When The Spirit Is Present: Engagement

As we continue in reflection on this past Sunday's sermon, let's think about the idea of engagement with God.

We are looking at Luke 3:16, where John the Baptist states that when Jesus comes He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. In the sermon it was noted that the Greek word "kai" can be translated not only as "and", but as "even" or "indeed". The essence of John's statement is that the Holy Spirit is indeed fire, a consuming fire that reveals who we are at the core.

Jesus, during His own ministry, elaborates further on this concept of the Holy Spirit: "When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement" (John 16:8). Jesus also uses the term "the Spirit of truth" (John 14:17; John 15:26)- the One who reveals what is right and wrong.

In First Samuel 19, we have an account of the Spirit of God in engagement with King Saul. In this engagement, as is also the case in the more famed passage of Acts 2, things happen when the Holy Spirit shows up. As Pastor Sam said on Sunday, "there is public manifestation of a supernatural engagement between God and you". And, we don't get to pick how God shows up... but Scripture is consistent in indicating that there is some form of expression. King Saul walked along the road prophesying. The disciples spoke of the awesome works of God in languages they had never learned. Pastor Sam spoke of his own experience of weeping before the Lord.

I have my own story of engagement, and perhaps you have yours as well. But when the Spirit is present, there is more to the experience than just physical or verbal manifestations. Tomorrow we'll turn our lens to the concept of victory in relation to the presence of the Holy Spirit.