Focus: The Dove-like Spirit!

Text: Mt.3:16

"He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove."

At the very beginning of Jesus' ministry, the heavens opened for Him, and the Spirit came upon Him. In His first sermon He said to the people, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach…" The Lord Jesus Christ never said or did a thing without the Spirit. The Spirit empowered Him for ministry and effected His resurrection, for Paul said, "For if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you…" It was by the Spirit that God raised Christ from the dead. So from start to finish, Christ operated by the prompting and power of the Holy Spirit.

Right in the place of baptism the Spirit came upon Him in the likeness of a dove. The first occurrence of a dove was in Genesis, and it had to do with Noah. One of the things said about the dove is that Noah sent it out to bring back the weather report, of which the dove returned to the Ark with the leaf of an olive. It signaled to Noah that the flood had rescinded and that life was returning to the earth. 

When the Spirit comes upon us, He brings life and fruitfulness with Him. He is the Spirit of redemption, restoration, and resurrection. Moses writes, "And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth" (Gen.8:11). 

God's dove-like Spirit comes to us, bringing upon us the anointing of God, and imparting us with the life of God.

Talking about himself, the psalmist says, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest" (Ps.55:6). O, the dove-like Spirit of God! He makes you long to fly and gives you the wings with which to fly. Our faith soars with the wings of the dove-like Spirit. We walk without fainting, run without tiredness, and soar without weariness.

The psalmist also says, "Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold" (Ps.68:13). Regardless of where you find yourself in life, be conscious of the fact that you have the wings of the dove-like Spirit. You can fly. You can soar. You can do exploits by the Spirit of the Lord.

The Spirit was behind all that the Christ accomplished on earth for His people. Before going back to His Father, Christ told His disciples to wait for the promise of the Father, who was and is the Spirit. Ministry can't begin or take place without the Spirit. The Christian life is not possible without the Spirit. Souls cannot be won to the Lord without the Spirit. The impact of heaven upon the earth is made possible by the Spirit of God. Preaching or teaching devoid of the Spirit will yield no spiritual effects. No one can love another as Christ would without the Spirit of God working in Him. 

We need the continuous indwelling and constant infilling of the Spirit to manifest the glory of God upon the earth. Apart from the Spirit, we can do nothing.

O Lord, fill us afresh with Your Spirit and cause us to glow with Your glory! Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter