Every human being gives off an aroma, a manifestation of something that exists inwardly. In the Old Testament, there were times that God was pleased with the aroma and times He was displeased with the aroma. God had feelings about the actions of men, yet the aroma that they would set off to sacrifice animals on behalf of their sin would make up for the things they did.
Even in this day, more than what we do and don't do, there is a bigger thing that matters to God and that is the aroma that we give off in the Spirit. What’s deep down in our hearts and minds has a smell to it. They influence the Lord’s heart. In the Old Testament, the altar was an actual place inside a sanctuary where you would give your sacrifice. Now the altar is our hearts. Now the bigger thing than our actions is our heart, what’s inside of it, what’s germinating, the thoughts, and the intentions. This matters more to God than anything else, and God is either pleased with it or not.
You can have a person that knows the Bible, that does everything right, yet God is displeased. Or you can have someone who struggles with sin, yet God is still pleased. It’s the aroma that our inward man is giving off that pleases God. Our flesh can never please God, so what is the altar of your heart burning?
What’s burning on the inside is doing things on the outside, and not only on the outside in the flesh but in the Spirit. When burnt offerings were done, there were two types of manifestations. There was a seen manifestation and an unseen manifestation. The seen was the smoke that would come from the burning of the sacrifice and the unseen was the smell that it gave off.
Our inward self is giving off two manifestations. One in the spirit and one in the flesh. You can see someone who struggles with lust naturally stares at every woman or man they see. Someone who has unforgiveness deep down may manifest outward signs of bitterness and anger. Whatever it is that is deep down in each person has an outward manifestation. And that's just the flesh! In the spirit, we also create a manifestation, we create an aroma, a smell that discerning believers can sense. Our spirit has been designed to sense what is deep down or the aroma that is coming off from every person.
If someone is burning with lust, your spirit can feel it. When someone is burning with hate, you can feel the hate inside the room. Our spirits can sense the things that are burning in our hearts. If we are burning for the Lord, when we walk in a room, people will feel it. Our faith should be contagious because our faith should have a substance. As a spirit-filled believer, the Spirit should be filling the room everywhere I go. The Bible says signs and wonders shall follow those who believe. Why, because in real Spirit-filled people, the Spirit in them cannot be contained! The Spirit will start moving in them everywhere they go.
Read Genesis 4:3-6. When we look at Genesis and we see Cain and Abel, we see that the Lord was pleased with one of their sacrifices and was displeased with the other. Both were working! One fed the sheep and one tilled the ground. Yet the Lord was not upset with Cain because he didn't do a good job, God was looking upon his heart. There was a displeasing aroma coming from Cain’s heart, but Abel’s was pleasing to God because he was doing things with a right heart. “And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.”
“But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.” God’s displeasure with Cain created a depression upon Cain, His continence fell, His peace left. And not only did that create a spiritual manifestation but also an outward manifestation that took over him to kill his brother. Did Cain want to be upset? No. Yet his own heart and God’s displeasure with it created a manifestation of sadness and anger. Some people don't know why certain feelings randomly come upon them, yet they don't realize they deep seeds inside of them are creating these manifestations, creating an aroma. When we smell a bad smell, we have displeasure, and when our spirit smells the bad seeds brewing in our heart and mind, it creates displeasure. Some people are depressed and don't know why, but if they repent it will change because the aroma will change.
This is why Paul says only think on those things that are of good report, that are lovely, pure, because they create a pleasing aroma unto the Lord and also keep us in joy, peace, and righteousness. Then our brothers and sisters in Christ feel good around us because we are creating a pleasing atmosphere unto the Lord.
Some people don't understand that you can have a pure intention about something but the thing deep down in you still affects that something. Just like how Peter thought he was protecting Jesus by telling Him that he will protect Him from being crucified. Yet Jesus rebuked him and called him an offense. Peter thought he had a pure heart by protecting Jesus. Yet his carnality blinded him from the fear that he was actually manifesting. Peter wasn’t fearing for Jesus’ life. He was actually fearing for his own life because he knew if Jesus would be gone, he would end up going back to his old life. It wasn’t about Peter protecting Jesus, it was about Peter protecting Peter. The root of his selfishness took on manifestation disguised as protection for Jesus. (See Matthew 16:21-23.)
Everywhere you go there is an atmosphere, and that atmosphere is not random. The people in that place are the ones creating the atmosphere. If you go to a grocery store and there's a pleasing feeling in the atmosphere, most likely the people in there are positive people who have good thoughts and seeds in their hearts. Or you can go to a rock concert and feel an eerie feeling in the air, probably because lots of the hearts there are entertaining evil thoughts and negative attitudes. Whatever it is, the atmosphere is dictated by the people. Yet whatever is dictating the people is what is dictating the atmosphere through the people. People create an aroma that our spirit can feel.
