SPIRIT 40 2022 – WEEK 4
SPIRIT 40 – WEEK 4 MARCH 20-26, 2022
“Will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He May abide in you forever- the Spirit of truth…He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17.
The Holy Spirit is a beautiful part of who God is. We need Him in our lives as a conduit to become who we were created to be. Before Jesus returned to His Father, He promised to send a Helper, a Comforter, who would dwell inside His followers and empower them to live sanctified lives and to do ministry. So important was the Spirit’s coming that Jesus instructed His disciples not to leave the city or start their external ministry until He came, (Luke 24:49).
We must remember that the Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Trinity. His will is never separate from that of the Father nor the Son, and He is always leading us to them; to know them, to follow them, and to do their work. Without the Spirit the disciples could never have done what they did, and we should never attempt our Christian walk without Him.
From the Old Testament we observe the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence in the lives of characters such as Joshua (Nu. 27:18), Saul (1 Sam. 11:6), David (1 Sam. 16:13), and many others as they sought to accomplish what they had to do. In the New Testament, we see His empowerment in Jesus’s early ministry (Lu. 4:14), as well as in that of the early disciples, (Acts 4:8, 31; 6:10; 1 Thes. 1:5). This explains how God is capable of accomplishing His work through ordinary, and even rejected members of society. “For God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong “(1 Cor.1:27).
The following examples are by no means exhaustive, but they are some of the ways the Spirit works in our lives by empowering our natural abilities and improving upon them for a particular task or purpose:
(1) He Will Guide You
(a) He will call you to faith in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:26, Eph. 1:18) (b) He asked for Saul and Barnabas to be set apart “For the work to which He had called them” (Acts 13:2).
(2) He Gives Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 12:11)
We don’t get to choose what gift(s) we receive. They are given to us by God for His own glory, for the common good of the Church (1Cor. 12:7), and to serve others, (1 Pet. 4:10).
(3) He Guides Our Prayers (Ro. 8:26)
Sometimes we have no words, or we may have so much to say that we don’t know where to start. The Holy Spirit knows just what to say. We can lean on Him and allow Him to express to the Father what needs to be said.
(4) The Holy Spirit Gives Hope
Hope is the fuel for the soul. It is hope that carries us through all trials and tribulations. It is only possible in abundance through the power of the Holy Spirit. Tap into this divine resource and experience His peace (Ro.15:13).
(5) He Imparts Love
As we endure trials, God’s love is poured out into us through the Holy Spirit, and it is this empowerment that carries us through the hard seasons. Whenever we are doubting this love in our times of difficulty, we ought to remember that the Spirit pours it into our hearts (Rom.5:3-5).
(6) The Holy Spirit Is Our Helper
We are constantly aware of the need for divine help. As the flesh fights for control, it is the Spirit that steps in and helps us to do that which God created us to do. The Spirit is God with us, helping and empowering us to live a flourishing life, one that radiates the glory of God.
The mission that we have been mandated to accomplish requires power and it is impossible to achieve in our own strength and/or natural ability. However, the Lord will give hungry hearts the knowledge and ability they need to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. This can include, though not limited to, healing, power evangelism, and words of knowledge, as well as the requisite resource to live sanctified lives. Our God is good, and He gives good gifts to those who ask, seek, and knock, (James 1:17, Matt. 7:7).
*** Luke tells us that after Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples returned to Jerusalem. They also went back to the Scriptures. The Old Testament suddenly blossomed with good news. Everywhere they looked they found evidence that pointed towards the specifics of Jesus’ life and ministry. When they wondered why they had missed the connections before, they must have also remembered Jesus’ promise, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (Jn. 16:13).***