The Holy Spirit is here to spiritually guide us now today just like He was in the book of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor,” He is upon us no matter what the anointing or guidance we need (Isaiah 61:1). While in relationship to the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit has divine nature, divine works, authority, equal in power, and glory to the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit has the most beautiful characteristics, which can be exemplified in this verse, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” He is everywhere all the time while being all-knowing no matter what the case (Psalm 139:7). He is Third in the Trinity, performs the work of God, inspired the Bible, is the life of Christ, and is the Eternal Spirit “who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14). How much more extraordinary can the Holy Spirit get, He is 24/7 surrounding you keeping you safe and being your answer to so many of your questions guide you to what He knows is the best for you.
What is the activity of the Holy Spirit? “He is involved in the creation, involved in regeneration, active in giving us the Scriptures, and involved in the resurrection from death,” says Dr. George from His writing regarding the topic of the Holy Spirits functions in this time. The Holy Spirit was present in the Old Testament and is still present today, one of His functions and purposes is simply to be present, that is why we are told to sit in His presence during our quiet or chair time if He can be present for centuries then you can be present for a short period of time in your day. Remembering back to the Holy Spirit and His name, “Helper,” “Comforter,” and “Teacher,” these characteristics that have turned into names give guidance, encouragement, and reassurance in times of need. Similarly stated in 2 Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is not simply the aspect of guiding a believer in life, it has an emphasis on guiding a believer into the Truth and helping the believer understand the Truth and glorifying God. The Holy Spirit has a certain role and purpose Here on earth; He is Here to comfort, convict, convince, correct, and continue while always being at work and He was sent to earth to Help believers and work in believers to bring them purity, passion, purpose, and power. He is not here to tell a believer or non-believer that they are awful sinners, but to “give a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezekiel 36:26-27). He is the one out of the Trinity that is personally today Here on earth alongside all of us teaching us the significance of knowing how to actively follow God. He is constantly convicting us of our sins and showing us the many reasons as to why we cannot live without Jesus and revealing the importance of the time of judgment that will eventually come among us.
Not only does the Holy Spirit have an important role on earth, more specifically He has a great role in the church. He has a lot of input in the church when it comes to keeping unity among any and all Christ followers in the church and also is a huge source to believers evangelizing to the world. And one this the Holy Spirit has a large role in is giving Spiritual Gifts, now that function can honestly be put under the topic of his role on earth, role in the church, and in the lives of the believers. But specifically, the role in the church of receiving a Spiritual Gift is that it can be an aid to the church in working together to glorify God, help others, and make disciples. Within simple fellowship between believers, which is known as the church, the Holy Spirit gifted them to worship God in another way, not everyone has the same Spiritual Gift, but in this case, they all were gifted with speaking in tongues. “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:2-4). This verse fits in perfectly because when a whole house is full of believers sitting, most likely in His presence it can simply be tied to the reason of “when two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). The church is simply described as the body of Christ no matter who is in it, whether from the past or present, they are God’s people. “If you want to know the Holy Spirit, you must be in the church where He does His work and you must read the Scripture to hear the words He gave the apostles and prophets,” says Wes McAdams. It is there where the presence of the Holy Spirit dwells and sets upon all those believers who are gathered there to worship our God.
Most importantly the kind of role the Holy Spirit has in the believer is where the start of the growth of God’s kingdom all begins. “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you (Romans 8:11). Of course, all the characteristics, personalities, functions, and purpose of the Holy Spirit have already been discussed, so the ideas of the Holy Spirit being a comforter, revealer of truth, teacher, gift-giver, and harvester does not seem very new. He uses all these functions in the believer and well as in the church and on the earth, but the one function that is more specific to the Holy Spirits role in the believer is Him being a gift-giver. He bestows every believer on this earth with a Spiritual Gift, some do not receive it right away, the gifts are given according to God’s timing and choosing, “but earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way” (Corinthians 12:31). Our Spiritual Gifts are the gifts God gives us to expand His kingdom and bring His glory and holiness to any and every one we seek to serve God to bring glory to His name and church. The other significant role in producing the Fruits of the Spirit in us is striving towards more love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, which helps all believers grow from life in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit aids in producing these fruits because it projects a sign of spiritual maturity and spiritual growth, which pushes one further down the path of God’s Truth for His believers and follower’s lives.
