Listen. Listen. Listen.
My Titus 2 class at http://titus2.ning.com is studying the beatitudes for the next several weeks. I injected this article after the third beatitude just because I thought I needed to before we went on to the next five. You can see the other blog posts regarding the beatitudes at the above address.
I want to say up-front that I’m not a scholar on anything, but especially on the Holy Spirit. What I’m getting ready to write is from my own head and nowhere else. This is what I’ve learned. This is what I know. This is what I want to pass on to you before we go any further.
None of these beatitudes can be done without the help of the Holy Spirit. It is not within man’s power to have any one of these “attitudes” within him. Not all people are born poor in spirit or mourning (yes, crying, but not mourning) or meek, as you and I well know; but all Christians are expected to be. All of them are; not one is left out. Even the most ill-tempered Christian, through the Holy Spirit can become poor in spirit, mourn and meek.
This is what I know about the Holy Spirit.
That He, the Spirit of God, was hovering over the waters in creation. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Does this mean Holy Spirit? I think it does.
That He, God and Jesus were all present and involved in creation. “Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness ,” …. Genesis 1:26
That He existed in the Old Testament, not only in the New. David begged God in Psalm 51, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me,” which is where we get the song Create in Me a Clean Heart. The words in the song are practically verbatim the words in this Psalm.
That He revealed to the Prophets what they spoke. “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:21
That Jesus left Him as the “comforter.” “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor [Comforter] to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. John 14:15-16a.
That He guides us into all truth. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13
That He is the discerner of spiritual truths. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. 2:14
That He convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. “In regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” John 16:9-11. This purpose is the hardest one for me to grasp. I know I know something by how I can articulate it; I can’t articulate this.
That He helps us in our weakness AND intercedes for us. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Romans 8:26
The above scriptures are the ones that come to mind when I consider what the Holy Spirit does.
This is the simplest way I can explain His nature. I even put it this way when I taught Bible class to grade schoolers when I was in High School at my home church in Edmonton. Even though we see an egg in one part it is really three parts – the shell, the yoke and the white part. Strike three matches and you will see one flame –simple yet profound.
Here’s another simple explanation as to why we need Him. In John 4, Jesus tells the woman at the well, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Since God is spirit, I must have within me His nature, to help me understand Him. Remember that spiritual truths are spiritually discerned and it is only with the help of the Holy Spirit that I will understand anything spiritual. This is why it’s so hard to explain spiritual truths that are so simple to us, to a non-believer who does not have within him the ability to understand what we’re saying. He just can’t do it because he doesn’t have the Holy Spirit within him to discern spiritual truths. If God were an eye, we would need an eye within us to understand him; strange but true.
Where does He live? He lives with us and in us. “The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:17.
Let me give you an illustration of what the Holy Spirit looks like when He is working.
Every-other Monday night in my home, I teach a class to nine young moms I personally invited to attend. The study is based on the book Managing Your Moods, a book in the Women of Faith series. Usually for about thirty minutes we talk about the book and then for the next hour-and-a-half or so I preach. :) Anyway this is what happened to one of my students after leaving class the other night. She walked outside only to find there was about five inches of snow that had fallen unbeknownst to any of us. She said she said to God, “O Great! Now there’s snow.” She got in her car, cried all the way home (not going there), walked inside and opened her Bible. The Bible fell to the word snow, which was at the top of the page in her concordance. “Hummm,” she thought. “That’s interesting.” She then proceeded to go down the passages under snow only to come upon Psalm 51 which she started to read. Verse one, verse two, verse three (wondering why she was still reading) until she came to verse seventeen. Voila. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise,” which was the verse someone had remembered in class that we looked up and discussed at length, WHICH WAS THE VERSE SHE WAS LOOKING FOR WHEN SHE OPENED HER BIBLE. She said when she found the verse in the way she found it she literally had goose bumps. “YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!” I said when she told us about it. That is the way it feels to encounter the Holy Spirit. That is how it feels! She even emailed me to tell me she had something she HAD to tell the class the next time we met. She said she had never had one of those moments before, but since then, thought she had had two more.
Let me tell you what just happened.
