“Oil for the light” (Exodus 25:6)

Saints can’t walk correctly according to the Word of God unless they’re led by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Before God filled him with the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul obeyed the written Word of God to the best of his ability. He persecuted Christians until Christ stopped him. “A light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting’” (Acts 9:3-5). He was blind for three days, until God healed him and filled him with the Holy Spirit. A few days later, he was preaching the Gospel he once tried to destroy.

His consistent message was, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh ... if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law ... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16-26).

Without the oil of the Holy Spirit, the wick that’s designed to give light can only produce foul smoke. “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Saints depend on the indwelling Holy Spirit for their oil.

Our churches are the light of the world. They constantly need the oil of the Holy Spirit to stay in Christ. Let’s pray for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches, that we rely on the Holy Spirit to understand and apply the Word of God. If you belong to a church that no longer teaches the Word of God as authoritative, look for one that does. The churches that no longer teach and live by the Word of God, are no longer led by the Holy Spirit.