Day 12 - The Holy Spirit Is NOT Passive

The Spirit is NOT passive, but active and involved.

John 16:7-8, 13-14

But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you…But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all 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. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

Have you ever gone fishing in a boat that came equipped with a fish finder? That kicks “drowning worms” up a notch, right? All it takes is the signal that there are lots of fish under the boat to turn even lazy fishermen into active and involved participants! Visualize it. Nice warm day, pleasant breeze, not caring if there’s a worm (or whatever bait you choose) on the hook…versus dropping your line in the water and hardly getting your line set before it jerks and you haul fish in as fast as you can bait your hook. That’s how the Spirit is in our lives—active and involved.

In an earlier post (Sailing Is Easy), I mentioned that the second step of learning to sail involves steering. More exactly, it involves steering accurately. The article says, “This takes most folks about five minutes to learn, maybe ten for those who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. But you can’t trim (adjust) your sails properly unless you can steer a straight line.” Hmmmm...steering...that’s something important to consider as we put ourselves into the position of catching the wind of the Holy Spirit in the sails of our vessels.

Does the thought of giving the Holy Spirit that kind of active reign in your life make you excited...or frightened?