Before coming on the race I had learned about the Trinity many times. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I think if you would have asked me to describe how each part of the trinity plays out in my daily life, I would have given you a blank stare. I think most people would.
There are so many things I have learned on the race, but one of the most impactful lessons has been learning about the Holy Spirit. I understand that some of the things I might say are things you probably never grew up learning or have maybe never even heard of in church before. I know I did not truly learn about who the Holy Spirit was until college. But it was not until the race where I got to understand and experience how the Holy Spirit moves in my life.
There is SO much more for me to learn but these are some very basic and impactful truths that have changed my life this past year.
So why do we have the Holy Spirit?
In John 16:7 Jesus said to his disciples before he left the earth that it is to your advantage that I go away. Because unless I go the helper cannot come.
“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
“But How?I am sure many of the disciples questioned that if they had the chance to walk around with Jesus everyday why would it be better for Him to leave?
He believed they would be better off to have the Holy Spirit than himself.
So in my head I read this and think if that is true, than I must not get the Holy Spirit as much as I should. I must not be as filled with the Holy spirit as much as I should.
So who is the Holy Spirit and what is the Holy Spirit’s job?
How I have seen the HS move in my life this year?
The Holy Spirit’s job is to convict us of our sin. Not condemn, convict.
This means we are not desensitized. When we feel bad for something we did or say, that is the Holy Spirit nudging us. Go does not avoid us when we make mistakes. He talks to us and he wants us to get it right. He is not obsessed with our sin. He is obsessed with getting his ways and plans down.
The Holy Spirit has convicted me in many ways whether it was drinking too much or saying something mean and feeling this gut guilt the next morning or even the next minute. I have also been convicted in the ways I spend my money and treating myself to luxuries that I don’t need. This race has really convicted me of living a double life where I try to please so many worldly ways and be included in one people group and activities while still trying to follow God and love him too. I realize that I can’t have both. The Holy Spirit is showing me how to live accordingly to his voice only.
The Holy Spirit comforts us.
He comforts us so we can give comfort. So we can come alongside someone who doesn’t love God or who is going through a hard time.
For this example I want to talk about how I have seen the Holy Spirit work through me to comfort others. I have seen the Holy Spirit give me words or even silence me. The Holy Spirit has given me compassion to be there for so many women in a ministry called Beauty for Ashes. This ministry is about sitting with women while drawing and sharing memories or pains in our life where God needs to bring healing. It is my favorite ministry on the race and I feel so privileged to hear what they have to say. However sometimes I am incredibly lost at how to console them. The Holy Spirit works through me to allow me to just sit with them and listen or to give them a verse or word that comes to me that might help them. I love seeing the Holy Spirit come alive as the comforter in those moments.
The Holy Spirit leads us.
God leads with sense, feeling and prompting. The question is never if God will lead you but the question is are you going to surrender to follow. Holy Spirit where are you leading me? We stop following the flesh but we start following the spirit. I am spirit filled and spirit led. He leads our finances, our relationships, career and lifestyle. Not just a portion of our life, but all of our life.
I try to ask the Holy Spirit everyday where he is guiding me. Is it a specific person that is highlighted that I need to approach. Or maybe it is a specific quality that the Holy Spirit is asking me to bring out. Sometimes I get an answer and other days I just trust the Holy Spirit will guide me throughout the day. I ask the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to see someone who really needs help or who is having a harder time at ministry that day. I know that the Holy Spirit guided me here to the world race. When I first heard about it I thought it sounded cool, but not for me. However, the first time I watched the prom video for the world race I cried and I knew that was the Holy Spirit guiding me to this path. Only the Holy Spirit could ingrain this crazy life onto my heart.
The Holy Spirit reminds us.
He reminds me of the vows and commitments I made to God. He reminds me of who I am in Christ. We forget about decisions we made in church or times at the altar. He remind us of the promises God made us. He reminds us of what God has in store for our life. He reminds of us greatness, future, calling. “Remember Regan, you said you would never do this again”. God is calling you to this purpose and destiny. We get so caught up.
The Holy Spirit reminds me daily of small conversations or memories. I know this year has provided a lot of time to process hard things and sometimes as I am working through struggles like perfectionism or pride. I ask the Holy Spirit to remind me of a time in my life where this issue stems from. He reminds me of where I came from but also the promises of where I am going.
The Holy Spirit empowers us.
He empowers me to live the life I am called to live. He empowers me to overcome sin. He gives me the power to forgive. To live a righteous life. In my own strength I fail every time. With the Holy Spirt we have supernatural ability.
The Holy Spirit gives us desire and ability. God gives us the desire to build a life for ourselves. To build a legacy, family and to live for God. He gives us the ability to walk it out through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gives me energy and zest for life daily. I think about how tired I have been at certain points on the world race, how emotionally and physically draining it can all be yet somehow the Holy Spirit sustains me everyday. The spirit helps me to keep opening my heart to more people and more places. The spirit reveals callings in my life by giving me a fast heartbeat and passion for certain ministries. The Holy Spirit works through other people to give me a word of encouragement too or a small sign on days that I am struggling to show me that I am supposed to be here.
More thoughts on how the Holy Spirit has come alive on my race…
I grew up in a conservative church that ignored much of the Spirit’s activity and presence in daily life. I fully believe the Holy Spirit was present in that church and in the people but now knowing more and living with the Holy Spirit everyday I can’t imagine not talking about the role it plays in the church and in the church body. I have realized that the church is not empowered to live differently from any other gathering of people without the Holy Spirit. The church would become irrelevant when it becomes purely human creation.
When people live in the power of the Spirit, the evidence in their lives is supernatural. I have seen this so much in the people I have lived with this past year, not just my teammates but the incredible hosts and ministries we work with. Spirit filled people have testimony after testimony about how the Holy Spirit led them to that country, to that people group and to the lifestyle they are living now. It has been absolutely breath taking at times.
I think I have experienced so much more of the Holy Spirit being abroad in third world countries because I am surrounded by people who are more desperate for Him, they are humbled for Him and not distracted by pursuit of wealth and comforts. The Holy Spirit has shown me this in big ways in my current ways and comforts that I enjoy at home and stripping me to find the beauty and satisfaction of having and doing less. I love this quote from Francis Chan’s book Forgotten God.
“The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn’t normally want or choose to do. The Spirit will lead you to the way of the cross, as He led Jesus to the cross, and that is definitely not a safe or pretty or comfortable place to be. The Holy Spirit of God will mold you into the person you were made to be. This often incredibly painful process strips you of selfishness, pride and fear.
Sometimes the sin we take on become such a part of us that it requires this same kind of ripping and tearing to free us. The Holy Spirit does not seek to hurt us, but He does seek to make us Christlike, and this can be painful.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit you must be willing to honestly ask yourself if you want to do His will. If you don’t want to do his will, than why ask for the presence at all?”
I feel like I have truly experienced aspects of this quote on the race, being guided to travel the world, being stripped of pride while living with 7 people 24/7, becoming more selfless in the ways I serve, and stripping away fear of the future and who God made me to be. However there is always more. I want more. Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross so we could all have keys to the kingdom and access to your spirit each and everyday. I can’t wait to know you better by discovering the power and voice that the Holy Spirit has in my life.
