Powerful Spirit

There is a very big power within our faith in Jesus Christ! Jesus told His disciples how faith as big as a mustard seed will be able to MOVE the MOUNTAIN; nothing will be impossible for them! A mustard seed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches Mat.13:32. This is not only about the size of the seed, but more about the quality of the seed! We may find another seed at the same size with a mustard seed, but that seed will not be able to grow big and tall! The true faith will only come by hearing the Word of God Rom.10:17, and this is the true quality of faith that we must have. Our faith must come from the Word of God only, NOT from other sources! The Word of God is powerful to grow bigger and greater than anything, even the Word of God able to move our mountain! The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible Heb.11:3. This month we will learn how we can have this powerful faith so that we will be able to move our mountains and accomplish the will of God in our life.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁰ So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. ²¹ However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:19-21 NKJV

WHAT IS YOUR MOUNTAINS?

The disciples found a big problem. They were not able to cast the demon out from a boy with epileptic symptom (the devil can give various manifestations and we need to be sensitive to know his deceitful action). When the disciples saw impossibilities, Jesus came and taught them that nothing will be impossible for them if they had faith as a mustard seed! When the disciples saw that problem was immovable, Jesus taught them not to give up with any mountain! So, what is ‘the mountain’ for us now? The mountain is something that looks so big, impossible to solve, immovable. Mountain is anything that hinder us to accomplish our destiny as the disciples of Christ! It is very important to first understand our destiny as the disciples so that we will not waste our times to move the wrong mountains. We are not supposed to move every single mountain that we may find in our life! Honestly, sometimes God let a problem come to our life to fulfil His will in our life. Jesus was definitely able to summon 12 legions of angels to defeat great multitude that come with swords and clubs at the Gethsemane, but He did NOT do that. Jesus did not move that big problems, Jesus did not move that mountains. He said: “How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus Mat.26:52-54?” Our destiny is to fulfil the will of God in our life, to believe in Jesus and then grow to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Eph.4:13. Our mountain could be problems, weaknesses, sicknesses, limitations, internal or external attacks, whatsoever that hinder us to accomplish our destiny as the disciples of Christ. In the days of Moses, the destiny of God’s people was to conquer the Promised Land. Anything that hindered them to get into the Promised Land were reckoned as the mountains that must be moved! In the days of Nehemiah, the destiny of God’s people was to rebuild Jerusalem, the city of God, to restore the people of God in their place, and to unite all God’s people. Anything that hindered them to do the restoration were reckoned as the mountains that must be moved! In the days of Peter and John, the destiny of God’s people is to build the early church, to continue the ministry of Jesus, to fulfil the Great Commission, and to forward the Gospel to all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Anything that hindered them to build the early church were reckoned as the mountains that must be moved! Then how about us? Now we are called to build the church in this last days, waiting upon the latter rain, we must survive and keep the Word of God alive in the middle of all challenges in this modern day. So, anything that hindered us to build the church must be reckoned as the mountains that must be moved! We are not called to be richest man in this world, we are not called to be the most famous people in our country, we are not called to have pursue the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, nor the pride of life. All of them are not belong to God, they are of the world, and the world is passing away and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abided forever 1Jn.2:15-17.

POWERFUL SPIRIT

What do we must have to move our mountains? Back to the days of Moses, we found two gentlemen, Joshua and Caleb, who gave us a very strong example how to overcome and move their mountains. In their days, they found a big problem to accomplish their calling to conquer the Promised Land. The enemy were just to strong and to big for them. It was seemed impossible for them to fulfil their destiny to go to the Promised Land. Together with another 10 spies, Joshua and Caleb saw how beautiful was the land that God promised to them. But only Joshua and Caleb then were able to move their first mountains – which is fear – while the other 10 was stuck with their mountains and brought back the evil news that discourage the rest of Israelites in the camp site. WHY there is a mountain in our way? Why there are so many big and strong nations that lived in the Promised Land? God always allowed the mountains to be there for a reason! Truly it is quite complicated process for us to understand why there is a mountain, but we must believe that it is definitely worth for us! God want to train His people to know the war of God, so they know how to war and moreover how to win, so that His people may have an ultimate and unforgettable experience with God! Never be dismayed with that mountains because God is going to work something precious within us Rom.8:28. So, what was there in Joshua and Caleb so that they were able to have different attitude than the other 10 spies?

