Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

The Bible says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant” (I Corinthians 12:1). Yet, we live in a day when most Christians, even those who claim to be mature, are ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. Unfortunately, this ignorance is a choice in the lukewarm church. They purposely chose to ignore the Spiritual gifts because of the many abuses and the inclination for pride among those who claim to use them. So, instead of picking out the Spiritual gifts that have less controversy they throw out the whole lot. To do so not only is a rebuke against the Holy Spirit, which grieves Him, but it also stunts the growth of God’s children not allowing them to experience the full measure of their transformation in Christ. Denying or embracing the gift of tongues, which has the most controversy, should not be an excuse for ignoring the other precious and powerful gifts of the Holy Spirit. Quite frankly, the lukewarm church would have no need of their so-called professional counselors if they unleashed the power of the Holy Spirit working through all of God’s people in their respective churches. They have no need for slick advertising and their grandiose promises of fun, friends, and fellowship if they taught their people how to discover their own unique Spiritual gifts.

To say that discovering your unique Spiritual gifts and using them is the second step to transformation clearly indicates just how quickly this needs to be done in the process. I am convinced through study and the indwelling Spirit that He comes into the life of the new believer immediately. The process begins on day one. No waiting involved. Why is this so important? It is because the Holy Spirit is our Teacher, He is our Counselor, and He is our Guide. Nothing happens without Him and His work in us. So, it is a tragedy that the lukewarm church puts this off and rarely discuss it in the beginning. Unfortunately, the stress is put on the new converts own decision instead of putting the stress where it really belongs, which is on God and the unction of the Spirit extending the call, convicting the heart, and drawing them into the Kingdom. He is already there before they walk the proverbial aisle. So, they need to know about the work of the Holy Spirit and also the gifts which He imparts to the new believer in Christ. For some reason, the lukewarm church no longer trust God to teach His disciples through the indwelling Spirit but wants to hold Him at bay while they fill the new converts with all the doctrines of man and the doctrines of the established church. How tragic.

Anyone doing a quick survey of the Spiritual gifts will see immediately that they are meant for building up the body of Christ, the Church. Not only do they build up others in the church they also greatly benefit those using their Spiritual gifts to the glory of God. There is no greater joy and satisfaction than having God work through us as He touches others. The more we help others with our own unique Spiritual gifts, the more we grow up in Christ, the more we experience transformation in Christ. We see the great benefit of teaching new converts how to discover their own unique gifts right at the beginning of their pilgrimage. Let me stress right here that these gifts are not the same as our own natural talents. Unfortunately, again we see the lukewarm church fanning the flames of one’s natural talents, while ignoring their most valuable gifts from the Spirit. There is definitely a place for natural talent, but there is a greater need for the Spiritual gifts to be used in God’s Holy Church. That is, among His beloved children for the edification, encouragement, admonishment, discernment, teaching, and helps. Why do we fear the greater gifts of prophecy, wisdom, healing, and miracles? Why do we limit what God can do through His beloved children? Thank God that He gave us the greatest gift of love that binds them all together in perfect harmony without pride and the self-seeking spirit.

After many years I have witnessed many wonderful and powerful gifts come and go as God had a need to use them in and through me. Let me say in all humility that these gifts were not by my own power, or by my own righteousness. Often, they came unexpectedly through faith, which not only helped others but was a great joyous benefit to me. Not only did they increase my own faith but helped me to grow closer and stronger in the Lord. They may never happen again and if they do then I pray that God receives all the glory. Over the years I have had the great honor and privilege of seeing people healed through the laying on of hands and prayer, seeing the devil flee from another individual as I stood my ground; seeing food miraculously multiplied when times were tough; and, receiving a prophecy through dreams and a vision. However, the greatest of these gifts were the divine appointments of seeing hardened individuals weep and rejoice in repentance; seeing a brother delivered from a horrible trespass through admonishment at the proper time; seeing people restored through a word of encouragement; building others up when they were broken and ready to give up; and, the great joy from using my gifts of teaching, writing, and preaching. Let me stress again, although I am sure that many others were helped, I feel the greatest benefit was to my own spiritual growth and transformation by not holding back but allowing God to work through me.

