John G Lake- The Communion with the Holy Spirit
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”
2 Corinthians 13: 14
The Holy Spirit birthed the Church, and we have an intimate connection with the Holy Spirit. In fact, every believer needs to recognize their absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit and that we must maintain a constant now communion with Him. The early Church understood this and as a result, saw power. Paul said:
“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit of power.”
1 Corinthians 2: 4
Our words and preaching should carry power as the Holy Spirit breathes into us. John G Lake explained:
“But there came a day when the Church traded the communion of the Holy Ghost for the smile of the world, and then the long, long night of the middle centuries followed.”
Today, sadly, the modern church boasts of her knowledge and legacy, but not in the Holy Spirit. But to walk with the Holy Spirit, we must learn how to walk in an agreement with Him. If we are to see a real move of God on the earth, we must learn how to humble ourselves and yield to the Holy Spirit.
Lake explained:
“There is a definite possession of the Spirit of God by which the individual becomes the conscious possessor of the Spirit of God. Indeed, the Word of God puts it in this forceful manner. ‘Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?’ It is God’s purpose, as outlined b Jesus Christ and this Word from cover to cover, that man shall be the conscious possessor of the Spirit of the Living God, the Holy Ghost.”
We are to walk with a conscious knowledge of the abiding Presence of the Holy Spirit. If we are aware of His Presence, then we will be consumed with holy reverence and fear and humility. We would fear grieving the Holy Spirit or hindering the Holy Spirit’s operation. Our relationship with the Holy Spirit must be everything.
“Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”
2 Corinthians 3: 3
The Holy Spirit calls us to yield the secret place of our hearts and allow Him to inscribe with His hand unto our hearts and make us living epistles. Our testimony and ongoing inscribing by the Holy Spirit as we yield to the Holy Spirit. This engraving requires an investing of our time and absolute trust.
Lake explained:
“That is the ‘Real Christian.’ That is the thing that has been lacking in the Church throughout the centuries that are past. It was the consciousness of God’s Presence and God’s power in the disciples and the Church of the first centuries that wrote across the pages of history of the wonderful, wonderful record of Christianity of the first four hundred years.”
We must walk always seeking to be found pleasing to the Lord and not simply holding the applause of men.
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”
2 Corinthians 5: 9
Our eyes must be firmly fixed in Him and not the need, not people, nor ourselves. For we live for Him and to be found well-pleasing to Him. But if we are to be found well-pleasing to Him, then we must understand how to walk with Him in an agreement. This means we must be found holy.
Paul warns the Corinthians of two keys to walking with the Holy Spirit. First, we must not allow our emotions to restrain us:
“You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.”
2 Corinthians 6: 12
Now we either walk by the natural order and are constrained by our soul (mind, will, and emotions), or we learn by the Holy Spirit to walk by the Spirit. In this walk, He transforms us and brings us to liberty. Lake explained:
We live that our souls may grow. The development of the soul is the purpose of existence. God Almighty is trying to obtain some decent association for Himself. By His grace He is endeavouring to have us grow up in His knowledge and likeness to that stature where as sons of God we will comprehend something of His love, of His nature, of His power, of His purpose, and be big enough to give back to God what a son should give to a great Father: the reverence, the love, the affection that comes from the understanding of the nobleness and greatness of His purpose.
As we surrender our heart, the Holy Spirit comes and engraves on our hearts so that all that we do is an outflow and our lives a living epistle being read by all men in all we say and do. Not held or constrained by our affections, but rather in the liberty of the Spirit and pouring forth.
Then, secondly, we learn to come out from the world and things of the world that we might be holy unto the Lord.
“I will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be there God and they shall be My people.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from among them and be separate,’ says the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 6: 16b, 17
If we are to walk with Him, our lives must be in agreement with Him. Here we share His heart, goal, and language and harmonize with Him. We no longer sound or look like the world, but as He is, so are we.
Lake explained:
The real Christian is a SEPARATED man. He is separated forever unto God in ALL the departments of his life. So his Body, so his Soul and his Spirit are forever committed to God the Father. From the time he commits himself to God, his BODY is as absolutely in the hands of God as his spirit or his soul.
Yes, we are separated from the world and separated unto Him. This is a daily decision and daily pursuit.
When one stops to analyze that fact, we see that God is trying to make us, in all our nature and being and habits and thought, in all the structure of our life, just as beautiful and just as real and just as clear-minded and just as strong as Jesus Himself. Then we understand what Christ’s redemption means. It is the bringing out of Christ IN YOU until Christ in you is the One manifest: manifest through your eyes just as God was manifest through the eyes of Jesus, manifest through your touch just as God was manifest through Jesus. It is not a power nor a life separate from yourself, but two lives made one, two natures co-joined, two minds operating as one: Christ in YOU.
The early Church understood the need from times of communion through prayer with the Lord God. They gave themselves to prayer. It was not fabricated or formulated but an abiding relationship. They needed the Holy Spirit, and so they pursued Him. As they drew near to God, He drew near to them.
We must walk recognizing that we are not our own but bought with a price. We are His. This new life is one of consecration and commitment. Commitment is proven over time because we may resolve to give all and seek His face daily, but it is the daily pursuit until it becomes part of our daily routine that is critical. Like a soldier we have trained and trained until it is automatic.
Lake explained:
A hundredfold consecration takes the individual forever out of the hands of all but God. “Ye are not your own.”
