And grieve not the holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30). We are definitely told to not grieve the Holy Spirit. In order not to grieve Him, we must first be aware of what causes Him grief. Your personality and the personality of the Holy Spirit were meant to blend together, to work in harmony. Anything that grieves the Holy Spirit will not blend with Him. Blend means to mix, to merge, to unite, to go well together, to harmonize. To blend is to be able to produce a desired quality. When the Holy Spirit can blend with the human spirit, He blends it into the personality of Jesus, making one great personality. He, however, will not blend with that which grieves Him.

What does the word grieve mean? It means to burden. When the Holy Spirit is grieved, He is burdened. To grieve is to oppress. How sad to oppress someone so wonderful, so great as the Holy Spirit who has come to live on the inside of us to be our teacher and guide!

To grieve is to afflict with deep, acute sorrow—to afflict the Holy Spirit with deep sorrow because of saying and doing the wrong things.

To grieve is to make sad, to distress. We make the Holy Spirit sad, distressed when we disobey the Lord. God’s own people can make the Holy Spirit sad by some of the things they do, cause Him to mourn. He cannot possibly mix with that which is foreign to His personality.

To grieve the Holy Spirit is to make Him lament; many have done this to Him.

Quench not the Spirit—what does quench mean? It means to extinguish the Spirit’s work, to put it out. When you don’t yield to the Holy Spirit, when you grieve the Spirit, you put Him out of the solution of your problem, out of the teaching that He seeks to give you, out of the anointing to pray, out of prayer.

By quenching the Holy Spirit, many people have excluded Him from their fasts. They fasted, but they didn’t get any benefit from it. Some people can fast forty days and not change. Every time I have fasted forty days—and there have been numbers of them down through the years—I called it victory. It was victory for Jesus when He fasted forty days and nights, and He is our example. At the end of a forty-day fast, I close my case. When I prayed and fasted forty days and nights for the television tower, almost two years passed before it was erected, but I closed the case at the end of the fast. I didn’t care how long it would take; I knew it was going up. In a vision the Lord showed me the tower with His angel about two-thirds of the way up rejoicing. God doesn’t show visions of deceit. I believe God.

In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we read how people were victorious through faith. They yielded to the Holy Spirit instead of grieving Him. The Holy Spirit and the human spirit blended into one, makes up the wonderful personality of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit will not blend with your spirit unless you use the pure faith of God. You can’t use His faith in a great measure when you grieve His Spirit. You can’t use His love when you grieve His Spirit.

Small disobediences grieve the Holy Spirit, little things of the flesh. Because on different occasions God’s people have grieved the Holy Spirit, they have not been able to use their faith all the time. Faith is to be used all the time: Faith which worketh by love (Galatians 5:6).

To love the Lord is to please Him. By saying you love Him while failing to please Him, by loving self or others more than you love God, you grieve the Holy Spirit. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (I John 2:15).

Don’t be deceived about love; know the difference between human love and divine love. When you grieve the Holy Spirit, you cannot use His divine love. You must not grieve the Holy Spirit at any time if you expect to have the divine faith of God and use it.

In Hebrews we read that the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him (Hebrews 10:38). If you draw back from the Lord, you grieve the Holy Spirit. His soul will have no pleasure in you. We were made in the image of God, given a miniature soul like the great soul of God, a soul that will live forever either in Heaven or in hell. The soul is eternal like God Himself.

In the Garden of Eden, God enjoyed man and woman—before sin entered. After disobeying God, they reacted differently to the voice of the Lord. They grieved God’s Spirit so much that His grace no longer was in their lives; they brought judgment upon themselves. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself (Genesis 3:9-10). This is the first time man was ashamed of his nakedness, the first time he realized that his soul was unrighteous—naked—in the eyes of God.

Before man sinned, he did not look on himself as being naked. He was clothed in God’s garments: righteousness, holiness and purity. Now guilt drove Adam and Eve into hiding. Who told thee that thou was naked? God asked. He knew that their new-found awareness came from the evil one to whom they had listened. The sad story of how they had grieved the Spirit by disobeying God came pouring forth, and they were driven out of the Garden of Eden away from the voice and the daily companionship of God. How tragic!