So, why does the lukewarm church keep the brethren from experiencing this great joy and transformation in their own lives? Why do they pay a staff to do all the work of the ministry while the rest sit idly by in their pews becoming stagnant in their spiritual growth? This is tragic. Let me encourage every group that calls themselves a church to help their people grow by taking this second step to transformation. First, they need to learn about all the Spiritual gifts recorded in the Bible. Help them to discover what their divine purpose is and how they were used in the New Testament times. Then lead them to pray about each gift and see how the Holy Spirit leads. As He leads then try out the gift and be ready to use if He leads. As I have already stated some of these gifts come and go as God has need for the gift. So, we must always be ready. Trust me, He will not ask you to use the gift without success. I can remember each time the Holy Spirit called upon me to use my Spiritual gift; you truly feel the unction of the Holy Spirit. You may even feel a bit trembling, but you learn to step out in faith. Let’s be clear, these gifts will never hurt another individual or the cause of Christ. They are meant for the opposite, for building up the body of Christ, His Church.

Finally, the Bible says, “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him” (I Corinthians 12:18). Let me be very clear, that God chose you from the beginning. He is the one who brought conviction upon your heart and called you into His Kingdom and has placed you in a specific body of believers, the local church. Furthermore, it is God who has chosen the Spiritual gifts for you. We did not do the choosing, nor are we allowed to choose our own gift. I cannot stress how important this is, for many have gone astray thinking that they have one of the greater gifts when God never gave it to them. This is the problem we see today in the lukewarm church, where everyone sees themselves as a prophet, healer, or has a word of wisdom. As the learned Apostle said can we all be the hand? Of course not! We need every gift to function properly as the true Church of God. So, every member must be doing something in the local church. They must be using their unique gift that God has called them to use. There is no wonder that the lukewarm church is so weak and worldly. Let me please encourage everyone reading or listening to this article in one of our Tribulation Radio Shows to discover you own unique Spiritual gifts and use them to the glory of God. The benefits are amazing for you will grow and will be transformed as you take your second step. Amen

Rev. Blair has recorded this Blog Article as a Tribulation Radio Show in HD Video with local vocalists, prayers, and much more to the glory of God. Please Click Here

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Walking in Truth, Our First Step to Transformation (Video)

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Walking in Truth, Our First Step to Transformation

September 20, 2018 Rev. Daniel Blair Leave a comment

Are you in a church that’s helping you to be transformed? Another way of saying it, are they helping you to put off the old life and put on the new life in Christ? I hope so. If not, then let me encourage you to stay where you are and join the ranks of the faithful remnant by learning how to really walk in truth to experience transformation in Christ. To do so will not only help you, but it will start a movement within your church to help others. Most of us have heard the old saying tossed about for years but few these days really understand its meaning. The saying is, “The whole Gospel truth.” As a believer, I venture to say that you know your church doctrine and may even have large portions of your Bible memorized, but you may not know if you are being transformed. Are you truly experiencing the new life in Christ? I hope to remedy that by showing you how to walk, in truth, which is our first step to transformation.

Once you have taken the first step no one will be able to stop your growth and that includes Satan. Let me be very clear. We are not preaching a different gospel. There is only one Gospel, the one written down so clearly in the New Testament. We believe the old gospel that Christ died on the Cross and then rose again so that through faith we could have a new life in Christ. So, if it’s still there, why is it no longer believed even though it’s still being preached and taught in your Bible classes? The short answer was covered in my last week’s article about the Lukewarm church, but simplistically stated again: “we must believe, really believe, the truth that God wants to give us life, to transform us.” He wants to make us into a new creation. As a new creation, you will not have one of the four static personalities, but you will have a dynamic personality that’s being changed into the likeness of Christ. We cannot go any further if you don’t believe this truth. To build on any other foundation will keep you in Christian infancy or as the Bible refers to as a carnal Christian unable to experience transformation.

