Believer or Receiver?

It’s one thing to KNOW ABOUT Jesus, the Bible, etc.

It’s another thing to KNOW Jesus.

There are 4 references in the book of Acts where there were believers who needed to become receivers. The Apostles saw to it that this was to be granted to them. Some had been taught well, others not so completely.

Acts 2:1-4. Acts 5:14-17. Acts 10:44-48. Acts 19:1-6.

Few can be as forthright about this subject as was the late David Wilkerson.

John 17:3 NKJV. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” It is vital! We may know about God, but we cannot know Him without the Holy Spirit.

That’s the dynamo of Christian living. But He is hardly mentioned in many churches, and He is taken for granted – based upon a “conversion” experience or some ceremony at the beginning of one’s entry into an institutional church. People think that being in a church makes one a Christian. But being in a church will not bring this about any more than putting your Chevy into a garage will turn it into a Rolls Royce! There has to be a deep heart desire first of all!

Paul also prays, according to Ephesians 1:15-23 NKJV. “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

And he prays more! Ephesians 3:14-19.  “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height —  to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

What says the Lord Jesus? He tells us to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking! Luke 11:1-13 NKJV. The reader can look up the whole chapter. I will quote only verses 9-13. “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Clearly this is a very important thing, to receive the Holy Spirit. We cannot make the “blessed assumption” that we are in Christ and Christ in us. All of our self righteousness is as filthy rags before God, and our religious practices which someone has told us are how we are saved are equally as useless. These provide false security. We must have the Holy Spirit!

The time is late. Let us go to God’s word, not the doctrines, commandments, and the teachings of men! The importance of Christ’s teaching on the necessity of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus nears His final journey to the cross, found in His “last will and testament” in John 13 through 17. I would direct the reader to pray over and ponder these words and His great high priestly prayer.

May the fellowship, peace, and power of the Lord be with you, as you walk according to His Way and as you seek Him with your whole heart. He will not disappoint!

Soli Deo Gloria!