IMPORTANT QUOTES ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. Jesus (says/said): Power and ability are gifts of the Holy Spirit
“Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me.” {Acts 1:8}
2. The most precious and valuable gift
“He [Jesus] rejoiced because of the abundant help He had provided for His church. The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. “ DA 671.2 egwwritings.org
3. Happiness through the Holy Spirit
“The Lord Jesus acts through the Holy Spirit; for it is his representative. Through it he infuses spiritual life into the soul, quickening its energies for good, cleansing from moral defilement, and giving it a fitness for his kingdom. Jesus has large blessings to bestow, rich gifts to distribute among men. He is the wonderful Counselor, infinite in wisdom and strength; and if we will acknowledge the power of his Spirit, and submit to be molded by it, we shall stand complete in him. What a thought is this! In Christ “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him.” [Colossians 2:9, 10.] Never will the human heart know happiness until it is submitted to be molded by the Spirit of God. The Spirit conforms the renewed soul to the model, Jesus Christ. Through its influence, enmity against God is changed into faith and love, and pride into humility. The soul perceives the beauty of truth, and Christ is honored in excellence and perfection of character. As these changes are affected, angels break out in rapturous song, and God and Christ rejoice over souls fashioned after the divine similitude. “RH August 25, 1896, par. 6
4. Jesus’ vital petition for His church: The prayer request for the Holy Spirit
(The greek tense for the last “ask” shows, that it is not about asking for just one time, rather than a continual pleading)
“I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that [continue to] ask him?” Luke 11:9-13
5. Jesus’ life on earth and the Holy Spirit
“Morning by morning he [Jesus] communicated with his Father in heaven, receiving from him daily a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Signs of the Times November 21, 1895, par. 3
6. It is vital to understand the meaning of the Holy Spirit
“It is all-essential for the Christian to understand the meaning of the promise of the holy Spirit just prior to the coming of our Lord Jesus the second time. Talk of it, pray of it, preach concerning it; for the Lord is [according to Luke 11:13] more willing to give the holy Spirit than parents are to give good gifts to their children.” RH November 15, 1892, Art. A, par. 4
7. What is true revival and what is our part in it?
“Revival signifies a renewal of spiritual life, a quickening of the powers of mind and heart, a resurrection from the spiritual death” (Review and Herald, February 25, 1902). Revival occurs not simply as we read about it, but as we put into practice the biblical elements of revival.” {Mark A. Finley, Revive Us Again, 2nd ed. (Nampa, ID / Oshawa, Ontario: Pacific Press, 2011), 26}
8. A revival will bring about greater results within a day than all we can accomplish within 50 years
“We became guilty by forgetting the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. We are so focused on ourselves and our activities, that we forgot the one thing which could make us fruitful. However, more than anything else let us plead and pray for a revival. When God sends a revival, He can bring about greater results within one day than in 50 years through all of our organized efforts.” D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Vollmacht (Franke, Marburg, 1984) Seite 105
9. We search for solutions of any kind, but there is one thing we don’t do and that is to seek the power of the Holy Spirit
“The church is aware of its fruitlessness and its week influence on people. She also senses that she lacks true authority. The church is willing to try and do anything and everything possible In search of this authority except for seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit. “D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Vollmacht (Franke, Marburg, 1984) Seite 75
10. Do we spend our time with minor matters?
“The promise of the gift of the Spirit of God, is left as a matter to be little considered by the church. It is not impressed upon the people, and the result is only that which might be expected, —spiritual drought, spiritual darkness, spiritual declension and death. Minor matters occupy the mind and soul, but divine power… is lacking, although it is offered to us in infinite plentitude. Just as long as the church are satisfied with small things, they are disqualified to receive the great things of God. But why do we not hunger and thirst after the gift of the holy Spirit, since it is the means whereby the heart may be kept pure? “{RH November 15, 1892, Art. A, par. 4}
11. The empowerment of the disciples was more important to Jesus that anything else.
“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” {Acts 1:6-8}
“Jesus focused on the real issue rather than wasting time trying to correct their every misunderstanding. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit was far more important than political discussion.” {Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, February 21, 2016}
How do we spend our time? Is being empowered by God most important for us?
