was being led by God, so he put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor and tested God. Thirty-two-thousand people responded to Gideon’s trumpet call. The Lord told Gideon he had too many people and 22,000 people went back home. Once again God told Gideon he had too many people, until he was left with only 300 people. God gave the victory over his enemies because the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon.
You need to know that little is much when God is in it.
Jephthah
When the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, he passed through the land and the Lord delivered their enemies into his hands.
Samson
When he was a child, the Lord blessed him and the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him. Under the power of the Holy Spirit, Samson tore apart a lion with his bare hands. Often the Spirit of the Lord would come mightily upon him and he would destroy his enemies.
When the enemy comes in, like a flood the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
The key to your victory is God the Holy Spirit taking action against the enemy.
Ephesians 3:16 AMP May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being].
Jesus made this point very clear to His disciples that they needed the Holy Spirit. After His resurrection, He breathed on them and said,“Receive the Holy Spirit.” Just before He ascended back to the Father, Jesus commanded them to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them. He said, “When the Holy Spirit comes, you will receive power to be living witnesses of the resurrected Christ.”
2 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
2 Corinthians 4:8-10 NKJV We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
You need to be strengthened by the might of the Holy Spirit.
God has put something in your hands that you can use in the power of the Spirit.
Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, God enabled people to take strong action.
- Moses had a rod.
- Gideon and his men blew trumpets.
- Samson tore a lion apart with his bare hands and defeated thousands with the jawbone of a donkey.
- Ehud had a dagger
- Shamgar had an ox goad.
- Jephthah walked through the land.
- David had a sling.
- Elisha had the cloak of Elijah.
- Micah spoke when he was full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.
- David said, “My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue…”
- Jeremiah was telling the Lord that he was too young; but the Lord said, “I have put forth My hand and touched your mouth, and I have put My words in your mouth.”
- Ezekiel said, “The Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet”… and said, “I am sending you.”
- Some people worshipped and sang new songs in the Spirit.
- Some lifted holy hands.
Use whatever God has put in your hand.
When the Holy Spirit takes action mighty things are going to happen.
Romans 15:18-19 I will only speak of what Christ has accomplished through me …by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul and Silas were in the lower part of a prison in Philippi.
Acts 16:25-26 NKJV But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Sometimes all you can do is lift your voice in prayer and song to God, but God can break through prison doors and shatter chains.
We need a renewal of the Holy Spirit to take action and come in like a flood against the enemy.
Let God use what you have.
