Be eager for His manifestations | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: April 07, 2024 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 49

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to the second week of this month, the month of April 2024. I pray that God will fill your heart with great hunger and thirst for diverse manifestations of His Spirit in your life and in His church, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we see in Scriptures, one of the reasons God has poured out His Spirit on humanity is that He may manifest Himself among us through diverse gifts of this Spirit. Look at how the bible puts that:

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:17-18NIV)

Who said that He would pour out His Spirit on all people? God! And has He done that? Yes, He has. He did that after the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and on the Pentecost day that followed. Then what did God say would happen after pouring out His Spirit on all people? He said that men and women, boys and girls and old men and old women would begin to prophesy, see visions, have inspired dreams and witness other manifestations of the presence of His Spirit in their lives.

Therefore, all of us who believe in Christ Jesus and have received the outpouring of His Spirit into our lives can expect to have these experiences that God has spoken about. We can expect to prophesy, speak in tongues, see visions, have inspired dreams, heal the sick, work miracles and do other things that God has said in Scriptures that we would be doing once His Spirit comes into our lives. (Cf. 1Cor 12:4-12)

Unfortunately, what we see in the various churches of God all around the world is far from this. We are not witnessing much serious manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit in our midst, as God has said that we would. Why? One main reason is that we are not zealous to see what He has said come to pass in our midst and our lives.

It is true that there are false manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit. Yes, there are false prophecies, false speaking in tongues, false healing, false miracles and even false teachings. But the very fact that there is a fake of something shows that the original is somewhere around the corner. We will, then, be cheating ourselves to refuse to go for the original because of the fake.

In the same vein, the fact that there are false manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit shows us that there are genuine manifestations of His gifts. What we should do, then, is learn what the Scriptures say about how to differentiate genuine manifestations of His Spirit from fake ones, so that we can earnestly go for the genuine ones. Otherwise, we will continue to rob ourselves of the blessings that we are supposed to be experiencing in our midst and in our world through the workings of these beautiful gifts of the Spirit.

As we are shown in Scriptures, there was great joy in a Samaritan city where Philip had preached (Acts 8:5-8). Why? It was because there were diverse manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit through him, as he preached there. We too can expect our homes, communities, schools and workplaces to be filled with joy, when the Spirit of God begins to manifest Himself through us in diverse ways. And God has already said that this would happen. All we need is to earnestly thirst to experience what He has said in our lives and in our midst.

So, the bible says, “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” (1Cor 14:1NIV) Did you see that? First, we are told to let love be what motivates us in all that we do in life. Then we are told to eagerly desire spiritual gifts. Have you ever eagerly looked forward to something in your life before, maybe someone’s help or an occasion that you want to attend? How did that eagerness make you feel? Most likely, it made you feel restless. It made you do all you needed to do to be ready for that thing.

In like manner, if we are eager for the manifestations of the Spirit of God in our lives and in our churches, we will be doing all that we need to do to see them happen. We will be meditating on what the word of God says about them. We will be praying for them to happen. And we will be taking steps of faith to see them happen. So, as we go this new week, let our eager desire for great manifestations of the Spirit of God in our lives and in the church of God be awakened. And great and unspeakable things of joy will begin to happen in our lives and all around us.

Have a splendid week.

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