Dear Unbeliever - The Holy Spirit Is A Real Person
Dear Unbeliever,
Welcome to Letter Seven (7) and also the last day in October 2021. I am so glad that you have stayed with me through my series of letters so far. I’d like to encourage you to read from the beginning and I know you will be blessed. Today I will take a chance to clarify a really big concern: why we (Christian Believers) make noise about someone called the Holy Spirit. Some of us even speak and pray in weird languages called Tongues. I know how funny you think we sound and I also know you think we might be losing some screws in our heads to be speaking stuff we don’t even understand.
Well, the Holy Spirit is the Third person in the Trinity - Trinity simply means that God is a Three person in One. Some people call it the Godhead; God relating to us as the Father, God relating to us in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, and God relating to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. We all are spiritual beings dwelling in a vessel called the body (a material made up of flesh and blood). When our spirits separate from our bodies, we call it death. Your body dies but your spirit lives on so if you believe there is a ghost and you like to even dress up like one on Halloween, why do you not believe then that there is a Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God himself, manifesting through us. Matter of fact, we cannot see Him with our carnal eyes but when God grants you the grace to see in the spirit, you will be able to see Him. We also see Him in our visions and dreams in various forms. The traits of a ‘PERSON’ are that you have individuality, identity, knowledge, feelings and a will. So does the Holy Spirit.
He acts like a person, He is treated as a person and He has the ministry of a person. In 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, you will see the thinking ability of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:27 further reveals that the Holy Spirit has a mind. In Isaiah 63:10, you will see how the Holy Spirit can be grieved. Yes we can grieve the spirit of God and unconsciously, we do it daily. 1 Corinthians 12:11 reveals the ability of the Holy Spirit to choose according to His own will. The Holy Spirit even teaches us (1 Corinthians 2:13) and the Holy Spirit also comforts us (John 16:7). Oh, there are so many characteristics of the Holy Spirit and because He is a person, He reveals different dimensions of Himself as you continue to fellowship with Him. This walk with God is a journey of building and investing into the relationship. Even in our earthly/human relations, we get more from a person, get to know them better when we invest and grow the relationship. It is the same with God and His Spirit - a.k.a, the Holy Spirit.
If you do a google search on “The Holy Spirit '', you will find several articles and blogs on it. I’ll say that each one of them was written from the writer’s encounter and most of them backed their articles with scriptures. So, let me spare you another long article on it. However, I’d like to share my own experience with the Holy Spirit to encourage you that He is REAL! For a long time I didn’t speak in a ‘heavenly language’, which is commonly known as ‘Tongues’. In the book of Acts chapter 2, we are first introduced to the manifestation of the Holy Spirit - which gave people a different language from their native or known language. Based on this scripture, many Christians have associated the Holy Spirit with only when you are able to speak in Tongues. That entirely is not true - there are many people who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit but do not speak in Tongues. My experience happened sometime in 2017. I’m not sure about the exact month but I remember that I was visiting an older lady friend of mine and as we were praying, I noticed that my mind was forcing me to utter the prayer in a different language. I speak about Five (5) African languages but none of them was rolling on my tongue. Somehow I started to just utter whatever was coming to mind and it sounded very gibberish to me but I prayed it out loud all the same. After the prayer, I told myself to not pray like that again. So I became very conscious of it and will try to keep quiet every time I feel like I’m uttering my prayer in that language. Then in early 2020, I experienced a dramatic change in my Christian life. I had been seeking the face of God for a while through intense prayer and fasting and like a gushing flood of water, the utterance came back again with such a force and power that I couldn’t suppress it anymore. I noticed it began to change to other languages and the intensity was different.
