BELIEVE NOT EVERY SPIRIT (PART VII)

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“Shine the Light of Love”

By Akin Ojumu

As we bring this commentary to conclusion, I’d like to discuss another important way of testing the spirit. And that’s the test of love.

Test 3: True work of the Holy Spirit manifests in perfect love for God and perfect love for neighbor.

“...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and…You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39).

You know that the Holy Spirit is absent in a gathering whenever you find the “I, me, mine, and myself” spirit in control. What they practice in such places is false Christianity propelled by the “everything is all about me” spirit and not the Holy Spirit. The gifts are for me to edify me. The prayers are for me, to get me what I want. It’s a false religion focused on me and me getting whatever it is I desire. 

In congregations where the Holy Spirit isn’t in control, these are the type of prayers you find:

“Father, please divinely reposition me for a major unending breakthrough in Jesus’ name.”

“Father, convert all my curses to blessings in Jesus’ name...”

“Today, God is about to collide with your problems. And at the end of the collision, the problems would be no more.”

“Your colleagues will be coming to you for food, they’ll be coming to you for refreshment.”

“I decree that in your family you will be the go-to-person.”

These prayers of self-glorification are not inspired by the Holy Spirit. They are prayers of pagan mysticism mingled with materialism which produces a cold-hearted, me first, self-absorbed attitude. They are about me feeling, me experiencing, me getting, me acquiring, and me having all I want. They are infantile, self-love, cold-hearted materialism, and selfishness disguised as the work of the Holy Spirit.

This river of self-love also runs through the songs they sing in these places. The choruses are about me, my needs, and my problems. These are songs that whine about my issues, gripe about my enemies, and pine for my miracles. They are an ode to poor old me and not love songs to the everlasting Father. 

Here are a few examples:

“He is a miracle working God, He is a miracle working God…”

“I have a very big God o, who is always by my side, a very big God o, by my side, by my side…”

“My helper o, my helper. My helper o, my helper…” 

“My God is a good God. Yes He is. He lifts me up (He lifts me up). He turns me around (He turns me around)...” 

Although these places masquerade as houses of worship of God, in reality, they are houses of worship of self. Since the focus of everything they do is me getting my financial needs met, getting my sickness healed, and getting my enemies slain, the spirit that’s lord here is not the Holy Spirit of the Bible.

Where the Holy Spirit is, Biblical love permeates everything that’s done. In such places, the love for God is alive, while the love for self stays crucified. That love is demonstrated toward God in pure, true, and holy worship. And it is manifested towards others in humble sacrificial desire to serve and edify.

“Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” (2 John 1:9-11).

You are warned to run from those who preach an aberrant gospel. No matter how highly placed or greatly anointed they may claim, you must mark and avoid such people. Do not be a party to the promotion of a false Christianity that’s not founded on sound doctrine, less you are found guilty of the same evil. Any gospel that’s not the true Gospel comes from Satan and it’s not the work of the Holy Spirit.

“Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” (1 John 3:24)

True believers are known not by their perfection but by their direction. It’s what they love, hate, and long for that determines who their Lord and Master is. The work of the Holy Spirit in the believer is invisible but the effects are highly visible (John MacArthur). So, turn on your light, people, let it shine for the world to see.

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