Luke 10:38-42 ¶ " Now it came to pass, as they went, that he "Jesus" entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
Today I want to talk to you about hosting the Holy Spirit, or you could say… hosting the presence of God.
I believe that this is the cross road we stand at today… Are we the body of Christ, going to satisfy ourselves, with the activity of opening and closing doors, or to say it another way— just going through the motions… Just carrying on in the flesh? Or are we going to admit that we may be making a lot of noise with our keys rattling, and opening, and closing doors, but what we need, and what we want, is the power of the Holy Ghost?
Isaiah 10:27 says, “it is the anointing that destroys the yoke.”
The yoke represents anything that hinders, binds, or oppresses. It can also be sickness— mental, emotional or physical, it can be disease, debt, or lack.
The yoke represents anything that the devil can put on you, to steal your joy, and rob you of the abundant life Jesus gives.
Nothing but the anointing can break Satan's power.
Nothing else can deliver the bound and oppressed.
Nothing else can heal the sick, and the diseased.
You can copy it, or you can imitate it, but you cannot manufacture it.
There is only one place to get the anointing, and that is from the fellowship and the communion of, and with the Holy Ghost.
That is the key ingredient, and the master key, that the church must have.
I believe that without the power of the Holy Ghost, the church is going to become just another casualty of war.
Either we are going to be saturated, inundated, and endued, with power from on high, and we fight back with the power of the Holy Ghost, or we will end up as more casualties, on the battlefield of life.
If we are going to have the power of the Holy Spirit, we must learn how to host the Holy Spirit.
Our aim and our goal in life as Christians, as disciples of Jesus Christ, has got to be more than the rapture, or to go to heaven when we die.
Our aim and goal of our lives as Christians should be two fold.
1. To know him, to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and to have fellowship and communion with the Holy Spirit.
2. To make Jesus known— to be a living revelation and manifestation of his will in the earth.
That means that Jesus lives through us, and he does the same things through us, that he did when he was here in his flesh.
Jesus didn’t make disciples just so they could go to heaven. He made disciples to multiply himself in the earth, and to manifest himself through. To heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils and raise the dead.
That was why they needed, and we need the Holy Ghost. Because it is the anointing of the Holy Ghost that gives us the power over the devils kingdom— to destroy his works… to break his power and set people free.
This is why we have to be like Mary, and learn the art of hosting the presence of God.
Now I want to speak about three main elements to hosting the Holy Spirits presence.
1. Make room… This phrase means… to do whatever is necessary to make a place for someone or some thing. To move things around, or to discard things, or even add on extra space.
2. Give place… This is different from make room, but this can't happen without making room first. To give place means to yield to, and submit to, by extension it means to want or to desire— and to give liberty and freedom of expression.
3. Accommodate… This even goes further than the first two. It means to make comfortable, to seek to please, to create a desired environment. By extension it means to consult with, having the desire to please.
The beautiful thing about the Holy Spirit is this… He is a perfect gentleman, he will only come where he is invited, and he will only do what you give him the freedom, and the liberty to do.
*The Holy Spirit is not just tongues.
*The Holy Spirit is not just power.
The Holy Spirit is a person with power, and if we want to have the power of the Holy Spirit, we must learn host the person or the presence of the Holy Spirit.
The more comfortable the Holy Spirit is with us, the more his power is manifested to us, in us, and through us.
How do we create the environment that the Holy Spirit desires?
1. Eliminate the sinful… Shut the door on Satan. Give no place to the devil. Stop doing anything that is contrary to God’s Word. To live contrary to God’s Word is sin. Sin is disobedience to God’s laws.
2. Be quick to repent… When you have done something wrong, contrary to God’s Word, or even contrary to the voice of your conscience. If you feel pricked in your heart, that’s the Holy Spirit trying to keep you safe. Repent quickly— keep short accounts with God.
3. Crucify compromise. Make no deals with the devil. Leave no gray areas concerning your commitment to holiness and obedience to God. Never compromise your faith and your values. If you give an inch, the devil will take a mile.
4. Minimize the secular…Martha forfeited the holy for the secular. The secular is not sinful, or evil, it is just excess, and… Instead of….
Instead of prayer
Instead of worship
Instead of giving
Instead of studying God's word
Instead of fasting
Instead of the things of God, we're just replacing it with the secular.
5. Trash the demonic… Be very aggressive against anything demonic or occultic. Destroy anything that even leans toward the occult or the demonic. Tarot cards, fortunetellers, horoscopes, crystals, Ouija boards, ESP, mind reading, magic, Harry Potter and any other such thing.
*Anything of such nature grieves the Holy Spirit, and gives access to demonic spirits and presence, and activity in your life.
If we truly want to host the Holy Spirit, we will cultivate the atmosphere he desires.
Remember, he is the Holy Spirit.
If we want to cultivate an atmosphere and an environment for the Holy Spirit here are some very important elements...
1. Praise, worship… He inhabits our praise.
2. Scripture… He lives in his word. All scripture is given by inspiration equal the breath of God.
3. Solitude… Be still and know that I am God. Enter into your closet and pray to your father in secret, and your father that seeth in secret, will reward you openly.
If we want the Holy Spirit's presence in our lives, the most important ingredient is… Spiritual hunger or thirst.
Jesus said blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.
John 7:37- 39 The Bible says… “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Before rivers of living waters can flow out of us, we first have to come to him and drink. Drink deeply of his presence. Drink deeply of his words.
One of the most painful and yet important things that 2020 has done for me, has been to awaken me to the critical fact that for the most part we, the church, the body of Christ, though we are his body, we have not been manifesting his power.
We have been living too far away from the power of God. And because the church has not been manifesting the power of God, the devil has been running rampant, with nearly free reign, to do anything he wants to do.
And the church has been running and hiding, and jumping every-time the devil says Boo!
Why is that true?… Because we haven’t been walking in the power of God, and the reason we haven’t been walking in the power of God, is because we haven’t been truly and faithfully hosting his presence.
God does not casually and randomly dispense his holy power to every passerby, or even every church member, or even every pastor.
God grants his power to those he trusts—to those he has an intimate relationship with. To those who love his presence, not just his presents or the gifts he brings. And to those who seek his face, not just his hand.
I sense the Holy Spirit saying that the key to our sanity, and our victory, moving forward, is in learning how to abide in him. Learning how to host his presence. And learning how to live in his presence everyday.
Out of that abiding life, and hosting his presence, fruit will be manifested.
Power will flow. Gifts, signs, wonders, miracles, visions, dreams, demons cast out, the sick will be healed, and the glory of God will be revealed.
That’s what Christianity is all about.
How many really want the power of God in your life? How many are ready to host the presence of God?
