Every year, Pentecost Sunday presents an inviting challenge to fellowship with the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, who proceeds from The Father through the Son and is co-equal, co-existent, and co-eternal with God the Father and God the Son in essence and person.
He is sent by the Father into the world through the Son and by the Son’s redemptive work. Through Christ and in union with Christ, we receive the Spirit of God the Father. This receiving is eternal because the Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son for eternity. This is for us, who are made in the image and after the likeness of God. Our human life, fulfilment, purpose, and existence are based on the triune life model. This is why we must understand the Triune God and be in similar self-giving love relationships with others.
We are created for one another, just as each member of the Trinity exists for the other – to be in a relationship with others. We, the Church, receive the Holy Spirit, through union with Christ. It is therefore not surprising that in contemplating this Gift, my heart desires more intimacy with the Holy Spirit. My spirit always longs to be aware of His closeness. My mind asks Him to illuminate the Bible for me.
On Pentecost Sunday, it hit home that we are invited to develop fresh intimacy with the Holy Spirit so that we can begin to live in Heaven on Earth! If we are to fellowship with the Holy Spirit, we must partner with Him, communicate with Him and be actively involved in a relationship with Him. For this to happen, we must recognize Him as a person and learn to interact with Him as a person. He is that close friend who is always with us everywhere we go. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have been bought and redeemed; and because of the love of God the Father, we can have fellowship with the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:13).
The deep intimate relationship that we must develop with the Holy Spirit will teach us the deep things of God, guide us in all truth, and give us much-needed counsel and wisdom. When we learn to commune with the Holy Spirit, to talk to Him like we would talk to a friend, then we can recognize His voice as He speaks back to us and guides us. In this relationship, we learn to rely on Him and not on our understanding. He becomes that close friend with whom we share deep and intimate things about our life, the concerns and troubles (real and unreal) that we have. He becomes that close friend that we share our joys and troubles with. And we go along this fellowship knowing how deep and meaningful our relationship with God has become. God promises to abide with us forever, but we are responsible for growing in intimacy with Him. Our approach to this intimacy should be to keep it simple by:
- Developing God – Consciousness
St. Paul’s Trinitarian blessing speaks of the amazing grace of our Master (Lord Jesus Christ), the extravagant love of the Almighty (God, the Father), and the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:13). Living in fellowship with the Holy Spirit means hoping for a life in the trinitarian model. It means developing a constant awareness that God is with you all the time. Paul urges that we pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
It is not enough that we attend Mass daily and pray a devotional at a set period in our (not so) busy schedule. We must become friends of God, always available for conversation with Him. We must become the one with whom He shares His secrets (Psalm 25:14). We will try our best to talk to Him throughout the day. Even as I am writing to you at this moment, I seek His guidance…that I may be enlightened and inspired to share that which He wills for you. When I take a break, I will stop and connect with Him, calling on him,
Come Holy Spirit, come into my heart. I love you Holy Spirit, come and be my love. I need you Holy Spirit; come and sanctify my being. I adore you Holy Spirit, come and fill my mind.
This will help me (us) develop intimacy with Him. This God-consciousness will surely overflow into our other relationships. This is not too hard to inculcate if we can practice being constantly aware of the one who never leaves us (John 14:16). The New Testament believer knows the Holy Spirit will never leave us, but we must keep in mind that we can lose His special anointing (Judges 16:20 & 1 Samuel 16:14).
- Inviting the Holy Spirit to read the Word with Us
If we want the scriptures to open up and desire more revelation to flow, we must invite the Holy Spirit to help us when we read the Bible. We ask the Lord to give us the spirit of wisdom and understanding to hear the word from His perspective. We wish to read with God so that we can see the Word in a new way. When we give Him the lead, He highlights certain scriptures which we should meditate upon because staying in the Word enables the Scripture to explode in fresh revelation.
As St. Paul interceded for the Christians at Ephesus, so we also pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know him, so that, with the eyes of our hearts enlightened, we may know what is the hope to which He has called us, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power for us who believe, according to the working of His great power (Ephesians 1:17-19).
- Praying in the Holy Spirit
God the Father sent His only begotten Son to die on the Cross for us, but He defeated death by raising Him from the dead and ensured our eternal salvation by putting His Holy Spirit inside of us. God gave His Son for us (we see the Father in the Son – Colossians 1:15), and the Holy Spirit to us (we hear the Father in the Holy Spirit – Romans 8:14). So, when we do not know what or how to pray, we remember that God put the Holy Spirit inside of us, and He knows what and how to pray.
