SEEING THINGS TO COME 2
(week 08/01)
Olubi Johnson
In our last article, we saw how the Holy Spirit reveals mysteries to us as we pray in tongues. This week we will see how what is revealed is confirmed and clarified in the written word.
Discipline and endurance in praying in the Spirit
Some one may say, “When I pray in tongues I don’t get any revelation; in fact all I get is a headache and my mind just wanders.”
I’m sure most, if not all, us have experienced this before; in fact this is probably why many Christians baptized in the Holy Spirit do not pray in tongues to any appreciable degree. For most of us we speak in tongues for just a few minutes each day and that usually only during praise and worship when there is a strong anointing present. We speak in tongues but do not pray continuously in the spirit for any appreciable length of time like one hour a day.
We need to realize that it takes discipline and endurance to develop the habit of praying continuously in the spirit for an hour each day as part of our daily prayer time and fellowship with the Lord.
Matt 26:40-41
And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
(KJV)
2 Tim 2:3
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
(KJV)
The flesh and the carnal mind will rather do some thing else other than pray: especially in the spirit:
Rom 8:5-6
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:7
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
(KJV)
Romans 8:9 (KJV): But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Romans 8:12-13 (KJV): Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
So we must discipline ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit to pray continuously in the spirit, without interrupting with praying in the understanding, for at least an hour everyday.
At first, it will not be easy; but if you stay with it, whether your flesh likes it or not, after some time the Holy Spirit will discipline your flesh and mind and you will begin to enjoy prayer and get revelation.
Also most times especially if you have not been used to these things and have not matured in the spirit, the revelation does not come while you are praying in the spirit: it comes afterwards. So you just go ahead and pray in the spirit by faith even though your understanding may be unfruitful at that time, trusting that afterwards God will bring revelation and understanding to your mind.
Confirming revelation in the heart through the Word
Now the revelation or picture or understanding the Holy Spirit brings to your mind primarily is confirmed through the written Word that the Holy Spirit brings to your remembrance.
John 14:26 (KJV): But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (especially when you were praying in tongues in addition to what you’ve read in the Word).
The way the Holy Spirit does this is that He takes different parts of the written Word: here a little and there a little, that are relevant to what He wants to show you and uses them to paint a picture in your mind like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
Isaiah 28:10-11(KJV): For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
The scriptures the Holy Spirit uses to speak to us are shadows that point to the substance of what He is showing us. The words and phrases in the specific scriptures may not make sense or be relevant in isolation: just like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle do not make sense individually. However when you put them together you begin to see how the picture that they form takes shape. In the same way shadows of things to come in the Word individually do not always make sense until they are all brought together by the Holy Spirit in your mind to paint a picture of a present reality the Holy Spirit is creating in your circumstances and situation. This is how the Holy Spirit shows us things to come.
Using this means: through speaking in tongues and bits and pieces of the written Word that He can combine in any way He likes, to say whatever He wants to say, at any point in time, in any situation; we see how the Holy Spirit has hidden in the written Word all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and God’s plan for the life of every individual human being.
In our next article, we will look at how to correctly interpret and apply what the Holy Spirit reveals, so as not be deceived by the devil who also knows the Word and can manipulate circumstances.