Then one day, as I was pacing back and forth in my home praying, (FYI - my home is my ‘Tziyon’ and the entire house is my altar of prayer) I asked God, how can I know you’re here with me? Can you please let me just see you? Then He responded to me (it weird me out at first, it was as if someone was speaking directly into my ears and I was alone in that house. It was as clear and distinct) every time you (Abena) call me, “Spirit of the living God” I respond back to you by giving you that cold sensation in the right side of your head. Sometimes I wrap it all around your head”. Whaaattt! So that sensation that I had been feeling for some months now was Him making me aware of His presence and response and I had no clue but rather spending my time trying to find out why I felt that sensation every time I was in prayer mode? Wow! I had even concluded that it might have been the different temperatures outside but that didn’t affect my body and the inside temperatures of my home. After this encounter, I became more conscious of this sensation and wanted to really verify that what I heard was true. So, I just call, “Spirit of the Living God” and immediately the sensation will run through my head again. I started to pray on my morning walks in the neighborhood and even in the heat of summer under the scorching sun, every time I made the call, the cold sensation would come again. I tried it even in the grocery stores and it came to me again. I’ll call on Him when I’m driving and in my car, I’ll feel that sensation. I’m so glad He was patient with me because I was worse than Gideon in the bible, asking for my instances and signs to really confirm what He, God, has already confirmed with me. I used to be very doubtful you know so He knew my kind of heart that He had to re-confirm it multiple times in different ways for me to believe. I kept doing this at every new place I found myself and He responded. I was finally convinced He was with me everywhere I went and that honestly made me more conscious of my environment and my behavior. I truly enjoy having Him in my life and I will gladly give up anyone and anything that will make God take His Holy Spirit from me. Just so you know, I do not advise anyone to create a doctrine out of people's encounters because God deals with everyone differently. I have by His grace and mercy seen different dimensions of the Holy Spirit. I have seen Him in figure a few times because I begged Him to show Himself to me so much that I think He might have been tired of hearing me ask/nag Him, so He gave me a few glimpses of Himself. Those were moments I cherish and value in my walk with Him forever.
Can I also assure you that if you do not believe in God, it is the Holy Spirit who will convict you in your mind and heart to come to Christ? No amount of words or stories I share with you can draw you to Christ unless He steps in. So I pray for you, and I ask that the Spirit of God, will come into your home and your life and give you an encounter that will make you believe in Him and in God. Above everything, may He reveal to you that He is there with you always. As you go about this week, may you see God in any and everything you do, may the Holy Spirit direct you and lead you away from all evil. May the Spirit of God open doors for you that no man can shut. May you soar in all your endeavors. AMEN! Next week we will have our declarations for November, so, we will continue to Letter 8 the following week. Be blessed!
To be continued…
XOXO,
Lady Abena.
Dear Unbeliever - Why Do Preachers Live Extravagantly?
Dear Unbeliever,
I would like to claim that we are kind of “Besties” now since you’ve been following my letters. Welcome to Letter 6 and today I will try to address your concern on why you think some preachers or religious leaders lead extravagant lives yet, we try to guilt you (Unbelievers) for spending your money anyway you please? Well, I don’t know many extravagant preachers but if you’re referring to the ones who own “Mega Churches'', private airports and private jets, driving in Bentleys and own private Islands and have some cash stored in foreign banks, then let’s have a bit of a discussion here.
I’ve been studying the bible more lately and I really haven’t come across any scripture that says it is wrong to make money or have wealth. People who live and work in the Kingdom of God are not supposed to be average, poor and hungry. Matter of fact, the earth and everything in it belong to our Father Jesus so we are entitled to the riches and glory in it. When God anoints His men and makes them shepherds over thousands of flock, it comes with thousands of blessings as well. The same way the healthcare industry needs money to fund it, the spiritual care industry is just as relevant if not more, and needs resources to operate it. Men and Women of God do not DEMAND money from their members - the bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 NIV, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” This means that when Believers give, they are giving out of what they have been blessed with to support the work of God and the leader at the helm of things. I don’t see anyone criticizing King Solomon for living an extravagant life and why? It is because God was the one who blessed Him with it. In Deuteronomy 8:18, it is revealed that the Lord gives us the power to get wealth (paraphrased). So if I am a child of God and working His field, He has every right and at His discretion to bestow wealth and riches upon my life. Now, if I abuse that blessing or misuse it for anything other than living a comfortable life and blessing His Kingdom and the world at large, there will be severe consequences for me in this world or the next.
What I am expressing here is that, you (Unbelievers) are allowed to spend your money and wealth anyhow, we are also allowed to make money righteously but we don’t have that ‘extravagant spending’ exemptions as you do. What you see these men and women of God owning doesn’t mean abuse. Why do secular celebrities feel the need to fly private jets? Efficiency correct? Because they have to get to a stadium where Thirty Thousand plus people are waiting for them to perform. Any regular flight delays can affect these many people won’t it? Why is that different from servants of God also getting to multiple destinations to minister the word of God to thousands of souls who are waiting to hear it? While the secular world believes that they are blessing people through their entertainments and all, we are blessing God’s Kingdom by setting people free from bondages and bringing them to the knowledge of Christ Jesus. The question to ask is what is your wealth doing for humanity and the Kingdom of God? If it is not blessing anyone, then you can call it wasteful. If we (Believers) do not use the wealth and riches we are given to bless His Kingdom, we will pay for it dearly. You on the other hand, no one will hold you accountable on how you spend your wealth and riches. We have someone we need to give an account of our lives to - Jesus our Father and Lord.
