Today is the day of Pentecost, the day on which we celebrate
the coming of God the Holy Spirit to help us live our ordinary lives in such a
way as to be a demonstration of the glorious life in the Kingdom which has come
and is coming.
The Holy Spirit does not help us
like the Cavalry in the old westerns, riding over the hill top at the last
moment to the sound of bugles blaring, to save the day. He can do that kind of
thing, but seeks rather to help us in the trenches of our ordinary lives,
enabling us to live the super-natural life of the then and there, right here
and now. His preferred mode of operation seems to be subtle and instructive,
but no less the dynamic for being so. Here are just a few of the things He does
for those who are being filled with Him.
He reminds us of what Jesus said,
helps us understand what He meant, teaches us how to see what He did actualized
in our own lives - and then empowers that new kind of life in our mortal
bodies.
He is an internal plumbline of
Truth, enabling real time discernment in the moment of competing truth claims.
And what is more, He applies the same standard to our actions, allowing us to
move towards integrity in all we say and do. Then He empowers our ongoing
choice of life over death.
When our lives compellingly
demonstrate the new reality of Life from above available in Jesus, the Holy
Spirit speaks into the minds and hearts of those stuck in the old reality -
convicting them of their participation in the old, convincing them of the truth
of Jesus, and reinforcing the fact that judgment is certain. When they make
that choice, He reinforces the new reality in such a way as to act as a kind of
promissory note.
He gives us supernatural voice to
our prayers - both those that we can articulate and those that are too deep
even for us to wrap our heads and hearts around. And in our praying, we join
our voices in chorus with His as He intercedes with the Father on our behalf.
He has been called the "shy
member of the Trinity" for His desire to point primarily to Jesus. But let
us honor God the Holy Spirit today. What a gracious gift He is to us!
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