The Gift of the Spirit- What does it mean?

     As Christians, we have something that no one else does. We have the Holy Spirit living within us. This concept was, I'll admit, a bit vague to me until recently. I knew that when I accepted Christ as my savior that the Holy Spirit was supposed to be living in me, but I didn't feel it. I thought that I should feel some physical change that would assure me of the gift of the Spirit that Christ promised in John 14:16-17 when he said "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you" (NIV). But I really didn't feel any different. Or so I thought.

     The apostle Paul shed a lot of light on this subject for me in his first letter to the Corinthians. In chapter two Paul explains what it means to have wisdom from the Spirit. He says "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."

     By reminding me that no one knows my thoughts except my spirit, Paul made it more clear to me how to see the Holy Spirit working in me (I definitely recommend reading from 1 Corinthians 1:18 thru the end of chapter 2 for some context on wisdom from Christ and the Holy Spirit). Those thoughts that are self seeking and immoral are not from the Spirit of God but are of my own sinful nature. The power that I have to overcome those thoughts and to keep from acting on them and even keep them from returning is the Holy Spirit's doing. The Holy Spirit has been slowly changing me from the selfish person that I was when I first received Christ to a more loving person that thinks of others more often. I can still be selfish, but again, that is my sin nature, and yours as well. We are not ever going to get it perfectly right. We will always be fighting against our nature but that is why God gave us the Holy Spirit.

     The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to give us strength directly from God to help overcome our sinful nature and to live a life that is pleasing to Him. The Spirit is also there to help us discern what God wants us to do to help further His kingdom. These are the gifts that God has given us through grace: things like prophesy, serving, teaching, encouraging, helping the needy, leadership, and mercy (see Romans 12:3-8). The Holy Spirit helps us to see what we can do best for God while we are here. Think about something that you really love to do and do well. What is it? There is an excellent chance that this gift is something from God and that you are to use it for His glory. 

     I am not sure if this helped you to understand a little more about how the Holy Spirit works and how to see it working in you. I know it helped me tremendously so I thought I would share it with you. I would love to hear your comments so please feel free to share. Maybe even share what your gifts are and how you are using them to please our Father. I would love to hear from you.