The Holy Spirit

The Holy spirt is another part of being a Christian that I never truly understood. I knew about the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- 1 Corinthians 12:4-5) but I never truly understood the importance of it in my daily life. What does God say about the Holy spirit?

What is the Holy Spirit?

I am no biblical scholar and don’t claim to be one, but I feel that God has shown me in detail several things about the Holy Spirt in the past months. I also understand that this list is not all inclusive and that the Holy spirt means so much more that it could never be summed up in one blog.

The first major thing that we need to understand with the Holy Spirt is that we are all made in the image of God and therefore we have to be born with the Holy Spirt inside of us. (John 3:6 and Ephesians 2:1-5) The problem is that we are not “alive” with the Spirit and it is not “active” in us until we accept Jesus as our one and only God and the only way to eternal life and salvation (John3:16). If you want to see the Holy Spirit in action in your life, the first thing you need to do is accept Jesus as your savior!

The Holy Spirt is God in spirit form that exists on the earth and in all those who love the lord. God uses the holy spirt for many things and it has many purposes here on earth. In fact, when God created the world, He used the Holy Spirit to do it ( Gen 1:2 ; Job 33:4 ; 34:14-15 )! The Holy Spirit has also been used to empower select leaders of God’s people such as Moses Num 11:17-29, and David) Lastly, and most commonly, God uses the Holy Spirit as a mode of his interacting with children ( Gen 6:3 ). Do you want God to use you and be able to speak to you directly? I want the blessing of God on my life and family!

How Does God Use His Holy Spirit?

Since we know that the Holy Spirit is the loving “breath, or wind” of God, how does God use it during our everyday lives? Here are the ways that I have seen and personally witnessed how the Holy Spirit is used in everyday life!

The Holy Spirit Gives us Discernment about what is good and holy and what is not (John 10:3). It convicts us of sin. I can tell you from personal experience that once the Holy spirt is active inside you (you have asked God for forgiveness and to be the savior of your life), that when you experience or commit sin that you have asked God to forgive in the past, the Holy spirit makes us feel sick in heart and mind and immediately convicts us and demands we repent. Personally, when I have impure thoughts or when I curse, I immediately feel queasy in my stomach, and I know that I need to ask for forgiveness. I for one love the accountability of having Christ like discernment over good and evil.

Makes us more like Christ – Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” When we have the HS alive in us and discernment is learned, by design we become more Christ like displaying the behavior that God desires for us. I can speak from experience that this is so strong that it allows us to pray for those who wish us ill, to treat people with more resect than they “deserve” and to be happy in situations that are less than ideal! You can in reality “Consider it pure Joy” when you are in a mess because God is at work in your life!

The Holy Spirit Makes the Word Of God Come Alive to us when we read the bible. Before having the HS active daily in my life, it pained me to read the bible. I mean that literally. Now, it pains me if I am unable to read the bible daily. Not only does it make me desire to read the word, but it speaks to me daily no matter what I’m feeling or going through . I have read all the psalms about five times and each time I read them, something different jumped out to me and spoke to me. I know that it also doesn’t sound possible, but God will literally speak to you eventually as you get more involved in his word (Romans 10:17). Don’t believe me? Give it a try.

I have found that having the Holy Spirit strong in us Allows Other Believers to See us and Relate to us– John 16:8. This has been one of the strangest things about this process that I have been going through. I remember the first time I experienced it. Shortly after my world fell apart and I begged God back into my life, I got a phone call out of the blue from the men’s group leader in the clearwater church whom I met 5 or 6 years ago when I attended. He called and said “I found your business card and wanted to reach out and see how you are”. Needless to say, we ended up praying hardcore that morning. Or what about the Sam’s Club cart inspector who grabbed me and hugged me so hard as the line stacked up behind us. See, I had gone to Sam’s club in part due to God telling me that “you need to prepare your house for the kids” and He would not let me rest until I went in and got their favorite snacks, their favorite ice cream and chips etc because “I didn’t have faith that He will reunite me with my children if I didn’t act in faith BEFORE he actually did it”. Sadly, I’m still waiting for that reunion, but I have faith. So did that grandma at Sam’s Club. She grabbed me, squeezed me so hard that it brought me to near tears. I had not had a hug or touch from anyone in almost 6 weeks and she told me “God told me that you needed some love today. Whatever you are going through, God is with you”. I could give you at least a dozen more examples of this over the past 3 months. God is good all the time and all the time, God is good!

