The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Today we celebrate Mother’s Day – a day where we honour our mothers, grandmothers, step-mothers, foster mothers, adopted mothers and spiritual mothers.  A day where we express our gratitude for their love, provision, input and inspiration – a day where we celebrate the mothering role and all who have been a part of our journey.

Mother’s day means something different for every family – it might mean breakfast in bed, or a meal together, a family photo session or handmade gifts – it is a day set aside for us to be grateful and to make sure our mum’s know how special they are.  It is a day of love, joy, kindness, softness, gentleness and nurturing – it’s a day set aside every year to celebrate the women in our life and the profound difference they can make.

But today, is a difficult day for many of our mum’s – for some it is an empty nest, for others a hospital room or a life changing diagnosis – for some it is a nursing home, or a loss of a loved one.  Some mothers are navigating sleepless nights or toddler tantrums whilst others are worried about their teenager navigating a world that is ever changing.  For some mum’s they have just lost a pregnancy or a child – for some they don’t have their mum right when they need it most.  Some mum’s are doing it tough, really tough raising their child on their own and for some, there is a desperation to be a mum, but it hasn’t happened for them yet.

There are some mums here today whose children are far from them, both geographically and for some through broken relationship or hurt.  There are some who yearn for their prodigal children to come up out of the pig pens of life and return to their Father’s house.

And today, there are women, and men here, who didn’t have the mum they yearned for – they had a mum who was absent, or who hurt them or rejected them. And there are mums here today who feel like they have failed their children in some way.

And God sees each and every single one of you.

This is the first year I don’t have my mum with me on Mother’s Day – I am 400km away from my children and grandchildren and I am feeling like Mother’s Day is a reminder of what is missing or what I am grieving.

And I am grateful for the many very special Mother’s Days I’ve had – but I can so relate to those who might find today especially difficult.

And what I am discovering is that life changes, but two things remain the same.

1.       Behind every mother who is struggling today stands a well meaning and loving man(be it husband, father, son, brother or friend) who wishes he could “fix it” but more importantly;

2.       We serve a God who is with us in every season, never leaves us and loves us every single, difficult, tear soaked moments.

In the valley places, in the darkest nights in the moments when we are overwhelmed with our circumstances. He is Immanuel – God with us.

When we are desperately lonely, sad or broken.  He is El Roi – the God who sees me.

When we have run out of answers, hit a wall, feel overwhelmed by what is happening. He is El Shaddai – the all sufficient one, the God of the mountains, God almighty.

When our heart is breaking and it feels too hard and we can’t see our way through. He is Jehovah Rapha – the Lord that heals.

He is Abba Father, Jehovah Nissi, our banner; Jehovah Jireh our provider; Jehovah Shalom our peace;  Jehovah Rohi, our Shepherd.

He is faithful, He will never let us down, He is with us always and He hasn’t finished with us yet.

Truly I believe, as David wrote in Psalm 27:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear.  The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked advance against me to devour me; it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.  Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.  For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.

I remain confident of this (I would have lost heart unless I had believed) that I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living. 

Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord (Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, wait, I say on the Lord).

It is easy, when we are going through difficult, or even devastating circumstances to feel isolated or alone, to feel like no one understands or that we are somehow being punished, or forgotten by God – and on those days it is hard to see what God is doing.

I get it, I’ve been there.  I’ve bought into the trap of thinking I’m all alone, to sit by the pool of disappointment for a while, to allow grief to stay too long.

In those moments, God seems a long way away – and we find it hard to talk about it, or even want to be around people at all.  And it hurts – it just hurts so much and I just can’t make it stop hurting and I’m wondering if it’s worth being here at all…But God.

…But God is with me…But God sees me…But God is at work in places I cannot see…But God can heal, forgive, restore, redeem and rescue.

And when I feel like I’m at my lowest, and I can’t go on, I have had to forcibly and physically shake myself and go – get up, pick up your matt and move.  God isn’t finished yet.  And I don’t think we speak enough about this – just how hard it is to pick ourselves up and move forward – we can’t just pretend that everything is ok all the time – sometimes its not, and that ok too.

And today, I want to talk about the greatest gift God has ever given us, and it is available to us today, as our Mother’s Day gift – but the good news, the very good news is that it is available to every one here today – and that is Himself.

Yes, we have God the Father, watching over us – from when we were formed in our Mother’s womb, at that moment of conception and all the days of our life, until we take our final breath – and even into eternity, we have God with us.

Yes, we have the precious gift of God the Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who chose to come to earth, live a sinless life, for the joy set before Him, He chose the cross and died for our sins, so we, who believe in Him might not perish, but have eternal life – a most precious gift.