The Spirit led her and guided her into all truth, i.e., scripture, which he inspired the authors to write. He then interpreted that scripture for her and gave her a spirit of discernment enabling her to connect to it, having encountered it in class. He comforted her with words no one else could. He helped her in a time of weakness. He heard her prayer and convicted her with regard to sin, righteousness and judgment. Look at the scripture He led her to that he, himself had revealed and spoken from creation:
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
This, my sisters, is the scripture God knew she needed – that God spoke to her in a very “spiritual” way. My sisters, you nor I could have caused that to happen. Only the Holy Spirit could have CAUSED that to happen.
What’s needed for the Spirit to speak? A broken and contrite heart. My sisters, doesn’t that sound like the first beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”? Christians, Christians, Christians MUST have the Holy Spirit living within them and through them in order for them to go from being poor in spirit to being persecuted for righteousness sake. We can’t climb the ladder, so to speak, without His help.
What enabled my student to hear?
She had a broken and contrite heart. She left my class mourning.
She had been in scripture and turned to scripture. My sisters, even though the Holy Spirit is revealed in scripture he does not live within the pages of the Bible. We receive Him at baptism. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38 He lives with us and in us.
She had been encouraged to listen to him and for him. I had related in the prior class how the Spirit had worked in my life in a particular instance. She said she had never heard anyone say something like that, nor had he ever worked in her life like that to her recollection. She had had her spiritual eyes opened to His power when she listened to my story.
She had faith that He could speak. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17 The Holy Spirit revealed THE WORD then and reveals THE WORD now, that in turn creates faith. Therefore, the Holy Spirit and faith have to be connected; one demands the other.
Here is a quote from Doris Black, a dear friend of mine who, herself, taught the Bible worldwide and inspired me to speak, from her book Reach For Your Spiritual Potential.
“The stronger our faith, the stronger God’s spirit is in our lives. Not because our weak faith limits the might of God’s power, but because our weak faith prevents us from stepping out to be empowered.”
My sisters, Romans 8:11 says, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
And Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.
How much power do we as Christians have living within us? ALL THAT WE NEED, but only according to his power that is AT WORK WITHIN US.” If I do not recognize the Spirit, listen to the Spirit, live by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit I will be powerless.
How can I make this happen? You can’t. He speaks; you listen. He guides; you follow.
But you CAN do this:
Be in THE WORD. Have a Bible by your bed -- one by your favorite chair, one in your purse and one in your car so you can read it while you’re waiting, waiting, waiting wherever. Pray this prayer: “Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in your law.” Psalm 119:18 and you will begin to see them.
LISTEN. Something will jump off the page right before your very eyes. This is what you need to hear and God knows it.
LISTEN SOME MORE. Listen to that inner voice you may have never recognized as the Holy Spirit. Act, don’t squelch it. Go where He leads you. Don't make a decision until you're absolutely sure you've heard His voice.
PRAY. When you’re in THE WORD, God is talking to you. When you pray you are talking to God. Pray without ceasing. I just read this quote from the book The Practice of the Presence of God by brother Lawrence; read this teeny, tiny book if you haven’t. “….it [is] a serious mistake to think of our prayer time as being different from any others. Our actions should unite us with God when we are involved in our daily activities, just as our prayer unites us with Him in our quiet time.” Pgs. 20,21.
HAVE A QUIET TIME. Contrary to what young moms might think, I did this more when I was young because I needed the quiet time amidst the chaos; now I have less. My quiet time now involves meditation or “percolation,” rather than investigation, so to speak. But I will add, I never go to the scriptures trying to prove what I already know; I go as though it’s the first time I've ever read it.
PRIORITIZE. You know this; put it into practice. (I have an entire series on this, based on the book Too Hurried to Love, by Bradshaw and Gilbert; this is one of my all-time favorite books.)
WAIT. These are my three maxims: God is in control. His timing is perfect. And He’s never made a mistake. These three things apply to everything. Know them. Believe them. Remember them. Apply them to everything.
Patience is waiting for God's perfect will. Patience. Patience. Patience.
Even though you may have heard that the Holy Spirit is the silent member of the Godhead, He is not. He speaks as loudly today as He did when He was with God hovering over the waters, when He revealed scripture to Moses, Matthew, Mark and others, and when Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
When you hear the Holy Spirit speak, the heavens will be opened and you will see the Son of Man in a way you have never seen before. He speaks 24/7 in ways He knows best. Listen, listen, and keep listening. And he will reveal Himself to you.