Abraham lived so close to God that God took him into His confidence, told him He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him (Genesis 18:17-19). Abraham stood before the Lord and pleaded for the righteous. Will you spare the city if there are fifty righteous? The Lord loved Abraham so much that He said He would. Will you spare the city if there be forty-five righteous, if there be thirty righteous, if there be twenty righteous, if there be ten righteous? The Lord agreed not to destroy the city of the sake of ten righteous—however, ten righteous were not to be found in the city. But the Bible tells us God delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished (II Peter 2:7-9). Nothing is said about Lot’s wife being vexed over the sins of Sodom. Lot’s wife grieved the Spirit until she was so weak that she failed God; she wanted the life of Sodom, not what the Lord was leading her into. Loving the world more than she loved God, Lot’s wife looked back to where her heart was. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). Not until she looked back did she grieve the Holy Spirit out of her life. Her daughters had not grieved God like their mother, and they were able to escape God’s hand of judgment.

When people reach the place that they don’t want God, He will reach the place He won’t want them. The cutting-off time will come for those who persist in turning from Him. One of these days all the sinful on Earth will be cut off. Just like God didn’t want Adam and Eve in His Garden, He won’t want those who refuse to obey Him. The Lord will say, I don’t want you. I don’t want you anymore. I’ve called and called to you, and you rebelled. My Son died for you, and you didn’t care. Now I don’t want you.

Today the eyes of the Lord are running to and fro throughout the whole earth seeking the righteous to save. He will take the righteous Bride out before destruction falls. Lot and his family are a type of the Bride. The two angels who pulled them away from destruction are a type of the Word and the Holy Spirit. It’s through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that the Bride will get out of here. She won’t look back; nothing is behind that is worth looking back to, nothing there to desire. Only unholiness, unrighteousness, that which is unclean remain behind, that which is despised by God. Jesus paid the supreme price on Calvary so that we could be delivered from all sin.

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:5,6). Enoch didn’t grieve the Holy Spirit; far from it. He pleased God so much that the Lord took him to Heaven alive. Nothing is said about the rest of his family, only him. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him (Genesis 5:23,24).

Enoch’s son lived to be nine hundred sixty-nine years old, and then he died. The Bible says nothing about whether or not he pleased God, and the Lord didn’t take him to Heaven like He did his father. But Enoch had done such a good job of walking with the Lord that the Lord wanted him up with Him in eternal paradise to be with Him all the time.

The Israelites did not accept God’s ways, but lived by their own opinions. God had given them His ways, and they wouldn’t walk in them. In His wrath, God swore that they would not enter His rest. Forty years God was grieved with a stiffnecked, rebellious people. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest (Psalm 95:10-11). All who were twenty years and older, except Caleb and Joshua, died in the wilderness before their children could go into that land God had planned for them. Through Moses the Lord told them, Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness (Numbers 14:29-32). God would have driven out seven nations out of the Promised Land for them. Instead, He drove out seven nations for their children. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot (Acts 13:19). They could have had peace at last, lived in a land flowing with milk and honey. God would have been their captain. But not so; they wouldn’t agree.

The Lord had been very good to them, protecting them, providing food and water, a cloud by day to shelter them in the wilderness and a pillar of fire at night. He told them, I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot (Deuteronomy 29:5). The Lord rained down food from heaven, called it angel food. They were told to gather on the sixth day enough food for the seventh day, the day of rest.

With great love and power the Lord had brought the Israelites out of Egypt, but again and again they grieved Him. They insisted that Aaron make a golden calf. They pleaded with Moses to tell God to never speak to them again. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die (Exodus 20:19). Think how God felt! To the children He loved so much, He had revealed Himself in a great way so they would know He was the one who would fulfill all their needs, who would lead them through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Now they didn’t want Him to ever speak to them again. Think of the tears the Lord shed over Israel.

Later, Israel grieved God by wanting a king. God let them have their way—He had given man free choice—but it grieved the heart of God. Saul was anointed king. He started out well, humble and obedient before God; then he backslid. The Lord repented, regretted that He had ever made Saul king. It broke the prophet Samuel’s heart when Saul fell. He cried and cried, for in Samuel dwelled the Spirit of the living God; it was a part of him.

The righteous are grieved when the Spirit is grieved, and the Spirit is grieved when the righteous are grieved. The Lord is touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). The Lord feels when we hurt, when we cry tears from the heart. He is a part of our personality, and we are a part of His.

The grieving of the Spirit in Old Testament days is an enlightening study. Israel grieved God until He killed thousands at a time. Sometimes the ground would open and swallow them up. Achan grieved the Lord. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones (Joshua 7:25). Achan and his family were stoned because he grieved God.

Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Joel saw the great pouring out of the Holy Spirit. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28). The Early Church gloried in the pouring out; receiving it, they came into the spirit of pleasing God. They came into the yielding one hundred percent to the Holy Spirit, such perfect obedience that the Lord would allow no contamination in the midst of His people.

Ananias and his wife, members of the Early Church, each told just one lie, and God killed them. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband (Acts 5:9,10.) God will pay any price to keep His people pure and clean. He proved that by giving Jesus.

What a disgrace the human race has been—trampling the blood of Jesus underfoot, blaspheming the name of God! What injustice they have rendered to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost! In this last hour, God’s exacting discipline will be in force once again. Hypocrites, deceivers will, no doubt, fall over dead in the congregation of God’s people or else be swept out of the way.

Man’s personality without Jesus consists of unclean hearts, eyes that search for the sensuous. If you claim to have Jesus today but are looking at the wrong things, you will grieve Him, hamper Him until finally He will leave, saith the Lord. Ears that listen to the wrong things, mouths that talk criticism and gossip are evidence of people in a degraded state.

Before Calvary, man was so unclean, so unholy that God would not walk with him. But then Jesus died for our sins, and all who accept the blood of Jesus into their hearts and souls are purged from the sin nature they were born with. Only the divine blood of Jesus could have done it; only the blood can keep you purged daily. His blood must be applied to your heart and remain there day and night.

Just because the blood is applied to your heart doesn’t mean you can sin. If you sin, the blood no longer remains in your soul; you lose your salvation.

People, by teaching false doctrine, have damned many souls to a devil’s hell. Souls who had thought they were going to Heaven woke up in hell. Once you are in hell, it’s too late to leave.

We are told, remember, to not grieve the Spirit of God. Disobedience grieves the Holy Spirit, any kind of disobedience. To continue in disobedience makes you weaker and weaker, pulls you into self to such an extent that the devil can take over completely. Disobedience in anything is dangerous, but disobedience that leads to all-out sin can be fatal.

Anyone who wants to walk with God must not be disobedient. The Holy Spirit cannot work in an undisciplined life. When a person comes to the place he has yielded all to the Lord, he is promised the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost has come into many hearts who have accepted Him—but then later they failed Him, grieved Him, smothered Him. Instead of letting Him blend with their spirit, they preferred their own spirit, insisted on having their own way; and finally leeches took over.

We think of leeches as blood-sucking worms three to four inches long living in water or wet earth. The word leech is also used to describe a person who clings to another for some gain, a parasite. The devil’s leeches are tiny spirits, parasites that clamp on to the human mind, sucking the spiritual life right out of a person. Any leech the devil can get you to accept will hinder, hamper.

Mental leeches steal God’s reasoning power out of the mind, draining joy from people. Leeches of anger, clamor, jealousy, envy, strife are the devil’s tools of destruction. Mental leeches are not measured in inches like the earth’s leeches. Thousands of mental leeches can be clustered in a mind. They are tiny. Through the gift of discerning that works in my life, I have seen them. Never have I seen anything else like them. I have watched how they bind the minds of people, how they hold on in clusters. If a person could look into the mirror and see what is there, he would start screaming in horror. Leeches can’t be seen in man’s mirrors, only in the mirror God has given to you, the Word of God. Only through the Word of God can you find what binds your mind, what leeches are there.

When a person is full of the Holy Spirit, there is a wonderful blend of the personality of the Holy Spirit and their own personality. Self is put down, completely under control. The wonderful fruit of the Spirit, temperance, or self-control, is produced one hundred percent. The Holy Spirit knows that His fruit is a must if a person is to please God in all things.

Don’t grieve the Spirit of God; don’t let any spirit contaminate your spirit, affect you, influence you. Even if the wrong spirit doesn’t stay but only influences for a time, it will grieve the Holy Spirit.

Unkind, ungodly thoughts grieve the Spirit. Cruel words in the home grieve the Holy Spirit. Some have used so many unkind words that the Holy Spirit has departed, saith the Lord.

Actions that don’t show love grieve the Holy Spirit. If you are disgruntled, hard to get along with, hard to deal with, the Spirit is grieved.

Giving your opinions without taking them to the Word of God grieves the Spirit.

Gossiping, finding fault with others grieve the Holy Spirit. Criticizing the Lord’s work grieves the Holy Spirit. Some people constantly accuse others of wrongdoing. God despises a faultfinding spirit; it grieves the Holy Spirit. Faultfinders are not yielding to the Spirit. They don’t have the joy of the Holy Ghost, the peace of God, the satisfaction of working for Him.

