What are the 7 Spirits of God, Ep 2-5
Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be talking about the 7 spirits of God. If we truly want to Conquer Our Unseen Enemies and live the full life that Jesus describes in John 10:10, then we should know about these 7 spirits discussed in the Book of Revelation. We will identify these 7 Spirits, understand how they relate to the Holy Spirit and ultimately how we apply this to our lives.
First off. Let's take a look in the Book of Revelation and see what these 7 Spirits are. We will also take a look elsewhere in the Bible to see where they are referenced, but we will start in the Book of Revelation. Now I find that the Book of Revelation often times scares people because it is filled with so much imagery, there are a lot of visions we don't fully understand in our natural mind and quite frankly, some well meaning and some not so well meaning people have come up with some perspectives that are not always encouraging in their attempt to explain the Book of Revelation. The theories on when the End Times are happening and trying to predict the actual event are unending and not where we should be spending an inordinate amount of our time. While there are some indications we are in nearing the end of times, we are not there yet and to be prepping for that or focused on that is wasting time that we should be focused on the time we do have here on earth. So don't let anyone or anything intimidate or shy you away from the Book of Revelation. It is fascinating. Ok, all that said, now let's get to our scriptures.
So the Book of Revelation starts out with John, the Disciple John, the only Disciple who lived his life to his natural life expectancy, identifying himself as the author. When we go to verse 4, we see this is directed to the 7 churches in the province of Asia. Now as a side note, I visited the locations of all 7 of those churches and created a video series on it on our YouTube Channel, Life Journey with Dawn Simmons, the last of which is about to be posted so check that out. It was amazing to visit these churches and see the locations and walk in the churches that remained and walk the "streets" so to speak of the areas that the Bible is referring to here. It was a nearly 40 year old dream realized, so go visit those locations with me. It will give you a new perspective of the Bible for sure. Ok, so Chapter 1 verse 4 gives us our first mention of the 7 spirits, "To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth."
So this is a letter to the 7 churches in Asia, then John moves in to share with us the vision of Christ which is mesmerizing actually. One thing John says before he gives the description of Jesus is that he turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me and when he turned he saw 7 golden lampstands. The lampstands represent those 7 churches. Now in this, remember that John knew Jesus personally, lived with him for years. He knows him, he would likely be the only one left on earth at the time who would recognize him. John died at 94 years old. No one else was left alive that was a follower. The average life expectancy of people in the first century was not in the 90's like we have today so this was extraordinary in and of itself. We have an idea that this may be the case for John when Jesus tells Peter, it is not Peter's concern if John were to live until Christ's return, that’s in John 21: 19-23. So the next few chapters of Revelation are the letters to the churches so we are going to skip to chapter 4 for our discussion.
In Chapter 4, John is given a vision of Heaven. John gives us more imagery and understanding of what he was seeing in Heaven, and then in verse 5 he says this:
"From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God."
Now let's scoot over to Chapter 5, verse 6, "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth."
Ok, now we are going to backtrack a little to the Old Testament, let's look at Isaiah 11. Isaiah is one of the major prophets and the book of Isaiah references the coming of the Lord more than any other Old Testament book, with over 20 references. These references are what Jesus used frequently as well as Peter and Paul when preaching to the Jews about the coming of the Messiah to prove that Jesus was actually that Messiah.
Ok, so back to Isaiah, here is where we will get our identification of those 7 spirits we just read about in the Book of Revelation. Starting in Chapter 11, verse 1:
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
Now let's list these 7 Spirits out:
1) The Spirit of the LORD
2) The Spirit of wisdom
3) The Spirit of understanding
4) The Spirit of counsel
5) The Spirit of power
6) The Spirit of knowledge
7) The Spirit of the fear of the Lord
These 7 spirits together comprise the Holy Spirit. There are 7, which represents completeness. These 7 are the Holy Spirit we have in our lives every day. Think about this:
We have access to the Lord as we pray, and He answers our prayers, that's our relationship.
We can obtain wisdom and understanding. We often refer to the Holy Spirit as our Counselor. We have power in the name of Jesus because we have the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus tells us that He would not leave us here alone, so when He left we were given the Holy Spirit.
