Where the Spirit of the Lord is, There is Freedom

The Holy Spirit is God. (Gasp!)

Yes, I am going to be the one to touch on the subject that tends to make some people squirm in their seats. What I don't understand is why the subject of the Holy Spirit is so uncomfortable and controversial. The Bible certainly isn't afraid to talk about him.

The Holy Spirit is not weird. He is supernatural. The definition of the adjective form of "supernatural," according to dictionary.com, is, "of, pertaining to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable of natural law or phenomena; abnormal." Yup. That sums up the Holy Spirit alright. I mean, you don't see miraculous healings taking place nowadays, or people being raised from the dead, or water being turned into blood or wine, or guys walking on water. That would be abnormal and weird.

This definition might sum up our feelings about the Holy Spirit, but I think the avoidance of him goes a little deeper. The definition of the word in its noun form is this, "direct influence of a deity on earthly affairs." Now, again, this is dictionary.com's definition of "supernatural", but when it comes to talking about the Holy Spirit, the first thing we must realize is that he is not a deity or an "it." The Holy Spirit is God...Going back to the definition: "direct influence..." Stop right there! Influence? The Holy Spirit is an influencer? Dictionary.com is so neat. The definition of the word "influence" is, "The capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others." And this is where we run away.

Our problem is that the idea of this supernatural being taking control of our lives scares us to the pits. But why? Because we are "normal" people who love to be in control. But as Christians we have to adopt this idea of surrender. In John Ortberg's The Me I Want to Be (I will be quoting much of him in this post) he says: "There is no way for a human being to come to God that does not involve surrender...Surrender is not a crutch for weak people who cannot handle life. Instead, surrender is the glad and voluntary acknowledgment that there is a God and it is not me."

But why must we surrender? "Jesus understood that if you want to experience victory, you must start in surrender. Surrender brings power, and the need to surrender is deeply tied to Jesus' offer of living in the flow of the Spirit. You receive power through the act of surrender that you cannot obtain any other way; you receive freedom through submission that you will otherwise never know." In Acts 2 Jesus promises his disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and in 2 Corinthians 3 Paul explains that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Surrendering our will to God allows us to have these two great gifts: Power and freedom.

We cannot live without the Holy Spirit not only dwelling inside of us, but moving inside of us. "The only way to become the person God made you to be is to live with the Spirit of God flowing through you like a river of living water." It is to our benefit that we have the Spirit inside of us. Jesus explained to his disciples in John 14 that it was actually better he leave them so that he could send the "Counselor" to guide them. The Holy Spirit is for our benefit, not for his desire to obnoxiously control our every move.

We have completely cut the Spirit of God out of our spiritual lives. "A frequent problem in the way we talk about spiritual growth is that there s no much spirit in it--God's Holy Spirit, that is. Only God makes things grow, and that growth is not always predictable. Like a tree beginning to bud, growth always has surprise attached to it." It's a scary thing to give up control. We even control our prayer lives. We say we want God's will to take place, but we still ask that he give us what we ask for as if his opinion didn't matter. Now, God promises to give us the desires of our heart (Matt. 6:33), but we first have to completely surrender our will into his will beforehand. Surrender means seeking to handle a problem in a way that honors God. Surrender means losing your life so that you can gain a better one. In the end, you will find that nothing you lost was really worth keeping anyway.

If the idea of surrendering your will over to God's Holy Spirit still scares you, then you're in an ok spot. "If it is comfortable, it wouldn't e surrender."

Some people are afraid of giving up control because they don't want the Holy Spirit to make them do "weird" things. Well, I'd hate to tell you this, but that's just too bad. The Holy Spirit is a supernatural being that allows supernatural events to take place, and if you are willing, it will change your life for the better. I promise you that. You can't let the intimidation of being "weird" keep you from just having a Spirit-filled life. We have to move forward in having a Spirit-led life: constantly being filled with the Spirit and allowing him to guide our paths day-in and day-out, moment by moment.

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18).

The Holy Spirit is not weird. He is simply and amazingly supernatural. And the Holy Spirit is not a deity separate from God, but rather, he is God, who so graciously lives in us.