04/14/2021
The Holy Spirit is an incredibly important part of our faith, and to our lives as Christians, but so many believers tend to trivialize, or ignore, him. There are those among us who believe that all they need is to believe in Jesus, but even our Lord Jesus received him into His life to help Him. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, so he is not a new creation. He is the essence of God, the power in Christ, and our understanding. Didn’t Jesus tell us that He could do nothing of Himself?
““I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
John 5:30 ESV
Many years before the coming of Christ, Joel prophesied regarding the coming of the Holy Spirit to all men, and we have seen... that Spirit came first to Jesus, and as a result of His ascending into Heaven, the Holy Spirit was poured out on all of us. So let’s look at some milestones regarding the coming of God’s Holy Spirit; beginning with Joel...
““And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”
Joel 2:28-29 ESV
So Joel spoke of the Spirit’s coming, and indeed it did... Jesus received him at His water baptism by John the Baptist. This became His moment of anointing, and the Spirit was God’s power that then worked through Him.
“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;”
Matthew 3:16 ESV
So it is that He was anointed in this way, and the power of God began working through Him...
“you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
Acts 10:37-38 ESV
Nearing the end of His ministry, Jesus tells His disciples that He will physically go away but that the Holy Spirit is about to come to them. I have often wondered if they really understood how powerful that promise was. Could they have possibly know what was about you happen, and did they see the coming of a new way of worshipping... in Spirit and truth? Do we all see clearly today what the Holy Spirit brings to our lives?
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
John 16:7 ESV
So Jesus ascended into Heaven, and the Holy Spirit came to the apostles as He had promised. They returned to Jerusalem, and went to the temple each day where they prayed until at last the Spirit came to them by filling the room with a sound like a rushing wind, and tongues of fire danced on them...
“And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Acts 2:2-4 ESV
When the Spirit manifests itself in us it occurs in many different ways, as we are given gifts...
“For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”
1 Corinthians 12:8-11 ESV
but as we receive the Holy Spirit and the gifts it brings, we are always miraculously changed, and we call these changes in ways we call the fruits of the Spirit...
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:22-26 ESV
So the coming of the Spirit to man was prophesied, came to us through Jesus, fell on His Apostles as He had promised, and now is received by us too. I love to hear Peter telling us of the Holy Spirit in his life, and how he sees it fall on those he brings to Christ...
“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’”
Acts 11:15-16 ESV
Now it is our turn to receive the Holy Spirit, become empowered by it, changed by it, strengthened in our faith as a result of it, and enabled by the understanding it brings us as we pass our belief in Jesus along to others who are lost without Him.
Have you opened yourself up to the rushing wind, or the small still voice, of the Comforter, and Spirit, that Jesus has promised us? Are you ready to receive him now?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ, and for your Holy Spirit that was sent to us following His ascension. Teach us to look for him in the wind, and the whispers, of our lives, and help us to open our hearts, minds, and souls to his coming. In those moments when we receive the gifts that your Spirit delivers, make us aware of the changes in us that the fruit of your Spirit imparts. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who gives us His Son, and His Spirit, that we might be redeemed, and made once more to be in His image. Praised be your name for every gift, and fruit, that your Holy Spirit brings to us! Praised be your name for the transformation, and change, that we experience by our faith, and the understanding of you that we gain by the merciful allotment of your Spirit. You are powerful Father in defending us against all our enemies, but especially in your victory over every spiritual adversary that comes against us. We lift up your name in glory and song as we turn to Jesus to be cleansed of sin, and made ready to approach your throne. Find us worthy Father, and seat us with Jesus at your table forevermore... bathed in your eternal light.
Rich Forbes