We love drama, we love to have a tingling feeling in our stomach, we like to see people fall under the anointing, and maybe we like smoke too...these things give off a feeling of the supernatural.
When I first heard Kunle Soriyan say the Holy Spirit doesn't need drama, it rattled my belief. I grew up watching people fall under the anointing and hitting their heads against the drum sets. It was normal for chairs to get broken when the Spirit flows in service as people are out of control.
But then, I observed the grand battle between God's servant and the servants of Baal. The worshippers of Baal cut themselves and sang loudly, danced from morning till noon, and created a lot of drama. Elijah simply sat down and commanded fire from heaven once...and the sacrifice became toast. This made me investigate a little bit more.
The Holy Spirit gives us authority and authority doesn't require drama. Any authority that requires drama to be effective is fake. If your boss smiles and tells you that you are fired, you are fired. I'm not your boss, if I dance around and shout and tell you that you are fired, you aren't fired. Why? Because I don't have the authority to fire you.
If you have authority, you don't need drama to command change. In the same way, the Holy Spirit requires no drama to work in and around us.
The Holy Spirit was not given until much later in the New Testament, but the folks of old in the Old Testament had an experiential knowledge of The Lord. The scriptures tell of Samson who shook his body as usual but the Lord had left him.
Judges 16:20-21 New King James Version (NKJV)And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
This suggests that when the Lord left him, no physical change occurred in his body, nothing changed. He was normal, spoke normally, and moved normally. This also means that when the Lord was with him, he was also absolutely normal. Covid ravaged the world for a while, the day people contacted covid, there was no dramatic change in their lives; they simply contacted it and it entered into their bodies - something capable of terminating life entered noiselessly. At the moment of conception, a woman does not hear bones forming. She doesn't feel anything special but within her, an entire generation has begun – noiseless! In the same way, the entry or exit of the Holy Spirit doesn't really have to be dramatic.
And Mary proves this point for us.
Luke 1:35
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
The Spirit that came upon Mary and the subsequent power that overshadowed her was noiseless, no drama. Just Spirit things!
So let’s take a deep dive into this discussion, and I should warn you – this gets deep real quick.
THE FIXER
The first expression of the Holy Spirit to mankind was the Fixer, and you find that in Genesis 1, the earth was void and formless and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. To make sense of this, we need to understand the story of creation.
Now, here is where you pay attention.
Let's understand creation.
I don't necessarily believe that the Bible book of Genesis is the beginning of creation. I believe it captures the creation of the first man in the image and likeness of God - man in this present form. And yes, this suggests that Adam and Eve were not the first creatures to walk the face of the earth.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth became without form and darkness was upon the face of the deep...then the Spirit of God started His work.
What does it mean for the Holy Spirit to brood over the surface of the waters?
I'd encourage you to keep an open mind in this study.
First, what is the beginning? John 1:1 - the beginning is Christ. So in Christ, God created the heaven and the earth. Remember Christ was slain before the foundation of the earth, so when the bible says darkness entered the face of the deep, it wasn't referring to chaos in verse 2 of Genesis 1. God had seen the entire earth from beginning to end, and He began working His way back to the beginning from the end.
So God knew that at some point, man would fall, but Christ being the redemption plan will never happen unless man receives the Holy Spirit (for no one can come to Me except the Father draws them to me, carnal people cannot come to the knowledge of Christ so except the Holy Spirit does a work in them, they cannot be saved) so God introduced the Holy Spirit to start a work in man right there in Genesis. Redemption plan got started!
How do I know this? Darkness covered the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved over the waters.
The Deep
What is the waters? The ocean? Proverbs 18:4
The deep is the heart of man. Recall, from the abundance of a man's heart, the mouth speaks. The deep waters is the heart of man - "The purposes of a person's heart are deep waters" Prov 20:5.
So the Spirit was brooding over the waters refers to the work that the Holy Spirit began to do in man, to bring light to the formless man. So Psalm 51:10 would say create in me a clean heart and renew in me the right Spirit.
Jer 17:9 - God saw from the very beginning that man will go astray and kicked His redemption plan in place early by sending the Holy Spirit to brood over man's heart. God's redemption plan is in phases. You can begin to trace the pattern of redemption
So we can say that the Spirit brooding over the waters is the Holy Spirit working in the heart of man, fixing stuff, the first layer of the redemption plan from the beginning - so when people say the Holy Spirit was not sent until after Jesus resurrected, the only question I have for them is this - what has the Holy Spirit been doing since creation? You think He's just sitting around?
The Waters
What are the waters? Revelation 17:1-2, 15
The harlot is pictured in control over the waters in the scripture above, and verse 15 says clearly that the water is the people, multitudes, nations and tongues.
So the Spirit brooded over the waters means God moved over the heart of the people, dealing with the heart to introduce light.
So once again, the Holy Spirit had completed His work of redemption before God commanded the light. In verse 27 of Genesis 1 when God formed man, the route through which man will grow into the express image of God (Hebs 1:1-3) had already been established because the Fixer had gone ahead.
Relevance?