People think that principalities and powers can just take over a region whenever they want, yet the truth of the matter is they take over the people first before they take over the atmosphere in that region. Why is there a strong spirit of homosexuality in New York City? The people have given into it, a liberal spirit has taken over the city allowing all sorts of ungodliness. Yet that spirit didn't just come and just takeover, the people allowed it in.
That's why the more we as believers take dominion in the Spirit and fill others with Him, the atmosphere in our cities will start to change. Just like Paul was taking over cities and turning them upside done. The power of God was so strong in the city that the devil had to send a woman filled with divination to try and stop him. There comes a point in time where the devil can’t even touch our mind and heart that he has to send possessed people in the flesh to try and stop us. If we want to get there, we have to clean our insides and keep it clean, and atmospheres and principalities will bow to us.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. See 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.
We are unto God an aroma, we are unto the spiritually living an aroma, and to even the spiritually dead we are an aroma. There is a smell, there is a feeling that we create in the atmosphere over us that others can feel. When I get around people, I want people to feel the love of Christ. I want them to feel the power of God. And this not in and of myself, yet of Him that is inside of me
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1).
This is how we make ourselves pleasing unto God. This is how we create a Christ-filled atmosphere over our lives. Now we are the sacrifice, so we must be the ones on the altar. This should be our attitude 24/7, what is your will, Lord? What are you saying, Lord? I will do it! In this way, we are a living pleasing sacrifice unto the Lord. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Obedience is the highest form of worship because it is the only way I can have the Spirit of Christ manifest through me! And when I burn on that altar, it’s not the smell of my flesh anymore, yet the aroma of Christ in me smelling up the atmosphere. We are unto God and the world the pleasing aroma of Christ.
We don't just preach with words, we don’t just have a form of godliness, yet we have a substance! We have an aroma. We have a rub that when people come around, they don't see us anymore, they don’t feel it’s us anymore. Yet Christ is what people start to feel and see in us. What is burning on the altar of your heart? Is it money, houses, cars, or ministry? People that have a lust for money, everything they talk about is centered around money. Why? Because that’s what is deep down inside of them, and the manifestation of that thing has become a smell on all their conversation. I want all that I do to be for the glory of God! Yet He must be the deep-seated thing that is burning in me deep down!
Read Leviticus 1.
In the Old Testament, the sacrifice on behalf of a person was always a lamb or a male ram or something close to a lamb, a spiritual symbol of Christ, a shadow for us that Christ is our offering. The sacrifice, that lamb that was slain for us all is now our pleasing aroma before God. He has entered us into His domain, and just like how they and their actions were hidden behind the atonement of their sacrifice, we are hidden in Christ. Though there's one that keeps us pleasing before God. In Leviticus 1, there were two different offerings. The young ram, bull, or sheep which represents Christ, and then there was a bird offering. The priest was instructed to bring an offering before the Lord, a dove. Just like John said that he saw the Holy Spirit fall on Christ like a dove, the dove was a representation of God’s Spirit. In that day, it was only for the priest to do.
Yet the Bible says we are all now kings and PRIESTS unto the Lord. These are the two things that should be burning on our altar, the Lamb and the Dove, meaning Christ and the Spirit of God. Christ enters us in as pleasing before God and the Spirit of God helps us to keep on being a pleasing aroma unto God. Jesus said you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. It’s His Word, His Blood, and His Spirit that keep us pleasing to God. The Blood and the Word are bound to each other, and the Spirit is the cord that binds them.
The manifestation of Christ in me, the power of the Holy Spirit in me is what pleases God. This is the pleasing aroma unto God. Leviticus 1 instructs that the internal organs would be clean before it was sacrificed. These two things, Christ (the Word and the Blood) and His Spirit clean our hearts and mind. Just as the person who was sacrificing was called to bow before their offering, so we must bow and submit before Christ and His Spirit. Our submission is our offering, and as we submit, these two burn for us on our behalf as a pleasing aroma unto God
Inward germinations create outward manifestations. When the Word (Christ) and His Spirit are the ones burning in our hearts and minds, the atmosphere around is penetrated by the manifestation of Christ. Let my thoughts be continually on the Lord. Let my heart continue to burn for Him, and in this, I will be a pleasing aroma unto God.
By Joe Pinto
Full Message: https://youtu.be/z5EmBN1kCYY
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