How can you have joy in the Holy Ghost? By pleasing Him, by that wonderful blend of your personality with His linked together in the great bond of God’s love and purity.

Bringing up the past of people who have put it under the blood grieves the Holy Spirit. A past put under the blood is one not even God looks at. No one else has the right to re-examine or talk about it. If you don’t respect the blood enough to let the past of a fellow Christian be ignored, if you insist on talking about it, how can you believe that your own past is under the blood?

Blaming others started in the Garden of Eden. When God asked Adam if he had eaten of the forbidden tree, Adam blamed Eve: The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat (Genesis 3:12). Adam was stronger than the woman; he was made first and had the strength of Heaven to use. He knew better than to be disobedient. Yet he blamed Eve for his sin. Some people have grown up blaming others, never taking responsibility for their own actions. I’ve never seen anyone close to God who blamed others for his own faults and failures. The Bible tells us to do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke (Philippians 2:14,15). If we are not blameless before the Lord, we grieve His Holy Spirit.

Giving over to the flesh and the devil, pleasing the flesh, satisfying self, all grieve the Holy Spirit.

To carry anger within you grieves the Spirit. How can you carry God’s pure love, faith and the humility of Jesus with you when you carry anger? When anger fills you to the brim, how can you carry the joy and peace of the Lord?

Being deceitful grieves the Holy Spirit. Some people think there is no harm in little white lies, but the Bible tells us that all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8). If you commit no other sin than telling a lie and don’t repent, you will go to hell. You can’t lie and expect the Holy Spirit to remain with you.

To manipulate others in order to get your own way grieves the Holy Spirit. You are not seeking God’s way.

Self-justification grieves the Holy Spirit. Do you complain? Self-justification will tell you that you have the right. The Lord doesn’t justify you for grumbling and complaining. He didn’t excuse the Israelites, and He won’t excuse you who have the added advantage of Calvary. The only kind of justification that the Holy Spirit rejoices in is God’s justification, Calvary’s justification. Through the blood that stained the Old Rugged Cross we are justified, not through any effort in self. Many have grieved the Holy Spirit out of their lives by self-justification. Whatever they do is all right. No matter how much they gossip, tattle, meddle in the lives of others, they feel justified. God doesn’t justify you when you meddle. Every fool will be meddling (Proverbs 20:3).

When you give advice, you are responsible, saith the Lord, for that advice. You have taken the place of the Holy Spirit—He wasn’t using you—and you are in deep trouble, saith the Lord. When you give advice in self, know that you will meet that advice at the judgment. If your advice has destroyed or wrecked lives, you will have to give an account for it. Be careful what you say. Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned (Matthew 12:36,37). God means exactly what He says.

Some people think that anything they do is all right. We live in an age in which people glorify sin in themselves and in their children. It’s sinful to have sex outside of marriage. God planned children to be the product of marriage, not of fornication and whoredom. It’s sinful for couples to live together without marriage. If you endorse or make excuses for sin, you will grieve the Holy Spirit out of your life. You’ll not be taken when Jesus comes; you’ll be spewed into the Tribulation Period. To justify sin in your loved ones grieves the Holy Spirit. That is not real love. If you really love a person with true love, you want the sin uncovered and out of that life because you know they will go to hell if they don’t change. Saying that no one can live holy is contradicting the Word of God. Claiming you cannot be like Jesus is disputing the truth and grieving the Holy Spirit. To dispute the truth is to embrace sin, to hug the devil to your bosom. You grieve the Holy Spirit when you don’t have and serve God’s love. People with little love are cold, unreasonable, hard to deal with.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD (Isaiah 1:18). The Lord always reasons in truth. Truth contains discipline, love in it. Some people are so unreasonable with God and others that it is almost impossible to have a conversation with them that makes sense. They don’t want the truth, don’t want to move on into dedication and consecration, saith the Lord, and so I let them alone. The Lord is letting me know that I must get this Gospel to the world, that I can spend a lifetime on unreasonable people and still get nowhere with them. They don’t want the truth, don’t want to reason with God. Satisfied with their own ways, they have rejected God’s ways, not even realizing they are deceived. Labeling others as the unreasonable ones, they don’t face the truth.

Make sure you give people what thus saith the Lord. If you have the Holy Spirit and are not grieving Him, you are not hard to deal with. Your heart, your spirit are soft. When you receive constructive criticism, you don’t become angry, but are grateful, glad. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning (Proverbs 9:8-9).

