Prepare-for-War

mands' ... be filled with. the Spirit.' (Ephesians 5:18) You have asked the Lord to fill you with His Holy Spirit and you have made a total commitment to Him. Now you must get down on your knees and, in faith, thank Him for keeping His promise and ask Him to work in your life as He chooses. Then go on and you will see the Lord begin to change your life." I thank God for the wisdom of that pastor. I did as he ad vised and within three weeks I was a different person. The first change I experienced was an incredible hunger to read and study God's word. I read the Bible completely through for the first time in my life. Quickly the Lord brought to my attention numerous areas in my life that were not pleasing to Him. And, about a month after I had made that complete commitment to Him, He spoke to me for the first time. (A more in-depth discussion on the topic of hearing the Lord is found in Chapter 7.) After that my relationship with the Lord grew quickly. The issue of my expectations of having an intense emotion al experience accompanied by speaking in tongues brings up an important point. Satan has attacked the area of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit," as some call it, harder than any other, especially so in these last days. Most charismatics want power without the cross. They specialize in emotional experiences, unfortunately. The fundamentalists don't want the cross either, so they say power is not for our day. Both positions are wrong. The problem mankind bas always had and always will have is that God is God. He is not answerable to us, and we cannot control Him in any way. He doesn't have to do any thing as we think He should. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are just that, gifts, given and operative when and how the Holy Spirit chooses, not as we choose. We cannot call upon the gifts or force them to operate in our lives whenever we choose. They are in operation only when God chooses. We

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