Tag: Holy Spirit

Big day

I am delighted to welcome Paul White to my blog, who is helping us to consider the impact of that big day: Pentecost.

As big days go this is up there.

We have the big day when God spoke and a universe was born – elements exploding into existence, galaxies spiralling in ever-increasing magnitude, atomic suns vast and even more vast blasting out their blazing light for the first time. That was a big day. There was another big day, although less conspicuous – a tiny baby was placed in an animal feeding trough serving as a cradle while multitudes of angels filled the night sky with singing. Then there was the big day, which seemed like a very bad day, when the most incredible human being who ever lived was grotesquely nailed onto a wooden execution pole. This was followed speedily by another massively big day when suddenly the same human being burst out of the rocky tomb, fully, completely, wonderfully alive! Big day. 

This big day is about 120 uncertain disciples in an upstairs room of a house, waiting. They’re waiting because the One who burst out of the tomb a few weeks earlier had told them to wait. He told them to wait and they would receive power when the Holy Spirit – the breath of God – came upon them. There is nothing very remarkable about 120 people in a waiting room, but what happened next changed the course of human history. As they prayed the whole house was physically shaken and a sound came from heaven like a powerful roaring wind, which entered the house and filled it. Flames of fire broke out and rested on each of the disciples, but they were not burned. Spontaneously the 120 began babbling in languages they had never learned, which just happened to be the native tongues of the many foreign visitors present in the city of Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Pentecost.

ATTRACTIVE SOUND

The sound from heaven attracted many of those pilgrims and a crowd gathered around the now very excited disciples – so excited and euphoric, that the cynics dismissed them as drunk. Peter, however, seizing the moment, stood up in front of a massive crowd and skilfully explained how this spectacle was actually a fulfilment of a prophecy contained in their own Jewish scriptures from a prophet called Joel. Joel foresaw a day when God would pour out his Spirit on “all flesh” (Joel 2:28). Peter, famous for denying all knowledge of Jesus at the night of his trial, preached like a pro about Jesus – his suffering, death and resurrection, and now this – how this unfolding drama was all part of God’s master plan, and had been made possible because Jesus fully accomplished his mission and had returned to God the Father. 

TURBO HUMAN

Jesus, for all the amazing things he did, could only be in one place at one time. Pentecost meant that now his Spirit, or breath, or essence, or nature, or all of these was distributed to ordinary unqualified human beings. The idea was that these God-powered turbo humans ran around the face of the earth infecting everyone else with the same Holy Spirit. Wow!

It turns out, if we read the Bible, that the Spirit or breath of God was the creative power behind the creation of the universe. This Spirit, living in Jesus, healed blind people, put power into paralysed limbs, raised dead people and catapulted Jesus, himself, from the tomb – alive. Surely Pentecost should not just be another date on the Church calendar when we read particular passages of the Bible and sing particular hymns? Surely we should be lining ourselves up to be as full as possible with the Holy Spirit every day, and giving him away at every opportunity…

WHAT IS POSSIBLE?

If the estimates are correct, something close to 30 per cent of the global population now call themselves Christians. That is quite spectacular. If we consider the impact of those 120 original Pentecostal disciples – in a few short years they were accused of having “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). What might 2-3 billion people be capable of, filled with the same power?

THE CHRISTING

In my book, The Christing, recently released by Authentic Media, we take a gallop through the Bible to discover how it has always been God’s plan to use unremarkable human beings to do the most remarkable things. We discover that Christ means anointed, in the same way we might apply ointment, or that a queen or king of the United Kingdom is anointed with oil. We see that the anointing of Jesus is the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit is a person, not a thing. Take a look and see how the anointing of the Holy Spirit, or the Christing, can transform not only your life but also that of your colleagues, friends, family and random people you encounter through life.

Paul White has a degree in Fine Art (Painting). He now leads the Prayerhouse Church in Weymouth. Married to Anna, he has four amazing children who are the craziest but most beautiful friends and influencers in his life.

The testimony of the Holy Spirit

Reflections based Romans 8:1–17.