I want to say up-front that I’m not a scholar on anything, but especially on the Holy Spirit. What I’m getting ready to write is from my own head and nowhere else. This is what I’ve learned. This is what I know. This is what I want to pass on to you before we go any further.
None of these beatitudes can be done without the help of the Holy Spirit. It is not within man’s power to have any one of these “attitudes” within him. Not all people are born poor in spirit or mourning (yes, crying, but not mourning) or meek, as you and I well know; but all Christians are expected to be. All of them are; not one is left out. Even the most ill-tempered Christian, through the Holy Spirit can become poor in spirit, mourn and meek.
This is what I know about the Holy Spirit.
That He, the Spirit of God, was hovering over the waters in creation. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Does this mean Holy Spirit? I think it does.
That He, God and Jesus were all present and involved in creation. “Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness ,” …. Genesis 1:26
That He existed in the Old Testament, not only in the New. David begged God in Psalm 51, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me,” which is where we get the song Create in Me a Clean Heart. The words in the song are practically verbatim the words in this Psalm.
That He revealed to the Prophets what they spoke. “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:21
That Jesus left Him as the “comforter.” “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor [Comforter] to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. John 14:15-16a.
That He guides us into all truth. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13
That He is the discerner of spiritual truths. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. 2:14
That He convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. “In regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” John 16:9-11. This purpose is the hardest one for me to grasp. I know I know something by how I can articulate it; I can’t articulate this.
That He helps us in our weakness AND intercedes for us. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Romans 8:26
The above scriptures are the ones that come to mind when I consider what the Holy Spirit does.
This is the simplest way I can explain His nature. I even put it this way when I taught Bible class to grade schoolers when I was in High School at my home church in Edmonton. Even though we see an egg in one part it is really three parts – the shell, the yoke and the white part. Strike three matches and you will see one flame –simple yet profound.
Here’s another simple explanation as to why we need Him. In John 4, Jesus tells the woman at the well, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Since God is spirit, I must have within me His nature, to help me understand Him. Remember that spiritual truths are spiritually discerned and it is only with the help of the Holy Spirit that I will understand anything spiritual. This is why it’s so hard to explain spiritual truths that are so simple to us, to a non-believer who does not have within him the ability to understand what we’re saying. He just can’t do it because he doesn’t have the Holy Spirit within him to discern spiritual truths. If God were an eye, we would need an eye within us to understand him; strange but true.
Where does He live? He lives with us and in us. “The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:17.
Let me give you an illustration of what the Holy Spirit looks like when He is working.
Every-other Monday night in my home, I teach a class to nine young moms I personally invited to attend. The study is based on the book Managing Your Moods, a book in the Women of Faith series. Usually for about thirty minutes we talk about the book and then for the next hour-and-a-half or so I preach. :) Anyway this is what happened to one of my students after leaving class the other night. She walked outside only to find there was about five inches of snow that had fallen unbeknownst to any of us. She said she said to God, “O Great! Now there’s snow.” She got in her car, cried all the way home (not going there), walked inside and opened her Bible. The Bible fell to the word snow, which was at the top of the page in her concordance. “Hummm,” she thought. “That’s interesting.” She then proceeded to go down the passages under snow only to come upon Psalm 51 which she started to read. Verse one, verse two, verse three (wondering why she was still reading) until she came to verse seventeen. Voila. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise,” which was the verse someone had remembered in class that we looked up and discussed at length, WHICH WAS THE VERSE SHE WAS LOOKING FOR WHEN SHE OPENED HER BIBLE. She said when she found the verse in the way she found it she literally had goose bumps. “YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!” I said when she told us about it. That is the way it feels to encounter the Holy Spirit. That is how it feels! She even emailed me to tell me she had something she HAD to tell the class the next time we met. She said she had never had one of those moments before, but since then, thought she had had two more.
Let me tell you what just happened.
