Yes, we all know the Holy Spirit as the “Comforter.”

But what if I told you He can also be the “Discomforter?”

He can be “for” us as we walk life’s journey, serving the Lord.

But He can too be “against” us, when we veer from God’s Will for our lives!

Now let me share today’s verse. “Yet many years didst thou (the Lord) forbear them (the Jews, Israel), and testifiedst AGAINST them BY THY SPIRIT ….” Nehemiah 9:30

The “Spirit” of God … against them!

Read the whole verse now. For more detail. “Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.”

Wow!

Some interesting words! “Forbear” (in Hebrew) is “mashak,” meaning such things as “to drag, to seize, to scatter!”

“Testified” (in Hebrew “ud”) is the word for “repeating” something. God warned these people again and again! Admonished them, protested their actions!

The Holy Spirit did these things … in the name of God. “By Thy Spirit,” Nehemiah quotes!

Note this too. The Prophets preached … the Holy Spirit then sought to restrain!

But … because the Israelites would NOT heed God’s warnings … God turned them over to enemy nations! They lost their freedom!

Needlessly.

Oh, had they only listened when the Holy Spirit testified “against” them!

So now we know … not only can the Spirit be “grieved.” Ephesians 4:30

And not only can He be “quenched.” First Thessalonians 5:19

He also can become “opposed” to a wayward child of God!

Think about it!

“Yet many years didst thou (Lord) forbear them (Israel), and TESTIFIEDEST AGAINST THEM BY THY SPIRIT ….” Nehemiah 9:30

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

If the Holy Spirit is “against” something you’re doing … better listen! Heed that first admonition! If not, stricter measures are coming!

 

The “priority” of the Holy Spirit!

How important is He in the lives of believers?

One verse, Old Testament, helps put the answer in perspective.

Nehemiah is praying. He is thinking of God’s goodness to the Israelites as they journeyed through the wilderness. Then he observes: “Thou (Lord) gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.” Nehemiah 9:20

Look at the “list” in the verse.

“Thy Spirit,” the Holy Spirit is first!

Then “food and drink” follow!

As if to say that the Holy Ghost is far more critical to a Christian than is his or her very diet! More significant than the food one eats! Wow!

And isn’t that, in essence, what Jesus said to the devil long ago? During the temptation in the wilderness? “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4, God’s Words (spiritual things) sustain life … more than daily bread?

Again …

Our Lord was teaching us how to pray. Matthew 7:11 has His words recorded: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give GOOD GIFTS unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give GOOD THINGS to them that ask him?”

But look how Luke records the same event, the same response. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the HOLY SPIRIT to them that ask him?” Luke 11:13

All good things in sum … THE HOLY SPIRIT!

The Best Gift of all!

The “Spirit” here outweighs the body (food and drink), obviously!

Now let me try to equate the Holy Spirit and the very Word of God!

In Colossians 3:16-17 we are told: “Let THE WORD of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

But in Ephesians 5:18-20 (the parallel passage) we read: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with THE SPIRIT: speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In Colossians the Word does these wonderful things, triggers them.

In Ephesians the Holy Spirit does!

Amazing!

So, back to the first line in today’s lesson, THE PRIORITY OF THE SPIRIT!

I hope I have proved my case.

He (the Holy Spirit) is indispensable in pursuing the Christian life.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Oh, what “loyalty” the Holy Spirit builds into us!

Loyalty, love for Jesus, of course.

But let me give you an example. “Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee.” First Chronicles 12:18

The “Spirit” here is the Holy Spirit, we believe.

And He (the Spirit) “came upon” Amasai, the great soldier. This Hebrew verb, “labash,” actually means “to wear, to dress, to clothe, to put on!” Absolutely beautiful, God the Holy Spirit “wearing” this man!

Now watch what Amasai is led to say. “Thine we are, David.”

This is dedication!

Someone once defined “loyalty” as “using adversity to test my commitment to those whom God has called me to serve.” I love that!

Yes, the Spirit of God can guide me in reference to those whom I should support, follow, place in positions of honor in my life!

In fact, He has!

The “Son of David” (a New Testament Name or Title of Jesus) is the Recipient of my love and worship! I will be loyal to Him.

Why so?

Because the Spirit of God has so motivated me!

Yes, the Spirit “points” to Jesus, always.

