How to receive the Holy Spirit

First step: Be aware

Understand that no one is baptised with the Holy Spirit because they deserve it. Anyone who thinks they’re worthy of the Holy Spirit will never receive it. This baptism should be sought with all of your strength and with all your heart, through faith in Jesus Christ.

Second step: Want

You can’t simply want it because you think it’s a good idea to have or because others have it. You must yearn to have it because you understand that it’s as necessary as salvation. This need is similar to the need for forgiveness for your sins. It’s an ardent need, above any other aspiration or heart’s desire. It’s more than life, marriage, and all the wealth in the world; it’s more than anything the world can offer. This is why the Lord requires us to thirst for His presence. You need to be thirsty. If anyone is thirsty… (John 7:37). You must truly want it and be willing to fight for it; otherwise it’ll be very difficult.

Third Step: Give thought

Your want has to be followed by constant thoughts of the Person of the Holy Spirit. He should continuously be on your mind; whether it’s at home, work, while running errands, at church or anywhere else for that matter. Think about Him as much as possible, just like when you’re in a relationship with someone. When you’re in love, you always end up thinking about that special someone, right? The same thing should happen with those seeking the Divine Seal. The important thing is to keep your focus on Him. Needless to say that during this time, you should separate yourself from anything that can pollute your good conscience. Avoid hanging around with the wrong crowd or people that aren’t of the same faith because they’ll end up distracting you and disrupting your relationship with the Holy Spirit. It’s difficult but not impossible. Faith requires sacrifices. If you’re willing to take all the necessary measures when fighting for your prosperity, the same principle should be applied even more so to your spiritual life. Imagine the Holy Spirit’s abundance!

Know that this takes a supernatural effort.

Conclusion:

There’s nothing more that is needed after all these conditions are met, and worrying about it is useless. Just wait. The baptism can happen at any moment and anywhere: at home, work, while running errands, at church etc, because you have seen to it that there are no obstacles impeding the Lord Jesus from baptising you with His Spirit.

Note: It’s very likely that the devil with attack you with dirty thoughts during the time that you’re occupying your mind “with the Person of the Holy Spirit”. Don’t fret when this happens, it’s an excellent sign that you’re on the right track. Don’t become discouraged. Don’t worry. Don’t feel as though you have sinned against Him because temptation is not sin. Sin is when you fall into temptation. The only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Don’t be afraid or back down when you’re bombarded with dirty thoughts. Seize the moment, resist the devil and praise the Lord Jesus, whether it’s through singing or worship (in a loud or low voice, depending on your privacy).The important thing is not fearing or being intimidated by the dirty thoughts. React! And by react, I mean, praise God.

Bishop Macedo

But Darkness has covered

"I will give you the treasures of darkness; And hidden riches of secret places; That you may know that I,the LORD, who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel"(Isaiah 45:2-3).

What is it that darkness has covered that you want it to be revealed? Maybe you have tried many things to find your place, but darkness has covered. But God promises to give us what is hidden from us by darkess. It is true that the lives of many people are being withheld by this darkness with no hope of coming out of it.

My dear friend, with God all things are possible, but first we need to show our faith in Him. How can we show our faith? To show our faith in God it is when we put our lives between life and death. i.e. If I die, let me die, but God has promised to be with me everywhere I go. Using His words always is the key to your conquest, of course if you are being honest.

Well, what we have to know is that, faith goes hand in hand with faithfulness and in this way faith will bring results. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were saved by their faith and their faithfulness in God. They believed that God will save them because they were faithful to God even to the point of death.

Look how darkness usually covers people's lives, "Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their garments, and were cast into the midst of the fiery furnace"(Daniel 3:21).

These men were doing all they could to walk in faithfulness or in light but darkness was trying to cover them up. Everyone in these world will face this darkness, but the only way to overcome it is through faith and faithfulness in sight of the Livin God.

If you are always faithful to God your Creator, you will always come out of darkness in victorious.

Be faithful with your deeds, so that the darkness may not cover you so that you may receive your hidden treasures, and you master darkness. Meshach, Shadrach and Abed-Nego mastered darkness through their faith in God and their faithfulness;"And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace; Then king Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counsellors,'Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?' They answered and said to the king,'True, o king'; 'Look!' he answered,'I see four men loose, walking in thd midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the four is like the Son oe God'"(Daniel 3:24-25).

