We will be looking at a very important topic in this piece and it's a discourse that is central in the heart of God, because there is something God wants to do in us and around us; that requires that we understand this fundamental truth. So, by the help of the Holy Spirit and the teaching grace that He has made available to us, be dissecting and looking at “Being Overshadowed and Empowered by the Holy Spirit.”

 

Now, the reason why this piece is important, and we must pay attention is that one of the things I believe so strongly in, and I have come to experience is that when the Holy Spirit is being spoken about; His presence fills the room. Specifically, when you speak about God, you're talking about His Spirit. When you're talking about Jesus, you're talking about the Holy Spirit. But when specifically, you are speaking about the operations and the dimensions of the Holy Spirit; He fills the room, because He is a personality that is endeared towards the teaching of the Word. So, whenever the teaching of the word especially when you're talking about His person, He comes to fill the room.

 

So please, I want us to look beyond the letters and beyond the communication of the flesh and connect to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our first point of call will be Luke chapter 1 verse 35. I am sure we are familiar with that particular Scripture. We will start from there, and we trust the Holy Spirit to take us to other Scriptures that will shed more light into this subject. Luke chapter 1 verse 34 Mary asked; “How can this thing be since I know no man, and the angel answered her and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you.”

 

The angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. And the power of the highest will overshadow you, therefore, as a result of this experience, also, that holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God. I want to read that particular verse again. Luke chapter 1 verse 35. The angel answered and said to her, she was asking, how can these dynamics that you are explaining to me come to a reality? How can I move from just an ordinary virgin that is living her life normally, betrothed to Joseph; planning to get married and just live my simple life in our small village Nazareth? How can I transit to become this blessed and favored woman that you are talking about? How can I move from ordinary to extraordinary? How can I move from natural to supernatural?

 

This was the question she was asking, since the elements and functionalities that are normal, that I know; you are overruling it, how can these things be? And the angel answered her question; and this was the answer, He said, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you, therefore; as a result of the presence of the Holy Spirit that comes upon you and the power of the Highest that overshadows you.” See, what he said will happen. “Therefore, also that Holy One who is to be born; the fruits of this experience, what did He say He will be? He said, He will be called Son of God.”

 

I want to read it in the Passion Translation, Luke chapter 1 verse 35. “Gabriel answered, the spirit of holiness will fall upon you. And Almighty God will spread is shadow of power over you in a cloud of glory.” He said, this is how these things will be; this is why the child born to you will be holy. There is a way, the Passion Translation broke it down to help us to understand the sequence of what Angel Gabriel was communicating to Mary. He said, the Spirit of Holiness; the Holy Spirit will fall upon you and he said, the Almighty God will spread His shadow of power over you in a cloud of glory, you will be overwhelmed, you will be overshadowed, you will be empowered. And he said this is why, because without that, this will not happen.

 

This is why the child born to you will be holy, He will become the fruit of that experience. That's why He will be Holy and He will be called the Son of God. In the Amplified, this is how he broke it down, you see, Luke chapter 1 verse 35 is central to our understanding of the subject matter in consideration. There are other Scriptures that the Holy Spirit will use to help us amplify what He is saying to us. But please, if we can open up our spirit to Luke chapter 1 verse 35, we will be able to press into the mystery behind being overshadowed and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

 

So, in the Amplified, he said the power of the Most High will overshadow you like a cloud. For that reason; KJV says, therefore; also, the passion translation said, why? For that reason, the holy, pure, sinless child shall be called the Son of God. So, what happened there? What was the understanding that God was communicating to the world in Luke chapter 1 verse 35? God opened us up to the order; you know, Jesus became the firstborn, first example. First expression of the order of the life that God has given to us as a second chance, when man lost the first life, through the first Adam; sin and death came, through the last Adam; Grace came, life came. Now everything about Jesus, from the beginning of His life; His life is without end; to the experience we are still uncovering about Him, He is an example and a picture of what is possible for us in God.

 

So, when Jesus was to be born, this was the intro to His life. In Luke 1 there was a woman called Mary, a young lady. And the angel of the Lord visited her and saluted her and said, you are blessed among all women, you are highly favored among women; because God is about to demonstrate to the world through you. God is about to birth through you, a fruit that the world has never seen before, an experience that the world has never encountered before. And she said, wow, great, even though I don't know how I qualify, and that's a question many people ask, I don't know how I qualify for this, I don't know how I'm entitled to this, I don't know how I am privileged to this experience.