But, God, gave us another gift of Himself – the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

When we talk of the Holy Spirit, often times we talk of His gifts – speaking in tongues, healing, preaching the gospel – things we can do with the gifts He has given us.

But let us just pause for a moment and consider the gift that is the Holy Spirit.

John 16:7 (Amp) “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (comforter, advocate, intercessor, counsellor, strengthener, standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you (to be in close fellowship with you).”

Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit.  In fact, He said it was good for Him to go.  I can just imagine the disciples hearing this and thinking, “No way Jesus, it’s better if you stay right here with us, we need you – don’t go.”

But Jesus knew He couldn’t be everywhere at once, He was limited to His earthly body.  There are currently 2.4 billion Christians in the world today, which represents 31.2% of the global population.  There is only 31 million, 536 thousand seconds in a year.  If Jesus lived today, in Jerusalem and all the Christians in the world lined up to see Him, each Christian would get about 10 seconds every 50 years – now my maths might not be completely accurate – I actually think it is less time than that – but it would never be enough.  10 seconds with Jesus, with all that is going on in my world – I need days, months, years.

But the Holy Spirit is given to us, and is with us, and dwells in us, every single second, of every single day, of every single year.  And He is God, and He is able to provide us with every comfort, every counsel, every strength – He intercedes with us and longs to have fellowship with us.  He literally dwells in us to form a partnership with us.

In this Bible reference, the Greek word for the Holy Spirit used is Parakletos which means one who is called to one’s side, especially to help.  We have the Holy Spirit, who comes alongside us, to help us.  And we probably don’t allow Him in as much as we could.  We are often trying to fix things on our own, trying to get through on our own, trying to be strong enough on our own – but He is our strengthener, He is our Helper, He is God in us – the Hope of Glory.

He represents God the Father, and God the Son, our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ.  The initial work of the Holy Spirit is to lead us into repentance in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Once we are saved, He dwells in us, enabling us to experience fellowship (joint partnership) with Him as we place our trust in Jesus as our Lord.

This is such a precious gift – we are no longer alone; we don’t have to face our trials and challenges on our own – we have the fullness of the deity in Christ, and the fullness of Christ living and working in us.  The Holy Spirit is dunamis power – the same power that left Jesus and healed a woman who touched the hem of His robe.  When we are in the darkest of moments, don’t we just wish we could touch the hem of Jesus’ robe – just a touch would make everything better, but we have something greater living in us.

It is always difficult to minister on who the Holy Spirit is – He is God, and so He is unfathomable, indescribable, immeasurable – infinitely more powerful, more capable and more able than we could every understand, and we sometimes don’t know what to do with the Holy Spirit because we just don’t know who He is.

But because He is God, He is also love. And it is not just something He does, it is something He is.  And if we look once more at what Jesus is saying, we see the love He has for us.

The Holy Spirit is our:

1.       Comforter – we have not been left alone in this world to navigate life without help.  The Holy Spirit is present with us and within us.  His presence in our lives fills us with hope instead of doubt or despair.  It produces the fruit of joy instead of a dreadful dependence on our circumstances to somehow produce temporary happiness.  His presence produces peace instead of worry – worry takes root when we’re convinced we’re on our own - but God – God is with us, and the Holy Spirit longs to comfort us in times of great trouble and difficulty.

2.       Advocate – The Holy Spirit teaches us and reminds us of what we have in Christ.  Often we try to navigate difficult circumstances without accessing the power and the promises of Christ.  1 Corinthians 2:9-16 teaches us that the Holy Spirit reveals things to us from God, that God gave us His Spirit so we may understand what He has freely given us, not human wisdom, but insight and truth from God.  To be an advocate, the Holy Spirit is literally our legal representation of God – and we can lean on Him for the truth of a situation.

3.       Intercessor – probably one of the most beautiful and necessary roles of the Holy Spirit.  If we don’t know what to pray, or how to pray – when the tears are those big, fat old tears, and our heart is torn to shreds, the Holy Spirit steps in.  Romans 8:26,27 says that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness (aren’t you glad of that?) When we do not know what we ought to pray, the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  This means that He speaks directly to God, the Father on our behalf.  What a beautiful picture – we have Jesus the Son sitting at the right hand of the Father living to make intercession for us, and the Holy Spirit living in us and interceding on our behalf.  We are covered in prayer – completely surrounded by God and He is present in our troubles, and helping us in our weaknesses.  The enemy would try to make you feel like you are alone, and no one understands – but God is with you, always, every single moment and He never leaves you.  The Holy Spirit doesn’t go in and out of you, He dwells with you forever.

