The Holy Spirit - Part 2
Living by the Spirit
In Part 1 of this two-part series on the Holy Spirit, I noted that trying to live life in the Kingdom of God without the Spirit is like trying to drive a car without gas. You won’t get very far. So, we began by exploring the question: Who is the Holy Spirit?
Today in Part 2, let’s talk about what it means to live by the Spirit. And as it is with most things, it’s best to start with Jesus.
Jesus Promises the Spirit
I don’t think it is a coincidence that as Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure, he felt an urgency to teach them about the Holy Spirit. Take a moment and slowly read this passage from Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse.” In the Gospel of John, Jesus says:
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:15-21)
In this passage, Jesus promises his followers that they will have the companion they need in order to live the life of discipleship that he calls them to live.
They will receive the Holy Spirit.
Jesus will ask the Father, and the Father will send the Spirit, whom Jesus calls another advocate. The Greek word translated advocate (paraklētos) is unique to the Gospel of John. It carries the connotation of “helper” or “comforter” or “supporter.” The Spirit is the companion who will be with us and for us.
And notice Jesus calls the Spirit another advocate. The promise of another advocate implies the presence of an initial advocate. Who is this initial advocate? Jesus himself! Jesus is telling us that the Holy Spirit will play the same role in our lives that he played in the lives of his disciples while he was with them in the flesh. Think of how the disciples relied on Jesus to teach them, to lead them, to correct them, to encourage them, to inspire them. This is what the Spirit wants to do for us! In the same way that the incarnate Word of God brought the presence of God into our world, the indwelling Holy Spirit brings the presence of God into our lives.
Yes, God is with you right now. Always.
And just in case that thought scares you or makes you a little nervous, let me remind you of why God wants to be with you. It’s because he loves you and wants you to flourish. Do you see it in Jesus’ words? Through the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus wants you, the Father, and himself to experience intimacy. “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (John 14:20) And through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus wants you to experience life. “Because I live, you will also live.” (John 14:19) God loves you and wants you to experience the life Jesus came to bring.
And so, God is with you right now. Always.
And that is good news because it means you have everything you need to follow Jesus and live as his disciple in the Kingdom of God! The same Holy Spirit that empowered Jesus to live the way he lived and do the things he did is present with you and ready to empower you! And that factor makes all the difference.
Empowered by the Spirit
Think about how the Spirit empowered Jesus’ first disciples. Just before he returned to the Father, Jesus promises his followers: “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you...” (Acts 1:8) And then shortly after Jesus’ departure:
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4)
When the Spirit came, the disciples were empowered to do things they couldn’t do before. I always find the effect of the Spirit in Peter most fascinating. Think about Peter before Jesus’ death and resurrection. He was always stumbling around, saying the wrong thing, taking rash actions. When the moment to stand up came, he cowered in fear, denying he even knew Jesus. But then Peter receives the Spirit, and everything about his life changes. His next big moment to stand up comes on this day of Pentecost and what do we see this time? Peter stands before a crowd of thousands and boldly declares Jesus as Savior and King. What changed? Peter was empowered by the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to follow Jesus in the ways of God’s Kingdom.
Think of your ability to live life in the Kingdom of God like a balloon. There are two ways to keep a balloon afloat. If you fill a balloon with your breath, the only way to keep it in the air is to continually smack it upward. That's how we often try to keep ourselves motivated to follow Jesus. We (or we need others) to repeatedly “hit” us so that we’ll "Stop doing this!" or “Start doing that!” We need a few “smacks” to "Read the Bible!" or "Be more generous!" or “Love others!” You might be able to keep this way of living up for a while. Every week, you attempt to smack your actions back into spiritual orbit. But, let’s be honest. This is an exhausting way to live.
The good news is there's another way to keep a balloon afloat. Fill it with helium. Then it floats on its own, no smacking required.
Our lives and efforts are meant to be empowered by a supernatural filling of the Holy Spirit, like helium that keeps us soaring spiritually. How freeing (and refreshing) to realize the Kingdom life is not fueled by my best efforts but rather by the Spirit of God in me!
Most of us don’t need another to do list or more motivation to try harder. We need freedom from a performance-based picture of Christianity. What we need is some real, life-transforming power. And that is exactly what we receive through the Holy Spirit! As scholar N.T. Wright says: “...what God’s people are promised is power; the word used here is dynamis, from which we get ‘dynamite.’ We need that power, just as Jesus’ first followers did…” The Father has sent us the relational, ever-present Spirit who gives us dynamite-type power! You have this in you! All of us who follow Jesus have the Spirit of power in us!
Living by the Spirit
However, living by this power is not some kind of magic trick. The Holy Spirit is not the genie in a bottle you call upon in dire circumstances to do your bidding. The Spirit requires something of us for Kingdom living: dependence.
