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Francis Harper Message for 4/20/18
Dear Ones,
Hopefully, we all recognize how crucial and indispensable the Holy Spirit is to us, individually and collectively, as we seek to fulfill God’s will in our lives.
The Apostle John wrote, “We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him . . .” (1 John 3:2). First, we must be cleansed. “No unclean thing [person] can dwell with God” (1 Nephi 3:35). This was clearly demonstrated during the confirmation service held at Phikal Village in Ilam, a district in eastern Nepal, on March 28, 2008. Basanti, mother of three young daughters, after her baptism that day and during her confirmation, began to jerk violently and laugh hideously. I had never witnessed anything like this in all my years of ministry. As we continued to pray, the evil spirit departed and was replaced by the Holy Spirit. Proof of the invisible presence of the Holy Spirit was manifested when Basanti gradually relaxed and began to shed tears of joy and peace. Like oil and water, which do not mix, neither will the Holy Spirit dwell in the presence of evil.
I was unaware that Basanti had been a witch, an alcoholic and a fortune-teller before her baptism. Years have passed since the day of her deliverance. The people of Phikal Village are amazed at the mighty changes which have been observed in the lives of Basanti and her children. She has become very active in reaching out to others who need Jesus.
We need to ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. “Ye receive the Spirit through prayer” (D & C 63:16a). “And the disciples did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them . . . and the Holy Ghost did fall upon them and they were filled with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 9-10).We need to pray as earnestly for the Holy Spirit as those who prayed in the upper room at Jerusalem (Acts 1:14). Paul counseled, “ . . . covet earnestly the best gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31). We desperately need the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
I have observed that those who are most active in doing the Lord’s work, of feeding his sheep and lambs, receive the greater endowment. We must be fully engaged in doing the Lord’s business before we can expect an endowment of the Holy Spirit. The greater the commitment, the greater the endowment. Remember the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30).
A few years ago, a missionary team in South Africa was blessed with a mighty, rushing wind experience. After laboring several years in that mission, they had become very discouraged with their lack of success. They cleaned and whitewashed an old cowshed as their place of study and prayer. After meeting in this humble place for “prayer and supplication” for a period of time, they were blessed with a Pentecostal experience. The Holy Spirit came down, and they testified that “more happened in changing lives in two or three days, than had happened in all their years of previous ministry.” In the presence of the Holy Spirit, lives are changed for the better. The process of changing the natural man to a Christlike man is impossible without the “enticings of the Holy Spirit” (Mosiah 1:119-120).
Have you ever wondered what Peter said in his sermon, recorded in Acts, chapter two, that converted “about three thousand souls?” It was not only what he said, it was the Holy Spirit that touched their hearts! “For when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost, the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it into the hearts of the children of men” (2 Nephi 15:1). We need to remember this counsel: “. . . the spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith, and if you receive not the spirit ye shall not teach” (D & C 42:5b).
My love to all,
Francis Harper
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Filled with the Spirit
“. . . Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance . . .” (1 Thessalonians 1:5).
Being filled with the Holy Spirit should be one of the highest priorities of every follower of Jesus Christ.
Before his ascension, Jesus was with the assembled saints at Jerusalem, and he “commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.” He added, “John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence . . . ye shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:4-5, 8).
These early saints, numbering “about a hundred and twenty,” went into an upper room at Jerusalem
where “These all [the eleven apostles] continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Acts 1:14). Ten days later they were still praying, “all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting . . . And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:1-2, 4).
The book, The Acts of the Apostles, is a record of how the lives of common, ordinary men and women,
like us, were transformed by the presence of the Holy Spirit within them. It has been suggested that the name of the book should be changed to The Acts of the Holy Spirit.
We who call ourselves the followers of Christ need to consider our need to call upon the Lord to fill us
with the wonder-working power of the Holy Ghost. We are too content to live on the crumbs from the Lord’s table! Most of us have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, but we are too often satisfied in receiving only a small, periodic portion of the Spirit. We are not hungering and thirsting. We need to remember the words of Jesus: “Blessed are all they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 5:8). Hungering and thirsting for the Spirit is a sign of spiritual health.
Without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us, we walk as dead men. Having the abiding
presence of the Holy Ghost within us is an absolute necessity for those who hope to attain an inheritance in celestial glory. Jesus said to Nicodemus, and he says to us: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
The Holy Spirit must be sought and prayed for, even as the early-day saints diligently prayed until they
received it. Receiving the Holy Spirit requires some very diligent and disciplined spiritual preparation by the recipient. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not automatically bestowed after baptism in water, as some have supposed. Immediately after her baptism, a twelve-year-old turned to me and said, “I don’t feel any different.”
Evidently she expected to be suddenly transformed from being a prideful selfish sinner, to a humble, loving saint!
The foolish virgins were caught without oil [the Holy Spirit] in their lamps (Matthew 25:7). They were
told to go and buy oil for themselves. There is a price to pay to receive the precious Holy Spirit. The foolish will be found without the Spirit when the Lord comes. Is there a greater tragedy than this? We must ask ourselves daily, “Is my lamp filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit? Is my heart filled with humility and love?” If not, I have not been filled with the Spirit!
The words of the prayers offered on our behalf, as we kneel before partaking of the bread and wine, must be manifested in our lives. We must be willing to take upon us the name of the Son and always remember him and keep his commandments, before we can expect to have his Spirit with us always. “The day of our willingness will be the day of God’s power” (Bishop W. R. Adams).
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