We have been looking at the fact that we do need to take responsibility for our sin and yet we are not alone in our journey of holiness. Romans 8 centres around the truth that the Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to experience our salvation and take hold of it fully. Verse 1 begins with a reminder that we are no longer condemned. This is like a breath of fresh air when we are battling habitual sins daily. We don’t need to beat ourselves up and promise God we will try harder – we need to remember that the Holy Spirit works inside us to navigate our minds and actions so that they are focused on what pleases God. 

Note that Paul says, ‘if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ’ (v9). Turning this on its head, we can view it as a great promise – if we have accepted Jesus as Lord we do have His Spirit living inside us. Our tussles with sin can make us doubt that, but it is important to remind ourselves that He lives inside us and will help us to live holy lives. Interestingly, verses 12 and 13 talk about our obligation to live by the Spirit – but that it is through Him that we do this. 

What comes next is such an incredible truth. We are no longer slaves to fear but have been given a Spirit of sonship/daughtership. We have been adopted and have become God’s children. We’ve already talked about how this makes us heirs with Christ – Romans 8 shows us that it is the Holy Spirit who reminds us of this fact, who testifies to our spirits that we are children of God. What an amazing gift from God!

Prayer: God, thank You that Your Holy Spirit lives inside of me, reminding me that I am Your child, and enabling me to set my mind on those things that please You. I am so grateful. Amen.

Taking hold of our salvation

Reflections based on Colossians 1:3–24.

The first part of this passage reveals how Paul prayed for the Christians in Colossae. It was with an attitude of thankfulness that he prayed. He reminds them of what they have in Jesus – the faith and love that the gospel affords them. 

It is interesting to look at what Paul prays in verses 9 and 10: that they may have a greater understanding and wisdom through the Holy Spirit. This is the continuing work of sanctification that God does in our lives. Yes we are reconciled to God through Jesus’ death, but we must ‘continue in our faith’ (as v23 says) in order to live a life worthy of God. That may seem a little like we are being told we need to ‘do’ in order to please, but the word Paul uses here is axios, which means ‘in a manner that is worthy’, or ‘in a way that is fitting’.

This is talking about us living in a way that befits our new identity: holy children of God. How we do this is not through our own efforts but through the Holy Spirit’s enabling. It is through His power that we are able to endure, and Paul reminds us that we lay hold of this through an attitude of thanksgiving for we are now qualified to partake of the inheritance God has called ‘his holy people’ (v12) to.

Paul goes on to focus on the absolute supremacy of Jesus: that He is the firstborn who holds everything together. 

It is only through Jesus that we can be blemish and accusation free — but we need to choose to keep hold of our faith in Him. It is when we recognise that our confidence about our holiness before God can only be found in Jesus that we truly grasp the amazing nature of our salvation.

Prayer: God it is incredible that You view me as without blemish or accusation. By Your Spirit please continue to reveal the fullness of the knowledge of what that means to me. Amen.

The ultimate encourager

dove-and-sky

Reflections based on John 14:15–29.

‘the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.’

As we saw last time, it is vital to remember that God is the one who offers us comfort and encouragement. Psalm 10:17 says: ‘You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry’. I can’t imagine how the disciples must have been feeling during this, their final meal shared with Jesus, but I think I would probably have been feeling pretty lost when He explained that He would soon be leaving. However, Jesus reveals that it is actually better for Him to go in order that the ultimate paraclete (comforter, encourager, helper) could be sent to dwell with believers for all time (indeed earlier in the chapter Jesus said that anyone who believes in Him would do greater things than Him because He was going to the Father (v12)!).

It is an amazing truth that the Holy Spirit is the promised comforter who reveals the truth of God to our hearts and encourages us from within, even in the midst of difficulties. In this passage Jesus unveils the wonderful mystery of what life as a believer truly means: the Holy Spirit lives within us, so is with us constantly, Jesus is in the Father, we are in Jesus and Jesus, by His Spirit, is within us. Just spending time focusing on the truths contained in His words can really encourage our spirits! If we are honest, there are times when we all feel alone, lost, despairing. And yet, we have the reminder here that the Spirit of Jesus dwells within us and His specific reason for being there is to be that advisor, reminder of God’s words, to provide us with peace and to be our ultimate encourager.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, how amazing it is to have Your constant encouragement coming from within. Help me to be attentive to Your whisperings.