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In the Part One, I indicated that some Christians have encountered the Lord Jesus Christ in dreams, visions or trances.
I quoted scriptural verses, showing encounters the apostle Paul had with Jesus Christ after His ascension.
I also mentioned the late Prophet Kenneth Hagin, Evangelist Dag Heward-Mills and other Christians who said they have seen the Lord in visions and dreams in this generation. I believe their reports that Christ Jesus lives and appears to whoever He wills.
Now, in these special appearances, the Lord often communicates with His disciples as He speaks words of comfort, edification and even condemnation to them in reaction to their works.
In this part, I want to discuss the second way by which all true believers encounter the Lord Jesus. To understand this, it is important for me to reveal to you who the Holy Spirit really is.
Do you know that the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, sealing you for the day of redemption is the Spirit of Christ Jesus? I am not making this up; the Bible says so.
Scripture says that the Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, the apostle, had this revelation about Christ and explained it to the Corinthian church:
“NOW THE LORD IS THE SPIRIT, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
Again, Paul taught the church in Galatia that the Spirit who dwells in the hearts of believers is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And because you are sons, God has sent THE SPIRIT OF HIS SON INTO OUR HEARTS, crying, “Abba! Father” (Galatians 4:6)!
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. ANYONE WHO DOES NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST does not belong to him” (Romans 8:9).
You can clearly see that the Helper and Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who Christ promised would come and dwell in the hearts of believers, to teach and guide them was He Himself.
If you are really a born again believer, then, I want you to know that you have encountered Christ Jesus.
In other words, Christ Jesus manifests Himself to people through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.
I can see that this is Christ’s common manifestation to His chosen ones. The presence of the Holy Spirit in you and upon you is the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to come back to dwell with His disciples.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. YOU KNOW HIM, FOR HE DWELLS WITH YOU AND WILL BE IN YOU. I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS; I WILL COME TO YOU” (John 14:16 -18).
Examine the Scripture carefully. Jesus told the disciples that they ALREADY KNEW the Helper He would ask the Father to send to them. In verse 17 of John chapter 14, Jesus said, the Helper DWELT WITH THEM, AND WOULD BE IN THEM.
This means that the Helper was with them in their midst guiding, helping, teaching and comforting them. Who was this Helper that dwelt with the disciples?
In fact, there could be no Helper at that particular time than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who prayed for them, fed them, protected them, taught them and saved them.
This is confirmed by the verse 25 of John chapter 14, where Jesus explained that He was the one who was still with the disciples.
By James Quansah
