Living in the Power and Realm of the Holy Spirit

By Brian Reddish

Living in the Power and Realm

Of the

HOLY SPIRIT

What does the Bible teach about the Holy Spirit?

Can we have a personal relationship with God?

What is the role of the Holy Spirit?

What does it mean to Walk in the Spirit?

This Book is Unique!

It searches the Scriptures to compose a practical 31-Day Devotional Guide that teaches what the Bible says about the Christian Life, and How You can be Empowered by the Holy Spirit, to live for God

• Language: English
• Publisher: Caracal Books
• Release date: Oct 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781838425548

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Living in the Power and Realm of

The Holy Spirit

Coming to God by believing in His Son opens the door to the most amazing life possible! This book addresses The Holy Spirit's work in the daily life of the child of God and how He works in unison with the Word of God beginning at spiritual birth reaching full maturity. Right from the outset, The Holy Spirit is involved in bringing us to Christ through faith in God’s Word.

DID YOU KNOW ?

The moment a person receives Jesus, a massive spiritual transformation takes place in Heaven and each one of us? Jesus calls it being BORN AGAIN! The Bible says we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. That is into GOD’S KINGDOM!

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son

Colossians 1: 13

Thereafter, Each child of God is commanded to,

...grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.        

2 Peter 3:18

and to,

"... desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby."

1 Peter 2:2

And so, the journey begins. Throughout our entire life, The Holy Spirit is with us, teaching us, leading us, comforting us, empowering us and sanctifying us until we reach a state of maturity, fulfilling His calling and will for our lives.

Our personal relationship with God is the most important aspect of our life. When our life upon earth has ended, it will still go on forever, living eternally with God! Therefore, during our lifetime, our personal knowledge and acceptance of God’s Word, as recorded in the Bible, together with our relationship with The Holy Spirit, is so vital!

It is The Holy Spirit who makes God real to us. It is He who teaches and leads us to know the Truth by testifying to Jesus Christ. Most importantly, The Holy Spirit opens our understanding of the Word of God and empowers us to be a witness to the lost!

So, we will need to ask the following questions. 

•  What does the Bible say and teach about the Holy

Spirit?

•  What does Jesus Himself teach and say about the

Holy Spirit?

•  What does it mean to Walk in The Spirit?

Why is it, one may ask, that the third Person of the Godhead can often be the least known and understood?

This book will hopefully change all of that!

Brian Reddish

March 2021

Living in the Power and Realm of The Holy Spirit

PART 1   A New Life

Chapter 1 - A Ruler called Nicodemus

Chapter 2 - Nicodemus, Signs and Wonders

Chapter 3 - You Must be Born Again!

Chapter 4 - Nicodemus said to Jesus

Chapter 5 - You Must be born again ...born of water and The Spirit

Chapter 6 - What Does it Mean to Repent?

Chapter 7 - The Flesh

Chapter 8 - The Spirit

PART 2  A New Purpose

Chapter 9 - The Call of Abraham

Chapter 10 - Abraham’s Challenge

Chapter 11 - Choices and Decisions

Chapter 12 - The Flesh and The Spirit

Chapter 13 - Abraham and Lot

PART 3      Learning to Walk with God

Chapter 14 - Denying Yourself 

Chapter 15 - Being Alone with God 

Chapter 16 - Jesus Christ is My Lord

Chapter 17 - The Fountain of Living Water

Chapter 18 - Desire the Pure Milk of the Word

Chapter 19 - The Bread of Life

––––––––

PART 4    The Holy Spirit

Chapter 20 - A Prophecy

Chapter 21a – Living in the Power and Realm of The Holy Spirit

Chapter 21b - His Purpose

Chapter 22 - The Spirit Bestows His Gifts

Chapter 23 - Walking in The Spirit – 1

Chapter 24 - Walking in The Spirit – 2

Chapter 25 - Sanctification of The Spirit

PART 5 –   God’s Eternal Laws

Chapter 26 - Thinking Differently - Kingdom Laws

Chapter 27 - God’s Conditional Promises

Chapter 28 - Will A Man Rob God?

