The Work of the Holy Spirit

After our last couple of lessons, you are probably asking yourself why we have spent so much time talking about the voice of God. Since this unit is on the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t we be talking about the Holy Spirit?

Well, there is a reason we spoke of the voice of God first. If we are going to be moved by the Holy Spirit, then we need to know His voice. Simple enough?

We have learned that the most common way He speaks is through the Scriptures. He will never contradict the Scriptures or act contrary to them. After all, He was the one who gave the writers the words to say in the first place.

We also learned that God can thunder His voice audibly from heaven if He chooses, but more often He uses His still, small voice. And that voice isn’t dependent on us sensing or interpreting it. We don’t have to “figure out” if it was God or not.

We discovered that feelings and emotions are not the promptings of the Holy Spirit. You may feel things when He moves, but those feelings are not evidence of Him. The prophets never acted on emotion, and saying “Thus saith the Lord” was far too serious to rely on a feeling.

These are a few simple things we need to keep in mind as we continue to learn about the Holy Spirit. Now let’s continue our study.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

Since we have already explained who the Holy Spirit is and when He comes into your life, we will pick up from that point. What happens after you have been saved and given the Holy Spirit? What work does He do in your life?

The Holy Spirit Gives You Contagious Life

What is that living water?

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Himself. He is the living water. He is the source of life. And His word of life flows out of a Christian into the world.

Even your public acknowledgment that you have come to Jesus for salvation is a testimony that touches hearts. That new life is contagious.

When you receive the Holy Spirit, you receive life. You are changed from being dead in sin to alive in Christ. Your speech changes from hate to love. Your actions change from selfish to selfless. You become a new creation, full of life.

And that new life is made evident to the world around you.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t just give you life. He gives you a love for others, a desire to see them come to life as well. Through Him, you carry the power of life to the dead because of the love He places in you.

The Holy Spirit Teaches You

Not only does the Spirit give life, but He also teaches you.

This verse uses the word teach as a verb. That means it is a current action. In other words, the Holy Ghost will constantly be teaching you. No one on earth has everything figured out, but we have the Holy Spirit—who is the best teacher!

One way He teaches us is by giving us a desire to read the Bible. When we read the Scriptures, John tells us that the Holy Spirit will bring them to our remembrance when needed.

It is not uncommon for a person who has just become a Christian to have a strong—even unquenchable—desire to read the Bible. They may even read through whole books of the Bible in one sitting!

They may not understand it at first, but they know it is the Word of the One who saved them. He will cause them to remember the Scriptures and give them understanding as they grow.

He also calls to your mind other scriptures as you study. He compares spiritual things with spiritual things. He helps you connect the dots in scripture that helps you understand them. His guidance opens up mysteries hidden in Christ since the world began.

This produces a change in you. As you learn what it means to walk with God, your actions in life will change. You will begin to see things in a different light.

But remember, you don’t expect to get fruit from a seedling. In the same way, you must grow in Jesus—and the Holy Spirit will guide you.

No Christian starts off completely perfect in their understanding. It takes time to grow. As I said, fruit isn’t found on a seedling—but it will come.

The Holy Spirit Renews You

Not only do we need time to grow, we also need constant renewal.

Renewal isn’t a one-time thing. As you walk through this world, you can become tired. Your strength will fade at times. Your ability to work for God may diminish. Your joy may fade. Your desire to read the Bible may falter. This isn’t uncommon for anyone. Even the strongest Christian needs constant renewal.

Jesus let us know that even the saved are going to pick up some “dust,” so to speak, as they walk through this world. Peter tells us Lot was a righteous man, but seeing the deeds of those around him still had an effect on him. The world can wear us out.

This is why the Holy Spirit renews our strength and constantly washes our feet when needed (spiritually speaking). Our job is to simply wait upon the Lord to do it, according to Isaiah 40:31.

As I said before, a tree doesn’t bear fruit immediately—it takes time to grow. In the same way, the works of the Holy Spirit take time to develop into fruit in a Christian’s life. So you can’t expect the results of that work to be immediately visible.

Continuing with that metaphor, you can’t expect even long-term Christians to always bear fruit either. Trees have seasons. People have “seasons” too (2 Timothy 4:2). We all have times when we are strong and times when we are weak.

But ultimately, there will be fruit. You will grow as a Christian, since the Holy Spirit doesn’t leave you as a rotting tree to die. It may take some people longer than others, but it will happen.

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit

So let’s talk about the fruits of the Spirit. This is what you can expect to grow in your own life. And remember, just like a harvest, the yield changes from time to time.

Don’t be hard on yourself. Sometimes we think we aren’t seeing as much as we should. But just submit to God, and He will cause growth in His time.

Hope and Comfort

Aside from teaching us, calling Scripture to our memory, and filling us with the joy of salvation, the Holy Spirit is also our Comforter. There are many ways He comforts us in times of hardship.

The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives changes us. As we grow in Christ, we will see the fruits (results) of His work. These fruits of the Spirit bring comfort not only to us, but to others as well.

He gives us love to endure all things. He gives us peace in the middle of the battle, knowing God has already won it. He gives us patience to wait for the promised reward. He is gentle, good, and faithful to us. In meekness and moderation, He guides us.

How great a comfort all of these things are! And these fruits of the Spirit are not only for us to enjoy—they are for others as well. Those far from God can find comfort in the fruits produced in us.

Just as physical fruit has seeds, so do spiritual fruits. As the unbeliever enjoys the good fruits produced in your life, they also receive seeds planted in their own. As the Scriptures say, “It is the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance.”

The Power of the Holy Spirit

The fruits of the Spirit are clearly seen by the rest of the world. They become a powerful testimony and bring conviction to unbelievers.

If you are a Christian, you have probably run into people who say you are judgmental, arrogant, or a bigot. While some Christians may genuinely come across this way (since they still need to mature), these accusations are not always true. So why are we accused of this?

The reason we are accused of these things is because the power of the Holy Spirit in us brings conviction to the world around us. They feel condemned because the Holy Spirit makes them aware of their guilt.

The reaction many people have to this guilt is to try to get out of the spotlight or justify themselves. One example of this is when they say, “Only God can judge me.” They say this because they don’t realize it is actually the Holy Spirit in you that is calling out the sin. It is God who will judge them!

Once they find they cannot escape the spotlight, they attempt to justify themselves. Since they know they are guilty, they often think the best way to justify themselves is to bring you under condemnation as well. They believe that if you are just as bad as them, then they must be just as righteous as you.

An example of this is when they point out your sins—or even try to point out what they think are flaws in God. But my sins do not validate your sins. God is the Judge, not the defendant, and the standard of righteousness is Him, not us.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we become witnesses who bring the gospel into the world. That is uncomfortable to the unbeliever because it makes them aware of their guilt. But the Spirit does not do this to condemn them (as they feel). He does it to bring them to the Savior.

This is the power with which we are endued from on high. It is the power to be a witness. This is the power of the Holy Spirit, who is the very Word of God (as He is the Spirit of Christ).

Our very lives become a powerful witness. Because of the Holy Spirit in us, the world is reproved of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. They hear us, see us, and recognize the difference between good and evil through our lives.

This power is in every Christian. The fruits of the Spirit grow in the life of every believer. These things are the evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

But the fruits of the Spirit aren’t the only things that come with the Holy Spirit. He brings gifts to the believer as well.

The gifts of the Spirit are usually what people like to focus on. Many assume these gifts are the power, but they are only the tools by which power can flow. We will begin to talk about that in our next unit.

Continue To Unit 4:9 – The Evidence of the Holy Ghost OR

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