The Holy Spirt alive in us also Helps us Witness to the World– Acts 1:8. I always struggled with witnessing to others about Christ because I always felt insecure about the potential that I may not be able to answer their questions they might have. Now, not only does God line them up in front of you, but He allows them to see God in you through your calmness and kindness. I witnessed that last week in the office of my attorney. Someone in the building did not know the Lord and not only that, but they also never had a desire to. They came to me and said “I have been doing this a really long time and I have never seen anyone with joy in their life as they go through this nightmare”. She went on to say that “I have never heard you say one bad word about your spouse and most men are irate and belligerent even talking harm about their spouses. How can you be so happy and calm”. This lead to a discussion about Jesus and ultimately her asking Jesus into her life to save her (John3:16)! Now try to tell me that God can’t do anything He wants to do through us. My current divorce led a lost sheep back to the Lord! Praise God!

Lastly, I believe that the Holy spirit Heals us in Mind, Body and Soul and can even Remove Addictions that have been a stronghold for years in our life. I will never forget the day after I had buried my mother and was dealing with a brain bleed and potential aneurism. The treatment was bad and about as lethal as the risk of rupture was and I made the choice to just let whatever will be, be. I was exhausted and had not slept in about 3 days and I passed out on the family couch with Lacee my only child at the time, who my spouse had allowed to stay with me in Minot, ND with my dad and I. I will always remember when Inez Leonard from the United Methodist church who was about 80 years old, and looked the same as she did when I was 10, came into my dad’s living room and woke me up gently without waking Lacee. She said “God told me that you need healing and I’m here to pray for you. She laid one hand on my upper chest and one hand on my forehead and she began to pray in tongues that I did not understand. Just as I began to feel awkward like what the……, my whole body and head became hot like being inside an oven for 10 seconds and immediately she finished her prayer, looked at me and said “you will be fine. Make sure that you give thanks to God, and that you tithe the first 10% back to Him as long as you live”. Three weeks later back at the May clinic in Rochester, MN the doctors confirmed that the bleed was gone. Fast forward to 4 weeks ago here in Tampa. I had internal bleeding so badly that I barely made it to the ER. They admitted me into the hospital and I spent 6 days and nights there, had 5 procedures and surgeries, only to find that they had no clue what was causing the bleeding. It sounded and felt exactly like what my mother died from 12 years earlier. After coming out of anesthesia after my last surgery to find out that they couldn’t find the bleed and that I needed yet another blood transfusion, I had had a enough. I began to pull at the tape around the 4 different IV ports that gouged my skin in attempt to pull them out. Just then a nurse who was probably about 85lbs and tiny grabbed me and put her hand on my stomach and said “be still”. And all I could think about was God. She asked about my forearm Cross tattoo (that was about 90% covered in IV crap and asked if I was a believer. We talked about God and my kids and that I wanted to get out of the hospital and go see them. I told her that if I was going to die, it wasn’t going to be before I saw my children. She told me “Your time here is not done” and then prayed with me before she went home for the night. The next morning they discovered that I didn’t need any more blood transfusions and that my bleeding seemed to stop just as fast as it began. They gave me one more procedure where they passed a pill camera through my system and when it came out 10 hours later, it found no source for bleeding. The Holy Spirit literally worked another miracle in my life. I believe that the Holy Spirit has saved my life twice while removing addictions from me that I had fought for 20 years or longer. Tell me what is impossible with God?