Day 118: What Are The Growth Ministries of the Holy Spirit? Part 1
2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.
The week, we want to see clearly how the Holy Spirit works within us to lead us to Jesus and glorify Jesus. The Holy Spirit is our great Advocate—our helper, our witness, our guide, our power. As we turn ourselves over to Him, He will fill us with the Life of Christ Himself, full of truth, goodness and glory. The Holy Spirit has been given to us to guide us into all truth, which is Jesus our Lord. The Spirit leads us, intercedes for us, empowers us and desires to fill us so that we can experience the reality of Jesus’ life in the here and now and not just in the hereafter.
How Does The Holy Spirit Help Us To Grow To Maturity?
We’ve explored some of the ways that the Holy Spirit worked in both the life of our Lord Jesus and in our lives. These “New Birth” ministries define who we have become, alive in Christ. This week we will consider Five Growth Ministries of the Holy Spirit.
The Growth ministries are ongoing ministries of the Holy Spirit. These ministries are done to us and for us so that we may grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus. These ministries help us to become the children that Father-God has designed us to be in Christ. These five ministries are those of the Spirit’s 1) Teaching, 2) Illuminating, 3) Leading, assuring, praying, 4) Empowering, and 5) Filling. These ministries of the Holy Spirit enable us to produce His “fruit” that we discussed last week.
John 14-16 is a very important section of Scripture for understanding the work of the Holy Spirit in the current age. Although Jesus is talking specifically to The Apostles and how the Spirit would work in and through them in the days to come, we also see that much of what Jesus says has application to what the Spirit does in, to, and through us.
In John 14-16, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate or Helper. The word that is used here is the term parakletos and is difficult to translate by one term into English. It is helpful to see how Jesus defines the work of the Spirit when He uses this term. The Spirit as The Advocate will 1) teach the Apostles and cause themto rememberall that Jesus had already taught them (John 14:26), 2) He will testify about Jesus—give the final witness to the reality of who Jesus is (John 15:26), and 3) represent the very presence of Jesus with His people while He is in Heaven (John 16:7). Based on this foundation, we can take a look at these other specific ministries that come to us by the Spirit.
1. The Holy Spirit Guides Us To And Teaches Us The Truth.
John 14:24–26
I (Jesus) have spoken these things while staying with you (The Twelve Apostles). 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.
John 16:13
But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever He hears, and will tell you what is to come.
When Jesus first spoke the words of John 14, He was speaking directly to the Apostles, the men who would give witness to Him in the coming days and even write part of the New Testament. So, in one sense, these verses do no apply directly to us in the same way that they applied to these men. However, the Spirit does teach us. The Spirit is present with us to “guide us into all truth.”
Throughout John 14-16, Jesus refers to the Spirit as the Spirit of Truth (see John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13). The Spirit’s role is to show us Truth and teach us Truth. This Truth is Jesus:
Ephesians 4:20–21
But you did not learn about Christ like this (in impurity and greed), 4:21 if indeed you heard about Him and were taught in Him, just as the truth is in Jesus.
John 14:6
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
When we read and study the Written Word of God, the Spirit helps us to understand what is revealed there. He does not always reveal things to us as we would like for Him to; instead He opens our minds to understanding at the right time, when we are able to hear and respond.
The Spirit also guides us in hearing the Living Word of God as Jesus Himself guides us in our day to day life. As we read and study God’s Written Word, we need wisdom in knowing how to apply it to daily life. The Spirit guides us in this as well. As we go through the other “growth ministries” of the Spirit we will see how they are all tied together by this “truth ministry” of the Holy Spirit.
2. The Holy Spirit “Illuminates” Our Hearts And Minds So That We Can Both Understand And Receive God’s Truth.
1 Corinthians 2:12
Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. 13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
14 The unbeliever (natural man, “soulish” man) does not receive (welcome) the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is understood by no one. 16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him? But we have the mind of Christ.
This ministry is very closely associated with the teaching ministry of the Spirit and also His anointing ministry. The Spirit is ever present with us to lead us into the Truth that God has revealed to us. Without this ministry, we would never be able to hear and respond to God’s truth.
In the 1 Corinthian passage above, Paul’s main argument is that only “Spiritual people” can understand and receive (welcome) the truth of God into their lives. This is because the truth of God is “spiritual discerned”—His Spirit gives us understanding of what He has communicated. In this passage “spiritual people” are those who have the Spirit of God. Those who do not have the Spirit, those who are still “natural” (or “soulish” – this is the term Paul uses in verse 14 – “of the soul”) cannot receive and understand the things of God because they do not have the Spirit. We, who are “in Christ” can know and understand what God has given us because His Spirit is present with us leading us to understand and welcome His truth.
For the rest of your time today, read John chapters 14—17. This is a powerful section of Scripture that will help you understand the ministry of the Spirit better.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