To really believe this truth will open a whole new set of possibilities that will bring to light obscure passages of Scripture that may have been read before but not fully understood. The first one we will look at is in the letter to the Romans. The Bible says, “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:22). The first thing we see here is a process, we are now “being” made free. We are no longer under the control of Satan or the old sin nature. The Apostle says it again in another letter, where he says, put off the old life and put on the new life in Christ. So, we must get the process started by believing that it’s not only possible, but it will become a reality. Trust me, I will say it one more time. If you don’t believe this you will not be transformed no matter how many sermons listen to, no matter how many Bible studies you attend and no matter how many Scripture verses you memorize. We must truly believe in the transformation. We must believe that God wants to make you into a beautiful new creation like you were originally meant to be.

The next thing we need to do is to expect the transformation. We must expect it to take place in our life. This is much more than wishful thinking, walking the aisle, and accepting Jesus. It is expecting the transformation to take place in our lives. To expect God to re-create a brand-new life in us to the glory of God. Most walking the aisle and accepting Jesus, which by the way isn’t in the Bible, don’t really expect to be changed. Most are just looking for acceptance, fellowship and their free ticket to heaven. They may even look for miracles, visions, and healing, but that’s it. That’s all that most people expect. And if that’s all you expect that’s all you will get. We must expect the transformation to take place in our lives. If you want to be transformed and you really want to experience the new life in Christ, then read further.

At this point, we must realize that we cannot possibly do this on our own. You may have already tried. We don’t need to, because God gives us two things to cause the transformation to happen. Let’s look at the first. God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit that puts a seal on us; we now belong to God. Then the Spirit comes to dwell with us 24/7 for the rest of our lives. His job is threefold. He brings to your mind what other believers have taught you, the words of the Bible, and His still small voice. This voice of conviction tells you the things you need to put off, repent of, no longer do and very importantly the things you need to put on or put in their place. For example, if you learn that you can no longer lie then that is the thing to put off; then what do we put in the place of it? We speak truthfully to our neighbor (See Ephesians 4:22ff). As you learn this one lesson along with many others quickly to follow you will begin to grow in your new life. The Bible refers to this as growing from one degree of glory to another. This is the Spirit’s job. He is our Counselor. Our job is to listen and obey.

The second thing God gives us to help in our transformation is other believers in the Church. Now here is the exciting thing about transformation. God through the Holy Spirit will work as fast as you are willing. It does not need to take years while you sit in the church waiting for the next weekly sermon. No, it happens every day by spending quality time with other maturing brothers and sisters in the Lord. Your spiritual growth or transformation must, I repeat, must happen every day. The established church may only come together once a week, but God’s holy children of the faithful remnant must come together daily. In the old days we used to call this discipleship where a mature believer who is being transformed meets with a new believer in Christ, desiring transformation. Watch this! Everyone must be involved. You are either the mature believer being transformed, or you are the newer believer who is struggling with putting off the old life and putting on the new life in Christ. This is not a counseling center, it is the Church of God filled with His beloved children helping one another in their growth.

So, the question we must ask ourselves is, “are we truly helping others to grow up in Christ.” Be careful how you answer that question. This is not just about sharing your opinion for that particular day. It is not just a casual, fun fellowship. It is walking with the other person. Observing their behavior, the things they say, and the things they believe about their relationship with Christ. It always begins with listening. The Bible says, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19). We must really listen without thinking of something else, then pause while you speak quietly to the Spirit so that He alone can lead you on what to say to your brother or sister, to really help them in their transformation. This is the job of the Church. We are the Church. This is our responsibility. Not just the responsibility of the Pastor, the teachers, and not the job of so-called professional counselors. It is our job to help others to grow in their faith, to become all that God has called them to be in their new life. The Bible says, “And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another” (Romans 15:14). God has given all His children the ability to help one another grow in their new life. So, let’s help one another walk in truth and take their first step to transformation.

Rev. Blair has recorded this Blog Article as a Tribulation Radio Show in HD Video with local vocalists, prayers, and much more to the glory of God. Please Click Here