Blog by PB: "Your BEST Friend"

     The best way I can help you understand what the Holy Spirit adds to your life is by using an example that I need your help with.

     If you were to take your right hand and cover up your right eye so you couldn't see with it (or your left if you prefer) you would notice something different. You can still see, but something happened.  You lost your depth perception; you lost that third dimension. Now if you take your hand off of the eye you covered up... Wow! Now you can see three dimensionally.  You have your depth perception back. 

     This is what the Holy Spirit gives to those who have received the gift. He gives you that depth perception.  He gives you that "third dimension" view into the spirit realm.You may be saved, you may be born of God, but if you are not walking in the Spirit, if you haven't received the gift, then you don't have that depth perception regarding your salvation. You can still see but not perfectly. To see the beauty and the depths of what God has done for us and what He is anxious to do for us, we need but look into that dimension. This is what the Holy Spirit offers to those who accept His friendship.

     Imagine having a friend--the best friend that you ever had. One you could trust your very life with, and this friend has the ability to see into the future. He has the ability to lead you through troubled waters without being harmed. A friend who somehow knows your life from the beginning to the end, and has nothing but your best interests at heart.

     I have just described just a small portion of what the Holy Spirit is to us.  

     The illustration that I'm about to use you have probably heard before, but at the risk of being redundant, I would like to use it again because I feel it best describes what the Holy Spirit is to us. 

     I used to love going to parades when I was little. I was very fascinated with all the floats, with all those cartoon characters and everything about it was just magic to me. I'm still probably just as fascinated with parades as I was when I was little. 

     On New Year's Day, there is a parade in Pasadena, California, called the Rose Parade. This is a fabulous parade. What a grand event it is. The person who organizes this amazing event, the one who orchestrates what happens from beginning to end, has a high and lofty view of the whole affair.  He is sometimes discreetly flying overhead in a helicopter; he can see the whole parade from beginning to end. He can see where the problems are. He can even detect problems before they even happen. With all the planning and all the contingencies, there are things put in place to deal with SNAFU's and SNAFU's do happen.

     So our beloved Holy Spirit knows our lives from beginning to end. Just like the grand marshal of the parade, He knows all the stuff that is going to be encountered on this parade route. Our awesome God has given us everything that we need that pertains to life and Godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Because He can see the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning, He has already provided everything that we would need to make it through this parade. 

     We just haven't known about this.  We just haven't known how to access this.  Maybe now we're beginning to see the importance of the Holy Spirit. 

     We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3). Jesus said that He, the Holy Spirit, would guide you into all truth, as He is the Spirit of truth.

     Jesus also said that He would show you things to come. What a Friend! (Jn. 16:13). Jesus said that He would teach us all things and that He would bring to our remembrance all the things that we have been taught. He will take the things and the mistakes we've made in the past and remind us of them when we start to make them again. Of course we have the option of listening, or not (Jn.14:26). 

     The Holy Spirit is also known as the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, of counsel and might and knowledge (Isa 11:2).

     How can I involve the Holy Spirit in my life right away? (That would sure be the question I would ask!) Peter says, "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38). 

     If you have already done the three things that the Scripture has mentioned--repent, be baptized in the name of Christ and beceive, by faith, that your sins have been forgiven--then you have in fact received the gift of the Holy Spirit.   

     We will go into this much deeper next week!  

To be continued

Blog by PB: "The Most Important Person"

     I would like to take this time to introduce to some and present to others the person of the Holy Spirit.

     Oh yes, the Holy Spirit is a person; the most important person in your life.  I know, your wife should be up there on the scale of importance, your husband should be up there on the scale of importance, your children your family should be extremely important to you. 

     The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is to be the most important person in your life. If the Holy Spirit is the most important person in your life, then we can love our wives as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25).

     If the Holy Spirit becomes the best friend we have ever had, then your spouse could be the best friend you ever had. Our parents and our children could be in the best relationships we've ever had. 

     Honestly, without the Holy Spirit, we don't have the capability of loving the way we ought to and we don't have the capability of walking in righteousness, peace and joy like it says we are to (Rom. 14: 17). 

     Without the Holy Spirit we won't really get to know Jesus in our hearts because the Holy Spirit's main purpose is to reveal Jesus (John 16:13-15).

     Without the Holy Spirit we are blind spiritually.  We have to depend on our natural fallen human abilities. More times than not, incorrect decisions will be made, decisions that are very important.  You might say,  "Well, I know lots of people who are successful, who have successful marriages, successful businesses etc. and are doing just fine without the Holy Spirit."

     My answer to that is, "Of course you can be successful financially and seemingly in other areas of life but why in the world would you want to, when God has given this awesome gift to walk along beside us to help us"? ( The Greek word for this divine helper that God has given us is Parakletos, which literally means advocate, intercessor). 

     I owned a successful service business in the Washington, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Kirkland and  Redmond area.  I got to know many wealthy people and got to help them with their fancy houses and fancy toys, and yeah, it's a trip. Once you take a deeper look under the surface, you will find people who are living lives of desperation. They look good and they smell good but they are spiritually bankrupt. It's not "stuff" that satisfies you; most of these "wealthy people" are looking for love and fulfillment in all the wrong places. 

     So let us begin to talk about what God has done for us and how we can live very successful lives and be very fulfilled at the same time. Yes, yes, yes, God wants us to be successful in every area of our life. 3 John 2 says, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth" (KJV).

     The Holy Spirit has many attributes: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and temperance"  (Gal 5: 22). 

     He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ and just like God, He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. 

     When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan,  He appeared in the form of a dove. He is sensitive like a dove and yet all powerful. 

     So, if God is love, then that makes Jesus the Son of Love, which then makes the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Love.

     If God is light, then Jesus is the Son of Light, which then makes the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Light. 

     If God is grace, then Jesus is the Son of Grace, which then makes the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Grace.  He is referred to that way (Heb. 10:29). We could go on and on and on and on.

     No, the Holy Spirit is not some green fog that comes sliding under the door.  He is much much more than mere influence. If you're going to walk with God and enjoy the benefits of salvation, then it's time to acknowledge the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, most people in the world and Christians alike don't even acknowledge that He exists. Those that do know He is alive and well,  do not fellowship with Him nor allow Him to fellowship with them.  Somehow they think that they will just be able to glide through life without this incredible gift that God has given us.

     Yes, He is a "gift."  He is not a thing.  He is the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God Almighty, the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1-2). The word for "spirit" in Greek is pneuma, which would normally take the pronoun "it," but Jesus showed the person of the Holy Spirit by speaking of "He" instead: "When He the Spirit of truth, has come He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). (emphasis mine). 

     Just as you have a unique personality, so does the Holy Spirit. In fact there are characteristics ascribed to Him that only a person can have. He is a Being with intellect, emotion and a will.

     So let's look at some scriptures.  Let's begin unwrapping this awesome gift that God has given us. This is just the beginning of a series about the Holy Spirit and how we can know for a fact that the Holy Spirit has been given to us. He's not a feeling (though you will know for certainty that He is with you). 

     The biggest mistake most people make is trying to make the Holy Spirit a feeling, looking for indicators that the Holy Spirit might be working in their life or that they might have the in-filling of the Holy Spirit. We will show you it's a fact that if you have met certain criteria, you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.  

     In Ephesians 5:17-21 it says, "Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  And be not drunk with wine where is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord."

     Verse 17 says, "be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is."  What is the will of God? To be filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. This also indicates that you are unwise if you don't receive this gift of the Holy Spirit.

To be continued!