4.       Counsellor – As we live outside of the Garden of Eden, there is such a brokenness of life – relationships are often strained and breakdown, addiction and illnesses abound, there is often no end to all the aches and pains that are felt in this world.  Some of us are aching because of grief, others are burdened by sorrow, oppressed by troubles or unsettled because of worries.  In light of all of this it should not surprise us that there are a lot of cries for help.  The Holy Spirit is our counsellor, and although it is good for us to get good counsel if we need it from professionals, the Holy Spirit has been given us to come alongside us and teach us and remind us of what Jesus has promised. It is no surprise that the Holy Spirit counsels through His Word – He will give us direction and guidance in the midst of darkness and confusion.  One word from God changes everything – the Holy Spirit whispers in the darkness, He enlightens the Word with power, He counsels us in truth and in spirit.  He is our Counsellor and He is available 24/7.

5.       Strengthener – Ephesians 3:16 speaks of us being strengthened with power through His Spirit in our inner man.  The Holy Spirit provides spiritual, emotional and physical strength to believers to help us stand firm in our faith, withstand the storms that we face and be deeply rooted in God.  When we are strengthened, we are called to strengthen others – to encourage one another literally means to put courage in to one another.  This is why, when we are going through the really tough stuff, it is critical that we keep coming to Church – to be surrounded by people who love us, can encourage us and to set aside time for the Holy Spirit to minister through the worship and His Word.  You can be healed during the worship, you can be set free by His Word and you can be strengthened in your inner man – anywhere and anytime.  That is the power of the Holy Spirit.

6.       Standby – a standby is one to be relied on especially in emergencies.  One that is held in reserve ready for use, a reliable substitute, ready and available for immediate action or use. With a reserve you cannot be stranded in the face of unforeseen circumstances.  This means you cannot ever come to a crossroad in your life and be frustrated for a lack of help or intervention.  If you have ever been on standby in an airport, you simply wait until an opening is available and then you take it.  In the same way, the Holy Spirit is standing by, just waiting for an opening in our lives.

I hope you have a little more understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  There is a huge difference in a Christian who is just kind of trying to make it on their own and one who really relies on the Holy Spirit in their lives to enable them to do everything they need to do.

And in all of this, Jesus said you will receive power and you will be my witnesses (Acts 1:8) – we often think this is the power to go out and preach the Gospel, and it is.  But it is also the power to live a life well in challenging circumstances.  Whatever is going on in your life, people are watching you – they way you handle disappointment, rejection, difficult and devastating circumstances – it all bears witness to your life as a Christian.

When things look the worst, when they look the darkest, when you think they can’t possible get any worse, this is not the time to give up.  Instead, stand up, even if it is on wobbly legs, raise your hands up and declare – “I’m going to praise God in this storm.” And let the Holy Spirit help you – lean on Him, lean into Him, talk to Him, cry out to Him, rant to Him (He’s not afraid of what you might say) – and let Him lead you through the darkness.  Literally put your hand out and let Him take it and lead you.  There is power in admitting you can’t do this on your own.  There is power in admitting that you don’t want to.

So if today is a difficult day for you, or if tomorrow will be – if yesterday was and the hurt is still overwhelming you – let the Holy Spirit minister to your heart, heal your pain, remind you of who you are in Christ, counsel you with God’s promises and saturate you with His love.

We have a gift – given to us by God, of Himself and for us to open, everyday.  Have you opened your gift?  Don’t leave this place without taking your gift with you.

We are now going to open the altars up for prayer.  And we have plenty of time.  God really wants to minister to hurting hearts today, I really believe that there is a healing work going to be done here today.

We are going to wait on the Lord, if you need prayer, if you need encouragement, if you have never been filled with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, can I encourage you to come forward this morning.  We have a team who would love to pray for you, we have a God who wants to minister to you this morning, we have the power of the Holy Spirit who follows the Word with signs and wonders.

Let us pray:

Holy Spirit, strengthen us, comfort us, counsel us, guide us and teach us how to pray.  May you grant us, out of the rich treasury of your glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in our inner man by the Holy Spirit Himself.  May He strengthen us with all might and all power and teach us how to walk with you and lean on you and lean in to you when troubles arise.

Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, Lord.  Thank you for the power imparted to us to live our lives well.  Thank you for your forgiveness and mercy, let it flow, let it wash over us today as we forgive others, and ourselves, as we celebrate you today and the beautiful gifts you give us.

Amen.