Throughout our history, there have been many characters from Church History that have made an impact on the Church and on hundreds of people. Martin Luther was one of those characters that were used and led by the Holy Spirit in his life and ministry. Martin Luther originated as a German Catholic theologian and was also considered a reformer specifically because of his Holy Scriptures encounters that are stated in the Bible and other historical writings. Luther had also entered into the monastery during his career as a biblical lecturer at Wittenberg, his career as a professor and his teachings took him down a road that places a huge focus on him and his age. One of the more specific moments Martin Luther had felt led by the Holy Spirit was when he had been given the assurance he was looking for, which was very similar to Paul’s situation, “the Apostle Paul saw the need for the Holy Spirit’s ministry of revealing God’s truth to His people and so he praying in this manner.” When he was too looking for assurance from the Holy Spirit in Romans and both of their assurances were given with this statement, “They just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Martin Luther once said, “Nobody who has not the Spirit of God sees a jot of what is in the Scriptures. All men have their hearts darkened, so that, even when they can discuss and quote all that is in Scripture, they do not understand or really know any of it. . . The spirit is needed for the understanding of all Scripture and every part of Scripture,” stated by Pastor Ventura. A part of Martin Luther’s ministry led by the Holy Spirit was his bold declaration of the 95 These Wittenberg, Oct. 31, 1517; which boldly taught the principles of grace alone, faith alone, and scripture alone. The only way Luther was able to do this courageous act was by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead him and to stand his ground, his purpose behind the 95 These were to express his concerns and discrepancies about the certain practices of the Catholic Church.
The Lutheran Movement is considered Martin Luther’s significant push and development in ministry that was led by the Holy Spirit. This movement continued to change the structure and dynamics of the churches during and even after his death on February 18, 1546. A German church historian, once R. Kuntze wrote: “Luther was easily the greatest evangelical man after the apostles, full of inner love to the Lord like John, hasty in deed like Peter, deep in thinking like Paul, cunning and powerful in speech like Elijah, uncompromising against God’s enemies like David; prophet and evangelist, speaker in tongues and interpreter in one person, equipped withal the gifts of grace, a light and pillar of the church.”
Throughout my journey with the Holy Spirit, I have not had a lot of interactions with the Holy Spirit of really known 100% what is the Spirit and what is not. I think the reason behind that is because I had not had a genuine relationship with God until the end of my senior year. One of the most significant experiences I have had with the Holy Spirit was when I was in the crazy journey of choosing a college, I was originally going to school to play tennis and for some reason not one of the school I had looked at or visited I had liked or had peace with. It was probably two weeks until graduation that one of my friends had told me that she was applying to ORU, which was a place I told myself I would never go to. But then thought about it and realized I seriously don’t have any other choices right now and had a slight urge in my heart saying “what harm could applying to one more school do?” That night after small group I applied for ORU and for some reason was extremely nervous and excited to see if I got accepted or not. Soon after that I had received my acceptance letter with so much excitement and decided to go to the Quest Whole Person Scholarship meeting to simply see if there was any humanly way possible for me to be able to afford this school. Little did I realize that the approach of me getting this scholarship in a “humanly” way was for sure impossible, which immediately snapped me out of it and made me realize I can’t do any of this, it’s the Holy Spirit that is going to be getting me this scholarship. I laid it at His feet and simply knew ORU was where I was meant to go, even though I had not received my scholarship yet the Holy Spirit had assured my heart.
After going through the whole process for ORU by listening and trusting God and the Holy Spirit my relationship with Him had grown to heights I didn’t even know was imaginable. My trust and my longing to constantly be in the Holy Spirits presence grew to great amounts, He was always on my mind and I had never been so invested in growing my relationship with Him in that way. It was that one experience that truly brought me so much closer to the Holy Spirit because He showed himself to me and he showed His works proving He is everywhere all the time to listen and guide me. In the future, as I continue on my path to pursuing my vocation as an Exercise Specialist I know the way to be better led by the Holy Spirit is to lay it all at His feet. I know I can do my part by trying my hardest in school and worshiping him day and night, but when it comes to the end of it and I am getting ready to enter my vocation, I know the Holy Spirit will still be there with me, teaching me and guiding me just as He was since that Wednesday night at small group to the day I graduate college. God has a plan for me, and that is what I intend to follow.