But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. Numbers 14:24 NKJV

And the Lord said to Moses: “Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; Numbers 27:18 NKJV

Both Joshua and Caleb had the Spirit of God within them! We may find in so many places in our Bible how the man of God always distinguish themselves than the others only because of the powerful spirit within them, which is the Holy Spirit! Pharaoh found that Joseph was someone in whom is the Spirit of God Gen.41:38. Daniel also distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him Dan.6:3. All these verses give a clear evidence for us that we must have a powerful spirit within us, which is the Holy Spirit!

Bible explained how human is consist of spirit, soul, and body 1Thes.5:23 (‘spirit’ is mentioned first because truly that is the real identity about who we are). The disciples of Christ must invite Holy Spirit to live within them so that they will be known as a person who have the Spirit of God within them! We are supposed to be the temple of the Holy Spirit 1Cor.6:19. We must give a good space also authority of our life to the Holy Spirit because He wants to dwell in us! Jesus said: “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you Jn.14:16-17.” Holy Spirit is given to believers so that we will be able to always have the communion of the Holy Spirit with us 2Cor.13:14. Not all spies that was sent by Moses had the Spirit of God within them unless Joshua and Caleb! So, how can we have that powerful spirit within us?

1: Jesus gave instruction to His disciples to wait and stay in the city of Jerusalem until they have been clothed with POWER from on high Luk.24:49. None of the disciples had any idea for how long they need to wait, they just obey that instructions and they start to develop the attitude of quietness in the presence of God! The waiting time was absolutely worth to have because at the 10^th days of that waiting and quiet time they were filled with the Holy Spirit, clothed with power from on high! The Holy Spirit is God and we MUST NOT abuse the Holy Spirit to do what we want to do. Instead, we must submit ourselves and obey what He wants us to do. The powerful Holy Spirit will fill those who love to wait and pray. God said: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength Is.30:15.” This is what God wants us to do! But as human being, we tend to do something quicker, rather than waiting in quietness people may choose to flee on horses, ride on swift horses, but God said that those who pursue them shall be swift and destroy them who did not want to wait in quietness Is.30:16-17. We must exercise ourselves to be discipline with our quiet time because God is looking for attitude of quietness within us (devotional time: to pray and meditate in the Word of God, worship and praise God). Do we have a good quality of quiet time in every single day? We can not buy the relationship with the Holy Spirit Ac.8:18-20, we must build it upon our commitment to be faithful to come to His presence every single day. Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint Is.40:31.

2: For those who are looking for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Proverbs said: “Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you Pr.1:23.” This one may sound not quite comfortable for us; indeed, this is the desire of Holy Spirit: REBUKE US! When Holy Spirit has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment Jn.16:8. If we want to open our heart, our eyes, our ears to His rebuke, God will pour out Holy Spirit on us so that we will have powerful spirit within us, an excellence spirit, the Spirit of God! More we turn at His rebuke, then more powerful He may work within us, more powerful He may speak to us, more powerful He may open our eyes, more powerful He may lead our hand and teach us to move the mountains! Otherwise, if someone refused when He called, if someone disregard Him when He had stretched out His hand, then He also will laugh at their calamity, He will mock them when terror comes like a storm. But whoever listens to Him will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil Pr.1:24-33. We will be able to move our mountains because His mighty power work mightily for us.

Joshua and Caleb had that powerful spirit so that they feel secure even when the other 10 spies saw the enemies as the biggest terror for them. Joshua and Caleb dwell safely in the protection and comfort of the Mighty God, they got what God had promised to them, they removed the mountains and accomplished what God had prepared for them.

CONCLUSION & CHALLENGE

What it’s all about?

The disciples of Christ must move forward to fulfil their calling without any fear to any mountains in front of them. Do not give up since God gave us a powerful faith to move the mountains. We must open our heart for the powerful spirit just like Joshua and Caleb. Let’s develop and nurture the attitude of quietness in the presence of God so that we may build a strong yet powerful relationship with God. Let’s open our ear to His rebuke because He wants to lead us into all righteousness!

Insights and impressions:

The 10 spies saw the giant enemy with their own eyes, the eyes of their head. But Joshua and Caleb saw the same giant enemy through the perspective of the mighty spirit within them! With the power of quiet spirit within him, Caleb said: “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it Num.13:30.” Joshua and Caleb said: “Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them Num.14:9.” The presence of the Holy Spirit will definitely bring a different perspective, higher and stronger vision, even excellence faith to move our mountains!

Next steps:

Let’s start to build the attitude of quietness because there we will find quietness, confidence, and strength. Your quiet time with God will never be a wasted time because God will work something precious yet eternal within you. Let’s open our ear to listen carefully to His rebuke. Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, because He is going to pour out the Mighty Spirit within us. AMEN.

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