Thursday 20th September 2018 - Daily Reading:
John 3:8 Jesus and the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit in the Church 4 by Brenda Critchley
John, in his Gospel, tells us a great deal about what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit. In chapter 3 Jesus talked to Nicodemus, one of the Jewish leaders about the need to be born again by the Spirit. Jesus described the work of the Holy Spirit like this is verse 8: The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
This gives us an interesting picture of the Holy Spirit, because the wind can blow in many different ways – everything from a full-blown gale to the gentlest of breezes. The Spirit too can move in many different ways.
In listening to the testimonies of believers, it’s interesting to note that the Spirit uses many ways to bring people to the new birth, but there is only one God and one way to God, and that is faith in Jesus Christ and in his blood shed on the cross and in his resurrection and ascension. But the Holy Spirit is the one who brings this new birth about. Paul reminds us in Galatians 5 that just as we began in our faith by the Holy Spirit, so we are meant to continue walking with him through all seasons.
If we want to walk with Jesus and be his hands and feet here on earth, we need to be aware of the blowing of the Spirit, to respond in obedience to the quiet whisper of his voice, to his gentle nudging in our minds that suggests a way here or a word there, to reach out and bless others.
Each of us who has put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is the church wherever we go. Let’s walk everyday listening out for the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us and obey him.