I have been on a quest if you will about truly finding a well-balanced biblical perspective on the Holy Spirit. The more that I look, the more I see how to an extent I was out of whack in my leaning. But God is faithful and is bringing me back to a place of earthly good…lol! I was thinking today about the concept of the Holy Spirit as a gift and what that means. There is a personal and a purposeful perspective on the gift. But let’s gain a context…

Ephesians 1:13-14  “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,  (14)  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

#1 As a gift from God, the Holy Spirit is a trust between us. God has entrusted us with a part of Him. There is a great level of stewardship involved in the gift of the Holy Spirit. For starters when you realize the personality of the Holy Spirit and realize that the Holy Spirit is not an “it” but rather a “he”, than you can approach your relationship with Him as you would effort to cultivate a relationship with your close friends. Without cultivating (spending time on) your relationship, you can’t have a real connection with them or the Holy Spirit. George Wood in his book “Living in the Spirit”, gives us several indications to the person (personality and character) of the Holy Spirit that radically changes my approach to him. Seeing the person of the Holy Spirit is essential to getting Jesus thought when he says in John 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever;”. “Another comforter” is the phrase “allos paracletos” which translated means another helper of the same kind as me. Jesus was stating that God would send the Holy Spirit to be a helper at the same level as Jesus in our lives. This means you CAN have a relationship with Spirit just as you have with Jesus.

#2 As a gift from God, there is a purpose to Him. Ephesians tells us that he is to act as an “earnest of our inheritance”. Think of him in terms of a good faith deposit, when you are interested in making a purchase to call your own, you put forth an earnest payment to show your interest in purchasing. This puts a stake (or claim) upon the land you want and is granting the seller the right to expect payment in full for the land when the ability and circumstances are right and available. It is the same with the Spirit. God has given us his “good faith deposit” being the Holy Spirit granting us the right to expect him to take full (or complete) ownership and a future time. The Holy Spirit working in our lives is purposed to aid us in preparation for that time of God’s collecting. Ephesians ends this passage with “to the praise of his glory”. This tells me that while the Holy Spirit is sent as a gift for you, to aid in living this life, and while he is a preparer of our hearts for full future redemption, He (Holy Spirit) is not for your glory, but for Gods! He is not here to make you feel or be special, but is here for you to make GOD special! God’s desire is for humanity to come into relationship and be reconciled to him again. He has given us everything that we need in order for this to happen. He has provided salvation through Jesus death on the Cross and has promised eternal life through Jesus Resurrection. He has given us the Holy Spirit to stay in constant contact and relationship with the Full TRINITY (Father, Son and Spirit). They are all present and desire to be influential in our lives working together as they should…in perfect harmony.

Pentecost is not just about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and tongues, it is about God making everything possible for the full redemption of man and reconciliation to him. God is an AWESOME GOD! He has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness. It is a no-brainer/win-win situation with him! What a great gift!