Living in tornado alley, one gets to feel the gravity of very high winds that, at times, form a funnel and cause incredible destruction. High wind is part of life living in the plains states. I know as I have lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas all my adult life. But the idea of “wind” doesn’t have to be scary. It can be empowering.
In the Old Testament, the word is “ruach” which means wind, breath, Spirit. In the New Testament, the word is “pneuma” which also means wind, breath, Spirit. Both words are used as the word for Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the the breath or wind we need in our lives to function and have life to the full.
J.I. Packer said, “A Christian’s life in all its aspects—intellectual and ethical, devotional and relational, upsurging in worship and outgoing in witness—is supernatural; only the Spirit can initiate and sustain it. So apart from him, not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers and no congregations at all.”
What you and I need to do is develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit in order to have the power in our lives to be who we are created to be. We see the life of Jesus reflected in the Gospels. John 1 tells us Jesus put skin on and moved into our neighborhood. So, we see Jesus as a person and it makes it easier to have a relationship. But the Holy Spirit is a person as well. The better we understand that the deeper our relationship will be with the Holy Spirit.
In John 14, Jesus has gathered all of his closest followers and friends. He’s going back to the Father and he knows it’s going to be hard for them. He’s telling the disciples although he’s leaving, they will never be alone. So Jesus says in John 14:16-17, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.”
Jesus uses the word, “Another”. The word he uses in the original language means, “another, exactly the same kind.” Jesus is saying, he and the Holy Spirit are the same person. Wow! That blows our mind I know. See we tend to think of the Holy Spirit as a “what” rather than a “who”, speak of the Holy Spirit as an “it” rather than a “he”, and relate to the Holy Spirit as a “force” rather than a “friend”. Jesus wants us to know that the Holy Spirit is person who we can have a relationship with. Take a look at some key texts.
The Holy Spirit can be lied to. Now, you don’t lie to a force or an inanimate object. You lie to a person. In Acts 5, we see the story of Ananias and Sapphira. It’s lengthy so I won’t tell it here but this married couple offered some money to the Apostles to help with church work and they lied about how much they gave in order to look good to all the other disciples. They both wanted to impress other believers so they lied about the truth of what they were doing.
So for us, maybe a way to lie to the Holy Spirit is we pretend to be more spiritual than we are. My pretending and hypocrisy to impress you seems to be offensive to the Holy Spirit. So praising God on Sunday but at home you yell and condescend your family is pretending. When you take communion and feel the grace of God in your life but you’re harboring resentment toward another, that’s hypocrisy. When you chastise someone for sin in their life yet go home at night and watch porn, that’s pretending and hypocrisy.
Which leads to grieving the Holy Spirit. Paul calls us to live in ways that don’t offend and grieve the Spirit in Ephesians 4:30. When we don’t look like Jesus in our life day to day, it saddens the Holy Spirit. We both know there have been moments we had a poor decision and it broke our mom’s heart. Equally, you have been hurt by people you love as well. So, since we can sadden the Holy Spirit by our actions, we realize how much he loves us and cares for us.
Finally, the Holy Spirit can be your friend. Jesus says in John 14:16 that He would send another Advocate. That original word can be translated as counsellor, helper, comforter….or friend. So Jesus is saying, “My Father will send you a friend that will always be with you.” Now that’s comforting isn’t it?
This week, I want you to pray that the Holy Spirit will be revealed to you in your life. That you’ll begin to see how closely he’s working in you to shape you into Jesus. He’s a friend who loves you dearly and wants only the very best for you. Blessings on the journey.