Devotion 404

“The Stirring Of Our Spirit by the Holy Spirit”

Reference: Ezra Chapter 1

No man or woman comes to the Father unless they are stirred  by the Holy Spirit.

John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

The Father draws by the stirring of the spirit of the individual by the Holy Spirit, the quickening Spirit.

John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

The Holy Spirit stirred the heart of Nebuchadnezzar to put Israel into captivity. The Holy Spirit likewise stirs the heart of Cyrus to release Israel out of captivity.

Let’s read:

Ezra 1:1 “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,”

Nothing can be done for the Lord until our spirit is stirred up by the Holy Spirit.

It’s the Spirit of God that reveals the Word of God to a man or woman. Until then, the Written Word of God is simply another book.

Matthew 16:16-17 “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. [17] And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar–jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

The spirit of Simon was stirred by the Holy Spirit with a revelation of the Christ, the Son of God. And what a revelation it was, and is today.

The same stirring revelation that came to Nathaniel.

John 1:48-49 “Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. [49] Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.”

The same stirring or quckening revelation that came to the woman at the well.

John 4:25-26,28-29 “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. [26] Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. [28] The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, [29] Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”

We can never believe until our spirit is stirred up by the Holy Spirit with a revelation of the Christ.

We continue our reading:

Ezra 1:2 “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”

He charged king Cyrus by stirring his spirit, the same way He charges men and women today.

We continue our reading:

Ezra 1:3-5 “Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. [4] And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. [5] Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.”

He can stir up an individual or a group. He is the God that quickens. And when He quickens, nothing can stand in the way.

We conclude our reading:

Ezra 1:6-11 “And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered. [7] Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; [8] Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. [9] And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, [10] Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. [11] All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.”

The are quickened to rebuild Jerusalem. It wasn’t some man’s idea or plan but the quickening of the Holy Spirit.

May we only act by the quickening of the Spirit.

Let the Spirit of God quicken you into action today. BELIEVE and confess Christ the Word as we’ve revealed Him from the First Adam. The earthy Adam was a living soul, but we have been drawn to the heavenly by a quickening Spirit, in Christ!

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