12. We are no true Christians without the Holy Spirit
“As Christians, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Without Him, our witness will be powerless and our Christian lives nothing but a burden. We might have learning, talent, and eloquence, but without the Spirit, we cannot experience life as God intended for us to. We will not have the assurance of salvation and will not know the joy that comes from serving our Lord. We will be Christians in name only, and a Christian in name only is not really a Christian at all. “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, January 28, 2017
13. God is waiting for us to long for the Holy Spirit
“The power of God awaits their demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. It is given according to the riches of the grace.” DA 672.1
14. How often should we ask for the Holy Spirit? Daily!
“Those who profess to believe in Jesus, should ever press to the light. They should daily pray for the light of the Holy Spirit to shine upon the pages of the sacred book, that they may be enabled to comprehend the things of the Spirit of God. “FE 188.2
15. We need a daily infilling of the Holy Spirit.
“While the Spirit is given by the hearing of faith (Gal. 3:2) and is received through faith (Gal. 3:14) at our baptism (Titus 3:5,6), we need to seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit every day. We can’t live off a powerful experience that we had last year or last month or even yesterday. We need the infilling of God’s Spirit each day, for each day brings its own challenges […] Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time event. It is something that we should seek and receive every day. This filling has to be repeated.” {Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, January 30, 2017}
16. Daily request for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
“Daily they [who at Pentecost were endued with power from on high] prayed for fresh supplies of grace, that they might reach higher and still higher toward perfection. Under the Holy Spirit’s working even the weakest, by exercising faith in God, learned to improve their entrusted powers and to become sanctified, refined, and ennobled.” AA 49.3
“For the daily baptism of the Spirit every worker should offer his petition to God.” AA 50.2
“To the consecrated worker there is wonderful consolation in the knowledge that even Christ during His life on earth sought His Father daily for fresh supplies of needed grace.” AA 56.1
17. Our Lord Himself gave this instruction:
Our Lord Himself has given the command, “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), MB20.3 egwwritings.org
Eph. 5:18: “Be filled with the Spirit.” The Greek imperative is written in present tense. This present tense imperative describes an event, that is repeating continually, different to imperative aorist, which refers to an event at a certain point of time. Therefore, to be filled with the Spirit is not a one-time experience, but a continually repeating process. A Christian is not filled like a vessel once and forever, but needs continual “refilling “. Thus the sentence can also be translated “Be continually and repeatedly filled with the Spirit!“ The infilling of the Holy Spirit, which was given to us on through our baptism, can be lost, when the given fullness is not kept. Once lost, it can be received again.
Johannes Mager, Pastor, Evangelist, Teacher of Systematic Theology, Ministerial Secretary of the Euro-Africa-Division, Berne-Switzerland in his book: “Auf den Spuren des Heiligen Geistes”, Advent Publishing House, Lüneburg-Germany, 1999, Seite 100, 101
18. What is the true meaning of “Spirit baptism”?
Baptism with the Holy Spirit means to be totally under the influence of the Spirit, completely “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18, NKJV). This is not a “once and forever” experience, but is something that needs to be constantly renewed. Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, July 17, 2014
19. When can God work great things through us?
God cannot do something revolutionary with men until He has first done something revolutionary for men through the incoming of the Holy Spirit.
LeRoy E. Froom, The Coming of the Comforter, rev. ed. (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1949), 120-121
20. Why do we have a lack of the Holy Spirit?
1. “The reason why there is so little of the Spirit of God manifested is that ministers learn to do without it.” 1T 383.1
“Though a basic study and a systematic education is essential for a minister, it is more important for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit”
“Auf den Spuren des Heiligen Geistes”, Advent Publishing House, Lüneburg-Germany, 1999, Seite 103
2. Jesus’ essential central request for the church is this: pray for the Holy Spirit! (Lk.11,9-13) Why do we fail to meet Jesus’ request?
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” (Rom.8,5)
“You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly.” (James 4:2-3 [You ask wrongly means with a carnal mind; Rom.8,5-7)
3. There are many who talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, yet receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul to be guided and controlled by the divine agencies. DA 672.1 What is the reason? A lack of surrender.