How To Live Like Elijah In The Secret Place With The Power Of God - Part 2 Series

PART 2

Why did Elijah move in miraculous power yet suddenly be filled with fear? It is because He did not have the Holy Spirit living within Him as those who are Born-Again. The difference between the Old and New Testament ministries of the Holy Spirit is that, before the Day of Pentecost, His power came upon spiritual leaders at particular times but did not take up residence within them. The mantle of Elijah represents the power of the Holy Spirit. God gives every Born-Again Christian “a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” because He permanently dwells within those who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior (2 Timothy 1:7 ESV).

“God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:16b-18 ESV)

At the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, He read from the Book of Isaiah to declare that the "wind" (Heb: 'ruwach') of the Lord God was upon Him (See Luke 4:17-21). God promised that He would "pour out" His "Spirit on ALL people" (Joel 2:28 NIV - emphasis mine).

Before a person becomes Born-Again and is transformed at the moment of their salvation, the Holy Spirit is with them to draw them to Jesus, but this is not the same as being IN them. Jesus promised the Disciples before He was crucified and resurrected that He would "ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor" who would not just live with them but would take up permanent residence within them when they become a Christian (John 14:16-17 NIV). After Jesus was arrested the Disciples were cowering in fear and trepidation. When Jesus arose from the dead and just before the day of Pentecost, ten of the Disciples are seen together with Him.

"Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." (John 20:19b-23 ESV)

Jesus regenerated ten of the Disciples when He breathed on them. At that moment, they were Born-Again because they received and were baptized by Holy Spirit. A person cannot receive salvation by becoming Born-Again unless they are 100% filled with Him (John 3:3-4). However, those ten disciples were not yet endued with power until the Day of Pentecost. For them, that was an entirely separate and distinct experience.

The infilling/baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at the moment a person becomes Born-Again. It is this baptism that makes the Born-Again Christian complete in Jesus and are endued with the power of God. All that the Father is, Jesus is. All the "fullness of the Godhead bodily" dwells in Jesus (Colossians 2:9 NIV). This means that Jesus is the physical presentation of all that the Father is.

A person can't belong to God if the Holy Spirit is not 100% fully living inside them because "if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (Romans 8:9-11 NIV). Jesus prayed;

"that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:21-22 NIV)

The Day of Pentecost

On the day of Pentecost, 120 Disciples were waiting in the Upper Room, and 110 were still not yet regenerated/born from above through salvation. They believed in Jesus but had yet to receive Him and become Born-Again. Believing that Jesus is God is not the same as receiving Him. Even "the demons believe that and shudder" (James 2:19 NIV). This is also the case with the people of Samaria, Ephesus, and those at Cornelius's house who were not yet Born-Again because they had not yet received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14; 10:44; 18:24).

"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." (Acts 2:1-4 NIV)