Who is the third-person of the Trinity?
If God is in heaven and Jesus is at his right hand where is the Holy Spirit?
Jesus said he needed to leave so the Holy Spirit could come....is the Holy Spirit Immanuel--God amongst us?
What is the job description of the Holy Spirit?
What's he got for us?
What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and is it even important or necessary?
What abuses do we see in the church today because of misconceptions of this topic?
A penny for your thoughts....but I want your two cents worth!
4 comments:
The picture of the Holy Spirit vibrating the world into existence, and the continual reference to him in connection with motion still amazes me. I love seeing the Holy Spirit as a life giving force and an agent of change.
Yes, I am commenting twice. :-) (Ran out of time this morning.)
I know it is a generalization, but I often think of God, the Father willing something, Jesus, the Son, speaking the word (or just being the Word) and the Holy Spirit breathing life, annointing, power, motion, etc. into it.
Creation happened this way, and even the Salvation story has a picture similar to this. Jesus being the Word and submitting to the Father's will. Then promising that believers would "receive power" when the Holy Spirit came.
As far as the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I believe that it a "second step" if you will (although probably also a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th - you get the picture.) Beginning sometime after salvation (usually) when the believer asks the Holy Spirit to fill them. I think it involves surrender - often God reveals things that need to be confessed/forgiven, etc. during the process so that we can be empty enough for Him to fill.
With the filling, I believe, comes an empowerment, purification of our hearts (Peter specifically mentioned this one when persuading the Jews that the gentiles had also received the Holy Spirit), authority and boldness.
Is it necessary? I don't know. It depends on what angle you want to argue from. Is it profitable? Extremely! This is a huge part of the "abundant life" Jesus promised. We don't just know God, we get to experience Him.
Those are my thoughts. For now! :-)
Jeannie, do you have specific scripture references describing the Holy Spirit as vibrating the world into existence.....and such?
Yep. I believe it is Genesis 1:2 (or 3). The passage that says the Spirit hovered over the waters is more accurately translated vibrated over the waters. I would have to pull out my notes for a more comprehensive answer.
A general search of Holy Spirit will show that when the Holy Spirit comes on the scene, things seem to come alive in a new sense, physical strength, special giftings, blowing of wind. In fact, when the Holy Spirit came initially in the new testament (actually, I think it is somewhere else in Acts as well) the place was shaken.
The reason the vibration thing rang so strongly in me is connected with other "theories" I have that may or may not be Biblcal. :-)
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