I am not talking about acting weird and nothing like that; I am saying that for those who are all about the Word, without the Holy Spirit you are nothing and you are doing nothing, even when you think you are. The Holy Spirit is 1) at the heart of the written Word and 2) if we truly follow the Holy Spirit, we will get the correct interpretation of Scripture. In First Thessalonians 5:19-20 the Apostle Paul tells us, “Do not quench the Spirit; ²⁰ do not despise prophetic utterances.” (NASB)

The word quench is the Greek word sbénnumi, meaning; “To extinguish the fire.”^[1] We need the fire of the Holy Ghost; that is not a Pentecostal thing, that is Biblical thing. Some ministers get into their little man-made prophetic zone or man-made teaching zone or man-made evangelistic zone, or the happy zone, or the funny zone, or the sad zone, etc. while totally ignoring the Holy Ghost. You probably have seen that, the Spirit is moving; you can see folks weeping, but here comes the pastor with the church announcements and completely extinguish the fire of what God is doing at that time.  Beloved we are called to follow the Holy Ghost. Romans 8:14 tells us, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (NASB)

I am not talking about divorcing the Holy Ghost from the Word of God, Jesus also states, “…If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine. (NASB) What I am proposing to you is that you and I do not even have the ability to use the Word properly without the Holy Ghost. Second Corinthians 3:6 tells us, “who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (NASB) The Word is compared to a sword and, as with any weapon, if used incorrectly and irresponsible it can also cause harm and even kill.   You may think that you are doing something good and Godly by focusing on the Word while ignoring the Spirit, but you are not; it is arrogant and irresponsible to do so.

You can be stock on Logos (The written Word) and that’s ok, everything goes back to Logos, but you could be ignoring the Rhema Word, that is the message… the revelation of the Logos. In Matthew 4:4 Jesus stated, “…Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (NASB) The word Rhema is the Living Word; that is what God is speaking now; the MESSAGE for now. Have you noticed some preachers and teachers who seem to just read the Bible and when they are done you are left scratching your head because you did not hear a message? That is because they open the Scripture without any revelation.

In Acts 8:26-40 we see the story of an Ethiopian eunuch who was reading a portion of the Book of Isaiah. In Acts 8:34-37 we read, “The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” ³⁷ And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” (NASB)

During this whole encounter the Holy Spirt was at the center of the story; the way is supposed to be, even now. That is the leading of the Holy Spirit; that is the power to transform lives. Without the Holy Spirit we are engaging in man-made religion. Stop timing the Holy Ghost and stop putting Him to the side as if you can do better. If the Spirit of God is not leading you, who is? And if the Spirit of God is not leading you, have you found something or somebody that can lead you better?

^[1] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).