Holy Spirit Series Part III: Final Wrap

It is the matter of us all being able to be filled with the Holy Spirit that gets me. I look around at everyone in this world to see that we are to all carry the word of Christ but yet not everyone chooses that. We are all called to recognize the Lord and all He has to offer but that doesn't exactly work. But what if everyone did believe. Do you think churches and mission's trips would be as important anymore? I think that a lot of times we often forget that we are a soul with a body and not a body with a soul.

    The importance and understanding of the Holy Spirit is often swept under the rug. But it was the times that I encountered the Holy Spirit that was truly life altering. On one of my missions trips to the Dominican Republic I was able to feel the presence of Christ as I was in a foreign place. It was then that I was able to truly feel the grace of Christ in something that I was so unsure of. Now that doesn't mean that you need to go to a foreign place on a missions trip to encounter the Holy Spirit you just need to accept it.

    We have touched base on what the Spirit is about and what characteristics it withholds. But what happens when we understand all of those things but yet we don’t experience it? There are several times where Christ is quite but yet do you know that he is always there? It is often in the times of silence that the biggest things are happening in your mind as well as God’s.

   It is in the ability to recognize that the Spirit wants us and that God wants to use us for good. But it is another thing to accept that. So make sure that those around you receive this good news as well as yourself taking that leap. Allow Christ to fill your every thought and every action and every word that another will hear. Let Him flood your mind and watch what miracles will come of it.

God says, “Rebuild the road!

    Clear away the rocks and stones

    so my people can return from captivity.”

The high and lofty one who lives in eternity,

    the Holy One, says this:

“I live in the high and holy place

    with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.

I restore the crushed spirit of the humble

    and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

For I will not fight against you forever;

    I will not always be angry.

If I were, all people would pass away—

    all the souls I have made.

 I was angry,

    so I punished these greedy people.

I withdrew from them,

    but they kept going on their own stubborn way.

I have seen what they do,

    but I will heal them anyway!

    I will lead them.

I will comfort those who mourn,

 bringing words of praise to their lips.

May they have abundant peace, both near and far,”

    says the LORD, who heals them.

“But those who still reject me are like the restless sea,

    which is never still

    but continually churns up mud and dirt.

 There is no peace for the wicked,”

    says my God.

~Isaiah 57:14-21

Holy Spirit Series Part II: The Real Answers

    I thought of doing something different for this weeks lesson. I am just going to place a few questions or key points about the Holy Spirit. Consider the question and statements below and start a running journal of your responses. Make this your own thing and expand it. Get lost in the Holy Spirit!!



Answer them accordingly on a piece of paper or journal...
*Do I understand the Holy Spirit and what it is?

*What is the Holy Spirit to me?

* Do I act on the actions of the Spirit and not my own?

* Do I see those that are close to me being filled with the spirit?

*How can I help others understand the concept of a Holy Spirit?

*Am I listening and acting on commands from the Spirit?

"A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."

    ~Proverbs 15:1

* How are Christians to break that weird thought people have of us believing in a spirit?

* What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the Holy Spirit?

* How do you really perceive the spirit? Is it something you made yourself or something someone put into your mind?

"Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears."

~2 Samuel 7:22

Holy Spirit Series Part 1: So What is It?

“You cannot come to Christ unless the Spirit of God brings you. But what if you ignore His warnings? Then you are in the gravest danger, for some day God will no longer be speaking to you. Then it will be too late. Come to Christ while there is still time. Christ, God's greater Ark, stands ready to welcome you to safety today.” 

― Billy Graham, Hope for Each Day: Words of Wisdom and Faith

            The Holy Spirit sounds a bit confusing. What does a spirit have to do with God? I thought that spirits were more of a ghost thing and aren’t ghost haunting? So is God really all that great if he is a part of a Holy Spirit?

            If you sit back and really view this you can see that the whole idea of the Holy Spirit is really confusing. Can you imagine looking in on the whole God and religion thing and being told that these people not only follow this amazing man that you can’t see but then a spirit as well? Maybe they call him the Holy Spirit to make it sounds good? I don’t know about you but if I was a true nonbeliever I would have so many questions about God and who he is but I don’t think those questions would put a dent in the number I have as a believer. Yeah, sure we have the head start being a follower and knowing what the talk is all about. But do you think we are just as clueless as those that want no part in Christ about the Holy Spirit?

            I am being a little dumb and kind of presumptuous today aren’t I. Just assuming that every believer out there does not know the whole truth about the Holy Spirit. I just cannot seem to fully rap my head around the idea that anyone could fully understand Christ and the Holy Spirit. He so wonderfully and fearfully made. Everything about Him screams mystery and love and eternity that it is just so overwhelming. I find it terrifying but yet a beautiful mystery to know that our God has this many dimensions to him. This backs up the very matter that he is able to love us beyond the measures.

            God and the Holy Spirit are both a part of the wonderful and fearfully made part. But let us focus on the Holy Spirit aspect of it all. Keep all the ideals and teachings you have ever had of the Holy Spirit all the way back until grade school bible class. Everything matters and is a piece to the puzzle.

            My whole life I have been told that prayer is more powerful than anything on this earth. It could repair a marriage, heal a sickness, or even bring a nation back to life. But prayers need action. I don’t want to run off on a tangent about how stinkin awesome prayer is but how I have neglected it. My life has been in a huge rut because I honestly tell myself that I have hashed out the main lessons of the Bible and Christ that I do not know how much more I could possibly learn and this lesson has shown me just that. I have so much more to learn beyond imagination. The Holy Spirit is so simply to look at and adapt but so incredibly hard to understand to the fullest.

            As Billy Graham explained above, as well as several others, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. So how exactly can we be filled with the Holy Spirit when we can’t even feel it? Those things we call emotions and feelings how such a power over our lives to the extent that they are even better than actual actions. It’s so crazy to think about but it is what connects us to Christ and the Holy Spirit. Now, I talk as if Christ is one person and the Holy Spirit is another. Some of you might be reciting the matter of the Trinity. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit as one. It is just like saying love is God and God is love.

             I think we often view our faith as something separate from Christ. Yeah that sounds weird because he is the one we have the faith in but yet do you know we call it our faith? Well sure it is, we have the faith in Christ. But who do you think gave us that faith? It sounds weird to say that we have faith in Christ because he gave us the ability to have faith in Him. Or does it really sound that weird? For me, seeing this all down on paper allows me to realize the Holy Spirit filling me is what gave me the ability carry that super power we all like to call faith. 

             It is the Holy Spirit that allows us to feel and know that God exists. The spirit fills us with the ability to be the feet of Jesus here on earth. It is not just another "ghost" but God in another form and way to spread His grace. You can't ask "Show me the Holy Spirit" because you would have billions upon billions of followers in front of you. It is not a person you can see but things that you see it through. Is it being shown through you?

"As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove."    ~Mark 1:10

Word of the Day: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight."

                           ~Proverbs 9:10