Encourage & Edify Each Other in The Holy Spirit

 

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Therefore encourage and build one another up,

just as you are already doing.

    Ephesians 4:16 (AMP Bible)

 From Him the whole body [the church, in all its various parts], joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supplies, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up in [unselfish] love. 

    What causes the church, the body of Christ, to work properly? The Love of God must be present in each one of us. And this is only possible when each one of us has God's Holy Spirit thriving within our hearts and reflecting the Love of God--Jesus Christ--in our lives. 

    When we listen to The Spirit, we learn what is True and what is evil; what is Righteous and Holy, and what is unrighteous and unholy. We begin to discern what it is that God is revealing to us, when we read and study our Bibles every day. We learn to recognize God's Voice--The Holy Spirit of God--and we are filled with gratitude that God has given His Spirit to us. 

    When Isaiah speaks of Jesus in Isaiah 11, he declares six aspects of The Holy Spirit of God that will rest on The Branch (Jesus Christ): The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding; The Spirit of Counsel and Strength; The Spirit of Knowledge and Fear of The Lord. 

    Wisdom imparts wisdom to us. Knowledge of The Holy Word of God comes from Him. We can memorize chapter and verse, but it is The Spirit of God that writes The Word of God on our hearts. 

    Understanding The Word of God is given us when we receive The Holy Spirit and allow Him to reveal to us what God wants us to know. Moment by moment, day to day; gradually, for we are not able in and of ourselves to know and understand 'all that God has prepared for us' [1 Corinthians 2:9]. 

    As our Counsel, He is also our Adviser and Advocate. "Walk The Way of Holiness" [Isaiah 35:8]; "Speak The Word that I give you in season" [Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; Philippians 1:14; 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Peter 3:15]. It is He Who defends us when we are come against in our trials. And when we listen to Him, as one who listens to his lawyer (defender/counsel), we will always come out ahead, even if we have to suffer first for the sake of the gospel we proclaim. 

    He is our Spirit of Strength. The joy we have in our Savior and His salvation is only possible when we have The Spirit of God in us, calling us to Rejoice! in The Lord. Therefore, we can truly say, "The JOY of The LORD is My Strength!", just as Nehemiah declared to the Israelites after Ezra had finished reading The Law to them. A reading which took from daybreak until midday. And though The Word of God caused broken hearts and weeping, the day was holy to The Lord: celebration was called for. 

    The Spirit of Strength empowers the bearer to preach the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ to people who need to hear it. We do not preach to the stars, nor to forests and babbling brooks. Those things have no need of a Savior. We speak The Name of Jesus in The Love of God, with compassion, integrity and honor. 

    We speak Jesus with boldness, humility, and perseverance. We speak Grace of God with patience and faith, believing that God will have His Way in each soul with whom we share our faith in Christ and why we believe what we believe. 

    The Spirit of Knowledge draws us to The Word and imparts knowledge beyond our ken, then breaks it down and makes it possible for us to know and understand what our God wants us to know. Do you know that you know that you know that Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior? Beyond a shadow of a doubt? Are you born again through the blood of The Lamb into the family of God? 

    The Spirit of The Fear of The Lord trains the body of Christ to have a reverent attitude towards its Creator: our heavenly Father: GOD--The I AM THAT I AM. 

    When we read Psalm 19:9, we see that The Fear of The Lord is Pure. In Psalm 111:10 The Fear of The Lord is The Beginning of Wisdom. In Proverbs 1:7 The Fear of The Lord is The Beginning of Knowledge. In 2 Chronicles 17:10 The Fear of The Lord brings terror to Israel's enemies. In Proverbs 10:27 The Fear of The Lord prolongs life. 

    In Psalm 25:12 The one who fears The Lord is teachable. In Psalm 128:1 The one who fears The Lord and walks in His Ways is blessed. In Psalm 34:11 The Fear of The Lord can be taught to those who delight in life. 

    This is how we edify--build up--one another. This Spirit of God Who teaches us in The Ways of The Lord God speaks to our hearts and joins us together as the body of Christ. He is our Wisdom, our Teacher, our Friend. And He is preparing us, at the beginning of our walk, all through our walk, and into the end of our walk with Christ, for a greater glory than we could every imagine. 

    ENCOUNTER - Here Be Lions

Arming The Spiritual Warrior -- Pray In The Spirit

 

Ephesians 6:18

Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.

IN: indicates locality, position, realm of; the condition in which something operates from the inside/within; within the limits of, near, in the proximity of

Pray In The Spirit

Romans 8:26

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

So, to pray in the Spirit, is to be in the realm of the Holy Spirit. We can't be there if we are not fully equipped to be there. Our prayers will not reach God, nor will they ever make it out of the heavenly realm in which battles are fought on our behalf when we pray for ourselves and on behalf of other people when we pray for them. 

We must get our act together and be the Spiritual Warfare people God has called us to be. 

All the preceding verses in this passage of Scripture have told us how to do so. 

Praying Always 

Everywhere and at all times.

Where we pray is not necessarily in four walls and a roof. Not all places of prayer are in a building.

House of Prayer

Isaiah 56:7

I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.

Matthew 21:13

And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

In Everything Pray

Philippians 4:6

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 

Petitions are when we beg and plead with God to not only hear our prayers but respond to us and move on our behalf. When was the last time we begged God for anything? 

 

Perseverance In Prayer

This word Perseverance (Strong's #4342) is used only one time in the Bible and it is used here to describe the type of prayer we are to interact with God in. It means 'steadfast' which means 'to consistently show strength which prevails in spite of difficulties' and 'to endure: to remain firm in a fixed position'. How does that apply to our prayer life as a Spiritual Warrior?

We are to remain in a fixed state of prayer in the Spirit at all times. This is not as difficult to do as many may think. When we belong to Jesus Christ and He lives in us, it is through the Spirit that we are able to have that relationship. Therefore, it is through the Spirit that we must continue to seek God's face, seek out the Truth of God's Word and it is through the Spirit that we are refreshed again and again when we pray in the Spirit. 

Not all prayers are spoken aloud. Many are silent prayers as we go throughout our day. Not all prayers spoken by the Spiritual Warrior are spoken in a known language. The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings, a heaviness that cannot be uttered, an anguish that comes from the depths of the heart and reaches the throne of God. 

For All Saints

(cf Strong's #40 NT)

Saints are holy. But what does holy mean for us? To be different from the world. To take on the likeness of the nature of the Lord. To be holy is to be set apart from. Since we are different from the world, we are set apart from the way the world works. 

Who Are The Saints?

1 Peter 2:9

 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people (of the world), but are now the people of God (not of the world): which had not obtained mercy (lived under the curse), but now have obtained mercy (live under grace).  

Saints Have Obtained Mercy From God

Hosea 2:23

And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

Saints are the set apart by God for God, for God's purposes, God's will, God's plan. Saints belong to God.

Daniel 7:18

But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. 

The saints are the holy ones of God, simply put. And we are to pray for them, we are to pray for each other at all times in every circumstance in a fixed position with perseverance. What fixed position do we pray in? A humble one. A meek one. With the understanding that we have a purpose in life and that purpose is to seek God's kingdom according to God's will IN PRAYER, BY PRAYER.