Skip to main content

Gifts of the Spirit - Part 1


Raised Catholic, I grew up making the sign of the cross more times than I could count. “Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen.” I admit that the words (and actions) were done more out of routine, than out of focused time on the Lord. But that little prayer talks about the Trinity. The great I AM exists three fold; as God, as Jesus, and as the Holy Spirit. The first two are easier for most to comprehend. The last is more abstract. What exactly is the Holy Spirit? The rest of this post explains how it makes sense to me, but by no means is it the only explanation!

“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 2:28). By receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son become alive in us as a distinct entity. The Holy Spirit has an existence, in addition to ourselves, but our individual self does not disappear. If the Holy Spirit simply took over, every believer in Christ would look much more alike than we do. Instead of this “take over,” we must choose to let the Holy Spirit take an active part in our lives just as we must choose to accept Jesus Christ as our savior.

When we make an active choice to “wake up” the Holy Spirit in us, miraculous things can happen. As Jesus told his apostles before he was crucified, “do not worry beforehand (about being brought to trial) about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11). The Holy Spirit in us is our direct connection to God. Think of a telephone line extending from heaven to your heart, and then your mouth. But in order to work, there has to be a clear connection. We can make the line fuzzy when we depend on our own wants, give into our own worries, and let our own words out of our mouths.

That connection with the Holy Spirit gives us nine gifts, or fruits, that help give us an abundance of things of which there is no law against; meaning we cannot ever have too much of them. Those nine gifts are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22).

More to come in my next post. For now, let’s just take a moment to praise God for those nine gifts in our lives!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I love you Lord (Psalm 100:2)

Scripture of the Day: Psalm 100:2  Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Starting last fall, my husband began singing the song "I Love you Lord," to our kiddo before he went to bed, as a lullaby of sorts. The lyrics are simple: I love you Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you, oh my soul rejoice! Take joy, my King, in what you hear, may it be a sweet, sweet, sound in your ear. It has since become a very popular song in our house! We sing it before nap time, bed time, and I hum it when sometimes when our little guy is upset or over tired. I love singing it slow and asking him to sing with me – at this point he knows most of the words and there is really nothing sweeter than hearing that little voice sing “I yuv you yord,”  (no “r’s” yet you see)! The song has also worked it's way into my personal worship of the Lord. The words are meant for Him to hear and I think he loves to hear them sung! I find that singing that j...
2 comments
Read more

What is Your Lie?

By now, you should know I like songs. I like Christian songs because their words don't put any "yuck" in my head and I don't have to worry about what little ears are taking in when they are on! Some touch me deep and here are the lyrics to part of a new favorite: Reckless Love by Cory Asbury There's no shadow you won't light up, Mountain you won't climb up Coming after me... There's no wall you won't kick down, Lie you won't tear down, Coming after me... Friends. Focus on that last point: There's no lie God won't tear down. What is your lie? What lie, or even lies, do you believe about yourself? What lies run over and over in your head until they don't feel like lies anymore? What hurts have you told yourself you deserve? What unkindness have you accepted as your due? What actions have you justified for others? What fault have you accepted that really isn't yours? What forgiveness have you felt unworthy of? I'm...
1 comment
Read more

From the mouth's of babes

I'm writing this more for prosperity's sake and because I need to try and wrap my head around a conversation I just had with my seven year old. Mandisa's song "Bleed the Same" was playing in the car...my kiddo asks me what she is actually saying because he hears "We all be the same." I explained how it meant that regardless of skin color, or lots of other things really, we all bleed the same. On the inside, we are all the same. And then the zinger. He says, "We all look the same inside. Except our hearts." "Oh really?" Says I. "Yes," says he "because of sin. I'm talking on a spiritual level." AAAHHHHH!!! Our hearts all look different because of sin in the my mind of my baby. And I bet you that in the eyes of God, who can see the heart in a different light and who judges it's motivations, our hearts all DO look different. When I think of a heart full of sin, I think of black and decay instead o...
1 comment
Read more