John 14:25-27 (NIV) 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But 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. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Galatians 3:1-5 (NIV) 1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
We believe that there is a God who is sovereign and who exercises sovereign power over the world. We believe in Jesus Christ, uniquely the Son of God, One who is God in the flesh. He is not only a visible example of God, but One who has accomplished something for us, who has granted us forgiveness, reconciliation to God, and the gift of life upon life with God. But if that is all we can say, our belief is simply a “recipe religion.” We believe the right things and say learned things, but it is not real to us.
When we say we believe in the Holy Spirit, we have sampled God’s personal work in our life. We have experienced Jesus forgiving, reconciling us to God and granting us life upon life. “I believe in the Holy Spirit” is a big claim. The most basic way of summarizing the claim is to say we believe in and trust in God’s Spirit to deliver the goods that the recipes of our faith speak about.
I hear the Scriptures and the Church say love one another, and I agree and I believe it is right and a good thing to do. Then I realize what it means to love those who are hard to love, and I do not want to do it, yet I am compelled and even enabled to love, when I don’t want to. The Scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit will guide us in all truth, solve problems, discipline us, enable people to love, produce unity in the midst of diversity, meet financial needs, heal bodies and minds, overcome human weakness, convince people of the truth. How much confidence do we have in what the Holy Spirit will do?
There is no deep, dark secret to why we see so little or experience so little of the Holy Spirit’s work. We have been bewitched, distracted and deceived by the pressures of the ordinary. We do not see or experience the Holy Spirit because we just have too many other things on our mind. We do not submit our minds and hearts to the power and presence of God because our minds and hearts are too busy with other things. To walk in the Spirit is to live each day with a confidence in and commitment to what the Holy Spirit will do. It is a daily sorting out of what God will do and of what God is calling us to do.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope July 30, 1995
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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