05/06/2025
"THREE SIMPLE STEPS YOU NEED TO TAKE TO BE BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AS DEMONSTRATED BY GOD IN THE WILDERNESS (PART 3):
2) THIRST/THIRSTY:
Continued...
WHAT DID JESUS AND ISAIAH MEAN BY "THIRST"?
There are TWO THINGS that the Bible refers to as being "THIRSTY".
These two things by Divine appointment happen to be the two most important PURPOSES of the TEMPLE or TABERNACLE of God.
The Bible says that we are the TEMPLE of God because the HOLY SPIRIT DWELLS in us:
"Do you not know that you are the TEMPLE of God because the HOLY SPIRIT DWELLS in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19)
In other words, when as a believer you seek to be BAPTIZED with the HOLY SPIRIT you are seeking to become the "TEMPLE" of God.
If you seek to become the TEMPLE of God by being BAPTIZED with the HOLY have you ever asked the most important reasons and PURPOSES for which God wants to make you the TEMPLE of God?
Imagine trying to buy something you do not know its PURPOSES.
That is "CRAZY"! Isn't it?
But that is exactly what happens when we try to become the "TEMPLE of God" without understanding the most important reasons God wants to make us His TEMPLE and the most important PURPOSES of the TEMPLE.
I showed in my article titled "The Two Reasons Why We Are The Temple of God", posted on December 15th, 2019, (If you are not reading this on the Page, you may READ this article on "Truth Witness Christian Centre Page. Trace the Page through my Facebook profile by clicking on "Pastor at Truth Witness Christian Centre.), that when God first commanded Moses to build a TEMPLE for Him in the wilderness, there are two words He used to describe the Temple:
A) The first word was "SANCTUARY" which means a "HOLY PLACE" or a "PLACE SEPARATED for God's USE ALONE":
"And let them make Me a SANCTUARY..." (Exodus 25:8)
So when you are the "TEMPLE of God", you are not only the Temple of God because the HOLY SPIRIT dwells in you but because you are a "SANCTUARY", a "HOLY PLACE SEPARATED for ONLY God's USE".
B) The second word God used to describe the Temple when He first commanded Moses to build Him a Temple was "TABERNACLE":
"According to all that I show you, that is the pattern of the TABERNACLE..." (Exodus 25:9; see verse 8 also).
As I showed also in the article mentioned above, when Paul said we are the "Temple of God because the HOLY SPIRIT dwells in us", he derived this concept from the fact that God referred to the Temple as a "TABERNACLE" or "DWELLING PLACE of God."
So apart from our being the "TEMPLE of God" because we are a "SANCTUARY" or a "HOLY PLACE", a "PLACE SEPARATED for God's USE ALONE", we are equally the "TEMPLE of God" because we are a "TABERNACLE of God", a "DWELLING PLACE of the SPIRIT of God".
A) However, as the "SANCTUARY of God" or a "HOLY PLACE of God" or a "PLACE SEPARATED for ONLY God's USE", our FIRST PURPOSE or FUNCTION as the TEMPLE of God is HOLINESS and RIGHTEOUSNESS.
In other words, the first most important reason God made you His TEMPLE as a believer is to make you a "PLACE OF HOLINESS or RIGHTEOUSNESS"!
But that is not the only reason and purpose; there is a second most important reason and purpose why you are the TEMPLE of God.
B) The Scriptures say:
"And He said to them, 'It is written, 'My HOUSE shall be called a HOUSE of PRAYER..." (Matthew 21:13; see also Isaiah 56:7);
In other words, apart from being the "Tabernacle or Dwelling Place of God" and the "Sanctuary or Holy Place of God," the "TEMPLE" of God is also a "HOUSE OF PRAYER".
What this means is that the second most important reason and purpose for which God makes you His "TEMPLE" is for you to become a "HOUSE OF PRAYER".
Put in another way, your second most important purpose as the TEMPLE of God is PRAYER!
This means that when you want God to BAPTIZE you with the HOLY SPIRIT, you are asking God to make you a "HOUSE OF PRAYER", because this is the second most important reason and purpose for which the HOLY SPIRIT is given to us and for which God desires to make us His TEMPLE!
Do you then wonder why Paul said: "Pray without CEASING."? (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
C) Now when you read the Bible and see where Jesus talked about "FIRST LOVE" or "FIRST WORKS", for example, where the Lord Jesus said to the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation:
"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your FIRST LOVE." (Revelation 2:4)
And again:
"...repent and do the FIRST WORKS..." (Revelation 2:5);
What Jesus referred to as "FIRST LOVE" and "FIRST WORKS" are HOLINESS/FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS and PRAYER because these are the FIRST TWO most important reasons and purposes for which the HOLY SPIRIT was given to us and for which God made us His TEMPLE.
And the truth is that just like the church in Ephesus, what Jesus "HAS AGAINST" many believers today is that they have LEFT their "FIRST LOVE" and are no more doing the "FIRST WORKS"!
