The Holy Spirit

There are quite a few different teachings about receiving the Holy Spirit and your faith. Some churches say that when you become Christian you are filled with all you need of the Holy Spirit. Others say that after you become a Christian there is another experience you should seek and that experience is a greather filling of the Holy Spirit. Some call this that Bapism of the Holy Spirit others call it the Filling of the Holy Spirit. Whatever your church says about it, there is one thing that is for sure - we all need to pray to be filled regularly with the Holy Spirit.

WHAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

The best way that I can describe it is this: The Holy Spirit is that part of God that guides us, comforts us, gives us strength, and teaches us. The Holy Spirit gives us deeper understanding into the things of God and what God wants from us. The Holy Spirit also helps us to talk to others about our faith by working with the person/people we are talking to and helps us to say the right things to the people we talk to.

Let me give you an example: Years ago my friend and I were talking to a guy who was struggling with his faith. He felt like something was seriously wrong and because something was so wrong, he couldn't get his life where it should be with God.

After my friend tried counseling him in different ways, the guy still felt like something was not right with God and it was affecting his entire life. I remembered a book I had been reading and mentioned that it was important to be able to forgive yourself.

2 things happened at the same time. First of all, he had a "That's it!" moment. At the same time something deep within me seemed to say, "Don't correct him." He said, "That's it, there are these guys I haven't forgiven." I thought, "No, no, I said forgive yourself," but the Holy Spirit was pointing to something different - his issue of holding a grudge against some people.

So let's look at this further. The Holy Spirit put on my heart the idea of forgiving oneself, so I shared that with the person. At the same time the Holy Spirit let me know that I should not clarify what I had said even though the person I talked to did not hear me right. And as for the other guy, the Holy Spirit had been helping him know that things weren't right, then when he heard the word "forgive" the Holy Spirit helped him to know that forgiveness was the issue.

All of this was possible only because the Holy Spirit had been working in the both of us. The Holy Spirit is important to your life, so the next step in your Christianity is to pray that God will fill you with His Holy Spirit. Not just once, but every day pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

SCRIPTURE FOR CONSIDERATION

When Jesus talked to his disciples about prayer he told them that God would never give them something evil if they asked for something good. He also told them that God would never substitute something counterfeit for the real thing. In that context Jesus told his disciples to pray for the Holy Spirit: "So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11:13)."

Before Jesus allowed the disciples to begin the Christian church, he told them to wait for the filling of the Holy Spirit because as Jesus explained, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8)."