Good morning. Our Thursday thought introduced us to thinking more about the Holy Spirit of God. As I indicated at the beginning, He is a topic far too great and too marvelous to bring to light in even a few discussions. So, I will continue yesterday’s thoughts of the Holy Spirit with the understanding that we will visit His discussion from time to time in the future.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3
At the moment of creation’s beginning, we read of our triune God in His fullness, ready to create. There is God the Father, ready with His Word of command. It is His will that speaks. There is God the Son, Jesus, who, as we read in John 1:1-5 is the active hand of creation and the life and the light of all: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
But what of the Holy Spirit of God? What we read is that He is “hovering over the face of the waters.” Then what? In all that we read of the Holy Spirit it would seem that as the Father commands, and as Jesus the Son orchestrates, the Holy Spirit does. I believe that the Spirit of God is the purposeful power of God. He is the person of God who acts, who does, who dwells, who listens, who guards, who protects, who empowers, who guides, and interacts with creation, most especially with mankind.
That is, to me, the best understanding of what is happening in Genesis 1&2. God is commanding, Jesus is specifying, and the Holy Spirit is their will in action. That division of function continues as God in His fulness blesses and saves His children.
Clearly, one of the chief understandings (and I fear it is all too often a misunderstanding) of the Holy Spirit is that He is as much a person of God as are the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is never something, He is always someone. I think that some are confused by the language of scripture that describes Him. He is given, He is poured out, He is someone we are baptized within, and yet He abides within us just as Christ promised that He would do.
Is the Holy Spirit a proper focus of prayer? Is it appropriate to pray to Him, even as we would pray to God the Father, and as we would pray to and through Jesus Christ the Son? I think it is an even more appropriate question to ask why we would feel the need to divide the fulness of God into distinctive personalities for the purpose of prayer. What I mean is that when you pray in the name of Jesus, you are praying to Him in all of His fullness, and that means Father-Son-and Spirit. When you pray to God Almighty Creator, you are praying to God the Father in His fullness, and that means God the Father-Son-and Holy Spirit. If you are to pray to the Spirit of God, you are certainly praying to Him (God) in His fullness. Why would we try to divide God in an effort to communicate with Him? The Holy Spirit is God, and He is Jesus, and He is in every one of us who have accepted salvation through the gracious gift of Jesus Christ.
Yesterday’s analogy of trying to recognize the wonder of the Pacific Ocean while only looking at a jar full of water continues to apply. The Holy Spirit of God is beyond definition, and He is well beyond our limited abilities in understanding. But we try.
As we close today, please think of His, the Holy Spirit’s, work with you, a Christian person: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25
This passage of scripture reminds us of His constant working within us as we grow up in our likeness of Jesus. As we live by the Spirit, let’s keep in step with Him, never marching to the sound of our own drum.
May the Spirit of God dwell richly in you today!
Vern