These three men fell down bound, but came out of the fire loose and being loose they were no longer three but four. Look what darkeness or satan tried to do, he tried to kill but God went to fire with them and saved them.

The bible says that they did not even smell the smoke of the fire, because God saw their faith in Him.

Do you want God to do the same to you too?

Do what these three men did, depend on God, not on your friend. To His faithful one's He goes by Himself to save them.

BY LERE TSELE

The big Difference

Only God knows the true intention of our heart. He knows when we have the desire to please Him and if we are being sincere or not. But it is only through our actions that we can show God and those who are around us our true intentions.
It is always more difficult to show our intentions with attitudes, because there is a great difference between talking and doing.
Many of us often say many things or try to do many things physically with our the work of our hands, such as: cleaning, evangelism, house cleaning, taking care of the bible school, etc. and of course this is all of supreme importance, because when we are born of God, we seek to do the best for Him. But, we should always remember the story about Marta and Mary, meanwhile one was sitting at the foot of Jesus, the other was busy with a lot of other physical things to do. In other words, one was seeking the spiritual food and the other was more worried about the physical food.
Now, at this moment, both of them were serving Jesus, but which one do you think was more important to do?
It is always more important and fundamental to be of God and seek to practice His word without interest. If we are born of God, we should serve with love and only then will we be a true offering to God. When we give a good testimony everywhere we go.

When we show love to those who are suffering outside in this world because they do not know about God, is to practice our first love. When we show love the love of God to a soul that maybe work’s with us or with someone close, we are showing a true unconditional love and also we are sharing the wonderful scent of the perfume of Jesus.

Even a child is known by his deeds,whether what he does is pure and right.
(Proverbs 20:11)

The Three Weapons

Everyone has problems. They are part of life. Some are inevitable; some are caused by bad choices; some are part of the process of conquering our dreams.

A common mistake among Christians is thinking that they shouldn’t have any problems now that their lives are in God’s hands. However, God never promised that.

Jesus said:

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

At the same time that He was preparing us for the challenges to come, He also reassured us that we shouldn’t worry – if He defeated death, with Him on our side we will overcome.

God has given us three weapons to deal with our daily problems:

1. His Word
2. His Name
3. His Spirit

When combined with faith, these weapons make us more than capable of handling the toughest problems around.

Paul said it best:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (…) Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35,37-39)

Are you tired of your problems? Use the weapons God gave you and fight. If you have been feeling down, discouraged or weak change your attitude towards your problems and believe. Instead of complaining about our life, let’s do something to change it.

As we prepare for Easter – the day the world remembers Jesus’ victory over death – every Sunday at the UCKG we will be uniting in faith to fight for our victory. You don’t need to do it alone. Let’s fight together, one God, one heart, and one faith.

Whether your problem is a debt, unemployment, poverty, an addiction, an illness, family issues, stress, depression, sin/temptation, temper or something else, Jesus is saying, ‘Look at me, I did it! And you can do it too, if you believe.’

God bless

He will return!

Not everyone believes. Even among those who believe, only few await Him. But He will return. The latest events that have taken place around the world are evident signs of this. Tsunamis, earthquakes, heavy rains, epidemics and famine have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Not to mention drugs, violence and accidents. Everything seems to be pointing to the end.

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.” (Luke 21:10,11)

“Nation against nation” refers to wars among countries. “Kingdom against kingdom” refers to religious conflicts. And a religious conflict is worse than a war between countries. For this reason, Jesus said, “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death” (Matthew 10:21).

This atmosphere of terror and death already exists. And it tends to get worse. He is coming back soon. But it’s not the end yet.

In the past, the end of times was a subject only talked about in the church. Today, scientists are so sure of the end of times that they talk about it openly. One of the most important TV channels in the world is always showing reports about the subject. The worldwide catastrophes seem to be announcing the end. But, before it happens, there will be the Great Tribulation—when the Antichrist will rule for a period of 7 years.

At the moment, we are living in the period of light affliction. And when it finishes, the Lord Jesus will take His faithful followers. They will not experience the Great Tribulation. The false, “pirate” Christians, on the other hand, will be harmed by the fury of the Great Tribulation.

Those who live will see it…

Bishop Macedo