PART 6 -  Seated with Christ

Chapter 29 - There is Power in the Name of Jesus

Chapter 30 - Confessing the Name of Jesus

Chapter 31 - Our Position Seated with Christ in the Heavenly Places

PART 1

A New Life

DAY 1

A Ruler called Nicodemus

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."

John3:1-2

We will learn a lot from these two verses from John’s Gospel as we take the time to pause, look and contemplate! It was near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

"Who was He?" some would ask.

"Is this not Joseph the carpenter’s son?" said others.

It was later on in His ministry when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi with His disciples that He asked them a similar question,

Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

So, they said, Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

He said to them, But who do you say that I am?

Simon, called Peter, answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in Heaven."

Matthew 16: 13b -17

The answer Jesus gave to Peter is of profound importance as it relates, not to human understanding (flesh and blood) but Divine illumination from God Himself! (by The Holy Spirit.)

Immediately, we face the question, "Can no one possibly understand who Jesus is except it is revealed to them by God Himself?"

Nicodemus was a high-ranking ruler of the Jews and, as a Pharisee, would have been a member of the Sanhedrin. He was, you might say, a scholar of the Law, but he did not know who Jesus was. This demonstrates that acquiring a religious education with status and position and having an excellent human understanding of the Scriptures alone does not necessarily open our eyes to spiritual things! We can possess academic knowledge, but that’s it. Nicodemus needed God to open his eyes just like God had opened those of Peter and, as we shall see, every person likewise is in precisely the same predicament! We all need God to open our eyes spiritually to see Jesus and recognise who He is!  

The following Scripture passages should encourage most of us because of what is written.

At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.  Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight."

Matthew 11: 25-27

And furthermore still,

"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence."

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

What was it that first captured the interest and curiosity of Nicodemus regarding the Person of Jesus? The Scripture at the beginning of today’s reading tells us just what had drawn him to come and see Jesus in Person, howbeit, we observe that it was at night out of sight of all others. Was he afraid to talk to Jesus at any other time of the day? Was he afraid to be seen by others associating himself with Jesus, for it was common knowledge that the Pharisees resented Jesus and His teachings?

Nicodemus, being himself a teacher, immediately recognised two qualities in Jesus. He saw that He was a teacher and that He must have come from God! Combining these two attributes, he acknowledged, therefore, something extraordinary in Jesus, something that he could never attain.

"Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher

come from God."

On other occasions, people marvelled at the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus but with one added quality that distinguished Him from all others, namely, Jesus spoke with authority.

"And so, it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

Matthew 7: 28-29

The Jews marvelled at the words of Jesus when He spoke in the Temple.

"Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How does this Man know letters, having never studied?

John 7: 14-15

Jesus’ manner of teaching amazed people, grasping their attention with amazement, conviction, persuasion and influence. Moreover, Jesus spoke with authority, speaking as from God and not from mere man. This challenged Nicodemus! Jesus was different; He was, by far, different from him!

Who is Jesus to you?

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

Open the Eyes of My Heart lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group

Meditation

Nicodemus helps bury Jesus in Joseph of Arimathea’s Tomb

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So, he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

John 19: 38-40

DAY 2

Nicodemus, Signs and Wonders

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs (miracles) that You do unless God is with him."

John 3:1-2

The second thing that caught Nicodemus’ attention was the signs (miracles) Jesus performed before the crowds. Clearly, Nicodemus’ reasoning was this,  

...no one can do these signs (miracles) that You do unless God is with him.

It was true; everywhere Jesus went, there were miracles! On one occasion, John the Baptist’s disciples enquired of Jesus whether He was the one to come or should they be looking for another.

"Jesus answered and said to them, (for that very hour He had cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind, He gave sight,) "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have The Gospel preached to them..."

