I'm sure there are thousands upon thousands of studies on the Holy Spirit alone. I will not pretend to be an expert and sum all these studies up but I will give you a brief synopsis of what I have learned. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit our Helper, "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you" John 14:15-17. This verse tells us that we have a Helper who lives (dwells) within us and is always there with us. Praise God for that! The Lord's Spirit is with us always. But if the Holy Spirit is our Helper, what does He help us with? The Bible says in John 14.26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." Ah ha! So the Holy Spirit will teach us and help us to remember the things we learn. When we are faced with temptation to sin, we will recall 1 Corinthians 10.13 which tells us that the temptations we face are the same that everyone faces and that the Lord will not let us be tempted so much that we will fall but He will always provide a way for us to escape the temptation to sin. When we are going through tough times, the Holy Spirit will remind us that the Bible says to pray without ceasing and to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5.17-18). And when we are so far gone from the Father because of our sins, we will be reminded by the Holy Spirit that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8.35-39). We need the Holy Spirit in our lives to guide us on this earth with the teachings from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It doesn't stop there. The Lord's Spirit not only helps us in our day to day lives, He also tells us how to do the Lord's work. Matthew 10.18-20 says "You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." The Lord's Spirit within us even speaks for us in times of defending the Kingdom. Hallelujah! God is truly wonderful for giving us His Spirit.
When the Spirit speaks to us, it is important to do that which He says, immediately. The words of the Spirit come directly from God and obeying the Spirit means obeying God. Delayed obedience is disobedience. This is especially true when the Holy Spirit calls us to pray. Prayer is not just a time to commune with the Father, it is a time to intercede on someone's life. When we are called to lift someone up in pray, our response time could mean the difference between life and death for them. For example, when the Lord was guiding the Israelites through the wilderness, they began to disobey the Lord by worshipping false gods as their slave masters did in Egypt. The Father was so angry with them that He decided to get rid of them. Moses didn't go to the Israelites and tell them to stop. He didn't cry and sit in the dirt mourning about the destruction that was about to ensue. Moses interceded on the fate of the people...by praying. And because of his prayer, the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people (Exodus 32. 1-14). Simply amazing.
In this situation, Moses knew what He was praying for and why. But sometimes, the Holy Spirit calls us to action and we don't know why. Our first reaction must be to obey. We might be called to share a particular Bible verse with the guy sitting next to us on the train. Obey. We might be called to bring our Bible to work so we can give it to our boss. Obey. We might simply be called to tell someone "Jesus loves you". Obey! This was my call this morning. I saw a woman crossing the street towards me and the Holy Spirit told me to tell this woman "Jesus loves you". Instead of obediently delivering the phrase to her, I responded "she'll think I'm crazy" and walked right past her. This woman could have been having a rough morning and needed some encouragement. Maybe she had been feeling lonely lately and unloved. Even worse, maybe she was contemplating suicide. The simple phrase "Jesus loves you" could have altered this woman's life. But now, I will never know.
I urge you to listen and obey the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit is here to be our Helper, Counselor, Teacher, Guidance and Friend. Obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit is obeying the voice of God. Commit fast action to His word and intercede on behalf of the people in the world today!
Blessings
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