From the Principal - Secondary, South Plympton

The Holy Spirit

Have you ever felt a deep peace you couldn’t explain? 

When your conscience whispers, who do you think is speaking? How do you suddenly feel lifted beyond yourself in moments of prayer or music? Do you think it’s just a coincidence when you pray and things work out? 

What inspires people to stand up for justice when it costs them? 

How can love, forgiveness, and hope keep breaking through even in the darkest places?  Surely it is through the Holy Spirit? Isn’t it true that we all long for something greater than ourselves? Could the Spirit be that voice calling us higher?

These questions are part of living life, and I realised that I was not really applying fully to my life what I had read in the Bible about the Holy Spirit. I know God answers prayers, I know God can heal, and I know that I am an image-bearer. But how the Holy Spirit works with a person and forms their character and faith journey was a little vague, if not understood clearly, until recently.

As a school community we come from many ‘varieties’ of churches with different ideas on things like christening, baptism, communion - things that have broken and divided congregations over the centuries. But the three tenets of faith that connect us all today at Emmaus are the divinity of Jesus, the trinity/triune God and salvation through grace. Praise God that we have all been blessed in this way.

At a recent Professional Development Session (I am blessed to have attended some great professional development sessions), I gained some clarity about how the Holy Spirit works. For deep down in you, the spirit of God is at work. When you become a Christian, God and your spirit become one; they are one. The Holy Spirit bears witness to your spirit - it bleeds into your soul. 

Here is a very simple graphic I was shown:

Body - for action and carrying out our physical activity

Soul - our thinking, feeling, deciding, mind and emotions

Spirit - knowing, communing, discerning, gut feelings

The description of our spirit is interesting when we consider our gift and the impact of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8: 15-17 says: "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to kinship with Jesus. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

If you know you are a follower of Jesus, you are living under a new covenant as described at Jesus’ crucifixion, accordingly we all have access to the throne of God through the Holy Spirit when we accept Christ as our Saviour. 

The Spirit is the helper given at Pentecost in Acts 2: 26-38 with rushing wind and flames of fire and proclaiming praises to God in different languages. Jesus called it the ‘spirit of truth’ as described in John 16:13 and how it guides believers, how it is a ‘living water from within you’ (John 14:15 - 18). 

The spirit changes your life and your perspective as God has called you to be an image- bearer, also a child of God, a coheir with Christ and given you the Spirit to provide momentum. This is where your character is formed. 

But the thing I didn’t completely understand is that the foundation of my character, or my character is defined by the fact that I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

What does that mean? 

Is the Holy Spirit about intellect, success, fame and fortune? Of course it isn’t. It is about the fruit of the spirit of love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These characteristics are what the spirit can work out in me if I allow it; rather, I need not quench the work of the Spirit but allow it to own me. Not bits and pieces, but let Him increasingly fill me. 

So we are shaped by many things like those I have described for my journey: parent’s faith, a mother's unreserved love; encouragement, failures, and always being loved. Youth group, Church, and the suburb we grew up in. 

But one thing trumps them all - I, you, have a permanent presence of God in our lives! 

Your soul is the place of your most untainted identity, that is, until it gets tainted by the world we live in and the circumstances we experience and inherit. 

In Ephesians, Paul writes that ‘He chose us in him before the creation of the world’

And in Jeremiah 1:5 is the beautiful image of God’s knowledge and love for us as God says  ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.’

God’s point of view is that you are chosen and loved. And our souls need to be nurtured and growing in the image that God has of us/you - so we have a choice of what we are going to do about this today. Are we going to let the world influence our souls or give in to the love and indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit?

The spirit of power, and of love and of self-control. And in Jesus Christ, he gives us the Holy Spirit. And right now, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And that Spirit of God does rest upon you, and he acts and works within you. 

What an incredible gift for this day. As we are all temples of the Holy Spirit, and so often we live without the Holy Spirit, right? So often we live without the power that God gives us, the power of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, that dwells inside of us. And yet, so often we don’t walk in that power, we don't speak in that power, we don’t love in that power, we just try to speak and walk on our own power and love in our own power. And yet, you have more than that. You have Jesus, you have his Spirit. 

So I pray that you all walk in that spirit, speak in that spirit, and love in that spirit. Please pray for me as I pray for you so that I can do the same thing.

Andrea Grear

Principal - Secondary, South Plympton