Power in the Holy Spirit Blog

The Holy Spirit and the Life of the Believer

(Understanding the Role of the Holy Spirit)

I have come to realize, throughout my twenty-nine years in ministry with the Lord Jesus Christ, the vital importance and power given when the Holy Spirit works in my life. I have lived a life, from that moment to this, in a series of mountain tops and valleys, as every other Christian. But, I had to accept the fact that I was not living to the potential to which, as a follower of Jesus Christ, He has called me. The believer in Jesus Christ never truly understands the power they possess and why they are given the authority to use it. The Holy Spirit is the power of God entrusted to and in us. Those who fear the Holy Spirit do so because of their lack of knowledge. The misunderstandings expressed in the church bring with them the notions of spirit possessions and ghostly controls over one’s thoughts and actions. The Holy Spirit brings, to the one who is eagerly and completely seeking the Will of God, peace, comfort, strength, authority, guidance and love. All these are evidences of the Spirit of a Holy God, not an unholy spirit. The prophet Joel states;

And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

(Joel 2:28-29 NKJV)

The role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer in Jesus Christ is simple. As mentioned, the Holy Spirit gives spiritual life to an otherwise dead spirit. Jesus said that He must go back to the Father so that He can send His disciples another comforter. In the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, we are given strength and confidence that we can stand against the enemy. The Spirit of God is given to us to provide peace that cannot be described in human terms. The beauty of this peace is that God freely gives it to us. Any gift that comes from God must in turn be freely given to someone who needs it. God’s peace and comfort are both indescribable but are both glorious in addressing all our needs, if we allow.

Another attribute of the power and gift of the Holy Spirit is experienced in the strength and authority that He endows on the believer. Keep in mind, all that I am sharing concerning the Holy Spirit is all just words on a blog unless an individual is truly and eagerly seeking the Will of God and surrendering their life to Him. Through the strength in spirit and character provided by the Holy Spirit, He gives the believer authority.

And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

(Matthew 10:1 NKJV)

The authority given to His believers is ultimate. Many people today do not believe in miracles. There are those who believe that the miracles that are recorded in scripture are not for today. The miracles that were performed by Jesus and His disciples were only performed then and never after that time. If that is true, then miracle of a person giving their life to Jesus Christ is false and miraculous healings are false, and so on. We are given authority, in the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit to stand firm against the enemies of God and His Son.

The Holy Spirit can only be experienced in the Love of God. God cannot stand to be in the presence of sin, so it is with God’s Spirit. The Love of God is something that truly must be shared with others. The Holy Spirit is the instrument by which the Love of God is shared. Through the Love of God, we are led by the Spirit of God in obedience to His Will and His Word. As the believer walks in obedience to the Holy Spirit, they are guided in the full and complete Will of the Father and the Son.

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39 NKJV)

Over the next twelve weeks, we will be looking at the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the truly surrendered believer in Jesus Christ. These will be based from Jesus’ teachings found in the beatitudes of Matthew chapter five verses three through twelve. We will take each one as a step in the process toward sanctification and building the character of one who is completely surrendered to the Spirit of God in their life. Peter told those Jews who were present on that glorious day that they must do two things to receive the Holy Spirit. The first was to repent. The requirement to stand before a Holy God is to repent of sin in one’s life. This is an inward confessional. An admission of the guilt and power of sin in your life. The next is as important and that is to be purified, through baptism, before your peers. This is the public confession of your sin and the acceptance of the cleansing work of Christ.

Jesus, when He began His earthly ministry, in Matthew chapter five, He raised the bar higher for the standard to be set for the Christian life. Well, you may ask, how could the bar be placed any higher than the one established with those such as Abraham, Moses, David, and all the others? Jesus said, “You heard it said” or “For it is written,” but He took it to the next level when He said, “But I say to you.” What does this mean for the Christian? This means that we have all the knowledge of the histories, the kings and prophets. But, more than this we have a personal relationship with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. This was something that the ancient ones only dreamed of and some could scarcely imagine. You, as a “born-again” and “Spirit-filled” believer in Jesus Christ, have apart from everybody else in the world.

The Word of God was the God that created everything that was created. The Word of God walked among the disciples and those who followed in the first century. The Word of God is written upon the hearts of all those who believe in His name. So, Yes! The bar has been raised beyond the next level because we are given complete access to the Father through the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Is a thorough study of the Holy Spirit important for us to grow into a complete reconciling of our relationship with the Father? Yes! For the Christian to know the Father, they must first build a loving and committed relationship with the Son. Then, they must rely on the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, completely, to grow in the intimacy to which God has called them. We have been called to be holy as He is Holy. This is a life-long work. Are you ready to finish the race for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior? Let us go! Amen!