God alone can bring the receiving of the Spirit to oneself, that is unattended or unaccompanied by a fellow Christian. I have heard of this occurring. But the new convert cannot lay immediate claim to the back half of this verse in Galatians:
“as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD, , “ (Rom 3:10,11)
“For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Gal 6:8)
What has been wished for by many Christians as automatic spiritual growth has no guard of carnal withholding of progress in the Spirit. I contemplate if a point is raised they would have to also double-down against spiritual rebellion that may already be on the rise, (another matter). Even when the young reaps the Spirit at conversion, they still may have a carnal withholding which straps them to fulfill the old text till he has received regeneration of mind, and that takes time. A time of patience must be given place.
I think the Church still suffers from treating the inner (spiritual) man’s proximity like an iffy proposal than the blessing it deserves and can give back to us. If I were called upon to describe a chief hesitation to allow the layman those things that builds the inner spiritual man, it would be that we lack by a refusal to identify a lukewarm spiritual life, often heard in charismatic settings to generate momentum. It is all contingent over the condition of the mature, not the young and certainly not a limiting of gifts.
The encouragement for the hearer to invest in this alone presents enough without having to endure negativity such as resistance into the unknown, which in the end leads to staving off receiving that person’s particular gift or gifts. I am compelled to ask, isn’t there enough reference to the multi-sided repercussion of unbelief? Lest we forget the power of unbelief to change the course of receiving from God on anything before us:
“And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.” (Mat 13:58)
“They were broken off because of their unbelief” (Rom 11:20)
“So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief” (Heb 3:19)
“Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.” (Mk 1614)
To set this in motion, as though in movie form, let us see just a glimpse of attention to the Spirit from scripture. God has provided a proximity to either be groomed or put to a state of neglect, and that isn’t the case here. Please note the occasional eluding to of the Spirit when not even mentioned:
“The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.” (John 3:35)
“and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased." (Luke 3:22)
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, ,” (Luke 4:18)
"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.” (John 3:34)
“For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that himself does: and he will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.” (John 5:20)
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.” (John 13:16)
"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
“for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,” (Phil 3:3)
"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 that I said to you.” (John 14:26)
“So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 9:17)
“And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.” (Acts 19:6)
“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:12)
So here we have in condensed form a developing Holy connection for His Apostle, who is our example held in a state of imperfection (Phil 3:12) yet following the Christ, pointing the Church to the receiving of God’s Spirit. Is this collection confusing on how much of that ability is ours? It could be if we don’t keep two things in mind:
• For us > It begins to take effect = The Spirit’s Mortal Connection
• For Him > It begins to take effect greater = The Spirit’s Devine Connection
That’s it, basically, a middleman yet without limitation, one Agent and one connection. “Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world”. And being new, the convert already holds a resistance to this by his sober reality of limitations.
If there is a setback for any while in recovery from this lack would be to understand and support him in prayer so that he would turn the resistance around and against the refusal for the Spirit’s lead. Again, though the tradition of universal teaching (Jn 14:26, above), we also are in the search of receiving His particular gifts for each of us.
“But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will” (I Cor 12:11)
The Holy Spirit, reference:
“What is it”
It should be mentioned here that many feel to denote anything less than a divine essence of the third person of the trinity is to dishonor Him, the Holy Spirit. I don’t go quite that far. As in the above quotations, What is “it”, isn’t dishonor so long as it is being used in the same reference as in, it, the bird or “dove” (Lk 3:22) was still of God.
“What to do if we have squelched its power to help us.”
Stay calm, STAY calm and pray it directly to the Lord your needs is first. Then, if a fault is present, the word tells us to confess it to another brother or sister in the Lord, so that we “may be healed”. God will do the rest. Sometimes, though study in the word is important and could present itself as less important at this point, the object is to get you back on track so the mind can meditate in the word effectively. If a feeling of guilt or self-inflicted harm has occurred, God is still greater. Patience is the one thing I never seemed to get the idea of in my dark days.
What it is, Why we need it, Examples in everyday life, etc.
These and others are valid concerns. Let’s see if this collection can answer any of these facts about the Holy Spirit. I did say let’s, for one thing is lays vulnerable when dealing with the Spirit, God leaves it up to us for maintaining the unity of the Spirit (Eph 4:3. From what I have observed neglecting this is our forbidden fruit, all else in the garden is provided for us:
- Reveals things – Acts 11:28; 21:4; ICor 2:10-11
- Testifies things – I John 5:6
- Is Omnipresent – Ps 139:7
- Can be vexed – Is 63:10
- Can be grieved Eph 4:30
- Can be tempted Acts 5:9
- Can be provoked – Ps 106:33
- Can be quenched I Thess 5:19
- Gives man power – Mic 3:8
- Can lead man – Rom 8:14
- The new birth agent – Jn 3:5-8; Gal 4:29
- Quickens – Jn 6:63
- Can flow out of us – Jn 7:37-39
- Proceeds from both the Father and the Son – Jn 15:26
- Known only by Christians – Jn 14:17; Rm 8:9
- Abides forever Jn 14:26
- Speaks to man Acts 8:29; 10:19
- Directs the gospel work Acts 11:12; 16:7; Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22
- Makes men free Rom 8:1-4, 12-13
- Witness to being saved Rom 8:16
- Helper of prayer Rom 8:26
- Has mind of His own Rom 8:27
- Works through believers Rom 15:19; ICor 12; Heb 2:3-4
- Imparts love Rom 5:5; 15:30
- Knows the things of God ICor 2:11
- Gives gifts ICor 12:1-11
- Baptizes into Christ ICor 12:13
- Writes in our hearts IICor 3:1-3
- Gives life II Cor 3:6; Rev 11:11
- Changes us II Cor 3:18
- Approached by faith Gal 2:1-5, 14
- The source of hope Gal 5:5
- The secret victory Gal 5:16, 18-26; Rom 8:1-13
- Source of the true harvest Gal 6:7-8
- Seals us Eph 1:13; 4:30
- Gives access to God Eph 2:18
- Strengthens our inner man Eph 3:16
- Gives fellowship Phil 2:1
- Source of sanctification II Thess 2:13; I Pet 1:2
- Source of justification I Tim 3:16
- Helps men obey I Pet 1:22
- Invites men to God Rev 22:17
In an endeavor to maintain that unity, and as for a remark of leaning to the Spirit’s patience, I thought to withhold all references of being baptized with the Spirit seeing that it is so divisive just as some Churches do now for this very reason. All in all, the imparting of this gift is one to strive for within that unity. If that means drawing “near” for you, fine, then be max-blessed by Him, all of which will show in the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22,23) in an individual in everyday life:
Mike.