Come, Holy Spirit

Too often when the saints assemble for worship, Someone is conspicuously absent. The Lord of the lampstands stands in the shadows while the religious "experts" run the show. Empty ritual, powerless preaching, and impotent prayers leave the spirit of man hollow and hungry. As a matter of course, children who came seeking bread leave the house of God with nothing but stones.

We need to ask ourselves, "Do I really believe in the Holy Spirit?" Not simply theoretically and intellectually, not only as a creedal statement of faith. But do I actually believe that the Holy Spirit has a present, contemporary ministry in the life of the Church and individual Christian?

Every Sunday morning and evening the renowned London pastor, Charles Spurgeon, climbed fifteen steps into his Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit. At every step it was his practice to pray, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” By the time he had reached the pulpit, from which he would then preach to fifteen thousand people, he had repeated fifteen times, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” Spurgeon prayed as he did because he realized that with all his gifts, only God could transform people, only God could reach the heart of the hearer.

When the apostle Paul reached the city of Ephesus during the course of his first missionary journey, he found some disciples of John the Baptist and asked them: "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered. "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit" (Acts 19:2). While there are differences of opinion as to what the spiritual status of these disciples was before Paul arrived, we can be certain of this: they were humble and teachable enough to acknowledge their spiritual poverty and receive the Spirit's fullness into their lives. What they lacked before the apostle arrived, they had received before he left.

Here's a tragic irony: the average evangelical Christian has heard about the Holy Spirit and says he believes in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. He regularly repeats the creedal statement of faith, "I believe in the Holy Spirit." He sings hymns which frequently refer to the person of the Holy Spirit and reads about the Spirit in the Bible. And yet, he lives like these Ephesians who were only familiar with John's water baptism before Paul walked into the city.

Samuel Chadwick, writing in his book entitled The Way to Pentecost, says of these Ephesians: "Like priests, like people. Like minister, like members. Truth comes through personality; and the level of a preacher's experience determines both the range and level of the sermon. It also determines the level to which he can help others. John's baptism in the pulpit resulted in a corresponding religion in the pew. It was a cold-water Gospel and a cold-water piety. To Paul's keen eye there was something wanting. They were sternly devout, orderly reverent, but it was not Christian worship and experience. Their heads were bowed and their faces gave evidence of discipline, but they were not radiant. Their lives were marked by strict integrity, for John's cold-water religion was severely moral. They were as fervent as they were upright, and as religious as they were conscientious. Their religion was marked by a spirit of deep penitence and godly fear. Their religion was a strict, external observance; not an indwelling Presence. They lived by rule, not illumination. God saves from within; they disciplined themselves from without. Religion to them was a joyless burden, for they carried their God on their backs instead of in their hearts."

Where the Holy Spirit is rightfully acknowledged and welcomed, He will manifest Himself accordingly. Are we acknowledging the Holy Spirit? Are we welcoming the Holy Spirit? The following are some manifest signs of the Holy Spirit's presence in the individual and corporate life of the Church.

Where the Holy Spirit is manifestly present there will be conviction of sin. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, "He will convict the world of sin" (John 16:8). One's conscience is useful as far as it goes. But the conscience can only respond to moral issues according to how it has been educated. The Holy Spirit is God's monitor of the soul. He alone is capable of discriminating between right and wrong. Five minutes before my own conversion to Christ I was rationalizing sinful attitudes and activities. But when the Holy Spirit came near, He exposed the sin of my heart and I acknowledged my need of Christ and confessed my sin.

Where the Holy Spirit is manifestly present there will be His sanctifying influence. He is termed the Holy Spirit because it is His primary and fundamental ministry to conform believers to the image of Jesus Christ. Regardless of one's cultural and social status, before we come to Christ we are all morally bankrupt, altogether sinful, totally without merit before a holy God. But God does not leave us there. For us who have confessed Christ as Lord, we have "been chosen . . . through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ . . ." (1 Peter 1:2). God's desire for His people is that they be totally His--through and through.

Where the Holy Spirit is manifestly present there will be the fruit of joy. The Bible says that Jesus was anointed "with the oil of joy" (Hebrews 1:9). Paul writes that the Holy Spirit produces joy in the believer (Galatians 5:22). The Book of Acts records that the early disciples "were filled with joy. . ." (Acts 13:52). Joy is an unmistakable evidence of the presence of the Spirit. It is a frame of mind independent of life's circumstances. It causes the Christian to rejoice when there is no reason to rejoice. It is not happiness--it is more than happiness. It is the manifest presence of the "Joyful One" in the soul.

Where the Holy Spirit is manifestly present there will be fervent prayers offered. One cannot read the Book of Acts and the prayers of the apostle Paul without being struck by the fervent prayers of these early Christians. Because these were Spirit-filled men, they offered Spirit-anointed prayers. Away with tearless, mechanical, sterile praying. Let the believer go to Pentecost and there will be something of Pentecost in his prayers. This has nothing to do with volume or length; it does have to do with passion, warmth and feeling--the passion of the Holy Spirit burning in our hearts.

While it is true that God is omnipresent, yet it is also true that He delights and desires to manifest Himself to His children regularly. Jesus promised: "he who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21. NKJV).

Recently while sitting in my study meditating on the things of God, I was spontaneously prompted to lift my heart heavenward and pray. "Come, Holy Spirit." Immediately my spirit was warmed by His Spirit. I had no sooner offered this utterance when it was as though the Lord whispered in my heart. "My child, pray this prayer more often."

Now reader, would you join me in offering this prayer earnestly and frequently: "Come, Holy Spirit." For when the Holy Spirit manifests Himself He will convict of sin, prompt us to live consecrated lives, fill us with joy, and inspire us to offer fervent prayers. In the words of Isaac Watts,

Come, Holy Spirit. heavenly Dove
With all Thy quickening powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.