Governed by the Holy Spirit

.....I have been filled with the Holy Spirit for most of my life. I can point to a day and a time when I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts that accompany that Spirit baptism. That does not mean that I have always been governed by that indwelling Spirit. Now how about you? You may be filled with the Spirit but you may not be governed by the Spirit, and that explains why charismatic people, prophetic people, are some of the most carnal people you will ever meet in your life.

The Bible says we must be continually filled with the Spirit. Paul says, “Be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit”. And that word “be filled” is a verb of continual action in the Greek. It means to continuously be filled, be being filled, or be continuously filled. Same thing with eating or drinking Christ: “He who continues to eat My flesh and continues to drink My blood will have Life” He says. This isn’t a matter of having some kind of an experience at the altar or some kind of supposed manifestation of God’s presence in your flesh. It is a matter of continuous living and abiding and dwelling and continuing in Christ moment by moment. And if you will come under the government of the Holy Spirit, He will bring you back around to this principle of abiding in Christ and accepting the work of the Cross over, and over and over again. That is the path the Holy Spirit brings you back to.

Now that is the direction of the Spirit and He will work with you a good long while towards that end, but if you continually refuse that government, then the Spirit is grieved and will eventually depart. And I think that accounts for those multitudes of people who call Jesus “Lord” and do things in His name but don’t really know Who He is. If your only evidence of a Spirit-filled life is something you experienced back in 1968 in a camp meeting someplace then something is seriously wrong. A Spirit-filled person is either under the government of the Holy Spirit or is moving towards that government. Standing still or going back is not an option. Be continuously filled with the Spirit. And you can believe whatever you like about works but the bottom line is the fruit of the Spirit or the lack thereof, demonstrates whether we really are who we say we are.

Jesus said a good tree does not produce bad fruit and a bad tree does not produce good fruit and it’s by the fruit that you will know them, not by their leaves. Good or bad, for better or for worse, you’re going to produce something. So the question is not if you will produce fruit, but what kind of fruit you will produce.

So, as we place ourselves beneath the government of the Holy Spirit, it means we will try to go to some places just like the apostles did, but the Spirit will not permit it. Or, we will try to remain silent or stay in one place and be hidden, but the Spirit will compel us to say something or to take action. Or, we may seek to avoid certain people or places or things, but the Spirit will say, “Go here, and doubt nothing because I am sending you.” And He doesn’t always send you into something that looks successful! It may look like a failure. Crucifixions never look successful on the outside. But see, this is something totally different from setting some goals for yourself and saying you want to do such-and-such by such-and-such a date and you’ll go here and there and do this and that; you don’t see that in the Bible. You see them increasingly coming under the government of the Holy Spirit. And they soon learned that to obey the Spirit means Life and Peace, if not outwardly, inwardly. As long as He is doing it and He is initiating it, all is well. But the moment we lay our hand to it, we defile it. Time and time again.

So for me, that means we may, or may not, have a daily message, or a weekly webcast, or twice monthly meetings in our home, or any more workshops, or gatherings or conferences. I’m not concerned for those things any more. I am only occupied with this one thing: whether I go or stay, whether I speak or remain silent, whether I write something every day or never write anything again, whether I appear to be active or appear to be inactive, am I being governed by the Holy Spirit? Because that is the only real basis of spiritual ministry.

Now, if this concerns you at all and bears witness to your heart, you may be asking yourself: How do I know the difference? How do I know if I am led of the Spirit or led of my own self-centered nature? Well, don’t ask me, because I can’t tell you. I can’t give you the answer to that. I would play it safe and assume that I am probably more selfish than spiritual, but you’ll have to do the same thing I have to do: get before God and ask Him to search you and reveal it to you.

When you get into those hard to discern places, you are compelled to get before God and search it out and that’s how you learn. That’s part of your growth. I’ve identified a condition in Christians that I call ‘Spiritual Googleism’. Spiritual Googleism! And this means instead of getting before God, and humbling ourselves and getting answers from the Throne, we hop on the Internet, Google our problem, and try to get answers that way. Well it’s quick, it’s convenient, it’s fast and you’ll definitely get something, but I believe that offends the Spirit of the living God. Why? Because He wants you to come to Him and learn of Him and it takes time and it takes patience and that’s why most people don’t do it and that’s why most people, even for all of their searching and seeking after answers, they are still no further along than when they started. I’m not going to be led by Google, and I’m not going to be led by what Watchman Nee did, or what T. Austin-Sparks did. They served their generation well, but they’ve passed on. The issue is not “What did the Lord say to So-and-so?” That can only take us but so far. What does the Lord say to me, now? That is present truth that meets God’s need at this very moment.

I want to be continuously adjusted to God and continually governed by the Spirit of God. And in that way I can satisfy the heart of God. And it is beside the point whether or not that satisfies everyone else or even if it makes sense to everyone else. And so I invite you to join me in this journey, it begins with a willingness to be adjusted to God, embracing the principle of the Cross and being governed by the Holy Spirit. The end result is a purity that cannot be achieved through any carnal means.

I hope you will make this message and this word a matter of prayer.