May 5, 2024

THE HOLY SPIRIT: Part 1- You Have Received!

The Holy Spirit is just as much God, as God the Father and God the Son. Co-existing with God the Father and God the Son for all of eternity, He is the first member of the Trinity mentioned in Scripture.

Read THREE chapters this week: John 14, 15, and 16. Read them several times using different translations. Every time you come across the word “Spirit” being used, write down what you learn.

John 14:15-17, “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, 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.” (NLT)

John 14:26, “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” (NLT)

John 15:26, “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.” (NLT)

John 16:7-8, “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.” (NLT)

John 16:13-15, “ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’” (NLT)

From above the ceiling of our human ability, Jesus takes all that the Father has for us and, by the Holy Spirit’s ministry, He punctures that ceiling giving us access to God. The Spirit reveals exactly what we need from God. He wants to take us from a place of spiritually surviving to a place of spiritually thriving.

If you are a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit LIVES inside of you RIGHT NOW!

John 20:22, “Then [Jesus] breathed on [the disciples] and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (NLT)

If you have received the grace of Jesus, you have been adopted into God’s family and you have ALREADY received the Holy Spirit!

Whether you realize it or not, the Holy Spirit has been working in your life even before you were born

again. He was the One who convinced you of your sin and revealed the urgent need for God (John 16:8). He then washed you and made you new at your conversion (Titus 3:5). He is absolutely part of everything that Jesus is doing in your life.

Galatians 4:6-7, “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” (NIV)

You have received the Holy Spirit of God. Do you recognize Him. Are you asking Him to lead you?