ON ALL FLESH

On All Flesh

Joel 2:28 (NKJV) “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions."

When God is moving in such a way that we find it above what appears to be the norm, its difficult to get our heads around it. We have coined it with such terms as "revival", "a move of God" or as
I like to call it, "an outpouring" regardless of what we call it, these words and phrases conjure up very vivid, visual, mental pictures on the subject. It seems that all of us have been affected by revival in one way or another.

Presently our church at Northview is in a move of God that has affected many peoples lives in many different ways. We've seen some very unusual manifestations during this time of outpouring and quite frankly I just don't have a real good way to explain them all to you. What I do know is that God is pouring out His Spirit on the flesh at Northview Church and many, many people are being refreshed, healed and experiencing growth in their personal lives!

Think about the verse in Joel 2:28 again where he says "on all flesh..." The perfection of the Holy Spirits manifest presence is literally landing on the imperfection of our stinking rotten human flesh! When the Devine touches our humanity what usually happens? Most of the time we have a reaction to the manifest presence of God that touches our lives.

Though we are saved and cleaned up on the inside, God is still perfecting our flesh and mind through the process of sanctification. What God is doing is, He's helping our thoughts and actions catch up with the perfection that He's already done in our spirit man. That's why God would not allow Moses to see him face to face but rather Moses could only see his backside as he passed by him. God is Holy and we cannot stand fully in His presence when we encounter Him or else we would expire!

So many times during these outpourings, we see what appears to be the unusual manifestations of the Holy Spirit on human flesh. It's as if God interrupts business as usual and totally messes up our theological paradigm that we've gotten used to. For those who don't understand they usually respond in one of three ways;

1. Shut it down completely
2. Explain it away theologically
3. Dispel it as eccentric or carnal.

While there have been many abuses and misuses in the pentecostal and charismatic church, we must remember that misuse doesn't necessarily imply a no-use mentality.
Here are some scriptures that I have seen misapplied to these unusual manifestations when they come into a church; "well you know what the bible says, we need to test these things to see if they are of God." Actually, they are referring to what Paul was saying when he said in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."

Paul wasn't saying shut it down or try and explain it all away! No, he was saying, don't stop the flow, don't stop prophesying but make sure that when you do, that you run through the grid of profitability. Is it profitable for the church? 1Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. The word "profit" here in the Greek is [sympherō] and means;
1) to bear or bring together
2) to bear together or at the same time
a) to carry with others
b) to collect or contribute in order to help
c) to help, be profitable, be expedient
You test the manifestations of the Spirit by flowing in the Spirit, not by sitting back with your hand on your chin trying to determin if God is in the house or not! Further more let me tell you that the testing of spirits and various types of manifestations should be done by the prophets and not the skeptics in the church! Look at 1 Corinthians 14:29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. Paul didn't mean let just anyone in the congregation judge the manifestation. I believe that he was saying that the prophets or the office of the prophet should render judgment on these type of things in the church. Paul goes on to say in verse 32, "And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." in other words the people sitting in judgment should be spiritual men and women who are following God and flowing with The Holy Spirit during church services not just anyone. If we sit in a church and judge people from a fleshly perspective, then we are as much in the flesh as what we see as being in the flesh!

In churches today we have people who have never flowed in the gifts of the Spirit, and have never had a manifestation of God in their life, levying verdicts on what they believe Gods doing in His church!

May we lift up our flesh to God and ask Him to pour out His Spirit upon it today! Though you will never see perfection, you will get closer to God. Don't be concerned over the flesh, just fall in love with Jesus and watch Him change your life!