WHAT ARE YOU WEARING? Part 3

Part 3 – Shame for the World

Jesus wore shame so that the world could wear glory

Before Jesus died on the cross he was stripped of his clothes. This shaming was not just for you and me but for the whole world. At Pentecost, Jesus asked the Father to send His Holy Spirit and clothe His children with glory. Jesus became sin and wore shame so that you and I might wear Holy Spirit glory! The thing is, the Father expects us to dress ourselves in this garment of glory. Anything less than being dressed in the Holy Spirit is like walking around naked and ashamed in the spiritual realm.

The garment and the gifts

Romans 11:29 says that gifting is irrevocable “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”.  However, if we are only clothed in gifting and not in the Garment of the Holy Spirit Himself, while we can move and operate in the gifting, we are but a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1) and despite these gifts we cannot impact life.

                                                                                                                        

We must put on the garment of the Holy Spirit all the time. Then, as we move in the gifts and the calling of God, these giftings become finely honed and sparkle like jewels that accessorise our  spiritual clothes. What is more, we must be dressed by the Spirit on the outside as well as on the inside in order to impact the world that Jesus came to save.

The Holy Spirit enables encounter and new life

Jesus was unable to say things to the disciples because they were unable to bear it. The Holy Spirit speaks in a way that we can bear and lead us into all truth. Psalm 104:30 says “When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth”.

Some Christians struggle with Holy Spirit theology. Like Jesus, the Holy Spirit is not a theology, but a person. Until we know the person of the Holy Spirit we cannot have a relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit always glorifies Christ, specifically reveals Christ and makes Christ known to the world. He takes us out of a secluded, protected Christian environment, where we lack a credible witness to the world, for whom Christ died. When we foster a relationship with the Holy Spirit Christ is glorified through our lives!

The Holy Spirit displays the glory of Christ to the world

My Christian life resembled a city with a Temple but without a wall. It failed to display the glory of Christ to a hurting and broken world. And this is what the Father so desires. “When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth”. I had not been seeing to the business of the Father. 

John 15:15: 

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you”. 

I had been a servant for too long and I missed that Father invites me to be a friend. Friends know the Father's business.

The anointed believer bears the fruit of new life

Just like a city without a wall is unprotected and less than it ought to be, a believer without the anointing of the spirit is outside the Father's design. In Christ we are designed to conquer and we qualified for increase. While we use the correct scriptures and theology to support this view, we can lack the anointing to reveal this inheritance. When Adam was in the garden alone, God chose to give him a helper (Genesis2:18). This word “helper” is the same word in the Hebrew as the name given to the Holy Spirit. God commanded man and his helper to procreate. This also speaks of the church, His bride. In the physical realm, without intimacy, man and woman (helper) will not bring forth new life. So too in the spirit realm, the Bride without the Holy Spirit anointing will not bear offspring.

In Psalm 46:10 we read“Be still and know that I am God”, the Hebrew meaning of the word “know” in this verse is “yada” which means “intimacy” and is the same word as in Genesis 4:1 “Adam knew Eve and she conceived”. The fruit of intimacy is new life. For years I prostituted myself with knowledge of the scriptures and the fruit my effort was to puff up. I abandoned covenantal intimacy with the Holy Spirit which gives birth to kingdom children in the nations.

The Holy Spirit is the one who activates and creates our renewal. While salvation comes through Jesus, it is the responsibility of the Spirit to bring renewal to the face of the earth. He does this by co-labouring with you and me. The Spirit opens the scriptures for intimacy and fruit of intimacy is new life. Life borne by the Spirit renews the face of the earth, within and outside the church. The city without a wall decreases and dies, but the city with a wall prospers, increases and is displayed among the nations.

Jesus shows us how to wear the Holy Spirit
Jesus laid aside His deity to show us that it was possible to live a holy life as human by being completely clothed in the Holy Spirit. Jesus showed us how to wear the Spirit. God’s plan is for fullness in the clothing of the Spirit, anointed in Presence. Our walk in Him is a matter of deciding whether to dress in the clothes he has provided or not.

