
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[a] who will never leave you. 17 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.
-John 14:16-17
This is probably going to sound odd but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Holy Spirit. The truth of the matter is I never really gave it much thought. I’d bless myself muttering “Father-Son-Holy Spirit” while doing the hand motions, all the while picturing this bearded old gentleman as the Father, and seeing the image of the Akiane Kramarik painting as Christ, but never really had a vision in my head of the Holy Spirit. I suppose I would have gone with the image of the flame over the Apostles heads if I was ever asked…not that the Holy Spirit is such a popular conversation topic. But after reading Corinthian’s one and two again recently, the way I view the Holy Spirit has changed. On a side note, it never ceases to amaze how I can read the Bible over and over and still see it from a slightly different perspective and receive new guidance and information from it. Awesome. Now for the sake of knowledge, clarity, and speed the simplest way I can explain the Holy Spirit is to say that the Spirit is the presence of God within us. Additionally, and here’s the part that most people struggle to understand, like the Father and Christ the Spirit is a person. Throughout the Bible there are references of the Spirit getting angry, making decisions, and giving guidance just like the other two.
Here’s the moment I lose some of you.
It seems lately that the Spirit has been in overdrive within me, and this kind of inspiration is something that can only be ignored for so long. Now right now I figure some of you think the idea of the Holy Spirit is crazy in and of itself, but to say that it speaks to us…well that takes it to a new level. Then there are some of you who feel that the idea of me ignoring it is crazy…who am I to ignore God. Finally, there is the few that I hope are intrigued by what I’m saying, either by curiosity or maybe they too have felt the same calling.
The calling.
Regardless of where you fit I hope you’ll hear me out, and maybe even start a discussion. Over the next few weeks there’s a lot of things I have to talk about. Topics like the pope, evangelizing, finding time for fitness, defending the faith, and surf wax (not fully sure how that fits in but who am I to judge!) just to name a few, but I digress. As a self proclaimed work in progress I guess I never truly felt worthy of some kind of divine intervention. But that’s what this is. In the midst of the chaos of life I’m overcome with peace and clarity, and suddenly the way I view the world changes. We always hear things about how we have to be the change we want to see or something along those lines, well I feel I have to be the change. There are too many good people straying from the life that Christ wants us to lead. We’re letting too many people try to alter what Jesus taught us, and what we know is right in our hearts. We’re letting the noise of the world drown out the Word that is inside of us all. Like sheep who can’t hear the shepherd, we’re straying away. The brilliance and Gods plan for us is that the Trinity is there to guide us. Understand we’re no better or worse than those who came before us. The Father spoke to Moses, but that didn’t stop the Israelites from praying to false idols, Christ was literally betrayed, denied, and sacrificed by people who he loved, and finally we were given the Holy Spirit as our final guide. So like Moses and then the Apostles were able to guide their people back, so it now falls on us to do the same. I think…no I know the reason I’ve held back from writing this was fear of response. Fear of how I might be viewed. But the idea of someone not doing something scares me more. I hope you’ll walk with me through this, and please don’t hesitate to say or ask me anything. And remember to always live the faith. God bless.
Faith like Water 