The leeched mind without the love and faith of God working in it will reject the truth of God, will not be justified in the eyes of God. The just are justified, and the justified will walk by faith. The justified accept all the truth. Every scripture fits perfectly in your walk with God and doesn’t need to be edited or amended at all. Too many are trying to modify the Scripture to fit their lifestyles. It won’t work. You will find that your life is naked before God on that day when you stand before Him. Many people will be disappointed at the end of their journey.

Saying the wrong things grieves the Holy Spirit. Every day check your words. Before you go to bed, take yourself before the Word of God and say, Lord, have I used words that would hinder anyone today? Have I said anything unkind in the home, outside the home? Did I give any wrong advice? Did I give my opinions or did I give your truth? Did I give people my mind or the mind of the Lord? Did I have the spirit of your love and faith today? Did I have a critical spirit? Did I murmur and complain like the Israelites? Will you tell me, Lord, that like the Israelites in the wilderness, I will not go into your rest?

Are you going to be a member of the bridal company? If so, you will please the Holy Spirit and not grieve Him, saith the Lord. When you listen to the devil instead of to the Lord, it grieves the Holy Spirit, causes Him to cry. You who listen to the devil need not expect the Holy Spirit to live within, to teach, to comfort and to guide you. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, but Jesus said the devil is a liar, and the father of it (John 8:44). It grieves the Spirit when you listen to the devil.

It grieves the Holy Spirit when you are full of fear, the wrong kind of fear that the devil brings about. But the Holy Spirit rejoices when you have the fear of God. The fear of God is having respect for God in every way. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Until you fear God, respect Him, you don’t really have God’s wisdom.

When you have misgivings, when you talk doubt, fear, frustration and despair you grieve the Holy Spirit. Oppression and depression are not of God. The Holy Spirit will free you from those things if you will yield enough. Man thinks he can give pills to ease depression; unfortunately sometimes they depress further. It’s the best man can do, but God is the one who delivers. The Holy Spirit never depresses or oppresses when you yield to Him. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him (Acts 10:38).

To ensure that you have the help you need, Jesus promised to send the Holy Ghost: Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you (John 16:7).

When the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, comes, believers will do greater works. Jesus said, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12). Believers, in other words, will do more of the works of Jesus. They will have more time, more people helping, and they will have the Holy Ghost living inside of them.

Jesus showed us what the Holy Ghost and the human spirit can do together, divinity mixed with the human to make one great personality. The disciples couldn’t understand it all until they received the gift of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost. At last they saw clearly.

Some people are entangled with the world, in and out with God. In this last hour they will go out one of these days and not get back in, saith the Lord. You who waver are on dangerous ground. You will not be in and out and still journey with the Lord. He is warning you to get in and stay in with Him. He is warning you to not bring reproach on His name. The hour is too late, and the heathen need the true Gospel sent by the living epistles of the Lord.

You grieve the Holy Spirit when your mind is on Earth’s riches instead of the riches of Heaven. Don’t be obsessed with making money; trust God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). God wants to give to you because He wants you to help send this Gospel to the world, and it takes money to do it. However, when you bow down to anything other than the God of Heaven, you are in trouble. If you want riches for riches sake, for prestige and power, you are not worthy of the Kingdom. God does not admire you. You are in step with the devil and you’ll grieve the Holy Spirit right out your life. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). Certainly I am not against people having money, but know that your security comes from God, not wealth. Have your mind on the Kingdom of God and not on greed. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:20,21).

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye (Matthew 7:1-3,5). Don’t worry about the flaw you see in your brother when you yourself have a greater defect. If your judgment on others is harsh, the judgment you receive from God will be harsh. He will judge you the way you judge others. Give everyone a just measure by turning them over to the Lord to be dealt with. We are not their judges; God is. It’s dangerous to judge.

Being careless, procrastinating, neglectful hinders you in your walk with the Lord; everything that hinders that walk grieves the Holy Spirit. Are you careless with the Word of God, with your prayer life? Are you careless with your speech, with your thought life?

To not have zeal for souls hinders and grieves the Holy Spirit. Not taking the responsibility to be a true Jesus witness grieves the Holy Spirit. To be silly, shallow grieves the Holy Spirit. Some people live on a light, superficial level, never seeming to have a sober moment in which the Holy Spirit can deal with them.

