The Power Of The Holy Spirit

John 14:16
ESV
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 that I have said to you.

You're not alone.

The Bible tells us that we have a Helper called the Holy Spirit. We aren't trying to live a life for the glory of God by ourselves and by our own strength but we rely on the strength of the Holy Spirit. We often act and forget that we aren't the only ones trying to grow into who God has called us to be and do what He has called us to do but we have the Holy Spirit here with us who partners with us to be who He knows we were created to be.

Romans 8:16
ESV
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

1) He convicts you of sin

John 16:8
ESV

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 

He gives us conviction and assurance that we are children of God. He confirms our identity.

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit came to convict the world of sin. The Holy Spirit convicts us. He points out what areas need to be changed. That's why you'll experience moments in your faith where suddenly you don't like certain songs you used to like. Where certain shows bother you. Where dressing in certain ways makes you uneasy. Where speaking in a certain way makes you uncomfortable. Where hanging out with certain friends brings so much uneasiness.

It's when the Holy Spirit begins to reveal the areas in your life that need change so you can be everything God has called you to be.

That's why after you've sinned you feel uneasy, restless and burdened. You can't stand swearing anymore and you have this deep deep desire to be walking in righteousness. You now desire to be pure so whenever you're mind thinks of anything impure you're hurt and bothered.

The Holy Spirit is Holy because He is God and God is Holy. God is without sin and with no desire to sin so when we have Him in us, He begins to change our desire for sin to a desire for whatever is right. Slowly what you used to entertain isn't your main desire. Your main desire grows to be God's word, growing in relationship with Him, praying etc

This is all the work of the Holy Spirit. He convicts you. He corrects and disciplines you so that you become who God has called you to be. A man of God once said that God receives you as you are but doesn't leave you as you are. This means that God accepts every sinner who repents truly and receives Jesus but He doesn't leave you as you came but purifies, strengthens, builds and moulds you into who you truly are, who He created you to be.

That desire to walk in holiness doesn't come from you but from the Holy Spirit living in you that desires for you to walk in holiness. When He convicts and corrects you. When He gently points out the parts in your life that need cutting off, the parts that need discipline etc, listen because though it might be painful at the moment, His pruning happens so that we can be all He has called us to be.

2) He helps us bear good fruit

He helps us live a righteous and Godly life by helping us not live in the flesh but by helping us to walk according to the Spirit. That's how you can resist the devil, resist temptation and how you'll have to begin to change.

The work of the Holy Spirit is to help us to be more and more like Jesus. He helps us develop the characteristics we are lacking and bear the fruit we aren't bearing so we can walk in alignment.

Without Him, we can't have the fruit of the Spirit. Without Him, we can't walk in patience. To walk is a movement, an alignment and a lifestyle. To live the lifestyle of purity, gentleness, and honesty all come from the Holy Spirit who enables us to walk according to the will of God.

We can have the assurance that if we struggle to walk according to the Spirit, if we struggle to bear a certain part of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives whether thats impatience or lack of self-control we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us to bear those fruits and enable us to be able to walk according to the Spirit.

3) He leads us

Matthew 4:1
ESV
The Temptation of Jesus
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Romans 8:14
ESV
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

The Holy Spirit leads us. He directs us and actively engages with us. He speaks to us, prompts and reveals to us what to do.

His prompting can look like when you have this gentle tug to do something. This is when you'll have this feeling you need to pray. You have this urge, this push to pray. This is the work of the Holy Spirit because He wants you to pray. You can hear a still small voice whisper to read the word or listen to something that defines your faith.

This can be when you feel deep inside to send someone a bible verse or evangelise. This is when you have this tug to pray for someone or when someone comes to your mind. Where when you pray, you keep thinking about someone. This can be the Holy Spirit leading you to pray for that person. If you feel this tug to say something to someone or this strong conviction to do something.

We should desire to always be led by the Holy Spirit. We shouldn't just follow a routine or what we feel but sometimes He can lead you to do something you wouldn't usually do. There are days for example when I can feel led by the Holy Spirit to send someone something, other days to pray, other days to speak to them, other days to fast etc

But we grow in sensitivity with what He wants us to do the more we grow in a deeper relationship with Him and we grow in a deeper relationship with Him through prayer, meditating on the word of God, consecretion, taking time in silence, fasting etc.

A passage I love so much is in

Acts 16:6-10
ESV
The Macedonian Call
6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them

Here we see how the Holy Spirit didn't allow Paul to go to Asia. The Holy Spirit can direct you not to do something by your lack of peace, or uneasiness or you can have a strong conviction not to do something.

From Jesus to the apostles to the women and men of God throughout the old testament and new testament were all directed by the Holy Spirit to do something or not do something. They walked with God, communion with Him and in that place of intimacy with the Spirit of God, they grew in sensitivity to the ways of God. They could discern when it was the Holy Spirit leading vs their flesh or the enemy, they could tell when the Holy was giving yes, no or wait. They were prompted to do things such as evangelise and go to some place and lead to repentance and change.

4) He gives us Gifts and Talents

1 Corinthians 12:5-11
ESV
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

We have gifts of the Spirit by having the Holy Spirit. He gives us the grace to have different talents all to edify the church and glorify Jesus.

When you have the Holy Spirit, He begins a work in you, in giving you whatever gifts He wishes.

You may have a gift of healing. You may have the gift of prophesy and give prophetic words to edify the church. You may have the gift of word of knowledge where the Holy Spirit gives you knowledge of things you wouldn't know without Him about others. You may have the gift of teaching and preaching where you're able to speak God's word in an effective and great way. You may have the gift of discernment of spirits where you can discern if something is of God or not. You may have the gift of interpretation of tongues where you can interpret what someone speaking in tongues is saying.

All these gifts have a purpose and that purpose is to glorify Jesus and to edify the church.

The more you grow in intimacy with the Holy Spirit the more these gifts are revealed. We all have at least 1 spiritual gift so no one can say they have received no spiritual gift. We each have something the Lord invested in us for the kingdom of heaven. We all have a role to play as the body of Christ.

I want to encourage that if you don't know what gifts you have, to desire to know and for the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what gifts His given you.

All this is to show you that the Holy Spirit is a person. He is inside of you, with you, beside you and loving. He speaks, He directs, He convicts, He gives gifts, He gives revelations, He gives visions and dreams and communicates to us. He is very real and your Helper to help you be everything God has called you to be and do everything God has called you to do all for the Glory of our King Jesus and the edification of the bride of Christ. To bear witness that we are children of God and lights of this world. To help us bear the fruit of the Spirit and not walk according to the flesh.

I want you to desire the Holy Spirit in your life and know that your relationship with Him is deepening every day. Each day you have a Helper, a partner and a strength you can rely on to carry the burden with you. That it's not you alone trying to walk righteous but you and God in you. That it's not just you confused and seeking direction but the Holy Spirit who is truth, clarity and direction to point out. That you can ask Him to speak and He will speak. Thay you can ask Him to direct and you'll have direction. Through prayer fasting, reading the word and deciding to repent from sin you're in partnership with someone who is there to help you.

And this relationship is what you should desire. As Christians, we don't follow just a religion but we have a relationship that is person to us that we desire.

Desire intimacy with Him.