Listen: The Indwelling Holy Spirit: For Our Benefit or the Father’s Glory? Part Three.
The Holy Spirit Must Have His Rightful Place
Jesus declared:“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” — John 14:26 .
The Holy Spirit is present in the believer’s life, His purpose in our lives is so that He would be allowed to work His life, teaching us as believers not only the ways and the will of the Father but also bringing His strength and leading those who yield to Him.
Herein is a vital truth: the great need is not simply to acknowledge His presence, but to allow Him to work freely in the believer’s life. Jesus also said: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.” — John 16:13 The believer is called to walk in fellowship with Him, recognising that the Spirit’s purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ and bring the believer into the will of the Father.
Jesus declared concerning the Holy Spirit: “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” — John 16:14 The Holy Spirit will never draw attention to human ability or self-importance. His ministry is to glorify Jesus Christ and reveal His life and truth to the believer.
Jesus said: “Without me ye can do nothing.” — John 15:5. It is important to understand and to personally acknowledge that as believers, we can never hope to fulfil the Father’s purposes by relying upon the strength of our flesh. The Holy Spirit works through a surrendered heart.
This calls for a willingness to relinquish self-reliance and allow the Lord to direct the believer’s life. Jesus declared: “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” — John 15:5 .The believer must learn that spiritual fruitfulness comes through abiding in Christ through our yielding to the Holy Spirit, and never through any amount of our tendency to rely on the confidence of our flesh.
The indwelling Holy Spirit brings personal blessing, but His purpose reaches beyond the individual: He empowers believers to serve fervently. The Father desires to work in His people and through them, touching the lives of others. To witness effectually: Jesus promised: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me.” — Acts 1:8
Jesus said: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” — John 15:8 This requires a life of fellowship, obedience and surrender, in which the believer no longer seeks to make personal ability the source of spiritual accomplishment. The Spirit’s presence should produce a life that increasingly reflects Jesus Christ and fulfils the purposes of the Father.
As believers, we are not called merely to receive from the Lord, but to become a yielded vessel through whom His life and purposes are made known. It is possible to speak about the Holy Spirit, acknowledge His presence and desire His power, yet still depend upon personal strength and understanding. The challenge is to move beyond mere acknowledgement into a living fellowship characterised by dependence, obedience and surrender.
Therefore, as believers, we are called to yield to the Spirit’s leading, allowing the life of Jesus Christ to be manifested and the Father’s will to be accomplished. The Holy Spirit has not been given merely to make the believer’s life easier or more fulfilling.
He dwells within to reveal Jesus Christ, empower the believer for service, teach the ways of the Father and work the Father’s purposes in and through a yielded life. The believer’s responsibility is not to strive in the strength of the flesh, but to walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, surrendering self-reliance and allowing Christ’s life to be expressed through them.