When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
Summary: There is only one Christmas Day each calendar year, but we can live each day as if it were Christmas if we allow the Holy Spirit to be our guide.
Christmas has come and gone. It went fast, didn’t it? Yet, there is a feeling of Christmas Spirit that lingers on.
People talk about “Christmas Spirit” all the time. When people are feeling the Christmas Spirit, it seems like they are happier and easier to live with. I wonder why…
Perhaps it is because, no matter your beliefs, if you are looking forward to Christmas, you are connecting with something bigger than yourself. Christmas inspires us to think of others differently. Instead of what we can get out of others, we begin to think about what we can give.
Did someone cut in line ahead of you? Oh well, it’s Christmas!
Are you in a dead-end job? Somehow, that doesn’t matter as much when you are looking forward to Christmas with family and friends.
Is there a relative you would rather not spend time with? Perhaps, since it is Christmas, spending an evening with them won’t be so bad.
The Spirit of Christmas changes us in many ways.
During the rest of the year, we sometimes wonder why people can’t have the Christmas Spirit all year long. The good news is that we can!
Oh, maybe we can’t get there under our own power, but with a little help, we can. A little help called the Holy Spirit. In many ways, the Holy Spirit is the Christmas Spirit. After all, they both do the same thing.
The Christmas Spirit is all about Jesus. The Holy Spirit is, too.
The Christmas Spirit causes us to think about Jesus (God and Jesus are one — John 10:30). It also makes us think about others we will wish Merry Christmas to, buy gifts for, or celebrate with. This happens to be the Second Great Commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
If we embrace the Holy Spirit, we can enjoy the Spirit of Christmas all year long. Give it a try!
Application: Live as though Christmas will be tomorrow … every day.
Food for Thought: How do we know if we have the Holy Spirit in us?
How do we know if we have the Holy Spirit in us?
I believe that whether it is initial contact of the Spirit (for a new believer) or for one who is a follower of Christ, as we read God’s Word and believe, faith is manifested in us by the Holy Spirit. This is evidence of the Holy Spirit within us.
Romans 10:17
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Ephesians 1:13
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
As we are transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit becomes evident within us and manifests outside of us. This is evidence of the Holy Spirit within us.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Also, as we grow in grace and knowledge, our faith in God grows, giving us greater assurance in Him, making us bolder in our testimony of Him, and empowering us to walk with Him. Our confidence in Him not only enables us to ask of Him what His Will is, but to carry out His Will out of love for Him. This is evidence of the Holy Spirit within us.
1 John 3:18-22
18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
Thank you, Chris!
I like your wording — you talk about the “evidence” that the Holy Spirit is in us.
Sometimes that is all we can “see.” Other times it feels like he is whispering in our ear!
Thanks. Good comments and verses CH. You used several key verses I was thinking of as well.
If we have responded to the gospel message and placed our trust in Christ, we are promised the indwelling Holy Spirit. If we have the Holy Spirit, we should bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Ephesians 1: 13 – 14: And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
2 Corinthians 1: 21 – 22: Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Galatians 5: 22 – 23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.
Romans 8: 9 – 11: You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life d because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of e his Spirit who lives in you.
Thank you, Rich!
I like the connection between the promise of the Word and the “fruit” that results from the promise.
How do we know if we have the Holy Spirit in us?
Jesus teaches all believers to know, when He left this world, another “ The Spirit of Truth “ would come. God has inspired the writers of His word to record this truth regarding the source of our knowledge of His living within every believer.
John 15:26, When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
John 16:8, When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.
John 16:13, But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
The Holy Spirit of God is the power of God in every believer who will reveal truth to us, and speak truth to those He chooses to bring to us. We of ourselves have no power, however as we yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit given to us, we have the honor and joy of experiencing God working through us which is beyond any human joy we can ever imagine. We live to daily humble ourselves and exalt our God in all circumstances.
Romans 8:16, The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
2 TIMOTHY 1:7, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.
MATTHEW 10:20, For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Thanks you, Ron!
“We live to daily humble ourselves and exalt our God in all circumstances.”
Well said!