The Holy Spirit has not been an easy person for us to handle. For one thing, he is God. In our past it seems efforts have been fervent to live under a Duality and not a Trinity. Why? My opinion is we felt we could explain the Father and the Son; but the third person in the Trinity seemed to be a threat to our control system.
Well, He is. And so is the Father and so is the Son. It's just that we felt we could manage the latter two better.
The Holy Spirit is the Father in spirit form and he is Jesus in spirit form. I wonder if the KJV use of Ghost scared us off a bit as well.
From study of Restoration History, my conclusion is that it was believed that if the Holy Spirit could be shelved then speaking in tongues and pseudo-miracles could be shelved as well.
Yet, the Holy Spirit's main activity among us is to empower ordinary people to accomplish God-sized works that we could not possibly do on our own. Ponder the fruit of this spirit which is the holiness of the Father.
Look at what the Word declares is his fruit. Is it roaring campaigns? Sacrificial leaps from tall mountains? Jumping from the Bible to absurd conclusions? No. Rather his fruit is joy and patience and love.
Guess what American culture lacks? Guess what Washington D.C. lacks? Guess what many churches and individuals lack? The spectacular? The aggressive? The radical? No. Each possesses a desperate need for leaders to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Make no mistake; any preacher or any elder who does not believe the Holy Spirit works in one's life will not be able to bear His fruit when under fire. The test of the Spirit is when we are under deep pressure cornered by circumstance and enemies.
The Holy Spirit and us....we are one...Jesus prayed so...and this is another reason we give glory to God.
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