To many, the Holy Spirit may be too far out for them, somewhat distant perhaps, weird even. Their experience may be limited and unfortunately some even have a ‘bad taste’ because of something that happened that pushed them away.
John 14:16-18
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
If you trust Jesus at all, you can be sure that our ‘Good Shepherd’ would never give us someone to do us any harm. The Holy Spirit is called the ‘Spirit of Grace’, the ‘Spirit of God’, even the ‘Spirit of Christ’. Nothing weird here – just pure and holy.
So how come some people are afraid of the Holy Spirit, even put off by Him and remain ignorant of His ministry to us, in us and through us.
In my experience it’s because of a lack of ‘revelation’ knowledge of His person and ministry. Some churches ‘push off’ His ministry onto people in a fake and irresponsible way. They trade on ‘emotionalism’ and ‘manipulation’ rather than administer His gifts in a gracious way. In short, what should be a ‘naturally supernatural’ has become in some circles something weird.
For me the immersion in the Holy Spirit was a life changing experience. I didn’t fully comprehend it at the beginning– still don’t as I continue to grow spiritually – but through tome I began to learn more of what God had deposited in me through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
When I accepted Jesus the Lord, the Holy Spirit came to regenerate me, and then a few weeks later He empowered me further for supernatural witness.
Was there emotion? Yes. I teared up a lot at His warm comforting love as I responded to His presence in an emotional way. But the foundation was Him, His presence, not some hype.
Since then, His presence has never left me: almost 37 years ago. Have there been ups and downs? Of course, yes. But the Holy Spirit has always been there to comfort, guide, strengthen, teach and comfort me.
May I encourage you to open your heart to the warmth of the Holy Spirit in these times. He has come to glorify Jesus and empower you to love for His glory.
John 16:14
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.