In John 14, Jesus tells us that we will receive knowledge from the Holy Spirit, and often misunderstood is the spirit of the fear of the Lord. People think that means God is a big mean powerful being wanting to dominate us so we should fear Him. No, if you know who He is and what He is about then you would respect him and be in awe of Him and quite frankly, that brings a level of fear of Him. Have you met someone who does not have a fear of the Lord? The things that can be said in ignorance. I cringe when I hear people say things against the Lord or to the Lord that are rude or words you wouldn't say to another person, let alone God. God is a big God, merciful, forgiving, loving but there comes a point where you will be held accountable for your words so at some point a fear of the Lord should enter the picture for each of us.
So why are we even talking about these 7 Spirits? What does that have to do with conquering our unseen enemies?
This week pay attention to the people around you. Listen to the words they use. Note whether they are believers or non-believers and see if you see any difference in the words they use, attitude, mood, how they make decisions. This isn't to judge them, it's just to see what is going on around us. What is the major influence over their lives? As a believer, if you look at yourself this week, are you any different? Do we as believers really look at the Holy Spirit and seek Him for those 7 areas in our lives? Maybe we do one or two really well, but imagine how He could influence our lives, our decisions, our outcomes if we leaned into Him on all 7 all the time. The enemy would not stand a chance in accomplishing his plans in us if we are that connected, if we are that submitted to seeking the Holy Spirit we would identify what is not of God when the enemy is attempting to deceive us.
Now here is a challenge for the week. I want you to fast. Now not what you usually think of with a fast. I want you to fast on leaning on your own decisions, your own wisdom, your own knowledge and instead this week feast on the Holy Spirit for wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, everything these 7 spirits provide in the Holy Spirit. Feast on Him for everything and see what that does for you. It will change how you see things, how you respond to circumstances, decisions you make. The more you feast on Him, the deeper your discernment will develop and the fullness of your life will begin to change. You will see it change. Document the week so you can look back and reflect on it before you forget all the ways the Holy Spirit interceded for you and gave you understanding in a situation. Do this and you will see the influence of the enemy diminish as you grow in Him.
I hope this has been helpful to you. We are building a new relationship, our biggest, best year yet in the Lord and I am glad you are joining me. If you know someone you think might benefit from this podcast, please share. It is life changing if they are willing.
As always let’s recap Top Show Points:
· The 7 spirits of God.
· Book of Revelation is full of imagery and should not intimidate us or create fear
· Book of Revelation starts out with John, the Disciple John, identifying himself as the author
· Book of Revelation: Chapter 1 verse 4 gives us our first mention of the 7 spirits
· Book of Revelation: Chapter 5, verse 6, The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God
· Isaiah 11 lists out the 7 Spirits:
· The Spirit of the LORD
2) The Spirit of wisdom
3) The Spirit of understanding
4) The Spirit of counsel
5) The Spirit of power
6) The Spirit of knowledge
7) The Spirit of the fear of the Lord
· These 7 spirits combined make up the Holy Spirit we have access to daily
· We talked about paying attention to people around you and listening to their words and evaluate ourselves in how we are handling life circumstances against the list of the 7 characteristics of the Holy Spirit
· Challenged you to fast from our own decisions and feast on leaning into the Holy Spirit in all areas of our life.
· Document the week so you can reflect on it and see the change in your life.
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
Also, we just dropped a video from our Turkey travels on our YouTube Channel. Check it out!
Also, I want to encourage you to visit our website and join our Warrior community. I am working on planning some live events and the only way to be included in that is to be a part of our Warrior Community. Just visit our website, www.conqueringourunseenenemies.com, and join from the Home page or the Resources page.
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
· Also, we just dropped a video on our YouTube Channel, Life journey with Dawn Simmons. We are still in our series where we visited the 7 Churches in the book of Revelation and the latest video was the church in Laodicea, it’s a beautiful church actually. Very intact.
· Also, I want to encourage you to visit our website and join our Warrior community. I am working on planning some live events and the only way to be included in that is to be a part of our Warrior Community. Just visit our website, www.conqueringourunseenenemies.com, and join from the Home page or the Resources page.
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
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