Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

 

Several years ago I returned to the home place in Boerne for a visit with Dad & Mother.  As our sharing progressed through the night, mother contentedly fell asleep in her den chair.  While Dad and I continued, I explained to him what I was learning about understanding God’s leadership in our lives.

 

“God will show us the vision we are to pursue.  However, God will only give us the specific signs to follow as we need them.  I call this … confirming signs of the Spirit.”  Dad smiled and said, “We will call it C.S.S.”  Subsequently when we talked, we asked each other for C.S.S. updates.  When Dad passed away, I changed my license plate to CSS.

 

Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit counsels, comforts, and confronts us.  Through each of the Spirit’s actions we are given a C.S.S.  We are responsible for our response to the Spirit.  If the Spirit confronts our conscience then we are to examine ourselves, and get re-aligned to God’s best intentions.  If we are confused about what to do next, then we are to pursue the Spirit’s counsel and act on the wisdom we receive.  If we are anxious, we are to allow the Spirit’s comfort to bring our disease into ease.

 

The Holy Spirit empowers us to live the Christian life successfully.  The Spirit is God’s presence at creation (Gen. 1:2), and the resurrection presence of Christ (John16 & 17, Acts 1).  The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the Bible, as Paul said in II Timothy 3:16.  The Holy Spirit also helps us to pray when we don’t know how to pray (Romans 8).

 

God is so powerful and magnificent that one name cannot describe all of God.  Therefore we use the Trinity as a biblical way for understanding God’s fullness as Father (Creator), Son (Redeemer) and Spirit (Empowerer).  God’s power is released within us as we yield to His Spirit.

 

After my freshman year at Baylor, I worked as a summer missionary in Oregon.  My primary responsibilities included being the pastor of a house church, preaching for revivals & camps, and doing community service in a logging village.  But my real personal objective for the summer was to get the Holy Spirit.  I wanted to live the Spirit-filled life.

 

To satisfy this yearning I filled my suitcases with books about the Holy Spirit.  By summer’s end I had learned more about the Spirit but I did not have more of the Spirit …

 

My yearning and questing continued until I learned the secret.  God had never intended it to be a secret.  A gift?  Yes … which is why spiritual gifts are called “grace gifts.”  A second blessing?  Yes … if we understand that there are continuous blessings of transformation which the Spirit ushers into our lives.

 

What then is the secret I learned?  Yielding.

 

Yielding to the Spirit means the Spirit is free to instruct our minds, inspire our hearts, empower our spirits, and embolden our bodies.

 

Since at birth we are made in God’s image, we have the Spirit with us in the beginning.  Since our belief in Christ, we have the Spirit helping us to believe.  But the Spirit has much more for us, and this more unfolds as we continually yield our will into God’s Will …

 

By desiring, receiving, and obeying – the Spirit grows us from the inside out.  This growth is called the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians5:22-23) … the Spirit-filled life.  Through this outcome we know the wonder of heavenly power stirring in our earthly lives.

 

Pastor Les Hollon

 

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.  After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.  On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”  He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

-Acts 1:1-8 (NIV)

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.  But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.  Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

-Galatians 5:22 – 6:2 (NIV)

 

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

 

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