In church we have been doing a study of the Holy Spirit.  When this topic was first brought up, my stomach clenched up a little, and I started sweating just a bit. I know this seems like an odd reaction, but when I looked around the church, I certainly wasn’t the only one. So why did I have this reaction?

The first thing that comes to my mind is seeing people speaking in tongues or being prayed over and waiting for a sign that they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  I have thoughts about being embarrassed or making it up instead of really being filled with the Holy Spirit. However, what really scares me is being out of control.

Like I have said many times before, I don’t like being told what to do or not being the one making all the decisions.  As I was sitting there, God reminded me of how often my stubbornness and need for control gets in the way of me experiencing His gifts.  He also reminded me of how many times I have been at this point in my life and gone the other way out of fear.  So, at that moment I said, “God whatever You want me to do to have a closer relationship with You, that comes through the Holy Spirit, I will do it.”

So far, over the last four weeks, He hasn’t asked me to do anything crazy – no dancing with snakes or rolling under the pews. However, He has shown me a few things about the Holy Spirit that I would like to share with you in this blog.

Gifts of the Spirit
In 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 it lists some of the gifts of the Spirit, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.  For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”

Fruits of the Spirit
In Galatians 5:22-23 it says this about the fruit of the Spirit, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

In the past I had always thought that the only sign and need to be filled with the Holy Spirit was to receive and act in the gifts. However, as I have been studying about the Holy Spirit, I am starting to realize that walking in the Fruits of the Spirit is also a sign of the Holy Spirit working in your life. When the Holy Spirit is working in me, I have more love joy peace. This shows me that He is with me, not just speaking in tongues, or wisdom, or healing. The gifts are real to me, and I know that when He needs them, they will be there.

I can walk in the Fruits of the Spirit everyday by acting in the Spirit.  I can show others around me how Christ would treat them.  The Holy Spirit helps me to live a life that makes others want to know who Jesus is.  In 1 Corinthians 13 1-3 it says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”

Healing
Being raised in the church, I have always known about the gift of healing, but something that had not crossed my mind before is how the Holy Spirit doesn’t just work to heal our body; He also works to heal our spirit. One of the things I have noticed is that when I am walking in the Spirit, many of the things that I struggle with in the flesh go away. When I am focused on Jesus, I fully believe that the Spirit removes my desires for sinful behavior.  I fully believe that when people ask the Spirit to work in them, there can be miraculous changes in their life both physically and, especially, spiritually.

In James 5:13-15, “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

So what do we have to do to have the Holy Spirit in our life?. We simply have to ask for it, and then give in to it. “Jesus please give me your Holy Spirit.  I fully surrender to Your work in my life. Amen.”

— Written by Jeremiah

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