Jesus taught us in, John 16:13, about the Holy Spirit. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: FOR HE SHALL NOT SPEAK OF HIMSELF.” Never self-aggrandizing!

The next verse, Jesus continues. “For HE (the Spirit of God) SHALL GLORIFY ME: for He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

Wow!

As the Spirit led Amasai to pledge allegiance to David … so the Holy Spirit leads us to do so to Jesus. To say to our Lord: “Thine are we, Jesus, and we’re on Thy side, thou son of God. Peace, peace be unto Thee, and peace be to Thine helpers. For Thy God helpeth Thee.”

Yes, the “loyalty” of the Spirit indeed.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

It was spoken of Elijah. By a group known as “the sons of the prophets.” In fact, the words were uttered just after Elijah had been miraculously taken to Heaven.

These young men wanted (maybe without any disrespect) to be sure the older Man of God had indeed been “taken away,” raptured to Glory!

Should a search for the hairy old giant (godly Elijah) be made? “Lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley.” Second Kings 2:16

By the way, though their “plan” was not followed (Elisha forbade the expedition) … their view of the Spirit has some merit! At least I (now) think so.

The Spirit of the Lord … “taking someone up?”

The Hebrew verb “nasa” used here means “to lift, to bear, to carry!” The Holy Spirit has surely lifted me up many a time! Not literally, but spiritually. He has “borne” me though many a hard hour as well. “Carried” me all the way. Psalm 3:3 comes to mind. “But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and THE LIFTER UP OF MINE HEAD.”

The verb “cast” is a little strong! “Shalak” means “to throw, hurl, fling!” And it usually reflects one of the three definitions I just gave, at least 124 of its 125 times in the Bible. But ONCE it is rendered (in the King James Version) “adventured!” Yes, the Holy Spirit is the Author of many an adventure in our lives, many an exciting episode!

“Lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley.”

The Holy Spirit and some “mountain?”

Certainly! To the “heights,” spiritually, many a time I’ve been. We’ve been, the Spirit and I. To Sinai like Moses, to Carmel like Elijah, to Zion, like our Lord! He is the Spirit of promotion in the Godhead. “Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and SETTETH UP another.” Psalm 75:6-7

Conversely, the Holy Spirit and the “valley?”

Yes, we shall walk through many a valley, following Jesus. Some being required locations on our journey Home! But the valleys through which the Spirit takes us … almost always have benefits, blessings! “And Isaac’s servants digged in the VALLEY, and found there a WELL of springing water.” Genesis 26:19

Amen!

The Holy Spirit, our eternal Companion!

In all of life’s geography!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Love Him (our Great Comforter) today.

 

The verse is surprising!

Things the Holy Spirit might do, might produce in our lives!

First Samuel 11:6 says of the Spirit and Saul (King of Israel) … “And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.”

The Holy Spirit … then anger?

Yes, fellow Jews had been mistreated, maligned … belittled.

Something needed to be done.

And God initiated the response!

But who would have ever thought such?

Startling, the Holy Spirit and anger!

“And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.”

The verb “camp upon” is interesting. It’s “tzsalach” in Hebrew, meaning “to rush upon, to break in.” It dozens of times (in the Old Testament) means “to cause to prosper!”

The Holy Ghost of God made Saul angry … in a righteous way.

The noun for “anger” is “aph,” normally the word for one’s “nose, nostril!” It suggests the kind of anger that affects one’s breathing! Fierce anger!

Red-in-the-face, hard-breathing wrath!

So (at times anyway) the Fruit of the Spirit is not just love, joy, peace, longsuffering (and the other things on Paul’s Galatians 5:22-23 list) … but also anger!

Jesus too. “And when He (our sinless Lord) had looked round about on them with ANGER, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts ….” Mark 3:5

This example as well. “The Wrath of the Lamb,” God’s Darling Lamb (Jesus again) … yet filled with (holy) Wrath! Revelation 6:16, Meekness blended perfectly with Sternness!

All anger must not be sin, then.

Paul agrees, writing to the Ephesian Believers. “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”

Wow!

“Righteous indignation,” the old-timers called it.

Anger … over a just cause being abused … anger birthed into our souls by the Spirit of God!

Thank You, Lord, for these thoughts. They sure do explain some things in my Christian experience. A Holy displeasure!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell