The Bride’s End-Time Harvest Anointing Part 3
The Bible tells us in John 1 that in the beginning the Word existed; Then the Word (Logos) became flesh and dwelt among mankind. After 30 years of growth and maturity the time came for the Lord’s work of ministry to fulfill His assignment in the earth. The Bible describes the Heavens opening with His baptismal and the Holy Spirit descended as the appearance of a dove.
This was the point of empowerment for the Lord Jesus and the embodiment of the Sevenfold Spirit of God to achieve His mandate and mission. It was at that point that the Spirit of the Lord came in and upon the Lord to demonstrate the Spirits of wisdom and revelation, counsel and might, knowledge and the reverential awe of God.
This reality is reiterated in Acts 10:38 where we are told:
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
There was a specific anointing and empowerment to do the work of ministry. That same impartation will be made available to the bridal company to achieve the same mandate demonstrated by the Lord in His earthly ministry. We too must heal the sick; cast out devils and even raise the dead by the same Spirit through this army who will be “bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.”
Types and Shadows
When plans for the construction of the Tabernacle of Moses were being communicated to Moses, he was instructed to make all things that were a “copy and shadow of the Heavenly things.” One of the primary implements in the Holy Place was a lampstand burning with seven lamps. This was a foreshadowing representation of the Holy Spirit and His operation through people who become the Tabernacle of God. Paul emphasized in 1 Corinthians 3:16:
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
Furthermore, the prophet Zechariah utilized incredible language to depict the workings of God’s Spirit in the earth saying:
He said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.”
Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?” So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. — Zechariah 4: 2-6.
“These seven lamps” of fire burning as a single lampstand are the Sevenfold Spirit of God. These are also the seven “sent out into all the earth” and the seven eyes of the Lord “which range to and fro throughout the whole earth.” This is an Old Testament portrayal of the seven eyes of God and the seven horns illustrated in the book of Revelations. We glean further understanding of the Sevenfold Spirit of God through John’s visitation and description saying:
And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. — Revelations 5:6
John saw the Lord portrayed as a lamb with seven eyes and seven horns. This is another allegorical expression outlining what the Father was going to manifest through His son. Horns are symbolic representations of power or authority; seven is the number of completion. Therefore we conclude that the Lord possessed complete and absolute revelation and power through the Holy Spirit in His earthly ministry.
A Representation of God
The Seven Spirits of God are not merely attributes or spiritual manifestations but a perfect representation of God’s Spirit; the sevenfold and flawless activity of the Holy Spirit carrying out and fulfilling Heaven’s purposes in the earth. Likewise, the seven eyes illustrate unimpeded revelatory insight, not only accessing the Father’s heart, but also knowing the hearts of all man. The Living Word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of men’s hearts as described in Hebrews 4:12.
For the Bride of Christ to do the works Jesus did, and even greater works, we will also need the same manifestation of the Spirit in and through us. That is God’s promise! There is a place of union with God that is so complete that He will live in and through this company of people and do through them the same works He did while on the earth in human form.
It is clear that Isaiah 11:2 is a prophetic description of the Messiah and the spiritual empowerment that would identify His life and ministry. Jesus said as He was sent by the Father, so also are we sent by Him. If the Lord Jesus functioned in the Sevenfold Spirit of God then the Bride of Christ, when she reaches full maturity, will also function in this same manifestation of God! They are:
The Spirit of the Lord
The Spirits of wisdom and understanding
The Spirits of counsel and might
The Spirits of knowledge and reverential awe of God:
The Spirits are placed in pairs because of the compatible nature of their functioning. In a previous newsletter I outlined the Spirits of wisdom and understanding with a brief analysis of their meaning and operation. In this article we will emphasize the Spirits of counsel and might.
Counsel and Might Defined
Counsel is defined as advice, plans or admonitions of prudence to provide leadership and proper decision-making to achieve God’s plan and purpose. The term can be used to apply to secular or human counsel, but primarily counsel received from the Holy Spirit.
The Hebrew word for counsel is “etsah” and is used numerous times in the Old Testament and translated either counsel, advice, advisement, or purpose. One of the first occurrences of the term is in Exodus 18: 19 when Jethro gives counsel to Moses concerning the leadership of Israel.
According to Isaiah 9:6, the Lord Himself is known as the Wonderful Counselor. A counselor is one who gives advice or formulates a plan for the achievement of a specific goal. The Spirit of counsel grants advice from God’s throne and provides the perfect plan or strategy to achieve a specific mandate. The Lord does not merely have counsel; He is the Spirit of counsel.
