In my earlier years as a Christian, I thought of the Holy Spirit as an "it," somewhat like a ghost in a haunted house, only bigger. As I matured, I understood the Holy Sprit was part of the Trinity, but still something insubstantial, with no real personality. The preachers I heard rarely mentioned him, and we almost never studied about the Holy Spirit in Sunday school. It was only after I had my own encounter with him, after coming to Pikeville, that I understood who the Spirit really is.

It happened on a Wednesday night, after church. I was living alone at the time, in a small apartment. For days, I had spent hours in prayer and Scripture reading, seeking a more intimate experience with God through his Holy Spirit. That night, I surrendered enough of myself to receive what the Lord wanted to give me. The Sprit descended on me in that little room, and bathed me in pure love for the next two hours. That experience ranks next only to my salvation as a defining moment of my life of faith. Almost 22 years later, my relationship to God still centers on my daily experience with the Holy Spirit.

When we pray, the Holy Spirit communicates our prayers to the Father, Paul says, with groanings too deep to utter. Without the Spirit, our prayers are empty words, with no power. I have been at the point in my life many times where my prayers were little more than rote phrases. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy my prayer time then, because I really wasn't praying at all. Many things can block the flow of the Holy Spirit in our prayers, from disobedience to pride to neglect of fellowship. Until we direct our prayers toward repentance or confession, the Spirit can't do his work in speeding our requests to the Father.

The Spirit is also the Comforter. He comforts us in our fears, our grief, our doubts, and our disappointments. His is the gentle touch and tender voice that minister to us in the midst of our storms. He binds up our hurts, and heals our wounds. When someone in the body of Christ visits the sick or imprisoned to offer hope and encouragement, the Holy Sprit is the one who speaks through the words of the believer.

We are united as a body by the Holy Sprit. He is the sinew, the lifeblood, the framework, who holds the parts together. I can call you Brother or Sister because the Spirit makes us a family, just as he makes us a body. The ability to love one another, to care for each other in triumph and defeat, comes from him. The parts of the body work as a whole, and the family is united, only insofar as we allow the Spirit to do his work in and through us.

He is the same Spirit who brings conviction of sin. We realize we are sinners, and come to a saving knowledge of Christ, only because of the Spirit's work in our lives. Once we become Christians, it is the Holy Spirit, as well, who lets us know when we have disobeyed, and sinned against God. When we confess our sins, and repent, the Holy Spirit applies the blood of Christ to wash away the stain of sin.

This by no mean exhausts the roles, or offices, of the Holy Spirit. He instructs us in the truths of the Word as the Teacher, and serves as the guarantee that God's promises to us are true. He is God's active presence in the world, always there and always available. As a person, he has emotions; he can be angry, or pleased. He can be grieved by our disobedience, especially when we trample the blood of Christ underfoot. His nature is love and grace and mercy, but he is also just. Everything that God is, he is, because he is God.

Some churches have elevated the status of the Holy Spirit above even Christ himself. Others insist on a particular experience with the Spirit as proof of someone's salvation. Still other's talk about getting "more" of the Spirit. As we discussed earlier, the Holy Spirit never exalts himself; he always glorifies Christ, and expects us to do the same. The Sprit imparts many gifts to men, but these come after salvation, and he apportions them as he will. Nowhere in Scripture is there any indication that particular gifts are proof of salvation; we are expected, however, to bear fruit as evidence we belong to Christ. Finally, the Spirit is a person, and can't be divided. We can't have "more" of him than we receive when we are first saved. It is certainly desirable, though, that the Spirit have more of us.

Unlike the Spirit of God, we are divided, between the old man and the new, flesh and spirit. Only to the extent that we crucify the old man, and put the flesh to death, do we truly belong to Christ. Throughout our lives as Christian, in these bodies anyway, we are in a continuing process of growing into the image of Christ. As we give up more of ourselves to Christ, the Spirit can do more of what he intends to do in and through us.

Until we experience the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit in our worship and praise, we really never have experienced the joy of belonging to Christ. When we do, we have a small taste of what Heaven will be like. Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Top of Page

JESUS IS the Bridge Ministries

Beneath His Wings Devotionals - Vol. 2