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Power for Everyday Living

As we grow in our relationships with God, connecting with the Holy Spirit can be difficult. In our own families we can see the idea of father and son, but there isn’t a tangible spirit to help us grasp the identity of the Holy Spirit. Last week we explored the identity of the Holy Spirit as our best friend rather than something weird or spooky. Today we are going to get to know him as the life-giving breath of God who wants to empower us for everyday life.

In the first chapters of Acts leading up to this passage, Jesus had gone up to heaven after giving His disciples last minute instructions. Then His promised was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit came to His disciples at pentecost resulting in more than 3000 people coming to know Christ. After that, Peter and John healed a beggar on their way to the temple resulting in many more people becoming Christians. The religious leaders didn’t like this at all so they had them brought in for questioning.

The leaders saw Peter and John boldly proclaiming Christ as Lord. They saw that the same power that was in Jesus was now in Peter and John and that it wouldn’t be stopped.

Question: The passage above describes Peter as “filled with the Holy Spirit.” What else do you know about Peter’s life? How is the Holy Spirit’s work evident in it?

One thing that makes the Holy Spirit mysterious to us is just the word “spirit” or “ghost”. The word translated as “Spirit” in this passage is the Hebrew word “ruwach”, which means: a wind, a breath, a violent exhalation, or a blast of breath.

In the New Testament the word used for spirit is pneuma, which means: a current of air, a blast of breath or a strong breeze.

Let’s look at three characteristics that are unique to wind that will help us understand the Holy Spirit better.

  1. He’s Unseen.

We can’t see the wind. In the same way, we can’t see the Holy Spirit, but we can absolutely feel or sense Him. He wants us to sense His presence and experience Him, not just study or discuss Him. Often we can sense His presence in worship.

Many people are uncomfortable with the unseen nature of God. We want to be able control things, and we can’t control what we can’t see. One of Jesus’ disciples was like this; Thomas wouldn’t believe Jesus was alive until he was able to touch His wounds. He wanted to control what he believed. Jesus told him, “‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” (John 20.29) God is looking for people that don’t have to see in order to believe that His presence is here.

Question: When have you sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit? How would you describe that experience?

  1. He’s Unpredictable.

John chapter three records Jesus’ conversation with a religious leader named Nicodemus. He wanted to understand the idea of new birth. In explaining the difficulty of understanding these things, Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3.8)

Both the word “wind” and “Spirit” in this passage are translated from the word “pnemua”. It highlights the unpredictability of the Holy Spirit. When doing things like playing golf or going sailing, we find the constantly changing nature of the wind fun and challenging. Yet for some reason when we encounter the same unpredictability in church or a spiritual setting, we see it as strange. Yet it is part of the Holy Spirit’s characteristics that we need to get comfortable with. Constantly desiring to understand God and control how we experience will always limit us in our capacity to know and experience Him.

  1. He’s Powerful.

Storms, hurricanes and tornadoes prove the power of the wind. Our God is a supernatural God. If we are followers of Christ, it is because something supernatural happened inside of us to transform us from the inside out. In Spanish, the word “sobrenatural” literally says above (sobre) the natural (natural). When we come to our limits, God is just getting started. His power is far above our natural ability. And His power is for our benefit—to work on our behalf.

The great tragedy of only seeking to know God at an intellectual level is that we will worship a God who is only as big as we can intellectually understand Him. How limiting! We will be horribly left out of what He has going on. Instead we should go after the things of God even if they are beyond our understanding. We can’t be discouraged or distracted by some of the packaging that people put on the Holy Spirit’s work.

We need the life-giving breath of God every day. Let’s give God a blank page by praying, “Holy Spirit, if there’s something you have for me, I want it!”

Question: What are some aspects of the Holy Spirit that you have trouble understanding? What are some of the different ways you have seen people package His work?

Being filled with the Spirit has nothing to do with ‘evidences.’ Some circles would say that being filled with the Spirit is necessarily followed by a particular evidence. But that would mean we could somehow judge each others’ spiritual status. Rather than evidences, God’s intention is about benefits. Here are five of the benefits that people receive when they open their lives to be filled with the Spirit.

  1. We can have His rest.

There is nothing strange or spooky about rest. When God’s presence is at work within us, we don’t have to figure out everything on our own. So many Christians are living tired because they are going at it on their own strength. He wants us to open our hearts entirely so that we can be filled and receive REST.

  1. We can have His direction.

Who couldn’t use a little advice in life from THE counselor? He has already been in our future and has seen what happens 5, 10 or 30 years from now. He knows the best ways to get us to where He wants to get us. The Holy Spirit knows how to direct, lead and guide, but He won’t violate our will and take the wheel. We have to let allow him lead us and direct our lives. We desperately need His direction to keep us from wrecking our lives. He longs to give it to us, all we need to do is ask and allow Him to lead us.

This passage tells us that the Holy Spirit will actually come alongside us and pray the perfect prayer with us and through us, causing God’s power to move on our behalf.

Question: In what area(s) of your life do you need divine direction? How can you see the Holy Spirit’s hand at work in your life up to this point?

  1. We can live in His freedom.

When we welcome the entirety of God’s breath into our lives, we can find freedom. Confessing sin and returning to it a few days later is not freedom. Even Paul in Romans 7 talks about how difficult it is to live a holy life because our humanity is bent toward doing the wrong thing. Then in Romans 8.9 he gives us the key to overcome sin and temptation: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.”

If we allow Him to govern, if we are controlled by the pneuma of God, He will give us victory! Not only will He give us a freedom to overcome sin, He will give us a freedom to express our love to God. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3.17)

  1. We can experience His power in, for and through us.

The passage tells us to let our faith rest on God’s power. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, we are just another religious argument in the world. This is what makes us different. It is the power of God, the breath of God that raised Christ from the dead.

Rather than being turned off by or shy away from His power, let’s seek to be the kind of church that would do greater works because Jesus went to the Father. When we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit’s power, something is going to change.

  1. We can participate with Him in helping others.

Part of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives is to give us spiritual gifts so that we can minister to others well and with His power. God has always intended the gifts of the Spirit to be a tool used to help people. Many times people say they have an issue with the gifts of the Spirit, when they are really just bothered by one in particular. What a silly thing for the family of God to be split up over! Next week we’ll explore the gifts of the Spirit and get more clarity about the graces God has poured out on the church to benefit people.

Question: What is your understanding of the phrase “spiritual gifts”? What gifts are on that list? How is the Holy Spirit working through you to minister to others?

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