Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38-39
Last week, April 19, 2021, the message I posted was titled “Is Something Missing?” It was about all the years I was missing a personal relationship with Jesus, even though I’d been in church from infancy all through my teenage and young adult years. How could I not have heard about a personal relationship with Him?
This week I want to share my experience that is equally surprising and troubling. How could I not have been introduced to the the truth about the Holy Spirit?
Growing up in the church my family attended, what I had been taught and what I observed left me actually afraid of the Holy Spirit! I was taught that unless you “spoke in tongues,” you were not a Christian. I really wanted to be a Christian, so I once made up some sounds that mimicked what I heard from others around me. But I knew it wasn’t real for me, even then. There are other examples I won’t go into here, but I didn’t want to have anything more to do with the Holy Spirit!
I realized much later in life that what I had been taught and observed was not biblical. What I know now, and believe with all my heart, is from Scripture. We are not even capable of living the life God calls us to live without complete dependence on the Holy Spirit. We can’t experience all God has for us without the Holy Spirit who lives in every believer.
The book Forgotten God by Francis Chan was life-changing for me. In the introduction, he states “There is a big gap between what we read in Scripture about the Holy Spirit and how most believers and churches operate today.” He points out that something is missing – “actually a missing Someone – namely, the Holy Spirit.” He begins the first chapter with the title, “I’ve Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit?” I very highly recommend this book!
A couple of years ago, I studied the Scriptures about the Holy Spirit with the women in the weekly Bible study I lead. I can only share here a few of the foundational truths that I wish I’d know many years ago.
There are many verses in the Old Testament that say that the Spirit “came upon” someone (i.e. prophets, judges, Saul, David, and others). That is one of the ways God communicated in the Old Testament.
Hear Jesus’ words to His disciples as He was preparing them for His departure from the earth after His death and resurrection. This is a foundational truth that I encourage you to receive:
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:16)
(Notice: He will not just be upon you, but in you!)
Jesus tells His disciples in John 16:7 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. He was speaking of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit that Jesus promised came on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus was crucified. Acts 2:38-39 is the message that Peter preached on that day. It’s the message I needed to hear, and every believer needs to be assured of: Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to indwell everyone who has received the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus, His death for the forgiveness of our sins, and resurrection which promises us new life in Him now, and for all eternity with Him.
WHY DO WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Illustration of the lamp
My daughter, Kim, got a beautiful mental picture from the Lord about the Holy Spirit’s power in our life. In her mind, she saw a little lamp sitting on the floor, and the lamp was saying to itself, “I really want to make light… I’ll try really hard… I know I can do it if I just try harder…” Right next to the lamp was the electric cord which needed to be plugged in to the electrical outlet. As soon as it was plugged in, the light shone brightly.
That’s the way the Holy Spirit works in our life. He is the source of unlimited power to do what God has planned for our life, the power source that we can “plug into.” Our pastor a few years ago encouraged us to dwell on the theme of “Desperate Dependence.” We need to be depending on the Spirit moment by moment throughout every day! But we have the choice –to depend on the Holy Spirit, or to try to do life on our own. On our own, we cannot accomplish what God calls us to do, to live the way He asks us to live. It is the Spirit that gives us the wisdom, understanding, the ability, the desire to grow in our love relationship with God, to live in the center of God’s will instead of our own. We need to be “plugged in” by complete dependence on Him.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
As a believer, are you aware of your need for complete dependence on the Holy Spirit?
Are you “plugged into Him” as the source of power to live the life God has planned for you?
What choices do you need to make in order to live in complete dependence on the Spirit?
Thank you, dear Sherrilyn, for the courage to tackle this sometimes controversial subject. I so appreciate your biblical knowledge, understanding, and ability to communicate it clearly. May the Holy Spirit continue to draw you into His Word and open your understanding through your faithful study of it. How wonderful that Jesus did not leave us as orphans, but gave us the Holy Spirit to live within us moment by moment forever!
I love this reminder so much. Your words are ALWAYS encouraging!