And John bore witness saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him” (John 1:32). Yes, Jesus was the Son of God. There is absolutely no doubt about that. But even He waited on the Holy Ghost to descend on Him before beginning any ministry. Here’s a question we all need to ask ourselves, whether we are Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, or Orthodox Christians: If Jesus did not think that the coming of the Spirit upon Him and us was so necessary, why would He wait thirty years to do anything until the Holy Spirit actually came upon Him tangibly? If anyone could’ve depended on knowledge, experience, and wisdom to follow God, it was Jesus.
Certainly, He has a pretty amazing resume. I mean, after all, according to John 1, He is the creator of everything. The Bible says, A l l things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3 KJV). We know that Jesus is eternal. The Scripture John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God….” He is all consuming, and everything lives in Him. Colossians 1 says, “…in Him all things consist” (Col. 1:17). On top of that, He holds all things together. Hebrews tells us, “He holds all things together by the word of His power” (see Heb. 1:3).
He is a lion, and He is a lamb. He suffered; died; went into the earth; conquered death, hell, and the grave; and made an open show and embarrassing display of the devil. After He got through annihilating hell and every demon, on the third day He broke through the earth like a mighty warrior, cracked open the tomb, folded His grave clothes, and walked out as “the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). Jesus was the captain of the Lord’s hosts as He introduced Himself to Joshua (see Josh. 5:14). Jesus is perfectly portrayed in Exodus 12 as the lamb whose blood was smeared on the two doorposts and the lintel by the children of Israel (see Exod. 12:7,23). Jesus was there standing on the rock in front of Gideon (see Judg. 6:21). It was Jesus who came and appeared to Abraham with two angels, discussing His judgment that would come upon Sodom and Gomorrah (see Gen. 18:16-33). When the Lord covered Adam and Eve with animal skins, He was telling the world about His Son, Jesus—that one day He would come to shed His blood to pay for our sin (see Gen. 3:21). The ark is not so much about a boat and water; rather, it is a picture of Jesus, the Ark who keeps us safe from the judgments of the world. The window of the ark is not about a window or a window treatment (see Gen. 6:16); rather, it speaks of the side of Jesus being opened and the Holy Spirit being released upon His death as water and blood poured out.
The entire Bible is about Jesus. The Lord even said that in John chapter 5. He said, “The Scriptures speak of Me” (see John 5:39). So, my friend, I think it’s safe to say that Jesus has a pretty amazing resume and is qualified to be in the ministry, but even Jesus refused to do anything on His own without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit on His life. So how much more should we depend on the Spirit! Why don’t you ask the Lord now to overwhelm you with His precious presence? Because the impossible in your life becomes possible in a moment as you open up to the Holy Spirit.
Dependency
Even after Jesus conquered death victoriously and set us free for eternity, the Bible says in Acts 1 that “…He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen” (Acts 1:2). Do you see four incredible words in that verse? Through the Holy Spirit.
Let me attempt to give you a picture of what was taking place. Jesus has been raised from the dead as the first fruits, as a new breed—literally, a new race that the earth had never seen. There He was, with wounds in His hands, feet, and side, in a glorious resurrected state, sitting with His disciples. They decided to have a Bible study. Can you imagine having a Bible study with the glorified Son of God? But Jesus refused to have even a mere Bible study unless it was through the Holy Spirit. We have to understand that it is only through the Holy Spirit that we have any connection to the Lord and any ability to reveal Him to others.
So, if the perfect resurrected and victorious Christ depended on the Spirit, my question to you is simply this: How much more do we, as frail humans, need the Spirit in our lives? You see, the presence and power of the Spirit trumps every method and plan. And He will take every weakness and hole in our lives and fill it with His presence. That is why the Bible says, “Let the weak say, ‘I am strong’” (Joel 3:10). It is not a sin to be weak. In fact, our weakness, once handed to the Lord, becomes a mighty force to be reckoned with. He takes those who are not qualified and qualifies them with the anointing of the Spirit. And so, today He looks around and searches the world through and through, not for perfect people, but for people who know they need Him.
As I’ve indicated before, my favorite preacher in history is Kathryn Kuhlman. As I watch video recordings of her ministering, I’m blown away by the tenderness with which she ministers and the dependence that she has on the Holy Spirit. I can hear her words today: “Please don’t grieve Him. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. He is all I’ve got.” That’s dependency, and that’s why God chose to use her. God is drawn to people who do not believe that they are capable to do His work with their own ability, and nobody exemplified that quality more than Kathryn Kuhlman. She was convinced of her inability, and because of that, she yielded to God’s ability. One of my favorite quotes from Miss Kuhlman is this: “He doesn’t choose golden vessels. He doesn’t choose silver vessels. He chooses willing vessels.”
You know, I didn’t write this book to be an instruction manual. My prayer is that all who read it will literally meet the Holy Spirit. But why don’t you say this to the Lord right now:
Jesus, I’m hungry for You, I need Your presence. Holy Spirit, You are the presence of Jesus. I am not qualified to change the world in my own strength, but if You touch me, I can. I want to know You with everything in me. I want to meet You. I want to be Your friend.
He is beautiful. I’ve met so many who have shied away from the ways of the Holy Spirit because of fear. They become nervous because of things they’ve seen or heard regarding life in the Spirit. Some of the examples they cite are actually the work of the Holy Spirit, some are not, but it would be foolish to throw out all the Holy Spirit is simply because a few have mishandled Him.
