And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:16-17)
The Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus to dwell in us.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. (1 Corinthians 13:14)
The word translated from Greek as “communion” can also be translated as “fellowship”. It is inappropriate to refer to the Holy Spirit as “it”. He has a mind, a will, emotions, actions, etc. He is not an impersonal force or just the power of God. He is a person and He is the third person of the trinity. We have probably all heard ministers refer to Him as “it”. How would it make us feel if people stood in the same room and referred to us as “it”?
“We had an amazing service where the Holy Spirit showed up! It touched a lot of people while “it” was moving.”
This is not an appropriate way to refer to Him. He has feelings and the more we recognize Him and reverence Him the more we will see Him moving in our services.
Jesus said that He would pray for the Father to send “another” Comforter. The word “Comforter” is translated from the Greek word paraklétos which can also be translated as “one called to one’s aid”, “an advocate”, “a consoler” , “an intercessor”, “a comforter”, and “a helper”. Jesus was the disciple’s original Comforter.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. (John 16:17)
Jesus had been with them for three to three and a half years. We can only imagine how amazing it would have been to travel with Him. The disciples probably could not imagine any other life and had to be shocked when Jesus told them that He was leaving. To make matters even more confusing for them, Jesus also said that He would send them another Comforter and it would be “expedient” or better for them after He was gone. We can only imagine what must have been going through their minds when He said this. Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin used to encourage people to become more “God inside minded”. The Holy Spirit dwells in our spirits but we must acknowledge His presence. There are far too many Christians who are more aware of their situations or symptoms than the Holy Spirit’s presence within them. The Holy Spirit can become just as real to us as any other person in our life.
We would never ignore God but we often ignore the Holy Spirit because of a perception that He is some impersonal force. There are people who ignorantly ignore the Holy Spirit because they do not recognize His promptings. We will spend time in upcoming posts discussing how He leads us but for now are going to focus on Him. If we do not recognize His presence then we will miss His leadings. The Holy Spirit does not lead us externally and the more we become aware of His presence within us the more we will recognize His guidance. It pays to learn to hear from God for ourselves. There are too many people who trust more in other people’s advice than in their ability to be led by the Holy Spirit. Trust is built in a relationship and often we struggle in this area because we are spending more time with other people than with the Holy Spirit. Young Christians often let other people talk them out of leadings they are receiving in their spirit. They justify this because the other person has been a Christian much longer than them and then end up with a mess to clean up. All of us can miss it but the Holy Spirit is never wrong. Our interpretation of what He said may be wrong but that does not mean He is!
Thank you for taking the time to stop by today. Please consider following our blog so that you will be updated each time a new post is added.
MBDevotional 