The Holy Spirit's first revelation in the scriptures was as the Fixer. What does this mean to us? When life becomes chaotic, the Holy Spirit is our trusted fixer, just ask. The root word for formless and void used in Genesis 1:2 translates into “mentally formless and void”; This suggests that in the beginning, God saw his creation (man) was in a state of confusion, tohu wabohu is the Hebrew word used here, captured succinctly as "bewildered and astonished", it was the Holy Spirit that introduced order in the man's state of bewilderment and confusion. The Holy Spirit is the one that can turn chaos in your life into order.
Does it feel like your life is in a state of bewilderment and confusion? Are you experiencing a version of tohu wabodu? Call the Fixer.
As an aside;
A little bit more on the Holy Spirit and waters - after Jesus walked the face of the earth for 30 years, it was not until the Holy Spirit came upon Him that he came out of the waters and the heavens were open. It's a separation from the waters (people) unto a higher purpose. Just like the Holy SPirit would later say "separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them". It is the Holy Spirit that sets you apart in your craft, millions of people can be doing something but when you step in, you command attention - because you carry the Holy Spirit, you are the called-out one
Zero Drama Holy Spirit
God has shown that he is willing to cope with the primitivity tendencies of man. So when God needed to take the children of Israel across the red sea, the infrastructure at the time was not advanced enough; there were no airplanes and boats, so God had to create a drama – parting the red sea to achieve His purpose. God is not interested in the drama but the infrastructure at the time did not permit a less dramatic approach. Most times when God wants to do stuff for us as believers, He often needs to downgrade the experience to a dramatic method, which helps us appreciate the Supernatural but the error is that we then become awed by drama and miss the essence.
More often than not, our intelligence is subject to our experiences or our understanding – and we gain understanding through study. This then colors the capability we attribute to the Spirit…unless we become intelligent by the Spirit as captured in Job 32:11 - The breadth of the Spirit within people makes them intelligent.
So without the superior intelligence, we reduce the supernatural to our experiences and knowledge levels.
Here is an example, Nigeria has gone pretty far in banking. Interbank transfers started in Nigeria as far back as 1992 and transfers are almost instant. This has ushered in digital cash solutions for a while now so I can fire up my bank app, transfer cash to you and you receive a notification and you can move that cash instantly also to pay for stuff. Now, let's assume I need to send cash to an old man in the village who doesn't use a smartphone, and doesn't have a bank account but he needs to pay his medical bills. The way I would normally help is to transfer the money to him and he can in turn transfer to the doctors instantly and get his drugs. But because this man doesn't have a bank account, he cannot receive the money and regardless of how good my intentions are, I will have to downgrade my methodologies to the infrastructure of the old man in other to help him. So I need to withdraw cash, get to the village and hand him the cash. This is not the most efficient way to transfer cash in this day and age, but I had to meet his needs at the level of his infrastructure – let’s say my commute time to the village to hand him cash took a 8 hours. The man is grateful I helped but it forms an ideology in him that help takes around 8 hours to arrive. This is his experience and reality but it is not the reality for me, I am used to instant transfers but I had to downgrade to the level of his infrastructure so he can receive from me.
So back to the Holy Spirit, there is always a higher level God can meet our needs but because of the level of our understanding/infrastructure, God has to introduce a bit of drama to aid our minds in comprehending it. The drama is subject to the civilization at the time help arrives but it doesn’t mean God is interested in the drama. We only need the drama to experience God’s help.
Relevance?
Too many times, we want to feel the Holy Spirit and when we don’t feel that tingling inside our stomach, we believe He is not present with us. Why is this important? Anyone filled with the Spirit becomes territorial. Acts 1:8 the infilling was to take territories and from Joshua 6:2, we noticed that the annointing on Joshua was to take the city.
And this is crucial because both God and the devil are trying to find legitimacy to operate in the earth realm. Possession is access without permission while indweling is access with permission. The Holy Spirit is all about authority, not drama. Measure the Spirit not by how you feel but by how you engage, the Holy Spirit wants to reach people through you. It is not enough to say what is possible, we must show what is possible by the help of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit should bring about clear measurable, significant movement and impact to your culture.
To drive this conversation further, we must talk about the Spirit Within and the Spirit Upon
The Spirit Within & The Spirit Upon
Before Jesus death, the Spirit can be around or upon you, it took Jesus dying to have the Spirit in you. “The Spirit Upon” enables a measure of Drama and outward expression. Isaiah 61:1 – 4. If the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, it will cause you to impact culture. In Acts 1:8; the Spirit upon you causes you to become a witnesses unto the ends of the earth - impacting culture.
“The Spirit Within” you causes you to be in sync with God - Rom 8:9, 1 cor 6:19 says we house the Spirit of God so we belong to God. 1 cor 3:16 – The Spirit Within causes us to become children of God. Rom 8:11 says if the Spirit lives in us, he will give life to our mortal bodies. The Spirit upon and the Spirit within has 2 different assignments.
Too many people pay attention to the the Spirit within but not the Spirit upon. The Spirit Within enables you to have a great relationship with God, you become aligned with God and you are one with the father…but you are not adding value to your society because or it is difficult for you to become economically viable because you are not leveraging the Spirit Upon.