I have heard many Unbelievers misquote and misinterpret this scripture to tell us Believers that we shouldn’t aim for riches and wealth since we think it’s evil - 1 Timothy 6:10 KJV, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Let us be clear that the scripture says “the love” of money. Anything you love, you put your heart and soul into and when you do that, it will lead you to evil. Money is power and when people have more riches and wealth than they need or want, it can cloud their judgement and they can abuse it and cause a lot of evil with it. Money falling into the right hands can do a lot of good. Look at all the wealthy men in business - how much good they do with their monies and wealth, donating to charities and helping to alleviate poverty in many countries.
I learned recently about the Four (4) levels of economic realms: 1. Survival zone, 2. Comfort zone, 3.Luxury and 4. Extravagant zone. Both Survival Zone and Extravagant Zone can lead you to sin and away from God. Believers must strive to be in the Comfort Zone where all the needs are met and in the Luxury Zone where their wants and certain quality of life is available to them as well.
My prayer for you this week is that, even if you do not have a relationship with Christ Jesus, use your resources to bless humanity and not to waste it. Blessing humanity is blessing the Kingdom of God. May you be blessed when you go out and blessed when you come in this week. AMEN!
To be continued….
XOXO,
Lady Abena.
Dear Unbeliever - You Are Right - Most Christian Believers Are Broke and Poor
Dear Unbeliever,
First let me thank you for taking an interest and indulging me while I share my thoughts and opinions thus far. This is part 5 of my letter so if you are just stumbling on this, please start from part 1. You wonder why we (Christian Believers), preach abundance and prosperity yet most of us are poor and miserable? Well, that cannot be enticing, can it? I mean, you don’t even believe in what we believe in yet you’re doing well on your job, you’re OK financially and have all your basic needs met while we Believers seem to be struggling to even put food on the table.
You know, for a long time I also associated Christianity with being broke and poor all the time because as I was growing up in the church, I saw most of the church members in that situation with just a handful living well. These were usually made chairmen or supporters of church events and it was always the same set of people. The rest of the members could barely make ends meet, their landlords were kicking them out for the most part and literally in survival mode all the time. Apart from the people I saw, my own household was in that range. There were some days of comfort and some days of survival but I was still seeing God move and use my mother mightily. For a while I thought God doesn’t keep His word - why should my mother, who chose to live religiously and serve Him with all she had, go broke some days? While she made sure that we had everything we needed, I didn’t have everything I wanted. To be honest with you - that drove my desire and pursuit to even leave my country, come and settle here in the USA and for a very long time, my idea was to work my behind off to get all the things I needed and wanted in life. Well, that journey has been an interesting one that we will have to chat about some day. God has blessed my efforts and now that I know better, it has truly been Him who allows me to have any and everything I have been able to get in this land thus far. I will not even try to pretend here that I do anything on my strength. Whatever breadth I have, it’s just by His mercy and grace and He daily replenishes me and expands my capacity.
As I started to study the bible, I noticed how God was very sympathetic to the poor and strongly encouraged us to look out for them and support them. So, I asked myself, why did He allow people to be poor if He knows it’s not a good thing? I mean the bible says the “…earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” - Psalm 24:1 KJV, which means that if we call ourselves children of the most high God, then we really should lack nothing but we lack so much. To add to my confusion, I found this scripture: Proverbs 22:2 ESV; The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all. Did God really make some rich and others poor? I don’t think so and here’s why. He revealed through Jeremiah 29:11 that He had plans for us when He was forming us – these plans were actually to prosper us and give us HOPE for the future. Poverty and lack doesn’t look like hope and prosperity to me. So NO, He didn’t create some rich and some poor. However, He blesses us according to our abilities and capacity to handle the things He bestows on us.
I have come to see and believe that most Christians are broke and poor because of our mindsets and understanding of the things of God. We still lack those principles of creating financial independence and building wealth because we sit in churches that do not teach a balanced doctrine. The spiritual growth and personal growth of individuals should be taught hand in hand. Feeding the spirit alone is not enough, we need to give Believers the Kingdom tools needed to grow financially as well. Jesus is a huge advocate for our financial success. He doesn’t want to see us lack when we are living in a Kingdom filled with abundance. For those who also receive these tools, they don’t put it to practice. Somehow, they believe that it will divinely happen that one day they will wake up and there will be millions sitting in their bank accounts. That’s called magic – not God’s hand. Don’t get me wrong, I have seen God divinely intervene in financial situations especially with me that blew my mind but He did it in such a way that I wasn’t sitting there waiting for it to fall from the skies. He presented the opportunities and with prayer and obedience, I trusted Him and worked these opportunities. Then, He used the opportunities to bless me. I secretly wished He would have just given it to me without my effort at all but, how else would I have matured? If He had to spoon feed us with everything, we will forever be infants looking for milk. King Solomon with divine wisdom taught us to go to the ant and learn its way, (Proverbs 6:6-11 paraphrased). This advise has fallen through the sides of the ears of most believers. We snooze and slug as if every day were a Christmas holiday. We don’t develop habits of effectiveness and efficiency.