Think of it this way: Imagine you buy a treadmill to lose some weight. Yet three months later, you take it back to the store and complain to the clerk that it didn’t work. “I didn’t lose a pound!” you protest. The clerk asks, “What was the problem? Did it not work properly?” And you respond, “I don’t know if it works. I never ran on it. I just know I didn’t lose any weight, so I am done with it.” This is how some of us treat the Holy Spirit. We’ve never really lived dependent on the Spirit.
How, then, do we learn to rely on the Holy Spirit?
Let me share two things I have found essential in my own journey to live a Spirit-empowered life. The first is so simple that you might feel let down after reading two blog posts packed with theology about the Spirit, but perhaps simple is actually what we need. Maybe simple is actually the most profound. Nothing has helped me learn dependence on the Spirit more than going through my day with a simple prayer on my heart, mind, and lips.
“Come, Holy Spirit.”
The Spirit is always present, within me, all around me; but this simple prayer brings my awareness back to that presence. It reminds me that there is a power for life available to me at all times. It is an acknowledgement of my dependence on God. The prayer doesn’t change the Spirit; it changes me. It opens my mind, my heart, and my will to be open to the movement of the Spirit.
This simple prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit,” also reminds me that as I open myself to the Spirit, God will be at work in ways beyond my human limitations. The Spirit will have an effect in me and through me that is beyond my own efforts. I come to trust the Spirit to do what only the Spirit can do, even if the work of the Spirit isn’t immediately perceptible to my senses. And so, I practice praying this simple prayer throughout the moments of my day.
Praying, “Come, Holy Spirit,” as I start a meeting at work.
Praying, “Come, Holy Spirit,” before I take the stage to teach.
Praying, “Come, Holy Spirit,” before I enter into a conversation with another person.
In each of these moments, there is an opportunity for an experience that transcends the natural laws of this world. Remember, the Kingdom of God has come near (Matthew 4:17). Through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, God can bring the Kingdom into our relationships, our work, our mundane moments in the car, our morning coffee time, our bedtime routine, and every other moment in the day.
“Come, Holy Spirit.”
But second, I have also found that these simple moments of awareness and openness to the Spirit’s presence need to be grounded in more significant times of solitude and silence. It’s in these solitary moments that we create the space for the Spirit to do the work of teaching, leading, correcting, encouraging, and inspiring. Without some sort of rhythm in our lives that pulls us out of the noisy and chaotic moments of work, social interactions, and laundry to sit still in the presence of God, we rob the Spirit of the opportunity to play the advocate role in our lives.
This is why the spiritual practices are such a gift to us. Practices such as reading (studying/memorizing/meditating) on Scripture, prayer in all its various forms, journaling, fasting, reflecting in nature, etc.. They are not obligations; they are opportunities. Even if at the start they feel like an obligation; stick with them. Give the Spirit the opportunity to work through them. I can testify that in time they will no longer feel like an obligation but oxygen. As we learn to engage in these practices, we open ourselves up to abide in that space where heaven seems to touch earth and we are filled in some mysterious way with what we need to move forward.
Jesus modeled this for us. Mark tells us: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 1:35) Luke states that this was Jesus’ custom: “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5:16) If Jesus needed these times of solitude and silence to be empowered to live his human life, how could we imagine getting by without them?
If you want to live a Kingdom life, you have to seek first that Kingdom by being present to the one who wants to empower you to live it. Otherwise, by default, you’ll settle for a you-empowered life.
Scot McKnight writes: “If you are genuinely open to the Spirit, you will learn that you are open to a power unlike anything you’ve ever known...Many of us need to ponder why we are not more open to this kind of power. There is no reason to remain closed to it because the Bible speaks often of Spirit-prompted power and promises it to us.” It is this Spirit-prompted power that enables us to live life in the Kingdom of God.
In his letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul implores Christ-followers to:
“…walk by the Spirit…”
Be “…led by the Spirit…”
And to “…keep in step with the Spirit…” (Galatians 5:16, 18, 25)
Living with the prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit,” on our lips and regularly seizing opportunities to be still in the presence of God help us learn to walk through our days with the kind of synchronization Paul describes.
As you continue on your journey with Jesus in the Kingdom of God, I encourage you to open yourself to the Spirit because following Jesus isn’t about trying harder to be good; it’s a life lived in constant companionship and growing dependency on the God who loves you more deeply than you will ever comprehend and who wants to empower you to follow him in the ways of his Kingdom. The Holy Spirit is the companion present and available to you who makes all of this possible. The Spirit is the factor that makes all the difference.
So, whatever you do, don’t try to go it alone.
“Come, Holy Spirit.”
