Trust the Holy Spirit
If I were beginning my life with
God all over again I'd trust the Holy Spirit to lead me into deeper
awareness of God and personal holiness. I know this is all more complex
than it sounds but in some respects it really isn't complex at all. Even
for wise theologians it's difficult to know, precisely, how to speak
about the person of the Holy Spirit but it's clear, especially from the
New Testament, that the Spirit is a "person" in his own right and not
just a way of saying "God is at work." (He speaks of himself as "I" and
"me" in Acts 13:2.) What's not difficult to see is this: the Holy Spirit
brings glory both to the Father and the Son and part of the way he does
that is to reveal the Father and Son to us and to enable us to enter
into holy communion with them.
We may not be able to say a lot about his "person" but we can
certainly tell a lot about him by the things he helps us to see, think,
speak and do. The Spirit led one great Christian to insist that the only
fruit the Spirit produces is the kind that pleases God and reflects his
character. See Galatians 5:22-23 on this. In this way, and others, the
Spirit makes God accessible to us. He helps us to enter God's presence
not like we enter a room but in a spiritual union and relationship. And
having brought us into God's house and presence he continues to teach us
how to be more and more at home in that house.
Some people so rarely talk about the Holy Spirit that you'd think
they can get along without him very well--they can't! Others want to
talk about nothing but the Spirit and you might get the impression there
was no Father or Son--they shouldn't! (And a lot of the time it isn't
the Spirit they're talking about; they're really talking about
themselves.) The great news is that our ignorance of the Spirit's
"person" or the fact that we either ignore him or thrust him ahead of
the Father and Son--the great news is that none of that stops him from
working on our behalf. He still glorifies the Father and the Son; he
still opens our eyes, deepens our faith and enriches our lives in
holiness. The truth is, he doesn't mind not getting "centre stage".
Christ sent him as a "strengthener" and counsellor and said, "He will
not speak on his own...He will bring glory to me." (John 16:13-14)
That's the Holy Spirit for you; sent from the Father and glad to glorify
the Father's Son by instructing, transforming and sanctifying humans.
I don't mean to say that the Spirit doesn't mind us sidelining him.
He certainly does, because to sideline him is to shut doors and retard
growth in intimacy with God! The Spirit is utterly and ceaselessly
opposed to the evil within and around us (Galatians 5:17) so there's a
ruthlessness about him. This means he's in earnest about bringing God
and us together and that in turn means we can trust him to get us there.
In fact, the scriptures will say that the presence of the Spirit in the
church is the guarantee and down payment of the completed
glorification.
(You might find something useful in the little book: "Where the Spirit of the Lord Is")