We need the Spirit’s power on the way

Every day we're reading, listening to or watching part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:

What did I like about today’s passage?

I love Paul’s encounter with more disciples who were happy to believe in Jesus and God but hadn’t heard of the Holy Spirit. It reminds me of the church where I grew up! To be fair, they had heard of the Spirit but only talked about him once a year, when the annual Pentecost talk was about how mysterious this “third person of the trinity” was and how maybe we should think a bit more about this. This was in the mid 1980s, shortly before a wave of the Spirit literally knocked over the people who were ready to receive, and this was just the beginning of many people finding refreshed, practical faith, renewed relationship with God, appetite to pray and read the Bible like never before, and life changes noticed by all the neighbours. But why is the Holy Spirit so important? Is it just about energising Christians with extra faith?

It’s possible, as Paul found in the church and with people of other faiths, to live with passion and energy driven by belief in a special person or a local god. I’m struck by how deeply embedded Artemis was in the livelihoods, not just religious faith, of the people of Ephesus. They had every reason to resist their lives being disrupted by foreign ideas. They didn’t feel a need for Paul, Jesus, the Holy Spirit or anyone else to come and make their lives complete.

So, it’s worth looking at how the Spirit grabbed the attention of people who did choose to believe. Like Jesus, the Spirit dealt with illnesses. Can you imagine seeing someone healed by a hanky touching Paul? “Evil spirits” were dealt with too, which must have made a huge impact on people who saw lives changed where no-one and nothing else they knew could have helped. And I love the story of Eutychus, who died during Paul’s long, late night sermon, but came back to life thanks to the intervention of the Spirit through Paul.

We can either see the Spirit as a “nice to have” (one day, when we understand), or a “must have”, today, because we need what he brings, despite our lack of understanding (he can teach us later!). This passage reminds me that believers can lack the Spirit, but must not!

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

I love how Paul’s reliance on the Spirit didn’t just comfort or empower him, it “compelled” him to go where he went, despite warnings of difficulties.

What compels us otherwise – our common sense? Experience? Desire for comfort? God knows we need all of that, but his Spirit can uniquely guide us through difficulties we don’t know how to overcome, or to solve problems we don’t know how to solve by ourselves.

The Spirit is God in us, guiding, shaping and changing us. We can’t follow Jesus without him.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

Not take the Spirit’s power for granted, for me or other believers, and be more conscious of our need to invite and recognise the Spirit. Trust the Spirit to do what I cannot on my own!

Who am I going to share this with?

Other people I follow Jesus with.