Archive for the ‘Holy Spirit’ Category

Breath of God

November 8, 2011

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22 

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples in a room where they were huddled together “for fear of the Jews.” He spoke to them with a common Jewish greeting, “Peace be with you!” His presence filled their hearts with joy. He repeated his greeting and then commissioned them with these words, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And then he did something truly amazing. He breathed on them.

Theologians are somewhat divided on exactly what this means. Was this the moment the disciples actually received the Holy Spirit, and if so, what happened on the day of Pentecost? Or, is Jesus speaking prophetically and preparing them for what would happen days later?

I tend to embrace the later view, but in either case we know this is true: the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, is closer than the air we breathe. A popular praise song says it this way, “You are the air I breathe, Your holy presence in me.”

The first time we hear about the Holy Spirit is in the creation story. Genesis 1:1 says, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach which means “air in motion.” It’s the same word for “breath.”

The Spirit or Breath of God also played a role in the creation of mankind. Genesis 1:26 says, “Let us make man in our image.” The plural pronouns give us the first hint in the Bible of the tri-fold nature of the Godhead. Father, Son and Holy Spirit each played a role in creation.

More details about mankind are given later in the creation story. Genesis 2:7 says, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

Yes, God literally breathed life into Adam’s dusty body. Job picks up on this idea and makes a connection to the Holy Spirit when he says, “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty God gives me life” (Job 33:4).

Posted on November 8, 2011
Category: Holy Spirit, John

No Comments

The Father’s Gift

October 29, 2011

Hands down, the God of the Bible is the most generous being in the universe. He loves to give good gifts to his children.

For example, The Holy Spirit is a gift from the Father in response to Jesus’s prayer. “I will ask the Father,” Jesus says, “and he will give you another Counselor” (John 14:15).

James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.”

Of course, virtually everyone has heard of God’s generous love expressed this way in John 3:16: “He gave his one and only Son.”

But he also gave us his Holy Spirit.

In a parable about prayer, Jesus mentions how willing the Father is to give away the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:13 says, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

There’s a lot behind those words “how much more.” The Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit is no small matter. Jesus suffered a grueling death on the cross so that we could live and have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. That’s how willing the Father is to give us the Holy Spirit.

Acts 11:45 says, “The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” The Jews were blown away that the Gentiles also received the Holy Spirit.

Think of the most incredible gift you could receive, multiply it by ten billion, and you might come close to understanding how precious the gift of the Holy Spirit is.

Posted on October 29, 2011
Category: Generosity, Holy Spirit

No Comments

A People for His Temple

September 7, 2011

In John 14:17, Jesus made this remarkable statement about the Holy Spirit to his disciples, “But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” The words “will be in you” only applied to the Twelve because the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was still future.

However, as New Testament, post-Pentecost believers in Jesus Christ, we have something the disciples never had when they walked with Jesus on this earth. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Jesus was with the disciples, but the Holy Spirit is in us as a permanent resident.

Don’t let yourself gloss over this reality without it gripping your soul. Be astonished that God would choose you as his dwelling place. Elsewhere in the New Testament, we learn that the Holy Spirit has made our bodies his temple.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 2 Timothy 1:14

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. As my kid’s would say, “That’s sick!” which, if you can believe it, means cool, amazing and awesome. Think about it this way. In the Old Testament, God built a temple for his people; in the New Testament, God has a people for his temple.

Allow this truth to change the way you approach your day. As you go to work, drive the kids to school, shop for groceries, share a family meal, coach a Little League team, walk the dog, build friendships and more, remember that the Holy Spirit is in you and goes with you to assist you wherever you go.

Posted on September 7, 2011
Category: Holy Spirit, John

No Comments

The Mysterious Wind of God

May 5, 2009

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going, so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

Singer and songwriter Bob Dylan could have received his inspiration from Jesus when he wrote these lyrics in 1963: “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind.” Jesus spoke of something blowin’ in the wind when he tried to explain to Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, how a person is born again (John 3).

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly I say to you, ‘Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’” (John 3:5). Say what? Be encouraged. Some things in the Bible are not easy to understand, even for a religious expert like Nicodemus.

Jesus is a master teacher and communicator. He plays on words and draws an analogy from nature at the same time. The Greek word pneuma can be translated “spirit” or “wind.” Thus, the Spirit of God blows mysteriously like the wind.

From where the wind blows and to where it goes nobody knows. Even the trained meteorologist scratches his head when the wind ignores his forecast. We see the effect of the wind but not the wind itself. Trees blowing. Waves frothing. Dust billowing up from the ground. Tumbleweed rolling across a West Texas road. Yes, invisible and unpredictable is the wind. And so it is with the work of the Spirit in the life of a born again believer in Jesus Christ.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit is like a gentle breeze. At other times he is like a mighty, rushing wind. The Book of Acts records the time when the Spirit of God blew like a holy tornado and gave birth to the church on the day of Pentecost. “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). Whoosh! Three thousand people were born into the kingdom of God that day. Nothing in the path of a mighty wind is ever the same.

A sailboat sits still in the water without the wind.

A child’s kite lies on the ground unless a gust of wind carries it into the sky.

A wind farm that produces clean energy is merely a nice idea unless the wind actually turns the blades of the giant turbines and converts kinetic energy into electricity.

Likewise, no person is born from above and no born again person lives a victorious life apart from the mysterious Wind of God.

Bob Dylan might have been singing about war, peace and protest, but in one sense he was right. The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.

Posted on May 5, 2009
Category: Acts, Holy Spirit

No Comments

Ron Jones is a pastor whose greatest passion is to introduce people to Jesus Christ through anointed biblical preaching that transforms lives.

 

Follow me on Twitter More Updates ...