The Holy Spirit

There is an emphasis in some circles to seek to exercise the power of the Holy Spirit through healing with an emphasis on the physical healing of every person who has faith. With great fanfare and declaration of their personal power to be channels of this healing, they attempt to display the power of God.

There is in this attempt a neglect of the condition of all humanity which we Christians share. There is a lack of understanding of the benefits of suffering as declared in Scripture: “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

We will all eventually grow old. Our bodies may become afflicted with various troubles, illnesses, and disabilities, as even our dear Brother Given is now experiencing. How I would like to heal him! We have all prayed fervently for him—and yet he suffers.

We will all see death unless Christ comes before we die. Likewise our sisters Adannah, Leah, and Pam suffered greatly in their bodies and died.

We are not all healed physically by God. This does not mean we do not have faith in God. It does not mean we are not filled with the Holy Spirit. These falsities are proclaimed by some professed “faith healers.”

Some of them even claim to raise the dead, yet I have not seen it, nor have I read any international headlines of this wonderful event. I would think raising the dead would be international headline news—and it once was, affirming the power of Christ and his resurrection. But if this is happening now, it is very strange that it is not verified and incredibly newsworthy.

I believe the things done by the Apostles and early disciples—the signs, and wonders, and miracles were to confirm that Jesus was truly the Messiah, to signify that His powerful everlasting reign had been brought down to humanity through His death on the cross.

I believe it to be a fleshly pride that seeks personal power and affirmation of personal abilities, rather than seeking the truth, that motivates some of these faith healing performances.

With that in mind, and to comfort people with disabilities of various kinds who are burdened by not receiving healing at the hands of charlatans (or the merely and sincerely misled), I am studying the Holy Spirit more deeply, hoping to grow deeper into the love of the truth myself and to reason together with others. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

The Holy Spirt:
Proceeds from the Father. Joh 15:26. “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

2. Is Given:
a. By the Father. Joh 14:16. "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever"

b. By Christ. Isa 61:3. "to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified."

c. Through Christ’s intercession. Joh 14:16. (see above)

3. Sent in the name of Christ. Joh 14:26. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."

4. Sent by Christ from the Father. Joh 15:26 (see above) ; John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you."

5. As such he:

a. Communicates joy to saints. Ro 14:17 "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Ga 5:22 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

1Th 1:6 "And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit"

b. Edifies the Church. Ac 9:31 "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied."

c. Testifies of Christ. Joh 15:26 (see above)

d. Imparts the love of God. Ro 5:3-5 "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

e. Imparts hope. Ro 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Ga 5:5 “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.”

f. Teaches saints. Joh 14:26 (see above)

g. Dwells with, and in saints. Joh 14:17 “even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

h. Abides for ever with saints. Joh 14:16 (see above)

i. Is known by saints. Joh 14:17 (see above)
ii.
6. The world cannot receive. Joh 14:17 (see above)

These are some first truths about the Holy Spirit for the saints of God to dwell upon.