Understanding the Witness of the Spirit

By Wayne Back

It is the normal Christian experience to be led by the Holy Spirit. This book will help you develop confidence from the Scriptures to follow the leadings that the Holy Spirit is giving you.It covers key issues like developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit, clearing your internal pathways, recognising spiritual sensations and knowing when to use the various gifts of the Spirit. The chapter titles are:-

The Holy Spirit is a Person
The Spirit of Man
Conscience: A Pathway from Spirit to Soul
Desire - Pathway from Spirit to spirit
Understanding the Witness
Putting the Witness in Perspective
Renewing the Soul
Spiritual Sensations
The Ways of God
The Spirit of Error
The Gifts of the Spirit
The Power Gifts
The Knowledge Gifts
The Vocal Gifts

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wayne Back
• Release date: Sep 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476123301

Wayne Back

Wayne Back is the founder and Managing Director of Management Training Australia (www.mtaustralia.com). He holds an honours degree in Physics, a Diploma of Ministry and a Masters in Management. Wayne lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Book preview

Understanding the witness of the Spirit

How to be led by the Holy Spirit

By Wayne Back

Copyright 2012 Wayne Back

Smashwords Edition

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Table of Contents

The details

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1 - The Holy Spirit is a Person

Chapter 2 - The Spirit of Man

Chapter 3 - Conscience: A Pathway from Spirit to Soul

Chapter 4 - Desire - Pathway from Spirit to spirit

Chapter 5 - Understanding the Witness

Chapter 6 - Putting the Witness in Perspective

Chapter 7 - Renewing the Soul

Chapter 8 - Spiritual Sensations

Chapter 9 - The Ways of God

Chapter 10 - The Spirit of Error

Chapter 11 - The Gifts of the Spirit

Chapter 12 - The Power Gifts

Chapter 13 - The Knowledge Gifts

Chapter 14 - The Vocal Gifts

Epilogue

About the author

The details

All rights reserved. Except for the fair dealing exceptions of the Copyright Act, e.g. for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved

Cover Design by Peter Rietdyk

All inquiries about this book should be made to [e-mail]

Information about keynote speaking, business workshops and other resources from Wayne Back, go to www.wayneback.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my father, Ronald Angelo Back. He is one of those men who would do anything for anyone. His generosity in helping people and giving to people is an inspiration to me. Even though we are separated by the breadth of a continent, his example stays with me. I grow closer to him all the time.

He has often told me that You can do whatever you set your mind to. I can remember those words spoken to me as a teenager and also up to twenty years later. Those words have helped me to believe that all things are possible to those who believe. My father has also seen the transformation that has happened to my life as a result of being a Christian that has enabled me to be able to do what I set my mind to.

As a yet to be Christian person, he was most encouraging when I told him I was contemplating leaving my career in science to pursue the rather unsure world of church leadership. Even though he probably did not understand, he trusted that my judgement would be sound.

My father was the first person to make a decision for Jesus at the first church we planted. He was visiting us, and came along to our third service with just a few people there. He was powerfully touched by the Holy Spirit who sealed what had been a long process of salvation at that service. Since then, Dad has really never looked back, showing great faith and service to the Lord. Thanks dad, you are a real champion.

Acknowledgements

There have been so many positive influences on my life that have helped me to be able to write this book. I have a wonderful wife who is totally behind everything I do. It is never an issue with her if church stuff or travelling or writing takes my time. She is my greatest encouragement and helps me to see the positives in what we are doing when things do not seem to me to be all that positive.

I would like to thank those who tried to help me make my manuscript easy on the eye and the brain. Written expression has never been a strong suit of mine and my grammar is poor. If certain passages remain inelegant, put no blame on the following people, for they have helped me to see a lot of changes that have needed to happen: Mark Greenaway, Brendan Hayes, Peter Klomp, Peter McHugh and Hilary Back. Thanks heaps guys. I promise that I will continue to learn and improve.

