Sword of the Spirit

The Full Blessing of Pentecost - The One Thing Needful By Andrew Murray  How it is to be taught (Excerpts - continued 3) "And it came to pass that Paul came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" ACTS xix. 1-2. Believers must receive help to appropriate this blessing in faith. In the Acts of the Apostles we read often about laying on of hands and prayer. Even a man like Paul whose conversion was due to the direct interposition of the Lord, and was therefore so effectual had to receive the Spirit through laying on of hands and prayer on the part of Ananias. This implies that there must be amongst ministers of the gospel and believers generally a power of the Spirit which makes them the channel of faith and courage to others. Those who are weak must be helped to appropriate the blessing for themselves. But those who have and bring this blessing, as well as those who desire to have it, must realise and a

The Full Blessing of Pentecost - The One Thing Needful By Andrew Murray  How it is to be taught (Excerpts - continued 2) "And it came to pass that Paul came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" ACTS xix. 1-2. It is the great work of the gospel ministry to lead believers to the Holy Spirit. Was it not the great aim of the Lord Jesus, after He had educated and trained His disciples for three years by His intercourse with them, to lead them up to the point of waiting for the promise of the Father and receiving the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven? Was not this the chief object of Peter on the day of Pentecost, when, after summoning those who were pricked in their hearts to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, he assured them that they should then receive the Holy Spirit? Was it not this also that Paul aimed at when in his Epistles he asked his fellow-Christians if they did not know that

The right dates in 2024 to commemorate The Last Supper, Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection Day: The Passover meal (Seder) is on Nissan 14 of the Jewish calendar. Nissan 14 in 2024 is April 22. Jesus' Last Supper was on the day before the Passover Seder ~ Monday, April 22, 2024 / Nissan 14, 5784 - Jewish Calendar ~ The Jewish day begins and ends at sundown.  Thus, all holidays begin at sundown on the first day and end at nightfall on the last day ~ Jesus was Crucified on the Day of Preparation for the Passover. John states clearly that the Last Supper, which took place Thursday evening, took place "before the feast of the passover" (13:1), and says that Jesus' trials and crucifixion took place on "the preparation of the passover" meaning the day before the holiday began Friday at sundown. The evidence points to Friday 3 April AD 33 as the date of the Crucifixion.  This was Nissan 14 in the official Jewish calendar, thus Christ died at precisely the time

Dare to Believe God! Then Command! By Smith Wigglesworth Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. —John 14:12–14 "He who believes." What a word! God’s Word changes us, and we enter into fellowship and communion. We enter into assurance and Godlikeness, for we see the truth and believe. Faith is an effective power; God opens the understanding and reveals Himself. “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace” (Rom. 4:16). Grace is God’s blessing coming down to you. You open the door to God as an act of faith, and God does all you want. Jesus drew the hearts of the people to Himself. They came to Him with all their needs, and He relieved them all. He talked to men, healed the sick, relieved the oppressed, and

The Full Blessing of Pentecost - The One Thing Needful By Andrew Murray  How it is to be taught (Excerpts - continued 1) "And it came to pass that Paul came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" ACTS xix. 1-2. There are disciples of Christ who know little or nothing of this conscious indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is of the utmost importance to understand and hold fast this statement. The more fully we come under the conviction of its truth, the better shall we understand the condition of the Church in our times and be at last enabled to discover where we ourselves really stand. The condition I refer to becomes very plain to us when we consider what took place at Samaria. Philip the evangelist had preached there; many had been led to believe in Jesus and were baptized into His name; and there was great joy in that city. When the apostles heard this news, they sent down Peter and John, who, when th

The Full Blessing of Pentecost - The One Thing Needful By Andrew Murray  How it is to be taught (Excerpts) "And it came to pass that Paul came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" ACTS xix. 1-2. There is a twofold Christian life. The one is that in which we experience something of the operations of the Holy Spirit, just as many did under the old covenant, but do not yet receive Him as the Pentecostal Spirit, as the personal indwelling Guest, concerning whom we know that He has come to abide permanently in the heart. On the other hand, there is a more abundant life, in which the indwelling just referred to is known and the full joy and power of redemption are facts of personal experience. It will be only when Christians come to understand fully the distinction betwixt these two conditions, and discern that the second of these is in very deed the will of God concerning them, and therefore a possible ex

The Full Blessing of Pentecost - The One Thing Needful By Andrew Murray  Introduction (Excerpts) It is to the effect that the one thing needful for the Church, and the thing which, above all others, men ought everywhere to seek for with one accord and with their whole heart, is to be filled with the Spirit of God. 1. It is the will of God that every one of His children should live entirely and unceasingly under the control of the Holy Spirit. 2. Without being filled with the Spirit, it is utterly impossible that an individual Christian or a church can ever live or work as God desires, 3. Everywhere and in everything we see the proofs, in the life and experience of Christians, that this blessing is but little enjoyed in the Church, and, alas! is but little sought for. 4. This blessing is prepared for us and God waits to bestow it. Our faith may expect it with the greatest confidence. 5. The great hindrance in the way is that the self-life, and the world, which it uses for its own ser

The Full Blessing of Pentecost - The One Thing Needful By Andrew Murray Preface (Excerpts) In all our study of the work of the blessed Spirit, and in all our pursuit of a life in His fulness, we shall ever find the sum of Christ's teaching in those wonderful words: "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." It is as we are convicted of the defectiveness of our faith in Christ, and what He has promised to do in saving and keeping us from sin, and as we understand that believing in Him means a yielding up of the whole heart and life and will, to let Him rule and live within us, that we can confidently count upon receiving all that we need of the Holy Spirit's power and presence. It is as Christ becomes to us all that God has made Him to be, that the Holy Spirit can flow from Him and do His blessed work of leading us back to know Him better and to believe in Him more completely. It is as we yield our hearts