 

So, she was asking the question that many people would ask, how will these things be? How would this experience come to fruition? How would the reality be born and the angel said to her, this is the order in which from now on, God will be birthing everything that will carry His DNA on the earth. He said to her, this will be the order. This is how God will be producing everything that will carry His authority on the face of the earth. What was it? Luke chapter 1 verse 35. Gabriel answered her, and said to her, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of grace will overshadow you, will overwhelm you, will come upon you, and the power of the Most high will overshadow you. And therefore, as a result of this, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

 

Let's flip it around. Now, for Mary, what God wanted to produce was the Son of God. For other people, there are different things that God wants to produce. God, for some people, want to produce a nation of God. God wants to produce a company of God; it is the same principle, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest will overshadow you, and therefore for that reason, whatever will be born as a result of that experience will be called of God, because it is the DNA, the life of God that will produce it.

 

Ephesians chapter 5 verse 17-18“Therefore, do not be unwise but understand what the will of God is? How do you understand what the will of God is? Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” When we talk about being filled with the Spirit. How do you get to be filled with the Spirit? You get to be filled with the Spirit because the Holy Spirit will come upon you. If you have an empty container, and you want it to be filled, what do you do? You pour. That's why every time in the Old Testament when God was prophesying about the release of the Spirit, He said, I will pour My Spirit, so that you can be filled. I will pour my spirit into all flesh. In the Book of Joel; and your sons shall prophesy, right, your sons and daughters shall prophesy.

 

I will pour because you need to be filled. How do you understand what the will of God is? How do you know that what you are supposed to birth is of God? It is because you are filled with the Spirit. If you are not filled with the Spirit, you cannot know what the will of God is. What was the will of God for Mary other than what will be born of her? By the reason of the pouring out, the overshadowing experience, the empowering experience will be called the Son of God; that's the will of God. So, you don't know what the will of God is by being drunk with wine, you know what the will of God is by being drunk in the Spirit; filled with the Spirit.

 

In John chapter 6 verse 63, see what Jesus said, we're looking at why do we need to be overshadowed and empowered by the Holy Spirit? “It is the Spirit who gives life.” So, the Spirit is a person, He is a person poured out by the Father into you and I so that we are filled with His person. Jesus was saying here, it is the Spirit who gives life. So, if you see me living a life, it is the Spirit that gives this life; do you see a life in Christ that you desire? “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing”. The words that I speak to you are Spirit and they are life. The Spirit gives life, is there any life you desire in God; it is the Spirit who gives life. You want to live a life of grace? It is the spirit who gives life. Have we not wondered why everything that has to do with a product or a result that we desire in God; the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of that thing. Isaiah chapter 11, you desire the wisdom of God, He is the Spirit of wisdom; you desire might, the Spirit of might; you desire love, the Spirit of love; you desire grace, the Spirit of grace; you desire truth, the Spirit of truth.

 

So, it is the Spirit that gives life; there is no life you desire in God that you can get outside of His Spirit. Until we come by faith, believing we don't have access to the kind of life that God has made possible in Christ. So, you cannot labor to get this life; you believe and receive it. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 5–6 “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, or think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency from God, who also make us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter, but of The Spirit!

 

Apostle Paul was speaking to the Corinthian church here, he said, not that we are sufficient, sufficient means enough, capable, we are not capable, we are not enough on our own, by ourselves. But we are enough; our ‘enoughness’ pardon me to use that word, our ‘enoughness’ is from God. Who is from God? The Spirit. That's why he said, the letter kills but the Spirit gives life, corroborating what Jesus said in John 6 verse 63. It is the Spirit that gives life, the life that is enough is not in the flesh, the life that is enough cannot be found in the flesh, sufficient life is not in the flesh, it is in the Spirit. So, we need to be empowered and overshadowed by the Spirit; until there is none of you and all of Him. And I believe God is bringing us into that realm where we move beyond the letter and connect to the Spirit that gives life.

 

Do you know that if Jesus was pretending for three and a half years, can He be pretending in eternity? Jesus, the Bible says, He was empowered by the Holy Spirit, full of the Holy Spirit and He was doing the things, demonstrating and doing the things He was doing on the earth by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. And if you see, there is no difference between the Jesus that walked on the earth, and the Jesus in heaven, His personality did not change because it is the same Spirit. You cannot pretend in the Spirit. If you have the life, you have it. You can’t pretend, what was the difference between Barnabas, Ananias and Saphira? Barnabas took his possession; it was his life.

 

Before Barnabas was introduced, about what he did, about his works, were introduced to his person. He was somebody that was hungry for God, you will see the passion; filled with the Holy Spirit. He took his possessions, sold it; see this is everything take it, there's too much to do for God; one land cannot hold me down. Then somebody without the Spirit, Ananias and Saphira saw what a man filled with the Spirit did and they wanted to copy, you can’t copy. You can’t copy a man in the Spirit. If you don't have the Spirit, you don't have it. Just like the seven sons of Scever, they wanted to copy Paul, they could not; you can't copy. Saying, I love the demonstration of the Spirit in his life; if I can just observe him for three days; you will fail. Because the Spirit gives life, the flesh profits nothing.

