In our previous devotional we talked about Jesus commanding His disciples to go to the Upper Room and wait for the Holy Ghost baptism. Most of our churches in the United States do not even know that there be any Holy Ghost. Some have diminished the command down to a suggestion and some have taken it even further and buried it with the Apostles (which is definitely not Biblical).

We have taken the Ten Commandments out of our schools and taken the Commandments of Jesus out of our churches. The Prophet Isaiah said it like this:

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue (as with a foreign language) will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing (Acts 3:19): yet they would not hear. (Isaiah 28:10-12)

An old preacher said it like this one time: “The world needs to accept Jesus and the Church needs to accept the Holy Ghost.”

Think about it this way. God the Father delivered His people out of bondage and they built a golden calf to worship. Jesus came to save the lost and they crucified Him. The Holy Ghost was sent by Jesus and a large part of the Church rejects Him, just like they did the Father and the Son. The real miracle is that God hasn’t wiped us all out for our doubt and unbelief.

If you haven’t figured this thing out yet let me tell you, we are in a war. Can you imagine being in a war, getting ready to face the enemy, and being outfitted and armed to go into battle. I want you to just imagine this. Here you are being outfitted by your supply sergeant. He says you need this piece of armor and that piece and you decide I can do without one piece of that armor. That is so crazy, but that is exactly what the Church is doing when a believer rejects the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. The seventh piece of the armor of God listed in Ephesians 6 is praying always with all supplication in the Spirit and you cannot do that without the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

There is a great message I heard in 2018 by Pastor Jentezen Franklin that touches on this matter. It's called “Windtalkers” and it is well worth listening to. Click on the link below and be blessed for 20 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XULX9KgQKgA

(Jentezen Franklin, Windtalkers)

(To Be Continued)