I would also like to thank those Christian leaders who have had a positive effect on my life, seen the best in me and given me opportunities to learn and develop. To Paul Whittaker, you showed me the God who could make something out of nothing. To Peter McHugh, you showed me the God who loves me despite myself. To Kevin Wilcock, you showed me the God who increases your capacity. To Phil Pringle, even though you probably can’t recall, you gave a prophecy at a pastors conference many years ago that someone (I believe it was me) who was there should be writing and not to let a lack of prominence stop them doing that.

I have often thought of that prophecy over the last six months and it has given me hope that a person who is called to write doesn’t have to first build a huge church. Without trying to be over spiritual, I would like to thank the Lord Jesus, who has given me the spiritual experiences that caused me to feel confident to write a book like this.

Preface

The operations of the Holy Spirit have always fascinated me. I was an atheist, a thinker, a cynic. I am still a little cynical about some things. God responded to my atheistic, cynical, unbelieving prayer in my bedroom one night and I was powerfully saved and filled with the Spirit. Even though I was powerfully touched in the inner person, my mind took some time to catch up. I spent some time searching the Scriptures in many areas, trying to find out what had happened to me.

This book is for those who are after a sound scriptural and somewhat rational explanation of the leadings of the Spirit. Sometimes as we pick up Christian books, to see if they are a good read, a lot of Scripture may put us off. However, on the topic, the witness of the Holy Spirit, a lot of Scripture is needed. It is an area of confusion for some people, and an area for some weirdness. But the Spirit of God and the Word of God do agree! My hope in writing this book is to add some light to this vital area of Christian life.I find that many Christians already experience these witnesses, and just need a little more scriptural understanding to get them the confidence to really obey the leadings they receive. I, by no means, am an exceptionally spiritual Christian. The spiritual things that happen to me happen to every Christian.

My belief as you read this is that you will say, Oh yeah, that has happened to me!, and walk away with more confidence than you have had before. The Holy Spirit is and has been witnessing to you. It does not matter what your denomination believes. He is not bound by statements of faith or hierarchies.

There is a doctrine around that says the operations of the Holy Spirit died out with the apostles. Now every sincere Christian desires to base their life on the Word of God. What defense is there to that when we regard no other text to be as important or to be the literal Word of God? The only defense is that Jesus and the apostles all state explicitly that others will have the Holy Spirit and operate in the gifts.The witness of the Holy Spirit has by some been regarded as the property of spooky Christians or a special elite. One of my aims is to demystify the operations of the Spirit and to show it to be a part of the normal Christian experience.

Chapter 1 - The Holy Spirit is a Person

Some people believe that they would have greater faith if they were with Jesus when He walked the earth. Jesus, on the other hand, told us that we were better off with Him gone, so that we could have the Holy Spirit. Had we lived in Jesus’ day, we would not have been able to be one of His disciples anyway. He had twelve disciples and that was all he wanted. We would be just one of the throng that surrounded Him. If we were there with Jesus, we would most likely be just like the disciples anyway, dull and faithless. We would deny Him and run away. The disciples were better off with Him gone and then receiving the Holy Spirit instead. They and us now have God with us all the time, and not only with them, but in them! When God was in them, after the day of Pentecost, the disciples changed from being fearful followers to bold proclaimers. They were far better off with the Holy Spirit. When they needed His reassurance or His boldness, He was working from the inside, changing their attitudes and confidences. We are also far better off with our own personal Jesus with us every moment of the day; the Holy Spirit. All we need to do is understand how to relate to Him.

One of the key things to understand in seeking to be led by the Spirit of God is to understand that the Holy Spirit is a person. Some relegate Him to a feeling or an experience. We experience Him as a wind that blows on us, a fire that ignites us, a water that refreshes us and an oil that soothes us. We certainly need to experience Him, but these are only descriptions of His operations, they are not descriptions of who He is. But how do you obey a feeling? You don’t, you obey the person of the Spirit.

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit has all the characteristics of a person. He has a mind (Romans 8:27), He has a will (first Corinthians 12:11) and He has feelings (Ephesians 4:30). To learn to relate to the Holy Spirit, we must realise that we are relating to a person who responds to us.

The Holy Spirit is also God. He