I have also seen the work ethics of most believers and it’s nothing to write home about. The bible admonishes us to work at everything as if we are working for the Lord, (Colossians 3:23 paraphrased) but most Christians don’t obey this order from God. Honestly, most people wished they didn’t have to work at all but somehow magically made money. The tardiness, dishonesty on the job and just doing enough to get paid mentality is why most Believers will continue to lack in this Kingdom. In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus gave a parable and most of us Christians are like that man who had the one talent and went to hide it. We cheat the employer – using work time for our personal stuff and God is quietly watching it all. Some of us have done it for so long we actually believe God approves of it and we are literally shocked the day He strikes. Your employer is also asking for God’s help to protect him from cheating men and bless his business so he can bless others – who do you think God will listen to and help? Your employer because he is blessing more people in God’s kingdom than you are! If there is one thing I have come to know about God and not to mess with at all, it is that He is a God of principles and He will NOT compromise who He is for anyone. He said in His word that when your obedience is complete, He will punish all disobedience which means if I don’t obey, I’m at the mercy of whatever life throws at me as He will not defend me (2 Corinthians 10:6 paraphrased). God hates disobedience and most Christians are rebels when it comes to obeying God. Hence our suffering.
The other reason I found as to why Christians are broke is because most of us have not mastered the principles of stewardship in the Kingdom of God. We are not owners; we are stewards of whatever God blesses us with including our children. Unfortunately, most of us have managed our lives very poorly. Lack of financial management has landed us broke and some poor. Don’t get me wrong, there have been real catastrophes that are beyond human control which landed most people in debt and other tough financial situations. Satan knows where to hit Believers hard and it’s in our financial independence. He will not let you get there because His goal it to steal our time to focus on anything else but God. If you’re working 3+ jobs here and there just to make ends meet, where will you find the time and energy to study the word of God and even pray? In most unforeseen financial hardships, God in His mercy intervenes by giving us a pathway to get out of it. BUT, there are some people who had and have no reason to be in lack or poverty if you see the amount of income and resources God has blessed them with. A lot of us have not learned to live within our means or save for raining days. Whatever we see we must own it and here lies our pathway to being broke. There are Christians who feel the need to have a new outfit for church every Sunday and guess what, if you have the means do it but if it renders you broke, why do it?
A lot of Christians are also afraid to give because we believe we won’t have enough left. We haven’t learned the principles of blessing others with our time, money and resources. Giving activates reciprocity. Giving sows a seed in people lives – as they pray and thank you with their “God bless You”, the heavens hear them and they return it to you. The law of cause and effect which is also called Karma, is at work in us every day, every time. What you put out will come to you. We should never forget that. When you give it will be given to you, when you take it will be taken from you. That’s why some people always have enough to lend while others never have enough but always borrow.
My dear Unbeliever, it looks as if I am agreeing with you on most of your concerns about us and you are right – I do agree with you because I see these issues front and center as well and I will not cover up anything to deceive you into coming to Christ. On this issue of poverty and lack, I can go on for pages but I hope I have given you enough reasons to understand why we preach abundance and prosperity yet we struggle, while you are thriving on your jobs even when you don’t believe in God. You see, the same principles you apply to your lives to create your financial independence and wealth is available for us all but most of us Believers are disobedient and we don’t use them. Being in Christ and following Christ does not mean you should lose your principles of building financial independence. You have to apply them because God wants us to prosper to that we can live comfortably, bless His Kingdom and bless the rest of the world. I also believe in spiritual manipulation, territorial effects and etc. that have genuinely rendered some people poor and these are the people God encourages us to help and be there for them. I know a God who blesses efforts and can deliver you from any and every situation.
As you go about your week, I pray that you will remain diligent in whatever the Lord has blessed you with. If there is any financial door that is closed in your life, may the Lord open it for you. May the Lord give some of us a second chance to be good stewards of the things He will bless us with. Above all, may the grace of the Lord that gives us the power to create wealth rest on all of us this week and always. AMEN!
To be continued…
XOXO,
Lady Abena.