Who and What is the Holy Spirit Really?
It took me awhile to catch on.
For years, I worked for a challenging boss. She was difficult, demanding, and impossible to please.
Her words regularly came out in a critical, almost vicious, manner. Most of the staff would hold their breath, as she would walk into our work areas. She was a tough person to work for, to say the least.
Then, one day, I found out something amazing – something that changed my whole perspective.
My difficult boss was dealing with some horrific things in her personal life. There was so much sorrow in her own life that it spilled out all over into her work life.
Once I began to grasp how much pain my boss was in, everything made more sense.
Her hurt was causing her to hurt others. All of the anguish in her life would pour out onto ours. My newfound understanding didn’t change the way that she treated us, but it did change the way that I responded to her.
For you see, once I began to understand what she was living through, I began to offer her compassion and grace. I began to pray for her. And, I begin to enjoy my job significantly more.
Why?
Because understanding my boss’s circumstances opened my eyes to a whole new world at work.
Understanding can open our eyes to a whole new world in the realm of doctrine as well.
As we launch into today’s doctrinal topic, I believe there is so much misunderstanding and there are so many misconceptions on this topic. In fact, I believe it may be one of the most misunderstood concepts in the church as a whole.
The Holy Spirit:
Who is He?
What does He do?
How does He impact us and work in our lives?
And, why on earth do we call Him a “Ghost?”
Being a member of twelve different evangelical churches over the years, I’ve seen a variety of different beliefs about the Holy Spirit.
If you were to plot out Holy Spirit beliefs on a graph, it could look something like this.
For the rest of the post, please join my friend, Melanie Redd at her site.
Read HERE
Join us as we take a clear and practical look at some of the most basic and essential tenets of the Christian life – the doctrines of the faith.
Each week, we will highlight and explain a core doctrine. Then, we will pose the question, “Why does this matter to you and me?”
You can catch all of this year’s “Delight in Doctrine” posts by clicking HERE.
For the purposes of the study, our main texts will be first, the Bible, of course, and Wayne Grudem’s classic, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine.
It is our prayer that by the end of 2017, we will all find more delight in understanding what we believe and why we believe it.
“…And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27 (ESV)
Linking up with Deb Wolf at #faithandfriends (Friday), #GraceandTruth (Friday), Holly Gerth at #coffeeforyourheart (Wednesday), Susanne Eller at #livefreeThursday, Carmen at #salt&light (Thursday), Kelly at #RaRalinkup (Tuesday), and Lori at #Momentsofhope (Monday)