And like the church in Ephesus, many believers need to REPENT of having "LEFT their FIRST LOVE" and of not doing the "FIRST WORKS"!
What have all these to do with THIRST/THIRSTY?
Unknown to you, when the Lord Jesus said:
"If anyone THIRSTS, let him come to Me and drink." (John 7:37)
And when Isaiah said:
"For I will pour water on him who is THIRSTY, and FLOODS on the DRY GROUND; I will pour My SPIRIT on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring." (Isaiah 44:3)
And when the book of Revelation says:
"...I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who THIRSTS." (Revelation 21:6)
And again:
"...And let him who THIRSTS come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17);
What Jesus, Isaiah and the book of Revelation refer to as "THIRST/THIRSTY" above are the DESIRES to FULFIL or PERFORM the two most important reasons and purposes for which the HOLY SPIRIT was given to us and for which God made us His TEMPLE!
It is to DESIRE to FULFIL or PERFORM our "FIRST LOVE" and "FIRST WORKS" as believers!
A) In other words, firstly, to "THIRST" is to DESIRE to become a true "SANCTUARY or HOLY PLACE of God".
It is to DESIRE to be "SEPARATED for ONLY God's USE" through HOLINESS and FRUIT of RIGHTEOUSNESS.
In that regard, Jesus said:
"Blessed are those who hunger and THIRSTS for RIGHTEOUSNESS, for they will be FILLED." (Matthew 5:6)
Did you see "THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNES"?
In other words when Jesus and Isaiah talked about "THIRST/THIRSTY", in part, they meant being "THIRSTY FOR RIGHTEOUSNES" or HOLINESS!
Did you also see "For they shall be FILLED"?
Since you have been reading this passaage in the book of Mathew 5:6, have you ever asked yourself what those who hunger and THIRST for RIGHTEOUSNESS shall be FILLED with?
Of course, they shall be FILLED with the HOLY SPIRIT?
Here was Jesus saying that one of the most important KEYS you need to be BAPTIZED with the HOLY SPIRIT is a "THIRST" or DESIRE for RIGHTEOUSNESS or HOLINESS.
B) Second, to "THIRST" is to DESIRE to become a "HOUSE OF PRAYER".
It is to DESIRE to "PRAY WITHOUT CEASING"!
The book of Psalm says:
"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul THIRSTS for God, for the living God. When shall I come and APPEAR BEFORE God?" (Psalm 42:1-2)
To "THIRST" as spoken by the Lord Jesus, Isaiah and the book of Revelation is to "THIRST FOR GOD":
"My soul THIRSTS for God, for the living God." (Psalm 42:2)
However, to "THIRST FOR GOD" is to "THIRST" or DESIRE for RIGHTEOUSNESS or HOLINESS and PRAYER, which are the two most important reasons and purposes for which God gave us His HOLY SPIRIT and for which He made us His TEMPLE.
Now here are the three things you must NEVER FORGET:
A) The most important reason millions of believers today are not genuinely BAPTIZED with the HOLY SPIRIT and why they have asked God for HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM without receiving and why many ministers of the Gospel have prayed for them for HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM without them receiving is that they are NOT THIRSTY for HOLINESS/RIGHTEOUSNESS and PRAYER!
B) It is IMPOSSIBLE for you as a believer to be THIRSTY for HOLINESS and PRAYER without receiving BAPTISM of the HOLY SPIRIT the sooner!
TRY IT NOW!
Prove me wrong here!
Examine yourself properly, if you have been a believer for years without being BAPTIZED with the HOLY SPIRIT and you have asked God for BAPTISM of the HOLY SPIRIT and you have been prayed for by ministers of the Gospel yet you did not receive while some people received, the truth is that you did not receive because you are not THIRSTY for HOLINESS/RIGHTEOUSNESS and PRAYER!
As Isaiah and Jesus said, the HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM is meant for those who are THIRSTY for RIGHTEOUSNESS and PRAYER.
C) In a similar vein, for those who are already BAPTIZED with the HOLY SPIRIT who desire constant manifestations of the POWER of God in miracles, healings, etc, it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to make yourself available to the HOLY SPIRIT as His SANCTUARY or HOLY PLACE and as His "HOUSE OF PRAYER" without you becoming a "POWERHOUSE" equally!
This is the real secret of the early disciples!
They became "POWERHOUSES", not because they were special than us but because they understood that the most important reasons and purposes for which the HOLY SPIRIT was given to us and for which God made us His TEMPLE is for us to become a "SANCTUARY or HOLY PLACE" of God and a "HOUSE OF PRAYER" and made themselves available to the HOLY SPIRIT as His HOLY PLACE and HOUSE OF PRAYER!
We cannot do the same without doing what the first apostles did!
"...God shows personal favouritism to no man..." (Galatians 2:6)
"Jesus Christ is the SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY and FOREVER." (Hebrews 13:8)
To be continued...
The grace, mercy and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
Pastor Charles Ikoro.
