The Holy Spirit is a gift to us from God, his personal presence and power on earth. The biblical teachings about it are fundamental to a proper understanding of the Christian faith because Jesus himself received the Holy Spirit which was said to have descended upon him like a dove after he was baptized by John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit inspired him to do his fathers will and live the perfect sinless life and because Jesus too had become fully human he understood the problem of temptation following his 40 days in the wilderness. He resisted Satan and so recognized that it was very difficult indeed for us humans to live a godly life depending solely on our own efforts and that most if not all of us are flawed in some way. Very often the more we attempt to overcome our shortcomings the harder it becomes to change even if we want to.
Jesus told us that when he returned to to be with his heavenly father, he would send a helper and guide to replace him. This helper we call the Holy Spirit, who will always be with us. The Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles and other followers of Jesus early one morning in the upper room in Jerusalem. This is known as Pentecost and took place fifty days after Jesus returned to life on the first Easter Sunday. They experienced a rushing wind and tongues of flames were said to descend upon the heads of the apostles. The followers were filled with spontaneous joy so much that onlookers believed them to be drunk. They spoke excitedly in foreign languages yet they all understood one another. This resembles what we now know as 'speaking in tongues' or 'baptism in the spirit' The apostle Peter confirms that this had been done to fulfill the Old Testament prophesy first mentioned in (Joel 2:28-29 ) but later mentioned in the New Testament "I will pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh" (Acts 2:17) and also stated that this event was the beginning of a continual outpouring that would be available to all believers from that day on. (Acts 2:39)
The power of the spirit transformed a small frightened group into a bold witness, having the courage to speak out publicly about the good news of Jesus Christ despite great danger to themselves. They were motivated to take the message across large parts of Asia minor and across the Roman empire. In the process many were imprisoned tortured or killed. It is of course hard to believe in something that is not visible and although the Holy Spirit is said to be a person rather than a power, its effect upon us can be very powerful and something that many Christians experience, transforming us, drawing us closer to God and inspiring us to love and work toward selfless giving.
The Holy Spirit reminds Christians that faith is not simply about a decision of the mind to believe, nor an outlook to follow Gods laws but rather being open to the Spirit working in our lives, as an experience, a relationship and a motivation. This experience may vary from person to person but the holy spirit can begin to work in us when we confess our shortcomings in prayer to God and accept Jesus as our personal liberator.
The early Greek writers changed the rules of grammar in order to convey a truer description of the Holy Spirit, using a masculine pronoun to describe it as 'another of the same kind' ie like Jesus and personal in nature rather than something ethereal. Another word used to describe the Holy Spirit is 'counselor' or 'comforter'. The word counselor literally means 'somebody called alongside to help' and comforter in latin means 'to strengthen'.
Even though the disciples were not to fully understand until after his death, the night before his crucifixion Jesus described the nature and attributes of the Holy Spirit as being eternal, indwelling within believers so that they may never feel alone, guiding toward truth, convicting sin and a reminder as to his teachings. They like us were to glorify God by worshiping in the Spirit.
In the Bible we are told of the Holy Spirit being present, hovering over the waters at the creation of the world, it fell upon prophets and patriarchs in order that they be inspired to do the will of God and Jesus himself was dependent upon it in order to do the fathers work here on earth including miracles and healing's. Priests Prophets and Kings have traditionally been anointed with oil as a sign of the outpouring of Gods Spirit and this ritual still takes place today at the coronation of a new Monarch. The imagery used in the Bible for the Holy spirit include Water, Oil, Fire or Wind. Water is seen as something that is life giving. It is described by Jesus as living water in his encounter with the Samarian woman at the well, something bubbling up from within. When we are baptized and immersed under water we are dying to our old life and are born again in the Spirit when we resurface. Fire represents its power and passion, Oil as anointing and enabling whilst Wind is said to demonstrate its unpredictable nature. Being personal the Spirit provides certain gifts for us to use.
The seven gifts are outlined in the Bible as Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Healing, Miracles, Prophesy and Speaking in tongues and the Holy Spirit influences us and can become evident in the way we act, the results of which are known as the fruit of the spirit. The nine fruit are Peace, Love, Joy, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness and Self Control and against these there is no law. (Galatians 5:22) The Holy Spirit represents a new law, not given on tablets of stone like those received by Moses on Mount Sinai but written instead on the hearts of people. As Christians we have faith and develop a regular prayer life in order to receive the Holy Spirit and that it may work more effectively within us.
A life in the Holy Spirit is available to us all !!!!