DEAREST [NAME],
The trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Three in one—a mystery.  I have heard it explained countless different ways.  Some say it is like an egg, three parts, white, yolk, and shell, but still one egg. 

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My grand daughter explained it very simply, as only a three year old can.  God is in heaven, and Jesus came to earth and died on the cross and went to heaven.  Then the Holy Spirit came to help us and live in our hearts. 

 

God loves you and I enough to give us this most incredible of all gifts, the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Oh what love the Father has for us.  Oh what love the Father has lavished on us.  E. M. Bounds says that the Holy Spirit is "God’s greatest gift to meet our greatest need."

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​ If you want to know more about the work of the Holy Spirit, I have an entire publication dedicated to it.  It is the winter 2005 issue of Women Behind Cowboys. It is titled The Holy Spirit. Look at our Search Engine, Topic Search, Holy Spirit.

One of the best books I have read about the Holy Spirit is by Charles Stanley.  It is titled The Wonderful Spirit filled Life,  I want to write out one short paragraph from this book.  I encourage you to purchase this book and read it in its entirety.  When we don’t understand the Holy Spirit and how He wants to work in each of our lives, we miss so much of what God wants to give us. 

The gift of the Holy Spirit is too precious for any of us to ignore.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Now for Charles Stanley's words:

“This is as good a place as any to let you in on something.  The Holy Spirit is working in your life this very minute.  You may not be aware of it, but He is.

“What is He doing?” you ask.

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That is what the remainder of this book is about.  Suffice it to say that a big part of the Spirit-filled life involves learning to recognize the fingerprint of the Holy Spirit.  In fact, learning to recognize the Holy Spirit is the first step in learning to live the Spirit-filled life.  After all, if we are supposed to be led by the Spirit (see Galatians 5:18), it would certainly help if we could recognize him!  It is difficult to follow someone whose identity is unknown.  Anyone who has been given the task of picking up someone they have never met from the airport knows that.

 

As you read this book, you may find yourself thinking, “Oh, so it was the Holy Spirit who did that.  So that is where those thoughts came from.  So that is why I felt funny.  So He brought that to mind”.

The Holy Spirit is not as mysterious and illusive as some would have us believe.  The Holy Spirit is an integral part of our Christian experience.  But because we are so unfamiliar with His ways, we miss Him.  As long as we miss Him, we certainly can’t follow Him.  And, you guessed it, as long as we can’t follow Him, we can’t experience the wonderful Spirit-filled life.

 

To get us thinking in the right direction, I have listed a few tasks the Holy Spirit endeavors to accomplish in your life on a daily basis.  We will look at each one in detail later on.  But take a minute now to familiarize yourself with this list.  Next time you experience one of these things, stop and thank the Holy Spirit.  In doing so, you will develop a heightened awareness of His activity in your life.  And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the greater your awareness, the easier it will be to recognize Him and follow Him.

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The Holy Spirit……

    Convicts (see John 16:8-11)

    Illuminates (see John 16:12-15)

    Teaches (see John 16:12-15)

    Guides ( see Romans 8:14)

    Assures (see Romans 8:16)

    Intercedes (see Romans 8:26)

    Directs (see Acts 20:22)

    Warns (see Acts 20:23)