Are you stubborn? Do you pout? If you are full of the Holy Ghost, you are not stubborn nor do you pout; those are qualities of the devil. You can grieve the Holy Spirit right out of your life. If you “punish” people by not speaking to them, you are pouting, being petty. If you think you are justified in that kind of behavior because your feelings are hurt, you are deceived. What if the Lord would have nothing to do with you because you hurt His feelings? Some people who claim to be full of God refuse to speak to members of their own family. Their hearts are empty of God; they love sulking more than they love God. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). When you don’t live according to the Spirit of Truth, you hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Romans 1:21). There is no darkness in the light of the Holy Spirit. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen (Romans 1:22-25).

The Bible says that homosexuality is unclean, that it dishonors the body, and yet many today glorify it. Practicing homosexuality is a sin people will go to hell for. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient (Romans 1:26-28). Practicing homosexuals have reprobate minds. Reprobate means depraved, vicious, unprincipled, excluded from salvation, lost in sin and rejected by God. That’s what God thinks of practicing homosexuals. Sin is being glorified today, but no one with even one little sin will enter God’s Heaven.

Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them (Romans 1:29-32). These people are not going to Heaven unless they repent and let the Holy Spirit apply the blood of Jesus to their hearts. If you accept even one of these sins, if you have pleasure in it, you are worthy of death.

Many Christians are afraid to stand up against sin; they say things are acceptable which once were considered immoral; everyone is doing them. How could something be wrong that so many indulge in? they wonder. Nevertheless, sin is sin, and is raging; we live in a time like that of Sodom, Gomorrah and the days of Noah. Jesus said, But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be (Matthew 24:37).

The spirit of covetousness is all around us. People break into homes, rob, vandalize. Our nation is steeped in sin and darkness; schools and universities are not safe for decent children. Some years ago, people thought they could educate the devil out of people; but after spending billions of dollars on education, things are worse today. Education will not take the devil out of people, only the blood that stained the Old Rugged Cross will do that. The Holy Spirit is grieved by the darkness in men’s hearts.

How can you keep from grieving the Holy Spirit? This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law (Galatians 5:16-18). When you are born again and led by the Holy Spirit you are under grace, not the Law of Moses.

What are the works of the flesh? Many don’t know. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21). Adultery: A married person having sexual intercourse outside the marriage. One cannot fulfill the lust of the flesh and walk in the Holy Spirit also.

Fornication: Intercourse without first being joined together in holy matrimony; any unlawful sexual intercourse. This includes shacking up, common law marriages and one night stands. If you allow a son or daughter to share a bed with a lover in your own home, you grieve the Holy Spirit. You are putting your approval on it, and you are in trouble.

Uncleanness: Anything in your life filthy, vile, obscene or morally impure. Even among so-called Christians, uncleanness is seen much today. Anyone with uncleanness in his life does not have the presence of the holiness of God. Unless there is a change, that soul will go to hell. To be clean before God is the only way to live. To be unclean is a fearful thing.

Laciviousness: Expressing lust, exciting lustful desires. Lust is a way of life with many people. Both men and women wear revealing clothing that incites lust. People wouldn’t be displaying their bodies if they didn’t want to be looked at, desired. Be careful how you dress. The Bible tells women to adorn themselves in modest apparel (I Timothy 2:9). When people dress to tantalize others, showing nudity, using their bodies to stir desire in another, to entice, God is displeased. Holy people do not flaunt themselves in a lascivious manner. They do not present themselves in such a way as to draw lust. Lasciviousness is damnable, sinful.

Idolatry: Excessive devotion to some person or thing; not putting God first. Husband, wife, loved one, wealth, anything that is put before God can be classified as idolatry. Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3). God intended us to first love and worship Him with our whole heart and soul.

Witchcraft: Black magic, sorcery, giving over to the supernatural powers of the devil, the practice of witching. Witches are not Christ-like at all. Witchcraft is done through the devil’s power. It’s having supernatural powers by contact with evil spirits. Astrology is included in this category. If you rush to check the daily astrology columns, you are playing with the devil. Your day is not written in the stars; it is written in the Word of the living God. If you walk with God, He said He would give you peace. If you obey Him and keep your mind on Him, He will supply your needs. Isaiah tells us that the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame (Isaiah 47:14). Who will help you when they are burned up? Babylon had astrologers, soothsayers; it was a wicked and devilish kingdom. People turned to astrology instead of God. They lived in lust, practiced ungodly, unholy ways. America is walking the same path today. The cost then was death, and it is the same today. If you want to know your future, look into the Bible. The end-time hour is clearly laid out for all to see.

