This week's episode of REALtalk is titled Real Faith - The Holy Spirit.
In this episode, Jena is joined by Jean Castille to have a candid and open conversation about the third person of the trinity - The Holy Spirit.
To begin, we want to stress the importance of recognizing that The Holy Spirit is not a something. In fact, The Holy Spirit is very much so a someone. Many times we can, directly or indirectly, use language that implies that The Holy Spirit is simply a thing, instead of a living person working with Father God and Jesus to complete the trinity. This is why some people choose to not use "the" when talking about The Holy Spirit and instead simply say, Holy Spirit.
So, let's talk a little bit about this important person and see what we can learn about Him today!
As a believer, The Holy Spirit is where we get our power, where we get our victory. He is where we go when we need to learn more about Spiritual things.
"The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit,
and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh"
Galatians 5:17
Our body - the fallen part of us that is temporal and fading - simply cannot relate to the things of The Spirit. So, we must grow our spirit - the redeemed and complete part of us that is eternal and lasting - to be able to connect with what God is doing in, around, and through us.
Jean shared that something she has learned to be a great help in her life is to ask, every day, The Holy Spirit to come alongside her, to fill her, and rest upon her to give her the victory and confidence that she needs to go through this life. This is not to make her "holier" than others or to feel more "spiritual" - instead, this simple prayer gives her victory over the enemy. The enemy stays busy, he is described as a lion searching for who he can next devour (1 Peter 5:8). Alone, we are no match for the enemy and his schemes, but when we allow The Holy Spirit to empower and fill us, we become more than conquerors.
We must recognize that the power to have victory over sin, the world,
and the enemy comes from partnering with The Holy Spirit
There may be people interacting with this week's episode who grew up in a tradition that, for lack of a better term, avoided The Holy Spirit. If that has been your story, remember this - The Holy Spirit is God, and He has been offered to you as a helper in this thing we call life.
If you were to pause and take a look at the Christians who surround you - your friends, family, church members, etc - how many would you see struggling or even failing at "doing the Christian Life." Maybe they are unhappy, maybe they are always striving for something, maybe they feel like they are never enough. This is what it looks like to attempt Christianity without a relationship with The Holy Spirit.
It can be sad to see Christians who have not laid hold of the power offered to them through The Holy Spirit. Yes, they are saved and set free from the power of sin, but they are attempting to live a lifestyle of Christianity completely on their own - the disciples didn't even attempt this!
A simple prayer of
"Holy Spirit, fill me today. I want to bear your fruit today
so that I carry it with me everywhere I go"
can open you up to the best day of your life!
The Lord's greatest desire is for us to have a fulfilled, abundant life. Jesus says so in John Chapter 10, Verse 10 - He promises not just an abundant life, but the fullest version of an abundant life! This sounds like the best deal ever, but many of us haven't taken Jesus up on His offer.
How do we live the fullest version of an abundant life?
We are filled with The Holy Spirit.
When we walk with the Holy Spirit, we begin to exude His Fruit - Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self Control. These attributes (of The Spirit) begin to manifest themselves - a fancy way of saying, they just show up - in whatever situation we walk into.
Finding yourself in a stressful moment at work?
Holy Spirit brings Peace
Finding yourself facing someone being rude?
Holy Spirit brings Kindness
Finding yourself burdened by the darkness we see in this world?
Holy Spirit brings joy
This list goes on and on and encompasses everything that we could ever face - and provides the solution!
Many people choose to struggle and strive to make it through one more day, instead of realizing that they have been given a helper. Don't be fooled, you need Peace. You need Joy. You need Love. This is a tough world that we face, and we would be foolish to try and make it through alone.
It would be like your spouse hiring a housekeeper to clean and organize your home and then coming home to find that you are exhausted from cleaning and organizing all day. We can imagine the conversation going something like this.
"What happened, why are you so tired?"
"I cleaned and organized all day!"
"Honey, didn't I hire someone to do all of that for you today?"
"Well yea, but I just wanted to do it myself. You know how I like things my way"
We would be surprised if the spouse who hired the assistance wasn't confused (maybe even frustrated) that their offering wasn't accepted. And still - this is exactly what so many believers do every day. Take a second look at the last sentence said by our exhausted and overworked spouse - You know how I like things my way. This is a dangerous place to be if you're a believer - but many believers are comfortably sitting right smack-dab-in-the-middle of that statement.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Matthew 7:9-11
There seems to always be controversy or contending around The Holy Spirit. We could go into numerous things we have been told or heard said that could create uneasiness in someone looking to understand The Holy Spirit. Who do you think benefits from you taking in all of this confusion and controversy? The one who The Holy Spirit can help you defeat! The enemy is thrilled with our confusion around The Holy Spirit, it grants him more time to scheme and prowl.
Instead of partnering with the enemy's scheme of combat and confusion, and focussing on what The Holy Spirit ISN'T, we want to share with you a few things that The Holy Spirit IS.
The Holy Spirit is our Helper. He is looking for us to ask Him for a good and perfect gift because it is His greatest joy to give it to us! The Father has freely given us The Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit is ready to freely give us whatever we need. All we have to do is freely receive both of these gifts.
The Holy Spirit gives Wisdom and Revelation. If you have ever struggled to read and understand any portion of scripture, it might be because it is spiritually discerned (1 Cor 2:14) and you are trying to discern it without the assistance of The Holy Spirit. Simply ask Him to read a passage with you, and see what happens.
The Holy Spirit provides the Power to live. Once we have read, and spiritually discerned, the scriptures, we may recognize that what we are being called to do is outside of our ability. The Holy Spirit is waiting for us to ask for assistance to live out whatever we are called to do. All we have to do is tap into our power source and move forward with Him.
We have to understand that every good gift comes from The Father,
and the second most precious gift He has given us is The Holy Spirit.
Dale and Jena Forehand are the founders of Stained Glass Ministries a non-profit 501 C3 ministry. They offer conferences and resources to build real relationships.
To find out more about their amazing grace story of marriage, divorce, and re-marriage to one another visit their website www.daleandjena.com.
You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram at @daleandjena
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