By Pastor Willy .J. Christome---St Pierre AoG, Mauritius.

Bible Reading: Corinthians 2:6-16

To be really effective in the ministry, the man/woman of God must be a truly spiritual man. In fact, by definition, a minister of the Gospel should be a spiritual person, but unfortunately very often it is not so. Called of God to preach the Gospel and equip the believers for ministry, the man/woman of God must be the first one  to put into practice what he/she preaches.

There is no way to be really effective and operate under the anointing of the Holy-Spirit without being constantly in the presence of God. In a sense there is a price to pay for this powerful anointing of the Spirit of God. It is obvious that we will not be able in this article to present a complete study of the subject, but in all humility we are going to give you what to our thinking are essential.

 

1.       The spiritual man/woman is a crucified person.

This means that he has crucified the flesh and more than that he /she maintains it crucified. The Lord says in Luke 9:23 

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” This is more easily said than done. This means to refuse to live in the present time with emotions resulting from past experiences. So many of our dear colleagues in the work of God live in the past as far as their emotions and state of mind is concerned. This results  in grudges and much resentment which are utterly incompatible with a prayerful life. A deep communion with the Lord is much hindered with an unforgiving heart. And we know how in some cases the heart has been so deeply hurt by those whom you have loved with all your heart that it takes a true spiritual maturity to be able to forgive. It costs, but the result is heaven on earth (I should have said heaven in our heart or living under an “open heaven). Yes there is blessing for the forgiving heart.

 

2.       The Spiritual man knows what the Grace of God means.

The Grace of God is a powerful doctrine in the N.T. We often miss the scope of the grace of God. It is really unfathomable.  We so often relate to a person according to his/her past. Some people want their church to grow and at the sometime they are unable to welcome certain persons because they have been involved in some known sins or misconduct in the past, even though these persons have gone through a true repentance. It is true that we should, as shepherds of the flock ,be very careful about those we introduce and accept in our midst, but we should also be careful to develop a closed heart toward those who want to come back to the Lord and into the fellowship the church.

I am always amazed when meditating on the parable of the prodigal son. The day he returned home he was welcomed without a single reproach, and we know what he had done and what he really deserved. That same night there was a feast to welcome him as nobody has ever witnessed in that house. He himself was dressed as a prince. It was unbelievable. It is no surprise that the elder son could not handle that. It was too much love, according to him. The prodigal son was literally overwhelmed by an overabundance of blessings which he not only didn’t deserve, but could not have expected in his wildest dream..

The truly spiritual man, without being naïve, knows something about that true loving spirit. Some parents cannot forgive their children because “their family name” and reputation has been tarnished. For some people rehabilitation is impossible and is even unthinkable. Zacchaeus was rehabilitated by the grace of the Lord and the entire town was upset and could not accept that. It was the same thing for the woman who wept at the feet of the Lord and anointed Him with a very expensive perfume, all those present and even the disciples could not stand that. To operate in the anointing and for the power of God to be released there should be a loving heart. Preach the grace of God and you will see the anointing of the Holy-Spirit at work.

 

3.       The truly spiritual man/woman of God does not live and work to please man.

The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 1:10 “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ”

In Philippians 2:6-7 it is written about Christ that he didn’t consider equality with God as something to be grasped; but made Himself nothing. We live in democratic countries where human rights are strictly observed and everyone wants his/her rights to be respected. It is legal end right to be so. But we unconsciously bring this mentality in the kingdom of God and we have the feeling that everybody owes us much consideration and we even fight for our due place of honor.

The truly Spiritual man/woman is a humble person. He knows that in due time God Himself will fight for him/her and place him/her where he/she should be should be, and nobody will be able to prevent that. When God’s time came Joseph was exalted and became Governor of Egypt just next to Pharaoh.

The Spiritual man/woman constantly strives to please God not man. He /she does everything in the perspective of eternity and knows that the true reward will be when he/she will be with the Lord , not here on earth with man.

 

4.       The truly Spiritual person is a man/woman of prayer. 

 To stay for  long hours with the Lord, not only to ask him what he /she needs or to intercede for others, which is very important, but to be with the Lord in worship and to listen to his voice and meditate His word. This is the real price of receiving the anointing of the Holy-Spirit and be renewed constantly. The presence of the Lord is the secret . No need to say that this will and should result in a life of holiness.

 

5.       The  truly spiritual man/woman has a spiritual language

In John8:43 The Lord says “why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say” and in John 7:46 the people sent by the Pharisees reported to them about Jesus that “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” They in fact said that He did not speak like a mere man; but that His language was divine, he spoke like God would speak.

The anointing of the Holy-Spirit is discernable. People cannot be indifferent when somebody is speaking under the anointing of God’s Spirit. There is a spiritual language for spiritual things. (I Corinthians 2:13)

 

God bless you abundantly