CTT God the Holy Spirit, part 2

Paul the Apostle is one of our biggest examples of this. As a Pharisee, he was an extremely learned man of the Old Testament. He had his “facts”, like ducks, all in a row, but he understood nothing. It was not until his road to Damascus conversion that he began to understand the “Truth”. Jesus spoke to Paul there, whose name was Saul at the time, and then sent him, blind, to Damascus. While there, God talked to a man named Ananias and told him to go find Saul and pray for him.

Acts 9:17
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, [even] Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

It was through the divine inspiration of the Holy Ghost that Paul began to understand all the facts about God and the history of the Israelite people in their relationship with God. One by one each fact became truth as the Holy Spirit began to give him insight.

These insights or gifts are not forced upon us insomuch that we are commanded to use them regardless but are more offered to us and highly marketed as “the way to go”. A person can receive from the Holy Spirit and choose not to use it again and even go as far as saying, that it was not actually real even after experiencing it, but that has its consequences.

Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, [and] he fought against them.

I have a story about a business owner who was approached by the son of the computer maker and experienced for himself the benefits of a new tool? Even after experiencing and receiving a hands-on understanding he chose not to accept it and told the son to go away. He not only denied its usefulness for himself but he also effectively built a wall that would discourage the possibility of that experience ever happening again. I will tell that sad story on the next blog.

When we disobey God in any area of our lives and have that feeling of guilt come on us, we should rejoice. That is the Holy Spirit working in us drawing us to repentance. We think of it more as our conscience but it is actually God’s everyday, over the counter, tool that he designed to allow the Holy Spirit to be able to work in our lives. As long as we feel any amount of guilt for active sin in our lives there is hope for repentance and overcoming power. The Holy Spirit quickens our spirit man within us to repentance and obedience before we sin, trying to stop, in advance, the Habakkuk effect. The Holy Spirit is at work in the worldly sinner and Christian sinner doing as much as he can or should I say, as much as He is allowed.