Hatred: Another work of the flesh, a strong dislike, ill-will for another. Do you dislike someone to the extent that you despise his soul? If he is ungodly, God hates his ways—you hate ungodly ways—but would you pray for his soul if you had the chance to hold him out of hell? Would you try to rescue him, or would an awful spirit within tell you he deserved hell? You want him in hell even though he still has a chance for Heaven: that’s hatred, not the love of God. You may not like a person, but you must love the soul so long as there is a chance that that one might receive Christ.

Variance: Disagreement, disputing, quarreling, changeableness. Do you fuss with anyone? Do you argue with your mate? It’s devilish. Fussing is not healthy as some would have you believe. It does not make you like Jesus; it makes you like the devil. Where is God’s love in fussing? Bickering, unable to get along together is of the flesh and the devil. If you and your mate bicker, pray for God to change you. Out of all the people you meet you chose that one to spend your life with…and then you fuss. Did you marry to make each other unhappy, miserable? If you fuss before you marry, it’s a good sign your marriage will be a disaster. Why would you want to marry someone you can’t get along with?

Just let me add here that God doesn’t expect you to remain in an abusive relationship, one in which you live in fear for your safety or for the safety of your children. You would be free to divorce, but unless your mate, or ex-mate, commits adultery, you would not be free to remarry.

God intended His love to be in marriage. You will not get to Heaven unless you are holy, pure. The Holy Spirit will teach you how to love each other as you yield to Him. We are told to love even our enemies; how much more should we love our friends and family! Would you continue to fuss with your mate were Jesus to walk into the room? If Jesus is in your heart, He is in the room. There you are, fussing, grieving the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God does not uphold disagreeableness. It is not the work of God nor of the Holy Spirit. The Lord said for you to be perfect in love. God ordained marriage with love. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh (Mark 10:7,8). It is ridiculous for part of one flesh to battle with another part of itself. When you don’t get along, you are not pleasing God.

Emulations: Envy, trying to compete because you are resentful, jealous. The Lord is displeased with it.

Wrath: Intense anger, punishment carried out in a rage, fury, vengeance, trying to even the score. If wrath is part of your personality, you are not right with God. The spirit of the devil is the one who tries to even the score. Jesus said to pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5:44).

Strife: Contention with another, conflict, not getting along with your brothers and sisters in Christ. There will be no strife in the Bride, no strife among her members to prevent her from doing God’s perfect work in this final hour.

Seditions: Rebellion, stirring up discontent, trying to enlist others into a conflict over some cause real or imagined. Many have been deceived, building their life’s work around a cause that has nothing to do with God’s true Word. They thought being totally captivated by a cause, pouring all their energy and resources into it made them righteous. Without God, no man is righteous. The cause of the righteous is Jesus Christ and lost souls. Do you have a feeling of worth only when you are over-reacting? Are you critical? Do you cause division? God may love you, but He certainly doesn’t like what you are doing. If you continue, one day God will push you out of the way.

Heresy: Teaching in opposition to the Word of God. We have much of this today. Do you oppose any of the teachings in God’s Word? Do you prefer man’s doctrine over the Word of God? Do you listen to false doctrine on radio, television because some of the doctrine sounds all right? If so, you are lending an ear to heresy, to that which is devilish, destructive, that which will send souls to hell. The Bible tells us to test the spirits: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world (I John 4:1). Do you think you do not need the Holy Ghost in this hour to prepare you for the Rapture? False doctrine in your heart will cause you to doubt God’s Word. Check the Word of God thoroughly with an open mind. Find out what is says. For example: Receiving the Holy Ghost is a commandment of Jesus. And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:4,5). How can you expect to get by if you are disobedient to the Lord in this last hour?

Envyings: Feelings of ill-will and discontent because of another’s advantages, possessions and blessings. Do you envy others or are you glad when they are blessed?

Murderers: Those who willfully kill another human being. Over and over again we see and hear reports of brutal murders. People think the answer for their problems is to take the life of another. It’s the devil’s answer.

Drunkenness: Intoxicating drinks flow freely in America. Drunk drivers kill many people each year. Drunkenness is called a disease; it is not. It is devil possession. When a person is delivered from the devils of alcohol, that person no longer craves alcohol. The Bible says: Abstain from all appearance of evil (I Thessalonians 5:22). Drinking and being a Christian do not mix.

Revellings: Wild parties, boisterous good times, taking much delight in being wild; to make noise or rebel. Many people revel in sports to the exclusion of God; sports become their god, the most important focus of their lives.

