Presence of the Holy Spirit

“Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

~John 14:23 (NRSV).

There are all sorts of theologies around concerning the origin, operation and fulfilment of the Holy Spirit; not all of these are correct, or even partly correct.

For instance, the devil can sow into our minds that the conscience is the Holy Spirit speaking. In some ways this is a simplistic mode of viewing the operation of the Spirit. It doesn’t, however, explain much about the origin and fulfilment, or the mission, of the Spirit.

We can discover more about the Presence of the Holy Spirit when we venture to the source: Jesus, speaking on behalf of his Father.

Worship in Spirit and Truth

Per John 4:24, those seeking to please God in worship must do so in the Spirit — the collusion of wills with the Almighty’s.

Just as important is the function of abiding — clinging as it were! — to truth. Doing this must, now, be the most important holy invective against a world seducing us beyond truth.

Abiding to such truth is bound to convict us to do works for the Lord. That is, we’ll “keep” Jesus’ word.

Father’s Special Love

God loves everyone, but the ones especially loved are those keeping the heart of the original covenant, because it ushers a sense of devotion past any remnant of self-gain.

Love is voluntary. It cannot ever be forced or coerced and remain as love.

The Father knows that for someone to die to themselves, that there, is the manifestation of love that he seeks. This is Jesus-borne love.

To this special kind of love the Spirit finds a worthy home. This person is specially blessed.

Those Having the Spirit – Obedient to Fruitful Ends

The Father and Jesus are one. This passage opens the disciples’ thought to the Third Person of the Holy Trinity; the Person to remain after Jesus is gone from the earth.

Unlike the Father and the Son — incarnate in Jesus — the Spirit is making a home in us. The Spirit of the Father, and of the Son, might be within, but it’s the Holy Spirit that is actually in us.

But this can only be so to the tune of truth; to the discernment of doing God’s will, for love is action-based.

Love cannot be counted. It is realms intangible. God made it that way so we couldn’t manipulate it for our ends.

We have the Spirit at accord with our loving works; not quantity works, but quality works impugned by selfless love.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.