The Spirit led her and guided her into all truth, i.e., scripture, which he inspired the authors to write. He then interpreted that scripture for her and gave her a spirit of discernment enabling her to connect to it, having encountered it in class. He comforted her with words no one else could. He helped her in a time of weakness. He heard her prayer and convicted her with regard to sin, righteousness and judgment. Look at the scripture He led her to that he, himself had revealed and spoken from creation:
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
This, my sisters, is the scripture God knew she needed – that God spoke to her in a very “spiritual” way. My sisters, you nor I could have caused that to happen. Only the Holy Spirit could have CAUSED that to happen.
What’s needed for the Spirit to speak? A broken and contrite heart. My sisters, doesn’t that sound like the first beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”? Christians, Christians, Christians MUST have the Holy Spirit living within them and through them in order for them to go from being poor in spirit to being persecuted for righteousness sake. We can’t climb the ladder, so to speak, without His help.
What enabled my student to hear?
She had a broken and contrite heart. She left my class mourning.
She had been in scripture and turned to scripture. My sisters, even though the Holy Spirit is revealed in scripture he does not live within the pages of the Bible. We receive Him at baptism. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38 He lives with us and in us.
She had been encouraged to listen to him and for him. I had related in the prior class how the Spirit had worked in my life in a particular instance. She said she had never heard anyone say something like that, nor had he ever worked in her life like that to her recollection. She had had her spiritual eyes opened to His power when she listened to my story.
She had faith that He could speak. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17 The Holy Spirit revealed THE WORD then and reveals THE WORD now, that in turn creates faith. Therefore, the Holy Spirit and faith have to be connected; one demands the other.
Here is a quote from Doris Black, a dear friend of mine who, herself, taught the Bible worldwide and inspired me to speak, from her book Reach For Your Spiritual Potential.
“The stronger our faith, the stronger God’s spirit is in our lives. Not because our weak faith limits the might of God’s power, but because our weak faith prevents us from stepping out to be empowered.”
My sisters, Romans 8:11 says, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
And Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.
How much power do we as Christians have living within us? ALL THAT WE NEED, but only according to his power that is AT WORK WITHIN US.” If I do not recognize the Spirit, listen to the Spirit, live by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit I will be powerless.
How can I make this happen? You can’t. He speaks; you listen. He guides; you follow.
But you CAN do this:
Be in THE WORD. Have a Bible by your bed -- one by your favorite chair, one in your purse and one in your car so you can read it while you’re waiting, waiting, waiting wherever. Pray this prayer: “Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in your law.” Psalm 119:18 and you will begin to see them.
LISTEN. Something will jump off the page right before your very eyes. This is what you need to hear and God knows it.
LISTEN SOME MORE. Listen to that inner voice you may have never recognized as the Holy Spirit. Act, don’t squelch it. Go where He leads you. Don't make a decision until you're absolutely sure you've heard His voice.
PRAY. When you’re in THE WORD, God is talking to you. When you pray you are talking to God. Pray without ceasing. I just read this quote from the book The Practice of the Presence of God by brother Lawrence; read this teeny, tiny book if you haven’t. “….it [is] a serious mistake to think of our prayer time as being different from any others. Our actions should unite us with God when we are involved in our daily activities, just as our prayer unites us with Him in our quiet time.” Pgs. 20,21.
HAVE A QUIET TIME. Contrary to what young moms might think, I did this more when I was young because I needed the quiet time amidst the chaos; now I have less. My quiet time now involves meditation or “percolation,” rather than investigation, so to speak. But I will add, I never go to the scriptures trying to prove what I already know; I go as though it’s the first time I've ever read it.
PRIORITIZE. You know this; put it into practice. (I have an entire series on this, based on the book Too Hurried to Love, by Bradshaw and Gilbert; this is one of my all-time favorite books.)
WAIT. These are my three maxims: God is in control. His timing is perfect. And He’s never made a mistake. These three things apply to everything. Know them. Believe them. Remember them. Apply them to everything.
Patience is waiting for God's perfect will. Patience. Patience. Patience.
Even though you may have heard that the Holy Spirit is the silent member of the Godhead, He is not. He speaks as loudly today as He did when He was with God hovering over the waters, when He revealed scripture to Moses, Matthew, Mark and others, and when Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
When you hear the Holy Spirit speak, the heavens will be opened and you will see the Son of Man in a way you have never seen before. He speaks 24/7 in ways He knows best. Listen, listen, and keep listening. And he will reveal Himself to you.
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