Who is the Holy Spirit?

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Imagine God’s Spirit hovering over the face of the earth. Everything is dark and without form until God breathes out the words, “Let there be light.” In an instant, everything changes. The light pierces the darkness, and what was once invisible is now seen clearly. This is what God’s Spirit does. He is always close, always near, always bringing to light what was once covered in darkness.

There’s evidence throughout Scripture that the Holy Spirit empowered particular people to take part in His plans and to remind others of His purpose. But Jesus’ sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection changed everything. For the first time in history, anyone who chose to believe in Jesus could receive His Holy Spirit.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is still available. No matter your situation or background, when you belong to Christ, His Holy Spirit is with you at all times, empowering and strengthening you, and praying on your behalf. He understands your needs because He understands you.

And because God understands you, He is always working on your behalf for your good and His glory. This doesn’t mean you won’t endure suffering or encounter hardships. But even in the midst of those trials, God, through the power of His Holy Spirit, will continue to draw you closer to Himself.

But having access to the Holy Spirit and going through life with the Holy Spirit are completely different things. Living a Spirit-filled life requires intentionally seeking God every day.

It’s through intentional time with God that you discover how to love Him, love others, and make disciples. It’s through getting to know God’s character that you become familiar with His Spirit’s power, presence, and authority. And it’s through the power of the Holy Spirit that you become aware of how your actions and choices affect your relationship with God and other people.

Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is available to everyone who becomes a follower of Christ, and He wants to empower you to live in a manner worthy of the calling God has placed on you.

The above information is the Day 3 Devotional section taken from the YouVersion "Foundations of Faith" bible study plan.

Link to the plan: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/29873-foundations-of-faith

While reading through this today, I was especially struck by this statement...

"But having access to the Holy Spirit and going through life with the Holy Spirit are completely different things. Living a Spirit-filled life requires intentionally seeking God every day."

It is so easy to fall into our daily rhythm of life, doing what the world demands of us to survive, only to reach the end of our day having forgotten to INTENTIONALLY seek God.

The YouVersion Bible app (and website) is an excellent tool to help us in our desire to seek God and read His word daily. Add the app to your phone or tablet to receive daily motivational scriptures. Go a step further and browse their huge library of study plans. Pick a topic, such as the "Foundations of Faith" referenced above, that catches your interest or applies to your current life situation. Plan lengths vary from a few days to many, including reading through the entirity of the Bible in a year. Once a plan is begun, you can set a daily alert, at a certain time each day, reminding you to complete that day's section.

Currently, they offer over 3,300 versions of the Bible in 2,100 different languages. An excellent tool when you want to deep dive into a particular passage and see how it is reads in the NIV, KJV, NKJV, ASV, NLT, etc. Another great feature is that audio is built into many of the versions such that you can choose to have passages read to you. Great when you are driving or for folks with vision problems.

The Search tool is amazing when you consider that the entirity of the Bible, in all of the different versions mentioned above, has been indexed by their database software with search results available to you at the stroke of a fingertip!

This is an example of technology being used for a positive result allowing for a powerful study tool beyond the dreams of past generations. Best of all, YouVersion is totally FREE without advertising thanks to their generous partners.