The Holy Spirit

Heylo everybody!:D
It has been awhile since we met each other. hmm, wondering how was your christmas and holidays.
time flies! and now is definitely a time for us to prepare ourselves for a new semester ahead with lotsa great things awaiting ;)
As i was packing my things, I happened to flip through this newsletter with an article talking about The Holy Spirit.
To my surprise, this article related very well to our surroundings and is not at all boring. I realized that i had so much more to learn about Holy Spirit, it is definitely something more than what I Feel and what I think it is.
well, i really encourage you guys to read through the below article. interesting one!enjoy~ ;)
__________________________________________________________________________________

The Holy Spirit unites rather than divides. Much of the activities of a church which carries out in the name of the Holy Spirit can become divisive or arrogant.

The Holy Spirit works in many ways, in different circumstances and in many places. the moment we narrow down the activity of the Holy Spirit, we become sectarian in our outlook. We may claim that we possess the Holy Spirit or our Church is the Spirit-filled Church.

The list that describes the Holy Spirit's activities or the symbols used are numerous. The church's main weakness is that she tends to over emphasize one or two dominant aspects of the Holy Spirit's activities. For example. "the Holy Spirit is like the rush of a mighty wind" (Acts 2;2). This is often the emotional side of the experience of the Holy Spirit. Tremendous power of the Holy Spirit is released in the lives of the believers. Healing, courage and strength to do the impossible happen in our experiences. The joy that comes from speaking in tongues. All are valid experiences of a spirit-filled life. But it should not stop there. or else the spirit-filled life can be shallow and naive.

The rational aspect of our life must also be touched by the Spirit, because "the Holy Spirit will guide us into all the truth" (John 16:130). The mind is to be transformed by the Spirit of truth. The Spirit of God enlightens or makes us aware of the truth that we either fail to see or is too dull and lazy to discern. Often, the spirit-filled Christians who rely more on emotion and experience may distrust the use of their minds. They can become narrow in thinking and dogmatic in attitude; that is, maintaining they are always on the right others are in the wrong. On the reverse, we can be so rational that we are cold to any emotional feelings at all. The Holy Spirit works at both the rational and emotional levels of our life. To experience one without the other makes our spiritual life incomplete.

To go further, I use another image. The Holy Spirit is like "tongues of fire". (Acts 2:3) Fire speaks of warmth and zeal. Life in the spirit without love and zeal can be cold and unattractive. We can be very sound in our understanding of God's word and display a number of spiritual gifts in our life, but lack the love in our relationship with other people. Our spiritual life is not bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The lack of concern and the care for other people and the lack of commitment to the task that we undertake for God are signs of the shallowness in our spiritual growth, the zeal in our service for God, without love for him and those whom we minister to, is not a sustained one. It can be just an outburst, rather that a gradual and dedication to the task that we do, A spirit-filled life gives us the wholeness. It has breath, depth and height in our relationship with God and with other people and in the work we do.

The RT.Rev.Datuk Dr. Lim Cheng Ean
Former Bishop of West Malaysia
____________________________________________________________________________________

well, after reading this. even before start judging and thinking that who has what to learn, let's take the time to look through our own lives.
emotional, rational, and warmth&zeal,
these 3 aspects of the Holy Spirit, which do we lack in? is there any aspect which we can work more on?
"A Spirit filled life gives us the wholeness. It has breath, depth and height in our relationship with God and with other people and in the work we do."

Let's use these 2 more days before 2009 ends, to reflect on what we have learnt this whole year. and in what areas can we improve ourselves to be a better person next year?

Regards to you :)
Shalom.
Jia Lerd