Why do we need to learn about the identity of the Holy
Spirit? I think that's a question that
many entertain but few can actually get past.
Would you trust a complete stranger to invest money for you? Would you trust a newly met individual to
watch your children? Would you trust
some guy off the street to operate on you?
How can we trust someone about whom we know nothing? We as Christians are in the war; we are
pinned between the enemy and a hard place with enemy fire over head...we need to be
able to trust, but who? Many of us have
learned so much about Jesus and the Father, but learn so little about the very
person of God who lives inside of us.
In youth group we have been spending time talking about the
Holy Spirit, someone to whom Francis Chan refers to as the "Forgotten
God." It's a real shame that we can
give so little though on the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit in
our lives. Please notice that I said
"can." Not every Christian by
far struggles with this, but many do.
Many refer to God's Spirit as an It instead of a Him, not realizing just
who the is Spirit of God. He is a
person, not a feeling or an idea lovingly referred to with a masculine
pronoun. John 14:17 says, "But you
know (the Spirit of Truth), for He lives with you and will be in
you." He is a person, the
person of God sent to dwell in each of us.
But He doesn't take up residence on our left ventricle
watching blood go by. His presence in
each and every one of us has a purpose.
He helps us pray! Did you know
that the Holy Spirit actually prays for us?
That's what Paul means when he says in Romans 8:27, "He who
searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes
for God’s people in accordance with the will of God." How amazing is that? God the Spirit prays for you as He watches
you struggle! Furthermore, Paul says in
the previous verse, "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know
what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through
wordless groans." He hears our
heart and interprets our needs to God with wordless groans! How amazing is that!
But that is only part of what He does! There is no way we can get into all that the
Spirit does for us, but in the context of speaking boldly for the Lord, Jesus
tells us in Luke 12:11-12, "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers
and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you
will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should
say." That's fantastic...but can we
trust that? Do we trust that? Are we good at moving and speaking on the
reliance of the Spirit of God to give us the words to say? If the answer is no, it should not be a huge
surprise! How can we trust in the one we
don't know?
Let's get to know the Holy Spirit! The Bible talks about Him from cover to
cover. He hovered above the waters of
Creation; the book of Job states that it was through the Holy Spirit that
mankind drew his first breath. The
Spirit of God empowered men and women of God all throughout the Old Testament,
and that same Spirit actually fills us! We are possessed by the Spirit of God! Let's long to get to know Him better so that
on that day God calls us to take a stand we can rely on the power of the Holy
Spirit to speak through us and provide power and self discipline (2 Timothy
1:7)!
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