 

I want us to see John chapter 14, see what Jesus was saying here. You can’t copy this life; you can’t copy it. You have it or you don't have it. John chapter 14 verse 17, Jesus said, “The Spirit of Truth He is talking about the Holy Spirit; whom the world cannot receive, the world cannot receive Him, so they can’t even copy those that have Him because it neither sees Him, nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you, and He will be in you.” The world cannot receive Him; they don't know Him. Can you demonstrate the life of somebody you don't know?

 

Can you express the life of somebody you don't know, the world cannot receive Him; they don't know Him. He's the Spirit of truth. John chapter 15 verse 26, Jesus is speaking about the Holy Spirit; He said but when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father. Our sufficiency is from God, who is our sufficiency? He is the Holy Spirit. How did God make sure that we have life enough, life in abundance, life that is abundance in nature; He said by the release of His Spirit. That's why Jesus said, When the helper comes, whom, I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. He proceeds from the Father. If He proceeds from the Father, and the Father is called the Eternal Father, then He is the eternal Spirit; so, the life that He gives, is the eternal life. He proceeds from the Father; His source shows us His DNA; He is not less of God. He comes in the fullness of God, so when He fills you, He fills you with God.

 

John chapter 16 verse 13. Jesus speaking about the Holy Spirit, “however, when He; the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority. But whatever He hears; He will speak, and He will tell you things to come”, He will grant you access; when He has come, you don't have that access before He comes. It's when He has come. That's why you will see, when the disciples of Jesus were with Jesus, what they had access to was a limited expression of what Jesus could release into them. But when Jesus knew that they needed the Holy Spirit, that they needed the Spirit of Truth, there's something that Jesus did for them. John chapter 7 verse 37 - 38.

 

“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, because if Jesus could cry out, you know it is a serious matter; It is something deep, He cried out, saying, if anyone thirst, let Him come to me and drink; He who believes in me as the Scripture as said, out of his heart, will flow rivers of living water”, but this is spoken concerning the Spirit whom those believing in Him would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.” But Jesus knew what they needed was the Spirit, that's why when they were asking Him in Acts chapter 1, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel? He said don't concern yourself with those things, tarry here in Jerusalem, until you are endued.

 

See, you don’t have enough! Wait until you have enough; wait until you are sufficient. If I send you out like this you will burn out. If I send you out like this; you will be exhausted. Wait until you have enough to run, wait until you have sufficient to move, He said tarry here in Jerusalem until you are endued with power, then you will be My witnesses, then you will run for Me. That's why when God was angry with some prophets, He said I have not sent them yet they are running; on what fuel? on what energy? on what life? And that is how many believers are; you cannot just run on passion, you run on the Spirit. Because if you run just on passion, you will be exhausted. You need to run on the Spirit. Do you think that Mary by herself, could have carried Jesus; she didn't have the strength.

 

She didn't have the strength, but when the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God came upon her, the Holy Spirit came with His supply; there is a supply of the Spirit. There is the supply of the Spirit, when we're talking about being empowered by the Spirit, it is been empowered by the supply of the spirit, there is the supply of the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes, He comes in the fullness of who He is; God. And that's why if you look at John chapter 1 verse 14, when Jesus was being introduced as the word, He said, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full; anytime you see the word full, know that the presence of the Holy Spirit is involved; full of grace and truth”, Who is the Spirit of grace? Who is the spirit of truth? The Bible says that when Jesus was baptized, He returned full, not filled but full of the Holy Spirit.

 

So, what was He full of? John 1 verse 14 said He was full of grace and truth. Isaiah 11, speaking about the dimensions of the Holy Spirit, spoke of Him as a Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of the fear of the Lord, Spirit of might, Spirit of strength, Spirit of wisdom. So, when you are full, it is different from when you are filled. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, meaning that in all the dimensions of the Spirit, the supply of the Holy Spirit was present in Jesus; that is full. But when you are filled, I will show us a Scripture Acts chapter 4 verse 31-33 “And when they had prayed, the place where they assembled together, was shaking, and they were all filled, did you see full? they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

 

That was what they were filled with. That was the supply of the Spirit, but for Jesus; He had the fullness, the Bible says it pleased the Father that in Him, the fullness of the Godhead should dwell bodily. So, He was full, that's why Jesus never lacked wisdom, might, strength, He lacked nothing of that; grace, truth; it was fullness because He was full. But as believers we get filled, we get filled in dimensions and in degrees, because you will see that this Acts chapter 4 was different from Acts chapter 2 and it is the same set of people. The same old set of people in Acts chapter 2, the Bible says “and the presence of the Holy Spirit filled the place where they gathered, and the place was shaken, and the tongues of fire rested upon each and every one of them that were in that room”; they were filled, but what is the desire of God?