So what are you wearing? Are you just a city with a Temple or do you wear a wall; strengthened, secured and impregnated by the Holy Spirit?

                                                                                       

I myself will be a wall of fire around it [you], declares the LORD, 'and I will be its [your] glory within”

Zechariah2:5.

“When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth”

Psalm104:30

“Be still and know that I am God”

Psalm 46: 10

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING? Part 2

Part 2 - Walled for Display

Shortly after receiving this word “overlaid with glory”, I started to read the historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah together with the prophecies of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi which were instrumental to the events of these times. I started to see something which I had not seen before.

Jerusalem did not prosper without a wall

Having returned from exile in Babylon, the people of Israel began rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. They were persecuted and as a result they stopped building. Only after Haggai and Zechariah the prophets imparted vision and courage through the prophecies they spoke, did building recommence and the temple was completed. However, despite this victory, famine and oppression prevailed. It was only when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem years later and rebuilt the broken walls around the city that God’s people finally had security and protection and began to prosper. Though God had been in their midst security and protection only came when the wall was in place.

Ezra the helper: overlayed Jerusalem with glory within

Once the temple had been built Ezra made sure to teach God’s word to the people of Israel. Interestingly, the name Ezra means helper; one of the names given to the Holy Spirit. God intended this glory within FOR HIS PEOPLE to enjoy and to experience.

Nehemiah the comforter: overlayed Jerusalem with the glory on the outside

Nehemiah’s name means comforter; also another name given to the Holy Spirit. Some years after Ezra, Nehemiah saw to it that the city of Jerusalem was overlaid with glory outside the city around  by rebuilding the city walls.  God intended this overlaying of glory as protection for Israel and also as a display of strength TO THOSE OUTSIDE it.

                                                                                                             

How to wear a wall; the believer and the church

The temple in Jerusalem and the wall outside Jerusalem is a prophetic picture which points to the New Covenant temple of the Holy Spirit.

The Ark of the Covenant; the first place where God chose to dwell is a precursor to the New Covenant dwelling place of God; within the believer themselves. When we become Christians, the new spirit we are given, the Holy Spirit, dwells within us. In this way, and like the Ark of ancient Israel, we are overlaid on the inside with the spirit of God, Christ in us; the hope of glory. God said in Joel 2:28 that “In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all people”. 

Just as the Spirit was poured out on Jesus and rested “UPON” Him so will all believers in Jesus wear the Spirit on the outside, just as Jesus did. In Luke 24:49 Jesus says: 

“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 

Here it is clear we will be clothed with the Garment of the Spirit, we will wear the Spirit on the outside just like Jesus did.

God is holding out a truth for us to grasp, which is so liberating that if we step into it and grasp it we will be completely renewed and will inherit and live the abundant life.The wall clothes, protects and shelters the city. The city wears its wall proudly and becomes reinforced and empowered by its presence.

The prophetic words of Zechariah speak of the day when the Holy Spirit will be a wall of fire like at Pentecost around the dwelling place of God, a child of God / believer. “… I myself will be a wall of fire around it, declares the LORD, 'and I will be its glory within” Zechariah 2:5. This is the same prophetic picture of the New Covenant temple of the Holy Spirit believer as in Joel 2.

Stepping onto the wall

Finally, Nehemiah steps onto the wall itself which causes great joy and celebration to break out among the people. This is a declaration of trust in the Holy Spirit which is the wall of fire around the city. Nehemiah cries out for us to do likewise.

Ezra prophetically declares wearing the Spirit of Glory within brings hope, Nehemiah prophetically declares that, security, strength and comfort come by wearing your fire around you. The Holy Spirit within (the Temple in the city) was for use by the people of God, the wall (the Holy Spirit on the outside) is to display the Gods Glory unto the nations.

Declan D.