The Gift of the Spirit Acts 2v1-21; John 14v8-17
by Stephen Coffin
The first disciples' need for the Spirit
Jesus’ disciples were transformed by the gift of the Spirit.
- Filled with praise for God.
- Talk about what God had done.
- Understand the scriptures in a new way as the Spirit guides them.
Jesus’ promise fulfilled:
- I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth…. for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14v16-17)
Their desire to know God in an intimate way was fulfilled.
Our need for the Spirit is the same
We too need to
- Be filled with praise for God.
- Talk about what God had done.
- Understand the scriptures in a new way as the Spirit guides.
We need to enjoy Jesus’ promise:
- I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth…. for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14v16-17)
Do we desire to know God in an intimate way?
Testimony
I became a Christian at the age of 14, but my faith was largely one of the mind, of an intellectual commitment.
It was ten years later that the need to ask God to fill me with his Holy Spirit finally penetrated my defenses.
Opening my life to the Holy Spirit brought faith in God into my heart and emotions in a new way. It enriched my Christian life. It allowed me to discover the Holy Spirit as a person not just a line in the creed.
We need to be committed to God
Then we should discover that the Holy Spirit is an integral part of being a Christian. Indeed we cannot be a Christian without the Spirit living in us. He's "part of the package".
- “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2v38)
- “… if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” (Romans 8v9)
- “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.” (Titus 3v5-6)
- “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1Corinthians 12v13)
We need to be continually filled with the Spirit
- “Be (continually) filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5v18)
- “… live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Galatians 5v16)
- “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5v25)
- “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2Timothy 1v6-7)
God intends that our lives should be always full of his Spirit. Then what spills out of our lives in our encounters with others will be "the fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5v22), qualities such as love, joy, peace, pateince, kindness, gentleness, humility, self-control.
In our own strength such responses will be hard, if not impossible, but the Spirit of Jesus can make them natural to us.
Picture your life as being like a glass, which God wills with the water of his Spirit. As you go through each day you are drinking the water in it to keep yourself refreshed and spiritually alive. You are also giving others some of its content through your encounters with them. The glass will empty as the day goes along.
You need therefore to have the Spirit continuosly refilling the glass of your life. We are meant to be connected to the fountain of life, who is the Spirit, which will never run dry.
What should we do?
- Renew commitment to God
- Ask Jesus to fill us with his Spirit
- Receive the gift – drink!
- “Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit.” (John 7v37-39)
- Every day, ask God to fill you afresh with the Holy Spirit.
