Question On The Holy Spirit.

I wrote blogs in February — 13th,14th & 15th — talking about the Holy Spirit.  One of those blogs was titled: How Might the Holy Spirit Speak To Us?  But I never truly answered the question. For some reason I just repeated the Blog: Lady Wisdom Speaks. 

I think I would have answered that question --  How Might the Holy Spirit Speak To Us? -- by saying something like:  We are not told how the Spirit communicates with us.  At the same time we are told that the Spirit does guide and lead us. 

I personally believe that God’s Spirit comes into our thoughts at any given moment.  

I know there are times when I have been tapped on brain by a message or a word that, I will say, did not come from me.  It often happens during conversation with others.   

Sometime when I am working on a possible sermon. It often happened while driving in the car.  Driving is a great way to fine inspiration.  I have used many a fast-food napkins to write on during my driving time.  Is that safe?  Probably not!  But it has worked for me for many years.

So, having answered that unanswered question; let me continue with our readers thoughts:

1) “Seeking guidance allows the spirit to move through us out into the world.  To sit and pray that everything is in God’s hands feels to me to diminish that responsibility to think beyond myself.  

2) The spirit moves through all of us in different ways.  At this time of our lives, we are tiring and have less energy.  It has been time for you to pray and write, after your many years of helping as a pastor.  

3) The spirit is working differently in me I guess, and I’m trying to listen to what is next.  

4) Maybe you could think about how the spirit moves differently in each of us to work on the needs of our world today.  Or not.

 5) Curiosity is one of our greatest gifts.  (Maybe that’s a topic to think about).”

The Holy Spirit, to me, is the key to all of theology ( the study of God).  The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of the Creator God.  

For those of you who might not be familiar with the Hebrew meaning of Spirit, it is considered “wind.” The Greek is “Breath.”  

It is, in my understanding, the part of God that breathes life and knowledge into the human being. 

In the beginning of time it was the “wind” that blew over the face of the void.

1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, (Gen. 1)

We are also told of this Spirit In the Book of Proverb:

22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; 23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. 24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water; 25 before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, 26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. 27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, 28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, 29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. 30 Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, 31 rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. (Prov. 8)

In the New Testament the Spirit is the gift that God leaves us with when he leave his physical body:

25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. (John 14)

Let me first address your thought on prayer verses responsibility.  In my way of thinking these two are not separate.  Instead they work together.  By being attentive in prayer the Holy Spirit becomes present to our conscience; and prompts us to be and do what is needed.  That is to do those things that match the gift that God has blessed us with ( that I wrote about a few days — or weeks ago).

I heard a sermon on this some years ago.  The point of the sermon was something like:  ‘We asked God to do for us, and make decisions for us, and be there for us.  But have you ever thought about the fact that God may be waiting for you to act — to do something?’

God expects us all to do.  To do our part to make the world a better place.  A better place according to God.  Not us!

As for your 2nd, 3rd & 4th points:  Yes, the Spirit’s movement is never, hardly ever, the same for any of us.  Because we are all like snowflakes — all different -- he Spirit honors our individual needs and purposes.  

You end with:  “Curiosity is one of our greatest gifts.  (Maybe that’s a topic to think about).”

Of all the reason that people search out God, curiosity is probably the number one ingredient that prompts us to search and wonder. 

The old-saying: “Curiosity killed cat!”   Is a misnomer!   I think it was part of what my mother, and your mother, would call “the pinko plot.”  It was away to get children not to be too nosy or precocious.

I now see it as away to control behavior that could create problems.  Problems mostly for the parent or the teacher.  Not the child.

In my humble opinion God love a curious mind.  

But, what do I know really?