If you are not gaining grounds for Christ, the Spirit is contained within you. The Spirit is always available, how we allow Him express Himself is our bit - John 14:16
Isaiah 61:4 tells us that if the Spirit is upon us, we can influence culture, rebuild society, live better lives. We can become wealthy through precision and the Spirit telling us where to exert energy for profit. The bible talks about the widow of the prophet – the prophet feared God (gave expression to the Spirit Within) but was in great debt (because he did not give room to the Spirit to express Himself through creating value that attracts wealth). The Spirit Upon moves us to positions of advantage.
In genesis 1:27, God gave man authority. Even when man fell, that authority was never withdrawn. God cursed the serpent, introduced pain for the woman but when it got to man's turn, God placed a curse on the ground. So toiling was introduced and man began to dissipate energy before yielding a harvest, man began to guess, cast bread upon many waters for he knows not which will bear fruit...until the Holy Spirit within shows up, bringing us to truth, enabling us know where to put energy, like the Spirit restricting Paul from preaching in the province of Asia, that level where you can hear a voice within you saying this is the way, walk ye in it. Precision is what you have as a Spirit filled believer, the future does not take us by surprise - so you receive insight at the speed of arrival.
Unlocking The Spirit Upon
We must get comfortable unlocking the Spirit as our advocate. We know the Holy Spirit our healer, comforter, helper, savior…but we don’t unlock the Spirit our consultant, stock broker, Business Analyst. The Spirit is able to function in these levels but we only allow the Spirit Within, which makes us righteous.
You get to a level where the Spirit within prompts you in certain directions, where you fail the test of religion and logic but you unlock powerful moments of precision where humility is triggered in people because of the results you command, such that they begin to hunger and pursue after your source - that is culture shaping.
The Spirit within takes you to a level where you don't chase after your dreams, they naturally gravitate towards you - the scriptures say goodness and mercy shall follow you, so the Spirit helps you position not pursue. You were not designed to pursue your dreams but to position for it.
Consistently create an environment where the Holy Spirit is not contained.
1 cor 2: 1 - He will guide you into all truth. Are you in consulting? The Holy Spirit can quicken you with insights that will cause a monumental shift in the industry
He will tell you of things to come. You cannot be clueless of things ahead
Your capacity to hold complex models is what proves that you have the Holy Spirit in you. You receive complexity and diffuse it to usability.
John 16:13 – The Holy Spirit can tell you about the future. In Mark 6:2, it talks about a certain kind of wisdom described as mighty, which makes your hands do mighty things. As we begin to give room to the Spirit Upon, we begin to have 10 times more understanding as we see in Daniel 1:20. We must get comfortable with the art of not containing the Holy Spirit, He is able to bring solutions beyond our knowledge levels. It was said concerning Daniel that there is a man full of the Spirit of God, he could hold complex logic and make them easy (Daniel 5:11). The same thing was said concerning Joseph in Gen 41:38 – Can we find anyone like this man in whom is the Spirit of God? Joseph was certainly that man.
We must not limit the Holy Spirit to keeping us holy and acceptable. That work was complete the moment you confessed Christ as your savior, go ahead and unlock the Spirit to influence culture and enable you add value to society.
So once again, are you in a space where you need direction in your life? Invite the Fixer.
Do you need to be in sync with the Father? The Spirit Within is there for you.
Are you looking to command influence, add value, make profit…the Spirit Upon is available for you.
It’s time for “thinking Christians” to arise. From 1 cor 2:9, we understand that God is looking to commit next-level medical solutions, cutting edge technology, businesses that defiles logic and unlocks societal transformation…but we are too fixated on chasing after dreams when God is looking to give nations and territories into our hands. Some people are fixated on gaining control over one of the seven mountain of influences, that’s a little to small, not God-sized enough. The goal is to lend to many nations, sit as a judge bringing the mind of Christ over territories and influencing culture.
Psalm 119:130 (TPT)
Break open your Word within me until revelation-light shines out!
Breaking into territories requires the backing of the Spirit Upon. Acts 16:6-9 – you will quickly realize that expansion into territories require precision in timing.
Intimacy
You can trust the Holy Spirit for very direct instructions in the marketplace - step by step instructions, prophetic consulting, real time decisions, solutions at the speed of light – but this comes in the place of intimacy with the Holy Spirit. The Scripture promises in Obadiah 1:21 that saviors shall arise out of Mount Zion, that is the church…and now is the time to arise and become a light in the marketplace. Having the spirit in you must translate into positive societal change.
Most believers have the Holy Spirit but they cannot command results not do they have the authority of one with the Holy Spirit, they are as uninspiring as those without the Spirit because they have not started yielding to the Spirit. Having the Holy Spirit is different from yielding to the Holy Spirit.
Back to the beginning
When darkness entered the scene, waste, void and emptiness showed up, chaos and formlessness surfaced, God's response was to send the Holy Spirit to fix things. As a carrier of the Holy Spirit, are you sendable? Can you influence culture? Can you add value? Can you bring a solution to this state of tohu wabohu?