Luke 7:21-22

After Jesus had been baptised by John earlier, He went in the Power of The Holy Spirit and, beginning at Galilee, started His ministry. News of Him spread quickly through all the surrounding regions. It was when He went into the Temple at Nazareth, however, that Jesus faced severe opposition. You see, Jesus had picked up the book of Isaiah and read out the following to them:

The Spirit of The Lord God is upon Me, Because The Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound...

Isaiah 61:1

Jesus declared that the above prophecy was fulfilled before their very eyes, but this was not what they wished to hear! Miracles, yes! Turning water into wine, yes! Creating bread and fish enough to feed five thousand, yes! - but not this! So, they murmured, saying, Is this not Joseph’s son?

After Jesus reproved those in the Temple, they were filled with wrath and took Him outside and would have killed Him there and then by throwing Him over a hilltop, but Jesus walked away, and they did not touch Him!

On another occasion, Jesus appeared to react adversely when pressed for signs and wonders. Why was this, we might ask ourselves?

John’s Gospel tells us,

"Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where he had made water into wine and there was a certain

nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum and when he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and implored him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe...go your way, said Jesus, for your son lives.

John 4:46-48

The healing of this nobleman’s son not only demonstrates Jesus’ power to heal, but it highlights the principle that He did not regard signs and wonders as ends in themselves. Jesus expected more from them, seeing as it was, He in their midst! This was no less highlighted when Jesus rebuked certain cities local to Galilee for not receiving Him despite all the wonderful works He did there.

And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. 

Matthew 11: 23-24

The above passage is a stark warning to those who have received much from God but remain impenitent, complacent or unmoved to follow Him wholeheartedly! Again, the words of Jesus come to mind when He said,

"...For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more

Luke 12: 48b

Jesus saw the grave reality!  It was this; man would die one day without salvation through Him and be lost for all Eternity. The death sentence was upon all mankind, and Jesus, knowing full well His mission sought to call man to believe upon Him! He alone was the way, the only way! Physical healing of the body is a great blessing but a temporary remedy nevertheless.  It cannot, in itself, provide for salvation from the guilt and punishment of sin. No, Jesus was aware that He was to be the sacrifice for sin. So His overriding desire and purpose were to do The Father’s will, pointing people to believe in Him and not insist upon signs and wonders alone, which is a matter we should think about seriously when it comes to our priorities in life and expectations from God.

Furthermore, Jesus saw that in the future, not all signs and wonders would come from God, which He pointed out to them on another occasion when He said:

"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But take heed, I have told you beforehand."

Mark 13:22-23

Signs and wonders are spectacular and very persuasive, but in the wrong hands can easily divert people’s attention from God, appeasing the flesh only. Jesus saw this, and whilst He desired to perform miracles to bless people, His priority was to focus upon saving souls! That’s why Jesus desires us to believe in Him first and foremost. Signs and wonders are only to be used as a means of drawing people to believe in God.

We should be wise and careful. Yes! of course, God heals! God saves! God delivers! In fact, Jesus sent His disciples to heal the sick and perform many miracles and wonders in His name, and today, He can use you and me to do likewise through His Spirit’s power working through us when we pray by faith in the Name of Jesus! Even so, let us always remember that the most important thing is the healing of the soul and the assurance of eternal life with Christ in Heaven!

We only know and experience life here and now and so cannot always easily appreciate the above! God, however, sees the bigger picture. He sees our lives from beginning to end. All sickness is a burden. God’s Word tells us to pray for the sick and talks of spiritual gifts of healing.

Who knows, we may mature and be strengthened when we endure hardships? On ‘That Day’, we shall look back and say, It was worth it all to see Jesus! Meanwhile, we are all called to live by faith and trust God in every circumstance, for He has said,

I will never leave you or forsake you.

Hebrews 13:5

After Jesus had performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand, He perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, so He departed and went to pray in a mountain alone. Once again, we see a problem of diversion and distraction regarding the ministry of Jesus as a direct result of the miracle He had performed! Furthermore still, there is even more! Upon returning to that same region the following day, Jesus saw that many people were searching for Him, seeking Him, asking the question, "Where is He?"

Jesus answered them and said,

"Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of