The Holy Spirit is not owned by Pentecostals or Charismatics. In fact, He is a person whom we receive but do not own. How can a human own God? I want to say clearly that no denomination has exclusive rights to the person of the Holy Spirit. All Christians have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them. Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). This was the moment of their conversion. I’ve met Orthodox priests, Lutheran pastors, Baptist ministers, and Catholic priests who have all been walking in a flourishing, vibrant, and powerful relationship with the Holy Spirit.
In fact, I just preached in a Catholic conference in Toulon, France, that was led by a Catholic priest named Jean-Michel. The tent in which it was held was the former tent of John II. There were nuns and priests sitting in the crowd. A priest even got healed as I began to worship the Lord and minister to the sick. These Catholics were glowing with the Holy Spirit.
It might surprise you to know that before the Charismatic Renewal there were no Charismatics by name. The Charismatic movement did not start with Charismatics; it started with two hungry priests crying out to the Lord for a miracle. On top of that, the pope prayed for a second Pentecost in the Catholic Church, and the Holy Spirit was released. That outpouring that happened initially in Indiana with the Catholics spread to the Assemblies of God and filtered into all denominations and shook the world, and we are still riding that wave today. The point is this: The Holy Spirit is not intimidated by our boundaries, yet He will never force Himself on our lives. He does not look at me as a former Orthodox. He just knows me as Michael.
I encourage you get to know the Holy Spirit for yourself. Don’t let how others have treated Him cause you to reject Him. Regardless of what some have made the experience of walking with the Holy Spirit, use Jesus’ life alone as your example and you will find that the Holy Spirit is beautiful, tender, powerful, and sacred. Besides the countless miracles that Jesus performed, did you know that it was the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead? “And He was shown to be the Son of God when He was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:4 NLT). There would have been no resurrection without the Holy Spirit. So don’t worry about what you’ve seen or heard; just look at Him. Look at Jesus as your example. Look straight into His eyes of fire. Why are His eyes afire? Because the Holy Spirit is fire within Him and around Him. As you look to Jesus regarding the Holy Spirit, all of your fear will disappear. You can trust Him today.
I can remember telling others and myself that I will never act in certain ways even if the power of God touches me. My framework was broader than most, but now, after years of getting to know the Lord, I have found that I was incredibly narrow-minded. I was okay with people being saved, healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesying, speaking in tongues, and, of course, falling down. I grew up around people being slain in the Holy Spirit, and that began happening in all of my meetings; but I said to myself, “That is I as far as I want to go. I’m not going any further.” Well, God had many experiences up His sleeve just to prove to me that He is not the God of my box; He’s the God of the universe. He’s the infinite God who can do whatever He pleases, and if we give Him our lives, He may just shock us by how He touches us.
A friend of mine named Chris Klimis once said, “I learned when God filled me with His joy, the joy of the Spirit, that God was not interested first and foremost in how cool I looked when He touched me.” Just look at David. The Holy Spirit comes upon Him as he celebrates the entry of the ark into Jerusalem, and he begins to dance uncontrollably. And his wife, the daughter of Saul, who was used to the old way, the old regime, ridiculed him (see 2 Sam. 6:14-16). And this happens today as we give our lives over to Him. We may just be a little more undignified than we are comfortable with, and very likely more undignified than others are comfortable with.
I attended a conference held by Randy Clark and Bill Johnson in Orlando in 2010. I will never forget the conference. A friend of mine got me great seats. I sat there as Randy ministered. I had never seen Randy in person before. Of course I had heard about how the Lord used him in the Toronto Blessing and how He had used him around the world to bring healing to so many thousands of lives. I had great honor and respect for Randy.
As I sat in the meeting, I noticed how he talked very calmly. In fact, I was blown away by how relaxed he was when he preached—yet the people in the room were sitting on the edge of their seats. And Randy, with his southern accent, just talked about God’s will to heal, the different ways that the Lord brings healing, and the new levels of healing that he believed the Lord was bringing to the world in this season.
Bill Johnson was to my right. At that time, I had met Bill only a few times. Bill had always been a hero to me because of his desire to steward the presence of God. And so, sitting next to him was a real privilege and delight.
Halfway into Randy’s sermon, he took a step toward the crowd from the pulpit. I would say he walked about five feet from the pulpit toward the crowd. Well, since I was in the front row, I was only about two feet away from him when he began to walk toward the crowd. Immediately, my hands starting shaking, I thought to myself, “Uh, is something wrong with me?” Randy then took a step backward toward the pulpit, and my hand stopped shaking. He stepped forward again, and then both hands started shaking. It’s interesting and incredibly humorous to me that the Lord chose to manifest His power in my body in the form of shaking. The Bible says that Daniel shook to the degree that he heard his bones rattle (see Dan. 10:11). Well, my shaking wasn’t as intense as that, but it was uncontrollable.
I used to say, when I pastored in Southern California, that I would never be one of those people who shook their hands when they prayed. I met many people from prayer movements in America and overseas who would shake their hands when they prayed. To be honest, I thought they were all crazy and in the flesh. Now here I was shaking uncontrollably in my hands and Bill and other respected teachers and preachers were sitting next to me. I thought to myself, “How stupid do I look? These guys are so calm and here I am unable to stop my hands from violently shaking.” My only option was to try and hide my hands so I jammed them into my pockets. Well, now they were shaking inside my pants.
Finally, I said to myself, “What are You trying to show me, Lord?” Well, number one, the shaking told me much about the anointing on Randy and what he carried. It showed me that volume of preaching does not equate to power. It taught me that a genuine life given to God becomes a tangible glory-carrier to a generation. It also reminded me never to tell God how He can and cannot do things. So, just trust the Lord. Don’t worry about how He touches you. Don’t tell Him He can or cannot do His work in your life unless it’s by your standard. He is a faithful Shepherd.