Might is taken from the Hebrew word “gebuwrah” and is defined as power, strength, or force producing valor, victory and mighty deeds. The Spirit of might illustrates and demonstrates the marvelous acts and miraculous powers of the Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy 3:24 affirms this saying,
O Lord GOD, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?
These two Spirits working in unison function through the Holy Spirit by giving advice or counsel which formulates a plan that demonstrates the mighty acts and miraculous powers of God.
Spiritual Prototypes
When I first began to study the lives of several 20th-century leaders I discovered there were a few that seemingly were set apart and functioned in this higher realm of power and authority. These included Maria Woodworth-Etter, John G. Lake, William Branham and others. It seemed that each came to a specific juncture of their lives requiring total and complete surrender that catapulted them over into a different spiritual realm that characterized their greatest ministry. I believe they discovered the reality of Hebrews 6:5 and “tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.”
These ministries function as spiritual prototypes so that we can understand them and prepare to function as a bridal company in the same way. I remember specifically reading an incident that occurred in the ministry of William Branham that struck me as an incredible demonstration of the Spirit and a token of what is to come.
It occurred in the 1930s shortly after his ordination as a minister in the Baptist Church. It first started with a revelatory experience while in prayer in which he seemingly found himself standing in a specific hospital room looking at a black man that had been run over by an automobile and penned against the wheel of a wagon. The accident had severely injured the gentleman causing many of his bones to be broken and severe damage to his internal organs. Some of the broken bones in his chest lay adjacent to his heart and lungs which prohibited any movement for fear of certain death.
The prognosis was very grim. The minister found himself in the vision standing on one side of the bed looking at the man and understanding his medical condition. Furthermore, he watched as two white people came into the room and stood on the opposite side of the bed. At that moment he saw himself pronounce healing for the man who promptly leapt from the bed, dressed himself and proceeded out of the hospital; then the vision ended.
A few days later the minister discovered that the gentleman was indeed in the hospital in the exact condition he had seen in his vision. He took a friend to the hospital with him and told him to wait at the front of the hospital because very shortly a black man was going to walk out the front door wearing a very specific suit and carrying a plum hat.
Branham entered the hospital and found the room just as he had seen in the vision. There he found the gentleman just as he had seen him and entered to stand precisely where he had seen himself standing. However, he couldn’t pray for the man until the two people came to stand on the opposite side of the bed as he had seen in the vision. While he stood there the gentleman’s wife shared the terrible prognosis and how the doctors had insisted upon immobilization or he would immediately die of internal injuries.
Finally, the two other people entered the room and stood on the other side of the bed. It turned out to be the people that were occupants of the car that accidentally ran over the man. When they entered, the man of God didn’t just pray for healing… he announced it. It had already been illustrated in the vision. The moment prayer was offered the man immediately responded by throwing back the covers and jumping out of bed and declaring “I am healed.”
Needless to say the doctors and nurses were frantic to restrain the man for fear of immediate death. But the good news is, he was completely healed. He went to his closet put on the cloths that had been seen in the vision and walked out of the front of the hospital directly past brother Branham’s friend, just as he had described that he would. This is a clear illustration of the operation of the Spirits of counsel and might.
I especially enjoy this testimony because it was achieved just a generation ago. It is one thing to read the miraculous stories achieved in the ministries of Jesus, the Old Testament Prophets or the early Apostles. But it seems special and more readily attainable when demonstrated in the modern Church era through ordinary people like us.
Adherence to Counsel Released Might
The word of counsel was to go to the room and wait for a specific set of circumstances to exist; the faithful adherence to the word of counsel released the Spirit of might to produce a miracle. This is the same Biblical model we see demonstrated in the ministry of the Lord Jesus as well as the Old Testament prophets who functioned in this Spirit for a season.
Naaman was instructed by the prophet Elisha to dip in the Jordan River seven times; his adherence to the word of counsel released the Spirit of might to heal his leprosy. Jesus applied clay to a man’s eyes and told him to go to a specific pool to wash the clay away; his meticulous obedience to the word of counsel released the Spirit of might giving the man his sight. These are just a few of the many biblical illustrations outlining the function of the Spirits of counsel and might.
Clearly, not every circumstance will be as vividly outlined as it was for this minister in his vision. Even so, whether received through prayer, the written word or prophetic utterance, our careful adherence to God’s counsel releases the Spirit of might to do awesome things.
The Lord’s Counsel
In Revelations 3:18 the Lord gives us a word of counsel saying:
I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
Our dedicated obedience to His counsel unleashes the empowerment to live the life of one who overcomes and victorious over the spirit of this age and all spiritual opposition so that we sit with Him on His throne as He overcame to sit with the Father.