ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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The Anointing Within: Inoculation Against Deception

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I’ll tell you another important benefit of becoming

familiar with the way God communicates: When you go

into a meeting where someone is teaching false

doctrine, that wrong teaching won’t be able to

penetrate into your spirit. You’ll be able to discern

what is going on as you sit in a meeting. Is the devil

attacking the service and the Holy Ghost fighting for it?

Or is a“wolf” behind the pulpit, trying to steal the wool

off the sheep?

You see, developing the ability to discern what is not

true, even if it is spoken from behind the pulpit, is one

of the first results of consistently praying in tongues.

Praying in tongues is an inoculation against deception.

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came, He would

guide us into all truth (John 16:13). No wonder John

later said this about the Holy Spirit:

These things have I written unto you concerning them

that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have

received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that

any man teach you: but as THE SAME ANOINTING

TEACHETH YOU of all things, and IS TRUTH, AND IS NO

LIE, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in

him.— 1 John 2:26,27

What did John mean when he said that you have no

need that any man teach you? Well,the truth is, most

deception takes place behind the pulpit. That’s where

great religious movements are born that deny half of

the Bible. For instance, when the devil talks church

leaders into removing the right to speak in tongues out

of their bylaws, that particular denomination takes a

step into deception.

Just because someone stands behind a pulpit doesn’t

make him right. He is only right if his teaching lines up

with the Word of God. Truth is truth and stands by its

own merit.

So how are we going to know when someone is teaching

wrong doctrine, whether intentionally or out of

ignorance? By the anointing inside of us that is truth

and does not bear witness to lies.

In the legalistic, ultra-Holiness church where I was first

born again, the people would do all sorts of things to

raise money for the church, such as selling

“anointed”pieces of a cutup preaching tent (I was first

in line to buy one of those!), “anointed” oil, water from

the Jordan River,and even wallets that were never

supposed to go empty. (I went broke buying that wallet

— and then I even lost the wallet!) Or sometimes we

were told to give a love offering to prove God for our

lost loved ones or to have a visiting prophet prophesy

over us.

But the Gospel is not for merchandising, and none of

the things of God are for sale —absolutely none of

them. So after praying in tongues every day for a year, I

went back to visit my old Holiness friends. But when

they started using the familiar “gimmick” tactics,

urging the congregation to give a love offering to “buy”

some coveted blessing, my spirit went dead. I thought,

What’s wrong with me? I used to get all excited just like

everyone else when they talked about this kind of thing.

Have I back slidden without knowing it?

No, I hadn’t back slidden. The Spirit of Truth inside of

me, my Teacher who cannot lie and bears witness only

to the truth, had been activated through many hours of

praying in tongues. He was causing me to discern the

lies that had deceived me in the past but could not

deceive me anymore.

This is just one more reason why I strongly disagree

with people who say that if you pray too much in

tongues, you’ll get “weird.” A person who makes a

statement like that is void of understanding. He would

never say such a thing if he understood the role this

basic gift plays in hearing the voice of God and

becoming familiar with the channel through which He

speaks. No one who loves people would deliberately

deprive the Body of Christ of such a blessing!

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The Candle of the Lord

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Let’s look at one more scripture regarding how the Holy

Spirit communicates with us. Proverbs 20:27 has

something profound to say about the subject:

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all

the inward parts of the belly.

What an incredible statement! My human spirit is the

part of me that is created in God’s image; it is the

candle of God. In other words, it is the part of me that

the Holy Spirit ignites to illuminate my understanding

of Himself, imparting unto me revelation knowledge.

What do we do with a candle? We don’t have much use

for one in a bright room. We light a candle when the

room is dark. We put it on a tabletop, and it throws

illumination into the entire room.

With God’s candle, our spirit man, the Holy Spirit

searches out all the inward parts of the belly — all the

dark places in our lives that need the light of His truth.

This is the same searching process that takes place in us

as we pray in tongues. He who searches the heart knows

the mind of God and makes intercession for us

according to the will of God (Rom. 8:27).

The Holy Spirit teaches us everything we cannot

discern. He shows us mysteries and divine secrets we

need to know about God and His ways. He is our first

and foremost Teacher.

If we let the Holy Ghost teach us, at times we will enter

into different realms of anointing s during prayer, such

as tongues for interpretation or the deep groaning s of

intercession. There will be times when He will teach us

mysteries during our prayer vigils. But no matter what

happens in prayer, we will always come out the

beneficiary if we yield our “candle” to the Holy Spirit,

allowing Him to illuminate our inmost parts with the

light of His truth.

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You have desired to know Me. You have desired the

intimacy of the Spirit that can only come through

edification and worship.

Hear what the Spirit would say. For I desire to

fellowship with you. I desire to operate through you in

My power so that others might be blessed.

Come aside and come up higher. Begin to fellowship

with Me, and I will begin to fellowship with you.

And even though the path grows narrower, I will take

you into a holy communion with Myself, for it is

through My fellowship with you that your hunger and

thirst is quenched.(word given thru Dave Roberson)

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UNTIL NEXT TIME

LARRY