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The Amish Voice 4
form (1 Cor. 13:10). Others believe and
teach that all the gifts are in operation,
just like they were in the early church.
Some believers have become so caught
up in the supernatural gifts that they have
thrown out the foundational doctrines of
the Bible. Additionally, they have made a
religion out of the God-given gifts and
become worshippers of the gifts rather
than the Giver of the gifts. For these sad
reasons, other believers have chosen to
walk in the opposite direction and have
quenched and suffocated the power and
supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. For
that reason, let me add the following
portion of scripture:
Though I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels,
and have not charity
[love],
I
am become as sounding brass,
or a tinkling cymbal. And
though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all
mysteries, and all knowledge;
and though I have all faith, so
that I could remove mountains, and
have not charity, I am nothing. And
though I bestow all my goods to feed
the poor, and though I give my body
to be burned, and have not charity, it
profiteth me nothing
(1 Cor. 13:1-3).
The Holy Spirit speaks directly to and
through believers. It is quite clear from
reading the scriptures that the Holy Spirit
is able to speak like a human being.
When He speaks, the Bible commands us
to listen to His voice. Consider the
following instances when the Holy Spirit
shows up and speaks to mankind in the
flesh:
Then the Spirit said unto Philip, go
near, and join thyself to this chariot
(Acts 8:29).
As they (the church) ministered to the
Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said,
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for
the work whereunto I have called
them. And when they had fasted and
prayed, and laid their hands on them,
they sent them away. So they, being
sent forth by the Holy Spirit
(Acts
13:2-4).
...take no thought beforehand what ye
shall
speak,
neither
do
ye
premeditate: but whatsoever shall be
given you in that hour, that speak ye:
for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy
Spirit
(Mark 13:11).
The Holy Spirit adds a second nature.
Before we were born again we had only
one nature—the flesh nature. Our
decisions and choices were based on our
own flesh and desires. After the new birth
we have two natures—flesh and Spirit.
This simply means that as born-again
believers, we wake up in the morning and
have to choose which nature we want to
walk in. If we choose to walk in the flesh
nature, we will often appear to others as
one who has never been born again. If we
choose to walk in the Spirit, we will
appear as one who has experienced the
new birth.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and
ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the
other: so that ye cannot do the things
that ye would
(Gal 5:16-17).
Walking in the Spirit means walking in
harmony with God and others. We must
guard our heart and tongue from
bickering, bitterness, and conflict. We
must learn to rest in Him, and let Him
fight our battles.
Those who truly walk in the Spirit will
find the following list of fruit appearing
in their every-day life:
But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law
(Galatians 5:22-23). The fruit spoken of
in these verses cannot be faked or
manufactured by the believer. Our part is
to yield and trust; God’s part is to
produce the fruit. (See John 15:4-5).
WHAT I WAS TAUGHT
GROWING UP
In the next couple of paragraphs, I would
like to share some of my background and
how I understood the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. I was born and raised in an
Old Order Amish community in
Ohio. My parents took me to
church every other Sunday and
there I learned a lot about the
Father in heaven. By the time I
reached 15 years of age, I knew
a great deal about God the
Father. In my mind, He was
rigid and ruled from heaven with
an iron hand. As far as I could tell, He
never smiled, nor did anything slip
through His fingers. I was taught to obey
Him or else He would punish me like He
did the children of Israel when they
turned their backs on Him and went their
own way.
I also learned about Jesus. I learned that
He was God’s only Son, and that He died
on the cross, was buried, and rose from
the grave three days later. To some
degree, I was taught to believe that the
Son was of lesser value and not to be held
to the same level as the Father. For this
reason, I focused more on the Father and
who He was than I did the Son.
As for the Holy Spirit, He was hardly
mentioned at home during prayer times
or in church. Truthfully, about the only
time I remember hearing about Him is the
day I was baptized in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. As far as I
was concerned, the Holy Spirit was of
little to no value in our everyday lives. It
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the
flesh. —Gal 5:16