 

The Bible says, that we measure up to the fullness. That's why whenever it is about the fullness, we are to measure to the fullness of the stature of Christ, that stature is His stature in the Spirit. So, as we are filled, we are measuring to the fullness. So, who says, who is that man on the earth that says that I am enough. Who is that man on earth that says that I am sufficient? He said our sufficiency is from God. That's why we look to Him daily not monthly. We look to Him daily for an overshadowing, for an empowering, so that we continue to measure to the fullness. We continue to measure to the fullness.

 

Luke chapter 4 verse 1 says: “Then Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” There's another portion that talks about Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. But here, He said Jesus; been filled with the Holy Spirit returned; And Jesus made us to understand that the Spirit gives life. So, is there any life God wants you to express? It is the spirit that gives it. That's why in Galatians chapter 5 verse 22 - 23, the Bible makes us to understand the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love. He is the Spirit of love; having expressions in joy, peace, long suffering, patience, gentleness, self-control. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of love and He can produce it in you when you are filled.

 

What does it mean to be filled? What does it mean to be overshadowed and empowered by the Holy Spirit? It means that you are in perfect communication with the Holy Spirit, perfect fellowship, unbroken fellowship. What does it mean? It means that there is an overflow of the Holy Spirit in your life. When people look at you they can't see you they see Him. He has overtaken your person; it is no longer you. That's what Apostle Paul was saying, no longer I; ‘I’ is dead, I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live but the I you see is overshadowed. The I you see is overwhelmed, the I you see is empowered, the I you see is powered by the Spirit. I live but not I, it is Christ that lives in me by His Spirit. That's the point where we are overshadowed because when something is overshadowed, you no longer see it. 

 

That's why when the world sees us, they must see the Father, they must see Christ, they must see the workings of the Holy Spirit, because we are overshadowed. Being overshadowed is being filled again and again and again, measuring to the fullness of Christ. Luke chapter 1 verse 35, says, anything that is born of God is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit; anything called of God is overshadowed and powered by the Holy Spirit. So, is there anything? Any fruit of your life that is called of God? You can't produce it without being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. All the Books in the Bible came by the inspiration of God. Men were moved, they were overshadowed, the Holy Spirit took their pen and make their pen like the pen of a ready writer. The Holy Spirit took over their minds, took over their mouths, and they were saying things, because how can you think a normal human being in his right senses will be saying things that will make people stone him and he will continue to say it; overshadowed.

 

The Bible says Stephen was full of the Spirit, and you will see; he said his countenance was altered. He was saying things that will make men to stone him and he won’t stop, he was overshadowed. What the world is waiting for, the manifestation of the sons of God; is that we manifest as overshadowed beings, being overshadowed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, that you are not afraid of anything, you stand for God unapologetically, the Holy Spirit has taken over all the faculties of your being, you are no longer in control; that's been overshadowed. And that's the time and the season that the Holy Spirit has said we have come into, and until we step in, see; what He is doing for us is that He is holding in a measuring line. And He is saying; will you follow?

 

Being born of the Spirit, there are three things; I am going to say this in closing. John chapter 3 verse 5 – 6; three important things we must take note of. Jesus was saying here, “most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit; he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; it is called flesh. So, you gave birth to a company in the flesh; is called flesh. But if it is born of the Spirit is Spirit, if you are not born of the water and the Spirit you cannot see the kingdom. So, what is being born of the Spirit about? We're going to look at three Scriptures very quickly.

 

#1. For you to be born in the Spirit, you must walk in the Spirit; Galatians 5 verse 16 says: “I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill, what? the lust of the flesh.” Being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit means walking in the Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

 

#2. It is being led by the Spirit; that same Galatians chapter 5 verse 18 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Romans chapter 8 verse 14, “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Corroborating what Jesus said in John chapter 3, If you are not born of the water and the Spirit you cannot have access to the kingdom of God.

 

#3. You live in the Spirit Galatians 5 verse 25. “If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”. When you walk in the Spirit and you are led by the Spirit; you will live in the Spirit; it is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are Spirit, and they are life.

 

I believe it is a good time for us to say a word of prayer!

Thanks for the gift of your time, We are Lara Gboyega Adedeji and Gboyega ADEDEJI!

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