The Blessing Of The Spirit - Part 4 — Zac Poonen

Letting God Make Us a Blessing

No, there are a lot of people like that, they try to be a blessing to others and they make a nuisance of themselves. I come across a lot of people, particularly older people who don't have wisdom, a lot of older brothers and older sisters who don't know how to deal with younger brothers and younger sisters.

They try to be a blessing, and those young brothers and sisters run when they see this person coming, because he's coming to be a blessing to them. It's really true. I don't try to be a blessing to anybody.

I know I can't. I'll make a nuisance of myself to them. I'll give you a little bit of advice, don't try to be a blessing to people, because you don't realize what a pain in the neck you've become. Those people who you try to be a blessing to, you know, you give a lot of advice, you should do this, you should do that, I've got a lot of experience, I should do this, do that.

They're sick and tired, when is this person going to get away from me? So the Lord says, I will make you a blessing. Let the Lord do it. And when the Lord makes you a blessing, people come running to you and say, hey, can you tell me something?

Isn't it better to have it like that? And we go thrusting ourselves on people, trying to be a blessing to people. The Lord says, I will make you a blessing. You shall be a blessing, not you should go out and become a blessing.

Don't misunderstand the blessing of Abraham. The Lord, when he blesses us, he makes us a blessing. I will do it. I will make you, I will do this, I will do that. That's wonderful to see that. That is God's work and God's plan to make me like that.

And he knows that I can never do it on my own. And I hope you realize that too. Do you have to toil all night before you realize that you can't catch any fish? Do you have to try every other method before you realize that you can't feed the 5 ,000?

Learning Dependence on Christ

Have you learned the lesson that we just can't do it? You know, which is one of the most important lessons that the Lord wanted to teach his disciples in those three and a half years, John 15, 5, without me, you can do nothing.

Well, they learned it in three and a half years, I don't know how long it takes for some of us to learn it. Without him, I can do nothing, John 15, 5. Which means, now listen to this, that means that whatever I do without him will finally amount to what, nothing.

You may think there is something in what you did. But you did it without consulting him, without praying, without depending on him. You got some bright idea and you decided to do it, fine. What will it finally amount to?

Nothing. Why waste your time? Why waste so many hours doing nothing? I don't want to spend my life like that, wasting so many hours to do nothing. I have only one life and it's slipping by so quickly that I say, Lord, I really want to do something before I leave this earth, but I can't do it.

I can't make myself a blessing, you got to make me. And so, how is that through the Holy Spirit? Blessing of Abraham, we saw in Galatians 3, it's through the Holy Spirit. Something more than Abraham could have.

Abraham's Limited Blessing and Our Spiritual Calling

See, Abraham could not be a spiritual blessing to anybody. I mean, he was a blessing physically perhaps to so many people, but spiritually, he saved all those people whom, the whole people from Sodom who were taken captive in Genesis 14, he went with his 318 servants and delivered all of them.

But where did they all go finally? To be burnt. They got burnt in Sodom. What sort of blessing was that? Whether you get captured by those other kings or burnt in Sodom, it doesn't make much of a difference.

No, Abraham could only be a physical blessing, but to us, we can be a spiritual blessing to people for all eternity. And do you have a passion? Do you have a passion, oh God? I want you to do that. I want you to bless me spiritually and make me a blessing to other people.

Spiritual Blessing Through the Holy Spirit

The Bible says in Ephesians 1, 3 that he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. That's a wonderful promise. You must say, Lord, make that true in my life. Make all those blessings mine and make me a blessing.

That's the meaning of rivers of living water. Like we said the other day, you know, we are first washed and then the well comes inside and then it becomes a river. That's the same thing, being a blessing to other people.

We are first blessed ourselves, the well, that's a blessing. Then the river, that's being a blessing. So that's Abraham, the same thing that Jesus said. I'll first put a well inside you, I'll bless you.

You won't have any lack, you won't have any need. You'll always have water, nobody can turn off your water supply because you've got a well inside. Nobody can take away your joy, nobody can take away your victory, nobody can take away your peace.

But then, that's not enough. The Lord says, I'll make it a river and you will be a blessing to others. So all this can only be through the Holy Spirit. And that's why it's so important to honor the Holy Spirit in our life, practically to really see that the Holy Spirit has come to replace the presence of Jesus that the apostles had.

See John Chapter 14, John's Gospel Chapter 14, Jesus said, I really like the NASB translation of that word, when King James says, comforter, but he's not just a comforter, he's a helper. It says here in John 14 and verse 16, I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper.

And the meaning is someone called alongside to help me. It's the same word for advocate. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And we have the Holy Spirit as our helper here, coming alongside me to help me.

That's, I understand, I don't know Greek, but it's written here in my margin that the Greek word is parakletos, which means one called alongside to help, someone who comes alongside to help me do that thing.

And that's why he's called a helper. Who else was called a helper in the Bible? You know, he. So Jesus said, I'll give you a helper, the Father will give you a helper. And the Father also told Adam, I'll give you a helper.

The Holy Spirit and the Helper in Marriage

So there must be some similarity. The Father said to Adam, I'll give you a helper. And Jesus said, the Father says to us, I'll give you a helper. And the helper the Father gave Adam was Eve, his wife.

And the helper that the Father is going to give us is the Holy Spirit. There must be some similarity between wife's ministry to husband and Holy Spirit's ministry, right? I think so. So all of you better respect your wives from now on.

She's got the same name as the Holy Spirit. Did you know that? So I mean, a real spiritual wife does not seek to lord it over her husband, doesn't seek to rule him. The Holy Spirit doesn't rule us either.

He won't say, come on, do that quickly, otherwise I'll, that's the devil. If you hear a voice like that, it's always the devil. People say, how can I recognize the voice, the Holy Spirit in the voice of the devil?

Discerning the Holy Spirit's Voice

I'll tell you. If you hear a voice saying, you've got to do that right now, that's definitely the devil. If you don't do that, I'll punish you. Ah, certain, that's confirmed, the devil only. The Holy Spirit doesn't talk like that.

Does your wife ever tell you, come on, do that now? But maybe some wives do, but I hope yours doesn't. If you don't do it, I'll teach you a lesson. Oh dear. That's not how a wife is supposed to talk anyway.

If she does, she's being influenced by the devil, no doubt. The Holy Spirit, I mean, he was not meant to talk to Adam like that. A helper. You know, whatever, Adam was a gardener, so she was supposed to help him in gardening.

That's it. So whatever Adam was doing, she was to be a helper there, called alongside, say, okay, let's do that together. That's the meaning. And God told Adam, you don't have to be alone, it's not good for you to be alone, it's not good for you to do anything alone in your life.

Living in Partnership With God

Don't try to do anything alone. You need a helper. You need someone who's alongside you all the time in the garden. That's how God wanted man to live, always with his wife. You know, it is not like this busy life in the cities where you have to go to work eight to twelve hours a day.

No, it wasn't like that in the Garden of Eden. They were to be together all the time. That's how God intended man to live. So the children of Cain, who built the first cities, started drifting away from God.

God intended man to live in a garden. Unfortunately, we live in the cities today. Why? Because the sinners are in the cities. We've got to reach the sinners for Christ, so we've got to live here. But if you leave it to me, I would not live in a city.

I've got to live here to reach the sinners, that's all. So Adam and Eve were supposed to do everything together. They were supposed to work together, sing together, play together, do the garden together, and worship God together, and talk to God together, and everything together.

That's the meaning of a helper.