Those who indulge in even one of the seventeen works of the flesh and don’t repent will never see Heaven. The works of the flesh and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21). The works of the flesh drive the presence of God right out of your life. Be careful what you give your spirit over to, careful where you go, what you watch, what you listen to, what you read and what you say. In this age, people in general have an outlook that differs from the Holy Word of God. They rationalize their works of the flesh by saying, God didn’t really mean His Word for this hour. They are deceiving themselves, out of the presence of God, out of His will.

See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it (I Thessalonians 5:15-24). God is showing us His great mysteries, the mystery of holiness, the mystery of the blood, the mystery of the Holy Spirit and how they all work in a human life to make it pure, clean and fit for Heaven. He tells us what to abstain from and what grieves the Holy Spirit.

Yea, saith the Spirit of the Lord: I am your God, and I am holy. The unclean, the unholy will not walk with me, and they will never live in my heaven. Many have been deceived by doctrines of devils, and many more will be deceived. This is the hour of great deceit that I have warned you about in my Holy Scriptures and told you this hour would come. There cannot be any deceit in my children, not a tiny particle of deceit, saith the Lord, in my children. My children will be pure. My children will see God. My children will walk hand in hand with their Lord, and just clean hands will be in the hands of the Lord of heaven, saith the Spirit. Walk in the ways of the Lord thy God. An unbelievable price has been paid for you to have my Holy Word. I paid a supreme price when I gave you my Son, when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men. I will not excuse you, not in one sin. I will not excuse you in any deceit. You must be holy and blameless before me to dwell in my presence and live in my presence as the eternal ages roll, saith the Lord.

Have you measured your life with the Word of God? If you don’t have Jesus, if your life is not yielded to the Lord, let me pray with you now:

Oh, God, I have sinned against you. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I will serve you, Lord, the rest of my life. I believe your Word; I love your Word; I love the blood of Jesus, and I believe the blood of Jesus washes away all of my sins. Come on into my heart, Jesus; come on in!

If you meant that prayer, now you can say, Hallelujah He is mine!

You who are sick and afflicted, know that the Lord’s will is for you to be healed. Jesus came for the healing of our bodies as well as the healing of our souls. With his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). I am not your healer; God is. I believe in the power of prayer. I will believe the Lord for your healing or the healing of your child. Jesus said, if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 18:19). Here they are Lord: In the holy name of Jesus I come with your gifts of healing and your gift of miracles for their deliverance. I curse the sickness and disease in their bodies as Christ cursed the fig tree when He was here on Earth in the name of the Lord. Through the power of the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, Son of the living God, Heal! Heal! in the holy, mighty name of Jesus.

The healing power is flowing. If you will be obedient and believe the Lord, that power will linger in your body for days to get you well or to get your child well. Watch for all signs of improvement daily. Be careful to praise the Lord for them. You who received salvation, start reading your Bible. Go on to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit and always remember to grieve not His Holy Spirit. This message must be preached throughout the whole earth, and then the end will come.

Yea, saith the Spirit of the Lord: My people are bowing while here on earth and crying, Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! I delight in my people praising me. I will not be any more delighted when they are before my throne praising me than I am now. I love to hear my people praise me in a sin-cursed world. It pleases me to hear the praises of my people. I delight in my people, and I always listen when my people with a sincere heart give praise unto me. My ears are open to the praise of my people, and I reward my people for their praises. I delight in them loving me, loving my truth, loving my light that’s shining forth throughout the earth in this last and final hour. Oh my people, I am delighted that you have turned from unrighteousness and you have come into my righteousness. You have turned from that which is false, and you have come into my truth. I delight in your strength as you walk with me. I delight in your humility as you bow before me. I am pleased with your love and your faith that I have given to you, and to see you use it is my great delight. As I see you walk in my faith, I know that victories, victories will be mine throughout the whole earth. I know that you will gather in my harvest in this last and final hour. Yes, I delight in my true people. I delight in and love my true ones. And I am bringing you into all of my greatness. I am moving upon you will all of my love so that you will share it with a lost and dying world. Go forth, go forth with armfuls on purpose. Go forth, go forth with my message of deliverance and see the multitudes delivered through the power of my grace, through the power of Calvary, through my shed blood, saith the Lord.

In this last hour, the Bride, the pride of Heaven, the grace of God, will walk without spot, wrinkle, blemish. She will be holy and will not grieve the Holy Spirit, but she will be a holy terror to the devil. She will carry God’s love, faith and deliverance to the world in this last hour, and then the end will come.