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.
“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.
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”
“When you send your Spirit, they are
created, and you renew the face of the earth”
“Be still and know that
I am God”
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