Expecting the Spirit

The Holy Spirit is a Person.  With a personality, with His own gifts and ways of doing things, with His own words.

So when we invite Him into our lives, He will choose Himself how He will arrive and how He will begin to reveal Himself, and the work He wants to do first in us.  Jesus told Nicodemus that just as he could not tell where the wind came from or where it would go, so would be the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We cannot control, manipulate, or predict what He will do.

It helps to have our eyes open, to be awake and aware and still, to be waiting and expectant---not of certain results, but of the fact that if we have asked, the Spirit of God will come to us.  As with any person, we probably should recognize His Personhood and approach Him as we would a friend, requesting His Presence.

As we study the lives of great people of God---C.S.Lewis, Deitrich Bonhoffer, Watchman Nee, John Wesley, the Catholic Saints----we find the arrival of the Spirit in their lives in manifold ways, not always dramatic, but nevertheless real and progressive.  God does not announce the dawn with trumpets, nor the unfolding of a rose with orchestral strings.  But each arrives in its own time, we know not how.  We see the result of slow progression, and we know something has happened.

Quietly, but surely, the Holy Spirit will make His Presence and action known to us---if we continue to welcome Him.  Sometimes, He will begin speaking to us at odd moments through the day, directing our actions.  Sometimes, he will stop us on the verge of saying something critical or harsh or sarcastic.  Sometimes, He will give us "inspiration" in ways of doing things that save us time or extra effort.  Or He will remind us of something important we are about to forget.

Methodically and gradually, He will begin to bring one area of life after another under His control---health, finances, relationships, work, etc.  He is all about healing, reconciliation, balance, harmony, and peace.  Some aspects of our lives and personalities will take longer than others to heal; it is a life-time process.

Jesus told the Apostles that He would love them and manifest Himself to them.  His words were also for us, not just for them.  He manifests Himself to us through the Holy Spirit.  If we ask for this manifestation, we will surely begin to experience it.