Meeting God: The Holy Spirit
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The Holy Spirit
Father, Son, Spirit. They all exist and work together in complete unity.
The Holy Spirit’s “job” is empowering disciples of Jesus to “carry the torch” and to become like Him.
The HS is often the neglected, forgotten, and misunderstood member of the Trinity. But that does not mean He is any less important. We cannot ignore Him; it is through Him that we are able to do the things Jesus commands us, it is in Him that we live the life that God wants us to live, and it is by Him that we are transformed to become more like Jesus.
Relationship with the Spirit
We have learned that God is our Father and that He adopts us as His children and that He became a human being in the person Jesus so that through Jesus we could have a restored relationship with God. Also in Jesus we see God showing us a new way to live - how life is truly meant to be - in His Kingdom. We have learned that God is a relational God - meaning that he is not distant and detached, but he is near and he desires for us to be in relationship with him. Now, again we see this truth in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is God and God is all about relationship - therefore we are to enter into a relationship with the Holy Spirit and not just be satisfied with an understanding of Him.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Alive and active today, the Holy Spirit is our “Helper” - parakletos. God did not just come and show us a new way to live and then leave us to fend for ourselves! He helps us!
It was more beneficial for Jesus to leave than to stay!
If God did not care about having a restored ongoing relationship with us, Jesus would have left and not sent help.
But he does care and so he did not leave us alone to figure this out for ourselves. He sent the Helper!
Every Christian has the Holy Spirit living within them, but it seems that not every Christian lives a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life. Why is that?
The “secret” of living a Spirit-filled life is found by embracing the relationship with the Holy Spirit. Not just understanding what He does, but knowing who He is because He lives in us. Experiential / Relational Knowledge.
The Holy Spirit (God) lives “with us and in us” (Jn 14:17) so that we can live the life that Jesus calls us to live. It is impossible to live the Christian life - when we try to do it on our own. But, when we live by the Spirit we can become the people God designed us to be.
In the Holy Spirit we come to see more clearly who Jesus is (therefore who God is) because the Holy Spirit works to bring Jesus glory (John 16:14) and to empower disciples of Jesus to carry on the mission and ministry that Jesus began (John 14:12 - anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.)
We learned several weeks ago that the message of Jesus was that the Kingdom of God has come near - that God’s Kingdom is now available and the door to the Kingdom is open through Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps followers of Jesus to live the Kingdom life - by transforming us from the inside out, growing the fruit of the Spirit, teaching and reminding us of the things Jesus said, convicting us of sin and leading us into true life. The Holy Spirit is the Agent of Change in our spiritual transformation.
We may not understand everything there is about Him, but that’s ok. That’s not the point.
The “point” is to acknowledge and embrace the reality that God’s Spirit lives in us. He has made his dwelling in our hearts. And he wants to guide and help us to live the Life. But, we have to engage in an active relationship with the Spirit if we want to experience His full power working in our lives.
Discussion Questions:
- When you think about the Holy Spirit, what usually comes to mind?
- Read John 14:26 and John 16:13. Have you ever experienced the Holy Spirit in these ways?
- How do we “live by the Spirit” and how does the fruit of the Spirit grow in our lives? (Galatians 5:16-17, 22-25; 6:8-10)
- What does it mean to “keep in step with the Spirit” and how do we do it? What does this teach us about the relationship we are to have with the Holy Spirit? (Galatians 5:25)
- Why is it important that we develop a relationship with the Spirit?
- 1 Corinthians 3:16 says that God’s Spirit lives in Christians. What significance should that make in our lives? What might the life of someone who lives by the Spirit look like?
2 responses so far
Thanks for writing out the notes. Now I know a little better the purpose of the HS in our lives : “In the Holy Spirit we come to see more clearly who Jesus is (therefore who God is) because the Holy Spirit works to bring Jesus glory (John 16:14) : thanks
Also, How am I supposed to “keep in step with the Spirit”?
How to keep in step with the Spirit is a wonderful question! This is part of the ongoing relationship we must develop with the Holy Spirit. I liken it to keeping in step with a dance partner. We must become familiar with the way the Spirit moves and we must practice listening to the nudges of the Spirit in everyday life. Also, being filled and baptized in the Spirit and regularly praying in the Spirit will help us to become more sensitive to His movements. Also, the Holy Spirit is a person of the Trinity, so we can speak to Him and simply ask Him to help us grow in the relationship. Growing in this area is a slow and steady work, but this is the life that we are meant to live.