Bible study week: The person of The Holy Spirit

It's exciting to be back into our classroom this week and the topic on the board today is that which a lot of us are familiar with and that is a about the Holy Spirit. Now some of us are familiar with the attempts made to explain the Godhead which is God the Father, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Before I start to unpack the nitty-gritty details of this week, I would like to return to last week's topic which talked about seeking the Kingdom and the rest being added upon you. Well, I hope you have been seeking spending time in the word of God and have been practicing what the Lord has instructed you through His word.

This week however, we will look at the Holy Spirit and we are introduced to the Holy Spirit in the Bible as early as Chapter one of the book of Genesis in the early foundations of the earth in verse 2 while there was still no form and order, then there enters the Spirit of God. That is what was at the beginning and in Genesis chapter 2, we see a living man coming to life after God had breathed life into his body.

So now one may ask why we are going through so much trouble going back as far as the beginning of creation. Well, in chapter 3 of Genesis, man disobeys God and finds himself disconnected from God.

Fair enough God because of His perfection sends His Son, Jesus and in the account given in the gospel of John, we see him (that is John) speaking of the same story of the creation as it was in the beginning. The best part comes at verse 32 and 33 where John the Baptist bearing witness to the Spirit of God falling on Jesus and confirms that it is through Jesus that you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Interesting.

How then do I do to receive the Holy Spirit? That is a good question because some of us debate amoungst each other to a point where we even doubt if the person of the Holy Spirit is in us. Let's just turn to Acts 1 quickly and see where we are going with this topic. If we read from verse 4 down up 8 we see the person of the Holy Spirit being re introduced to the believers in Jerusalem. There is something that is worth noting which is mentioned in verse 4 qbout waiting yet in Mark 16 verse 15 to 18 they were told to GO. Well, what I believe what happened was that they had to learn to rest in the Promise of the Heavenly Father. A principle worth noting that we can all want to run off because we heard the word GO, but can't we wait to receive the Gift that has been promised to us by our Heavenly Father by first being in His rest.

And when the Gift is finally given to us, instead of letting Him be our guidance and teacher, we question and grieve Him. I can imagine being amoung those present during that meeting in Jerusalem, after having seen Jesus come to life and bearing witness to all signs and wonders and yet I must be obedient to wait before telling the world of what I had beared witness to. Ladies and gentlemen this is where we must be careful not to go on our authority but on the authority of the One who sent us.

There is I believe a challenge amoungst our generation of believers where we are in such a rush to preach about Jesus and perfom signs and wonders, yet when it comes to doing what was mentioned in Mark 16 we begin to rationalise the gospel because we ignored the "wait" part to receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

Remember, that our bodies are living temples of the Holy Spirit which is found in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 19 and 20. We are not of our own but were bought at a price through the blood of Jesus. Luke 10 verse 20, shows us that Jesus was more concerned about our names being written in the Book of Life than the signs and wonders that we see.

So in conclusion, Acts 19 from verse 2 asks the question, "did you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when you believed?". If not then verse 5 has the answer through Paul who laid his hands on the new believers and they began to speak in toungues and prophesy. Now this very event in the Bible has been debated by many who believe that there is no such thing as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Well then what was this conversation about between Paul and these so called "disciples" from Ephesus?

Food for thought, for all those able to read this article. I believe that if you read through the Scriptures and take note of the importance of the Holy Spirit it is then that you will be guided into the Truth. We have not been abandoned as opharns and we should remember the Holy Spirit is a personality of equal importance to both the Heavenly Father and Jesus the Son. Until next time it goodbye