Home

The Holy Spirit – Our Grace

What exciting news...the “Spirit” of the Lord is alive! We’re praising Him, we’re glorifying Him, we’re meditating on his word, we embrace His existence in our service to: Pray for Anyone Who Asks! What a joy and a blessing to know that our PW family is real. May God Bless You all! (Acts 26:31 The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace. It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord, and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.)

Easter celebrated the life, death and resurrection of the Son of the Living God, Our Precious Jesus Christ, and his ascension into Heaven. He promised a comforter, the Holy Spirit, in His place until his return. The Holy Spirit -the Third Person of the Trinity. Like the Father and the Son, is a person with emotions and a will, yet equal in all the divine attributes with the Father and the Son. In His promise, it was revealed that He will be our Helper in our pursuit in learning and serving the will of God. I truly believe this is evidence in our growing family.

As true followers of Christ, the Holy Spirit resides in us; He is omnipresent; he is our teacher, and Helper; and also helps us to pray. When we first receive Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit begins to dwell within us. It is through His work that we stop living by the flesh. For me, this is a time of self-reflection on how I can develop a stronger relationship with the Holy Spirit; this means to understand the impact of His truly awesome and loving presence; and importance of our understanding and accepting Him and his purpose. Before I became aware, during a service where the Holy Spirit was highly and openly exalted, fear overcame me because of the unknown. Through very private and personal testimony, I truly believe the Holy Spirit embraced me (I believe I was 27, 35 and just recently) and I was touched with overwhelming love. Miracle(s) and awareness happened in my life that caused me to walk closer to God (30 years ago with a life-altering scare), (21 years ago) when I disobeyed God and again (8 years ago) doubting His word. I have acknowledged His presence - in which I have learned to welcome and embrace (still learning). I truly believe that when my heart is not right, not putting God first – the Holy Spirit flees from me until I get my “act” together through confession and repentance; and striving to live as God wants me to live. Let us pray for piety, reverence and respect as we approach his presence and reflections on the many scriptures (on the next page) relating to the Holy Spirit.

Identifying the divine qualities, the Holy Spirit is the: Communicator (he speaks to us), Intercessor (he prays for us), Testament (He testifies about the Lord Jesus Christ); Guide (he will guide us in all truth), Commander, (He guides as much by closing the doors as opening the doors); Appointed (makes us shepherds); Our Leader (the influence of the Spirit); Revealer (reproof what is wrong); Sealer (God's promise in believers' hearts); Shaper (shapes the life of each person in Christ)

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (as referenced in the scripture: Isaiah 11:2-3) are present in their fullness in Jesus Christ but are also found in all of us who are in a state of grace (a gift from God –which is the divine assistance given to us for our sanctification). "They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them." Infused with His gifts, we respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as if by instinct, the way Christ Himself would.

1. Wisdom - it is the perfection of faith. We come to value properly those things which we believe through faith.

2. Understanding - While wisdom is the desire to contemplate the things of God, understanding allows us to grasp, at least in a limited way, the very essence of the truths of our Christian Faith. Through understanding, we gain a confidence about our beliefs that moves beyond faith. 3. Counsel is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of prudence. Prudence can be practiced by anyone, but counsel is supernatural. Through this gift we are able to judge how best to act almost by intuition; Christians need not fear to stand up for the truths of the faith, because the Holy Spirit will guide us in defending those truths.

4. Fortitude (called courage) gives us the strength to follow through on the actions suggested by the gift of counsel. It goes beyond what we

normally think of as courage. Fortitude is the virtue of the martyrs that allows them to suffer death rather than to renounce the Christian Faith.

5. Knowledge, like wisdom, is the perfection of faith, but whereas wisdom gives us the desire to judge all things according to the truths of Faith, knowledge is the actual ability to do so. In a limited way, knowledge allows us to see the circumstances of our life the way that God sees them. Through this gift of the Holy Spirit, we can determine God's purpose for our lives and live them accordingly.

6. Piety it means the willingness to worship and to serve God. Piety takes that willingness beyond a sense of duty, so that we desire to worship God and to serve Him out of love, the way that we desire to honor our parents and do what they wish.

7. Fear (reverence) of the Lord gives us the desire not to offend God, as well as the certainty that God will supply us the grace that we need in order to keep from offending Him. Like piety, the fear of the Lord arises out of love.

These powerful gifts can only be given to those who believe in and obey Christ. The family of Christ utilizes these gifts through the ministry of giving, the ministry of service; the ministry of fellowship, the ministry of prayer, the ministry of song, etc. This is prevalent with favorable outcomes (i.e., Praise Report) giving God all the Glory! We are truly blessed to have a family who loves and adores the Heavenly Father, the Precious Lord Jesus Christ and the Presence of the Holy Spirit. We Praise Him for his grace, mercy and blessings. We Praise God for bringing us all together and to be His Servants and giving us the Holy Spirit to help us.

Scriptures: (1 Corinthians 4-14):

4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, ] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.] 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.