The Holy Spirit. Two words heard often in churches but truth be told, rarely utilized or discussed beyond an occasional scriptural reference. Unfortunately the Holy Spirit isn’t present in many churches these days, nor in the lives of believers. What’s even more disappointing though is Jesus Himself said not to do anything ministerial without the Holy Spirit. That’s right. Acts 1:4 clearly states these words to Christ’s disciples.

“Don’t go anywhere or do anything until you have this power on high” were basically Jesus’ words. There was an air of urgency to wait for this. Why? Why would Jesus say this? I mean, we are fine right now in our churches and Christianity right? We have upbeat services, good preaching, we do some community outreach. We invite someone to church every once in awhile. What else do we need?

This is the question so often asked. Jesus placed an importance on the Holy Spirit to His disciples in the Gospel of John, chapters 14 through 16. When He left this Earth, He told them to wait. In John 16 He told them it was BETTER if He left. How could that be? Jesus. The Son of God. Better if He left? Yes. Absolutely. And here is why…

“It is good for you that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you,, but if I go, I will send him to you.” John 16:6-7

Jesus could only be in one place at one time. And Jesus could easily be somewhere His disciples couldn’t be. We see this often in various Gospel scriptures. When the disciples were with Jesus though, things went well. They went really well…and all the time. People got healed. Demons were cast out. Food was never an issue. Storms calmed and they always could count on Jesus giving them some supernatural wisdom to combat their carnal thought process. But what about when Jesus wasn’t with them? Then what?

When Jesus left this Earth to return to the Father, He promised to send the Holy Spirit in His stead. To take His place on this Earth. There is huge advantage in this. You see, the Holy Spirit can be in more than one place at a time and even more so, He lives in us – not next to us. That’s huge. That’s a game-changer my friends. By having the Holy Spirit living in us, we now have a God-type GPS living inside of us. We have a God-like google resource at our fingertips all the time! What I mean is, the Holy Spirit will lead us in every circumstance. He will guide us in all decisions. He will give us answers beyond our own knowledge if we will ask Him. Remember that scripture “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”? Here you go. The Holy Spirit coming to Earth to live in us is about having God within at all times, and His power on hand for every situation!

We aren’t born again, just to have a funny sounding title to our faith. When born again, the Holy Spirit comes in and revives us spiritually. That’s because we are dead before Christ. Spiritually dead. Then Jesus also said we will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire! Baptism is immersion folks. Being completely immersed in the Holy Spirit is like being completely saturated with all that Jesus is!!

Listen to me. We can’t be having church, doing ministry or doing life without the Holy Spirit living in us and operating through us. It’s the key to victory and overcoming this life, the devil, sin and the obstacles we face. But we have to engage the Holy Spirit, asking Him to fill us and lead us AND…we have to walk with Him – step for step. I will give an illustration to expound on this:

Ever been in a rainstorm? Sure, we all have. Ever been with someone who had an umbrella? Did you have to stay close to that person in order to stay dry? You bet you did. Like right up on that person so you could share in the protection from the rain. If that person moved left or right or walked faster, what did  you do? You did exactly the same so you could stay up under that umbrella and not get wet, right? This is EXACTLY the same thing we must do with the Holy Spirit if we want His protection and provision in our lives. It’s called ‘walking in the Spirit’. This my friends, is what the Christian life is about. It’s where our victory stems from and how we move as God originally intended for His church.

If you’ve never asked the Holy Spirit to fill you, ask Him today! Tell the Lord you want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, in order to have a life teeming with power and provision to do all that God has called you to do! The Holy Spirit is a promise from the Father to you! He is our guarantee as well that Christ Jesus will return one day for His people (Eph 1:14).

We need the Holy Spirit. You can have Him today. You can begin to follow Him today. God promised us so.

Blessings.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you to be my witness of me, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the entire Earth.” Acts 1:8