As St. Jude urges, we must build ourselves up on our most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, and keep ourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which leads to eternal life (Jude 1:20-21). We must trust that the Holy Spirit knows the blueprint for our life and all that the Lord God has predetermined for our lives. Therefore, when we pray in the Spirit, our minds are unfruitful for we do not know what we are praying; but our spirit connects with the Father and the Holy Spirit prays the perfect will on our behalf. We need to learn to faithfully pray in the Spirit, to read the word with the Spirit, and to build an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit….
- In Fellowship with the Advocate
The Holy Spirit, as promised to us by the Lord Jesus (John 14:16-18), was given to the Church on the day of Pentecost(Acts 2:1-2). Although the apostles had to wait, we expressly have received the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). The Lord Jesus did not leave us orphaned; He comes to us in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate, given to us by the Father (Luke 11:13), to be with us forever. He is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But we know Him because He abides in us and is always with us. We know the glorified Christ (John 20:17) is living in us by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:16).
- In Fellowship with the Counsellor
We understand that He is called alongside to help. He is another like Christ, but working on the inside of us. He does everything God wants to get done in us and through us. Everything the Lord Jesus accomplished for us is applied to us and effected in us by the Holy Spirit. There is nothing that we can do that is acceptable to God except that which is done by the Holy Spirit. We are mere ministers in this new covenant, the dispensation that is rightly called the ministry of the Spirit who gives life (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). By this Spirit, we are saved, sanctified and made fruitful. Ours is to work out that which He works in, for He comes not only upon the believer but into the believer’s life, there to remain until Christ’s return.
- In Fellowship with the Teacher
The Lord Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would teach us everything, and remind us of all that He had said to His disciples (John 14:26). The Lord Jesus identified the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father to testify on His behalf (John 15:26). That He comes to prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). Always speaking of the Lord Jesus, not about the law or our fleshly abilities. We learn from the Holy Spirit what it is to be in Christ and to have Christ in us. We set our minds on the things that are of the Spirit, for life and peace (Romans 8:5-6).
- In Fellowship with the Recreator
Believers cannot resist the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:53), neither can they blaspheme Him (Matthew 12:31-32), but the world cannot receive Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. We know Him because He abides with us and dwells in us (John 14:17). Our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit because we have received Him abundantly. We have been justified by His grace and become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:6-7).
By the Holy Spirit, we are recreated (Romans 10:9-10). God the Father supplies us with Christ’s presence through the Holy Spirit. He comes to dwell in us, to live Christ’s life through us, so that we bear fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). We must be aware of His presence, learn to listen to His counsel, and be sensitive to Him. Thus, we do not quench the Spirit by rejecting or ignoring His prompts (1 Thessalonians 5:19), neither do we grieve Him by our bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling, and with all malice (Ephesians 4:30-31). When we are in fellowship with Him, we learn to love like Him (Romans 5:5).
Take-Home Message
Living in fellowship with the Holy Spirit is abiding in Christ. It is being united to Christ in the bonds of the Holy Spirit. In fellowship with the Holy Spirit, we communicate with the Lord God, and He with us. He teaches, guides, leads and gives us the power to do the will of God. When we sin, He convicts us and exhorts us to go to the cleansing fountain (Sacrament of Reconciliation). Our fellowship with the Holy Spirit is a partnership in life and ministry, with unlimited, inexhaustible resources and invincible power. The Holy Spirit longs for this intimate fellowship with us and longs to be admitted into the inner life of our souls. And we must strive to enter into this fellowship with the Holy Spirit for eternity. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore, Amen.
*NB: Unless specifically stated, all Bible quotations are from the NABRE Version.
5 thoughts on “Living In Fellowship with the Holy Spirit”
Is there anyone on this site that will have Lord Jesus Holy Spirit fellowship to talk about the person the Holy Spirit guarantees as it is written in John 3: 3; John 16: 13; 1 John 2: 26-29 and 1 John 3: 6-10.
In the presence of the Godhead of Jesus Christ, may we have a brotherly love fellowship without ignoring Lord Jesus brotherly love commandment?
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The Godhead wants our dependence and trust. The humility that God wants towards Him is for us to cast all of our care on Him (cf. 1Peter 5:6-7). This is what lifts and exalts us, and opens us up to grace. It needs to be the basis of our interaction with God because, without it, we are making up our own way of interacting with Him. He may not be too impressed.
“Come Holy Spirit, Come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.”